Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a dominant performance in Doom, with measured frame rates that consistently exceed the requirements of high-refresh-rate displays across all tested settings. The data indicates a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s capabilities become the limiting factor only at the extreme end of the 1080p spectrum. This analysis breaks down the measured results to guide settings choices and clarify the role each component plays in this classic FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The benchmark data shows a clear and expected trend: average frame rates drop as resolution increases, but the severity of that drop is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. At 1080p Low, the system produces 320.9 FPS, which falls to 217.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 119.7 FPS at 4K. That is a decline of 32.2% from 1080p to 1440p, and an additional 45% from 1440p to 4K, showing that the GPU's rendering load grows significantly with pixel count.

The scaling pattern shifts with the Ultra preset. Here, the 1080p result is 205.6 FPS, dropping to 133.7 FPS at 1440p and 69.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47.9%. This suggests that the Ultra preset increases the per-pixel workload so much that the GPU becomes the bottleneck even at lower resolutions, making the frame rate more sensitive to resolution changes.

At the High preset, the drop from 1080p (247.4 FPS) to 1440p (163 FPS) is 34.1%, and to 4K (87.6 FPS) is 46.3%. This consistent pattern across presets indicates that Doom is highly scalable. The fact that the 4K High result (87.6 FPS) is higher than the 4K Ultra result (69.7 FPS) but lower than the 4K Medium result (105.9 FPS) reinforces that the GPU is the primary limiter at this resolution. The data implies that for 4K gaming, the choice of preset is the single most important factor in determining playability, as the difference between Low and Ultra is a massive 50 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the clear workhorse in this configuration, and its specifications explain the high frame rates. The GPU features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. This substantial memory capacity and bandwidth are more than sufficient for Doom's textures and assets, preventing any memory-related stutters or framerate dips that could occur on lesser cards. The GPU’s boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz drive its 5376 shading units, which is why it can push such high pixel counts.

The benchmark scores for the GPU, such as a Passmark G3D score of 29009 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 169834, place it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, has an average score that is virtually identical (deltaPct of 0), showing that the RX 7900 XT is competing at the top tier of performance. In the context of this game, the GPU's strength is evident in the 4K Low result of 119.7 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS target, and the 1440p Medium result of 193.8 FPS. The GPU's capabilities are the reason why the system can achieve 320.9 FPS at 1080p Low, a figure that would be unattainable with a weaker graphics card.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average frame rate at 4K Ultra is 69.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard for smooth play but not by a large margin. For a more comfortable 4K experience, dropping to High settings yields 87.6 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for the highest frame rates?

A: At 1080p, the system is capable of extraordinary performance. The measured 320.9 FPS at Low settings and 247.4 FPS at High settings show that this resolution is ideal for competitive play on a very high refresh rate monitor.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its direct competitors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 20875, placing it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, has an average score of 20897, which is only 0.1% higher, indicating near-identical overall performance.

Q: Is the GPU's memory size a factor in this game?

A: No. The 20 GB of GDDR6 memory is far more than Doom requires. The 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth ensures that the memory subsystem is not a bottleneck, allowing the GPU's compute units to work at full capacity.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS for this combination is 163. This is a strong result that will easily drive a 144Hz monitor, and it is 29.3 FPS higher than the Ultra preset at the same resolution.

Q: Is the system more limited by the CPU or GPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes a more significant factor at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the GPU is so fast that it can render frames faster than the CPU can feed it, resulting in 320.9 FPS. The Ryzen 5 5500's single-thread performance, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 836, is the likely ceiling here.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset is the recommended starting point. At 1440p, it delivers 163 FPS, which is 29.3 FPS higher than Ultra and only 30.6 FPS lower than Medium. This suggests that High offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium with a relatively modest performance cost. At 4K, High still maintains 87.6 FPS, a very playable level.

If the priority is maximum visual quality and the display is 4K, the Ultra preset is viable, as it never goes below the 60 FPS threshold. However, the 69.7 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. For 1080p gaming, the High preset is more than sufficient, providing 247.4 FPS, which is 73.3 FPS lower than Low but still far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset is a good fallback for 4K if a higher frame rate is desired, as it yields 105.9 FPS, a substantial 36.2 FPS improvement over Ultra. For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset’s 320.9 FPS offers the lowest input latency, but the visual compromise is significant.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured average frame rates is as follows:

• 1920x1080: Low 320.9 FPS, Medium 296.5 FPS, High 247.4 FPS, Ultra 205.6 FPS.
• 2560x1440: Low 217.6 FPS, Medium 193.8 FPS, High 163 FPS, Ultra 133.7 FPS.
• 3840x2160: Low 119.7 FPS, Medium 105.9 FPS, High 87.6 FPS, Ultra 69.7 FPS.

The data shows a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions: Low is always the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. The performance gap between Low and Ultra is most pronounced at 1080p, where the difference is 115.3 FPS. This gap narrows to 83.9 FPS at 1440p and 50 FPS at 4K. This pattern indicates that the Ultra preset's additional effects are more expensive relative to the GPU's overall workload at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, provides a solid foundation for this system. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 and single-core score of 2319 demonstrate competent processing power. The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth are adequate for feeding the GPU. In the context of Doom, the CPU's role is to handle game logic and draw calls. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K or 1440p, as the GPU is clearly the limiting factor.

However, at 1080p with Low settings, the situation changes. The GPU is capable of producing 320.9 FPS, but this is the lowest frame rate of all the 1080p presets, suggesting that the CPU is struggling to keep up with the GPU's output. The difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Medium is 24.4 FPS, which is smaller than the difference between 1080p High and 1080p Ultra (41.8 FPS). This suggests that the CPU's single-thread performance, with a 3dmark_single_thread score of 836, becomes a more significant factor at these very high frame rates. While the Ryzen 5 5500 is capable, the data implies that a stronger CPU would be needed to push frame rates beyond the 320.9 FPS mark at 1080p Low.