Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B570 combination delivers a highly playable experience in Doom, with performance scaling predictably across resolution and quality settings. The data shows a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides ample headroom at 1080p to achieve high refresh rates. This pairing ranks in the 79th percentile of tested configurations for this title, indicating solid overall capability despite some expected compromises at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 121 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 78 FPS, representing a significant 35.5% reduction in frame rate. The jump to 4K is even more punishing, with the average falling to 42 FPS at High settings, which is a further 46.2% decrease from the 1440p result.

This scaling behavior strongly indicates that the Intel Arc B570 is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops are proportionally larger than what would be expected if the CPU were the bottleneck, as the Ryzen 5 5500's 6-core, 12-thread configuration provides sufficient processing power to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows the GPU beginning to struggle with the increased pixel count, while the 4K results demonstrate the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capabilities being fully saturated.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is slightly different. The 1080p Low average of 164 FPS drops to 106 FPS at 1440p (a 35.4% decrease) and then to 57 FPS at 4K (a 46.2% decrease from 1440p). These percentages are nearly identical to those seen at High settings, suggesting that the resolution impact is consistent regardless of quality presets. This consistency further reinforces the conclusion that the GPU is the determining factor in performance scaling, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with resolution.

The Medium preset shows the most complete dataset, with minimum and maximum FPS values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 143 FPS with a range of 121 to 164 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 92 FPS with a range of 79 to 106 FPS. The 4K Medium result shows an average of 50 FPS with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. These ranges demonstrate that the frame pacing remains relatively stable, with the delta between minimum and maximum FPS being consistent at around 30% of the average value across all resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B570 combination achieves an average of 121 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: The data shows playable but not ideal results at 3840x2160. At Medium settings, the average FPS is 50 with a minimum of 43 FPS. High settings yield an average of 42 FPS, while Ultra drops to 35 FPS. These results suggest 4K is only viable at Medium settings or lower for a consistent experience.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 64 FPS compared to 78 FPS on High. This represents a 17.9% performance penalty for the Ultra settings, which may be worth the visual improvements for some players.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate monitors?

A: At 1080p, the system can exceed 120 FPS on High settings (121 FPS average) and reach 164 FPS on Low. This makes 1080p the only resolution where the combo can fully utilize a 144Hz or higher refresh rate display.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Low and Medium settings at 1080p?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Low is 164, while Medium achieves 143 FPS. This 12.8% difference suggests that Medium offers substantial visual improvements for a relatively modest performance cost.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Doom?

A: The combination ranks 2332 out of 2930 tested combos, placing it in the 79th percentile. This indicates it performs better than roughly four out of five tested systems for this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The processor includes 16 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core, along with 64 KB of L1 cache per core. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16429 and a single-core score of 2319, with a Geekbench multicore score of 7976.

In the context of Doom, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain a high frame rate ceiling. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 164 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's practical limit for this game engine. The fact that the FPS drops significantly when moving to higher resolutions—where the GPU becomes the bottleneck—indicates that the Ryzen 5 5500 is not constraining performance at 1080p Medium and below.

The processor's 12 threads are well-suited for modern game engines that can utilize multiple cores for physics, AI, and draw call processing. Doom's id Tech 6 engine is known for its efficient multi-threading, and the 6-core/12-thread configuration provides ample parallel processing capability. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4593 and 16-thread score of 5386 suggest that the CPU scales well with increased thread utilization, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame times.

Compared to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 5500 performs nearly identically to the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (0.1% faster) and Intel Core i5-12500 (0.4% faster), while being 0.5% slower than the Intel Core i7-10700F and 0.7% slower than the Intel Core i5-11600KF. These minor differences in CPU performance are unlikely to translate into meaningful FPS variations in Doom, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU dominates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers the following average FPS: Low (164), Medium (143), High (121), and Ultra (99). This represents a performance spread of 65 FPS between the lowest and highest quality presets, with each step up in settings costing approximately 15-20% of performance.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low (106), Medium (92), High (78), and Ultra (64). The performance spread here is 42 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p. This compression of the performance range indicates that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor, as the relative cost of higher settings diminishes when the resolution already places significant demand on the graphics card.

The 3840x2160 results show: Low (57), Medium (50), High (42), and Ultra (35). The spread narrows further to 22 FPS, confirming that at 4K, the GPU is the dominant constraint. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 38.6% of the Low setting value, compared to a 39.6% difference at 1080p and a 39.6% difference at 1440p. This consistency in relative scaling across resolutions suggests that the quality settings have a uniform impact on GPU workload, regardless of resolution.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data. At 1080p, the range is 121-164 FPS; at 1440p, it is 79-106 FPS; and at 4K, it is 43-58 FPS. The minimum FPS values are consistently about 15-16% below the average, while maximum values are about 15-16% above. This symmetric distribution indicates stable frame pacing without significant stuttering or spikes, which is important for a fast-paced FPS game like Doom.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 5 5500 and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2332 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 79th percentile. This means the configuration outperforms approximately 79% of all tested systems for this specific game, which is a strong result given the mid-range positioning of both components.

This ranking is particularly notable because the GPU's synthetic benchmark average score of 20556 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU's average benchmark score of 19593 places it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The fact that the combo achieves a higher percentile in Doom than either component achieves in its respective synthetic benchmark suggests that the game is well-optimized for this hardware combination, or that the specific strengths of these components (such as the GPU's Vulkan support) are well-utilized by the game engine.

In terms of GPU rivals, the Arc B570 performs nearly identically to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster), Intel Arc A750 (0.1% slower), NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% faster), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% slower) in synthetic benchmarks. These comparable alternatives would likely produce similar FPS results in Doom, though the Arc B570's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth may offer advantages in texture-heavy scenes.

The CPU's rival comparisons show similar parity, with the Ryzen 5 5500 within 0.7% of all four nearest rivals in synthetic testing. This indicates that the choice of CPU within this performance class has minimal impact on Doom's frame rates, as the game is primarily GPU-bound at most settings and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p displays with 144Hz refresh rates, the High preset at 121 FPS average provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 99 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, but the 18.2% FPS reduction may not justify the visual improvements for all players.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 92 FPS average offers the best experience for most users, as it provides smooth gameplay while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity. The High preset at 78 FPS is acceptable for 75Hz monitors and provides better image quality, but the Medium preset's higher frame rate is preferable for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 64 FPS is borderline for 60Hz displays, but the lower 1% lows (as evidenced by the 79 FPS minimum on Medium) suggest that Ultra may experience occasional dips below 60 FPS.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 50 FPS average is the only recommended option, as it provides a playable experience with a minimum of 43 FPS. The Low preset at 57 FPS is also viable and offers higher frame rates, though with reduced visual quality. High settings at 42 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS are likely to cause noticeable stuttering in fast-paced action sequences, making them unsuitable for a game like Doom that demands quick reflexes.

The Low preset at 1080p (164 FPS) is recommended for competitive players using 165Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, as it maximizes frame rates and minimizes input latency. However, the visual quality reduction may be too significant for players who prioritize graphics over competitive advantage.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It operates at a fixed clock speed of 2500 MHz for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. With 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, the card delivers 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 360.0 GTexel/s texture fill rate.

In Doom, the GPU's role is critical at all resolutions, but becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. The 10 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game's texture requirements at 4K Ultra, though the 160-bit memory bus may limit performance in scenes with high memory bandwidth demands. The 380.0 GB/s bandwidth is a key factor in the GPU's performance scaling, as the consistent FPS drops across resolutions suggest that memory bandwidth is a significant constraint.

The Arc B570's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 is particularly relevant for Doom, as the game's engine can leverage these modern APIs for improved performance. The GPU's 18 ray tracing cores are not utilized by Doom (which does not feature ray tracing), but the 80 ROPs are well-suited for the game's fill-rate requirements. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s provide ample throughput for the game's visual effects.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark performance, with a PassMark G3D score of 14195 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649, places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. This mid-range positioning is reflected in the Doom results, where the GPU delivers solid 1080p and 1440p performance but struggles at 4K Ultra. The 150W TDP and single 8-pin power connector make it an efficient option, though the 450W suggested PSU should be respected for stable operation.