Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti pairing delivers a playable but not exceptional experience in Doom, with the data showing a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combination provides high frame rates that will satisfy most gamers, but the experience degrades significantly at 4K, where the GPU struggles to maintain smooth performance. The measured FPS data across twelve different scenarios reveals a system that is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but one that falls short of the demands of 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 110.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 70.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 36%. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate drops further to 38 FPS, which is a 66% reduction from the 1080p result. This steep decline indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti is the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, with the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth being overwhelmed by the higher resolution workloads.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings levels. At Low settings, the frame rate goes from 151.6 FPS at 1080p to 95.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 52.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 45%, which is slightly less severe than the High settings drop but still substantial. Meanwhile, at Ultra settings, the 4K result of 31.6 FPS is barely playable, and the 1080p result of 92.3 FPS shows that even at the lowest resolution, the GPU is unable to push frame rates above the 100 FPS mark when all graphical features are enabled.

What the resolution scaling data suggests is that the Ryzen 5 5500 has enough headroom to feed the GTX 1660 Ti at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution climbs. The 6-core processor with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz is likely not the constraint in these tests, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate drops are proportional to the pixel count increase. For gamers targeting 1080p, this combo is well-suited. For those wanting 1440p gaming, the High settings result of 70.4 FPS is acceptable, but 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 Ti is the workhorse of this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the performance profile observed in Doom. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card provides a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the larger frame buffers demand more memory throughput. The card's base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is reflected in the benchmark results.

The GPU's architecture is Turing, built on a 12 nm process, and it features 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. These specifications place the GTX 1660 Ti in the mid-range tier, which is consistent with its benchmark percentile of 55 when compared to all GPUs. The card's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, has an average score of 13871, and the GTX 1660 Ti is 0.4% ahead of that competitor. This tight competition suggests that the 1660 Ti is not a standout performer but rather a solid, dependable option for 1080p gaming.

The absence of ray tracing and tensor cores is notable, but for a game like Doom, which was released in 2016 and does not utilize these features, this is not a drawback. The card's support for DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4 ensures compatibility with modern rendering APIs. The data shows that the 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the card is not memory-constrained but rather compute-bound. The pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for the fast-paced action in Doom, though the 4K results indicate these rates are insufficient for smooth gameplay at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + GTX 1660 Ti combo good for 1080p gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, the data shows excellent performance at 1920x1080. At Low settings, the average frame rate is 151.6 FPS, and at High settings it is 110.6 FPS. Even at Ultra settings, the combo achieves 92.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

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

A: The 4K results are mixed. At Low settings, the average frame rate is 52.7 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. At High settings, it drops to 38 FPS, and at Ultra settings, it falls to 31.6 FPS. These lower frame rates suggest that 4K gaming is only viable at the lowest settings, and even then, the experience is not smooth.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 13925, which places it 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and the RTX A2000 Mobile. It is 0.7% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K10. This indicates that the 1660 Ti is a competitive mid-range graphics card.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to other processors?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 has an average benchmark score of 20875, which is 0.1% below the Intel Core i5-12500 and 0.2% below the Intel Core i5-12600T. It is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, placing it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs.

Q: Which settings should I use for the best balance of quality and performance at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium settings provide an average of 81.5 FPS, and High settings provide 70.4 FPS. These are both good options for a smooth experience. Ultra settings drop to 55.3 FPS, which is still playable but may feel less fluid in fast-paced action sequences.

Q: Does the GPU or CPU limit performance in Doom?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops significantly from 1080p to 4K, while the CPU's strong multi-core performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429, suggests it is not the limiting factor in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers consistently high frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 151.6 FPS, Medium settings 128.9 FPS, High settings 110.6 FPS, and Ultra settings 92.3 FPS. This progression shows a smooth scaling with graphical fidelity, and even the most demanding settings remain above 90 FPS, making 1080p gaming a comfortable experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains solid but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 95.6 FPS, Medium settings 81.5 FPS, High settings 70.4 FPS, and Ultra settings 55.3 FPS. The Ultra setting result is the first to dip below the 60 FPS mark, indicating that for 1440p gaming, users should stick to High settings or below for a consistently smooth experience. The data shows a roughly 37% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, which is a significant but manageable drop.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a noticeable hit. Low settings average 52.7 FPS, Medium settings 46.5 FPS, High settings 38 FPS, and Ultra settings 31.6 FPS. None of these results reach the 60 FPS threshold, and even the Low settings result is below the ideal for fast-paced shooters. The 4K data clearly shows that this combination is not suited for 4K gaming, with the GPU unable to maintain playable frame rates. The frame rate drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings is approximately 46%, which is a substantial reduction that highlights the GPU's limitations at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination ranks 1469 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the lower 13% of all tested configurations, which is surprising given the respectable performance at 1080p. The ranking reflects the overall performance across all tested scenarios, and the weak 4K results likely drag the combo down in the rankings. While the 1080p performance is solid, the inability to handle 4K gaming puts this combo at a disadvantage compared to more powerful pairings.

The rank of 1469 out of 1681 means that there are 212 combos that perform worse, but a significant majority of tested systems outperform this pairing. This is a mid-range configuration that is outclassed by many modern setups. The GPU's percentile of 55 and the CPU's percentile of 79 indicate that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU, and the overall ranking reflects this imbalance. For gamers who prioritize 1080p or 1440p performance, this combo is adequate, but for those expecting high-end performance, it falls short.

The data suggests that this combo is best suited for budget-conscious gamers who play at 1080p. The ranking is not a reflection of failure but rather a positioning within the broader landscape of tested hardware. The combo is functional and provides a playable experience at lower resolutions, but it does not compete with high-end configurations that can handle 4K gaming with ease. The 1469 rank is a clear indicator that this is an entry-level to mid-range option.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 plays a supporting role in this pairing, providing solid processing power that does not bottleneck the GPU at most resolutions. The 6-core, 12-thread processor is based on the Zen 3 architecture and is manufactured on a 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz offer competent single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429 and single-core score of 2319 demonstrate that the CPU has ample headroom for gaming workloads.

In Doom, which is a well-optimized FPS title, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The Ryzen 5 5500's 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s are sufficient for this task. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as the 3DMark max threads score of 5411 and the Passmark multi-thread score of 19330, indicate strong multi-threading capabilities that are not fully utilized by this game but provide a buffer for other applications.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, has an average score of 20897, which is only 0.1% higher. This close competition shows that the Ryzen 5 5500 is a competitive mid-range processor. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo's performance. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. For gamers who may upgrade the GPU in the future, the Ryzen 5 5500 has enough processing power to support a more capable graphics card without becoming a bottleneck.