Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is an unusual combination—a budget-minded six-core CPU from 2022 bolted to a flagship-class GPU from 2024. In Doom, this pairing delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all resolutions, but the data reveals a clear pattern: the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions, while the GPU takes over at 4K. This analysis breaks down exactly what you can expect from this combo, based purely on the measured FPS data.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combo in Doom, the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance headroom. The measured average of 188.2 FPS at 1440p High is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, and it sits comfortably between the more demanding Ultra preset (155.3 FPS) and the less visually impressive Medium preset (222.7 FPS). The data shows that stepping from High to Ultra costs 32.9 FPS (a drop from 188.2 to 155.3), which is a significant 17.5% reduction for what is typically a marginal visual gain in a fast-paced title like Doom.

If you are gaming at 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the smart choice. The difference between Medium (306.7 FPS) and High (285.4 FPS) is only 21.3 FPS, but the jump from Medium to Low (319.4 FPS) yields just 12.7 FPS more. Since the frame rates are already pushing past 300 FPS, the visual quality improvements from Medium over Low are worth more than the extra frames that most monitors cannot even display. At 3840x2160, the High preset is the recommended starting point, delivering 102.6 FPS. This is the only 4K setting that clears the 100 FPS threshold, and it does so while maintaining a 21.6 FPS advantage over the Medium preset (124.8 FPS vs 102.6 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 81.3 FPS, which is still playable but loses the smoothness that the High preset provides.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the frame rates stay so high. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the GPU delivers a memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s—plenty for Doom's textures at any resolution. The GPU's boost clock of 2550 MHz and its 10240 shading units provide the raw compute power needed to push those high pixel rates, and the data confirms this: even at 4K Ultra, the combo still manages 81.3 FPS, which is a demanding workload that the CPU alone could never handle.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU is often waiting on the CPU, but at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The measured data shows that the gap between the Low and Ultra presets widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (319.4 FPS) to Ultra (239.2 FPS) is 80.2 FPS. At 4K, that same spread is 58.8 FPS (from 140.1 to 81.3). This compression of the FPS range at 4K indicates that the GPU is being pushed to its limits, while at 1080p, the CPU's limitations cap the maximum achievable frame rate. The GPU's 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 80 RT cores are more than sufficient for this 2016 title, so the RTX 4080 SUPER is never the weak link.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a classic bottleneck shift. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset, the average FPS falls from 285.4 to 188.2—a reduction of 97.2 FPS (34.1%). The subsequent step from 1440p to 4K at High settings brings the average down to 102.6 FPS, another 85.6 FPS drop (45.5%). This pattern shows that the GPU is increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, but the CPU still has headroom at 1440p.

The Low preset tells a clearer story about the CPU's impact. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 319.4 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 258 FPS (a 61.4 FPS loss), and at 4K Low, it falls to 140.1 FPS (a 117.9 FPS loss from 1440p). The fact that 1080p Low only reaches 319.4 FPS—rather than something much higher—suggests the Ryzen 5 5500's six cores and 12 threads are capping performance. The CPU's single-thread score of 836 in 3DMark and its 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate it is a mid-tier processor, and Doom's engine does not scale perfectly across all 12 threads. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU's workload becomes the primary constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest raw numbers. The Low preset averages 319.4 FPS, while Medium reaches 306.7 FPS and High hits 285.4 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 239.2 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 80.2 FPS, but even the lowest 1080p setting remains far above any competitive display's refresh rate.

At 2560x1440, the averages are still very high. Low produces 258 FPS, Medium 222.7 FPS, High 188.2 FPS, and Ultra 155.3 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is the largest relative drop (32.9 FPS, or 17.5%), which makes High the sweet spot for 1440p gaming. The 1440p results show a more significant spread between settings, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more relevant, but the CPU still has enough headroom to keep frame rates above 150 FPS even at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become more grounded. Low averages 140.1 FPS, Medium 124.8 FPS, High 102.6 FPS, and Ultra 81.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 58.8 FPS. Notably, the 4K Low result (140.1 FPS) is lower than the 1080p Ultra result (239.2 FPS), which shows that resolution scaling has a greater impact than settings scaling at this level. The 4K High result of 102.6 FPS is the most playable 4K option, as it stays above the 100 FPS mark while the Ultra preset falls below it.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 158th out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. That places it in the top 9.4% of all configurations in the database. The rank is impressive given the CPU's modest standing—the Ryzen 5 5500 sits at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores nearly identically (20897 vs 20875 average benchmark score, a delta of -0.1%). The GPU, however, is a different story. The RTX 4080 SUPER ranks at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, is just 0.2% behind in average benchmark score.

The high combo rank (158 out of 1681) suggests that Doom is heavily GPU-bound at the resolutions tested, which allows the RTX 4080 SUPER to carry the combo to a strong position. If the game were more CPU-sensitive, this pairing would likely rank lower, given the Ryzen 5 5500's mid-tier standing. The data indicates that the GPU's 88th percentile performance is the primary driver of this combo's success, while the CPU's 79th percentile performance is sufficient to avoid being a major drag on the results. The fact that this combo outranks 1523 other configurations, despite using a CPU that is only slightly above average, underscores how GPU-dominant Doom is in this hardware configuration.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 holding back the RTX 4080 SUPER in this game?

A: Yes, but only at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU's limitations are evident—the Low preset only reaches 319.4 FPS, which is relatively modest for such a powerful GPU. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's impact diminishes.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset is the best choice, averaging 188.2 FPS. It provides a 32.9 FPS advantage over Ultra (155.3 FPS) while still looking significantly better than Medium (222.7 FPS).

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming smoothly?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High, it averages 102.6 FPS, which is smooth. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 81.3 FPS, which is still playable but not as fluid. The 4K Low preset hits 140.1 FPS for those who prefer maximum frame rates over visual quality.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500's average benchmark score is 20875, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-12500 (20897, a -0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (20900, a -0.1% delta). It also edges out the AMD EPYC 7J13 (20845, a 0.1% delta).

Q: What is the RTX 4080 SUPER's closest competitor in terms of performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is the nearest rival, with an average benchmark score of 53489 compared to the RTX 4080 SUPER's 53610—a 0.2% difference. The RTX 5070 Ti is 2.9% behind, and the Radeon RX 7700S is 2.1% behind.

Q: Does the combo rank well compared to all tested configurations?

A: Yes, it ranks 158th out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the top 9.4% of all configurations, a strong result driven primarily by the GPU's high performance.