Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, though 4K Ultra reveals the expected limits of this combination. The measured data indicates a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU’s capabilities becoming a more significant factor only as resolution and graphical load increase. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all tested settings and resolutions, placing the results in the context of the component’s individual standings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates a classic resolution scaling curve, with the most pronounced performance drop occurring at the highest settings. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 255.2 FPS at 1080p to 165.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 89.4 FPS. Moving further to 4K, the Ultra preset yields 89.6 FPS, which is a substantial 165.6 FPS drop from the 1080p result. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 5080’s rendering workload, rather than the CPU, is the primary constraint at 4K Ultra.

The scaling pattern shifts when using lower presets. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 321.2 FPS at 1080p to 273.5 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 148.8 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is less severe than at Ultra, suggesting that the CPU begins to play a more prominent role in limiting performance when the GPU has less work to do. This is a typical bottleneck dynamic; the Ryzen 5 5500, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides sufficient throughput for high frame rates but cannot sustain the extreme frame rates the RTX 5080 is capable of at lower resolutions.

The data shows that Doom’s performance is highly scalable. The gap between the Low and Ultra presets widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 66 FPS (321.2 vs 255.2). At 1440p, this gap grows to 107.7 FPS (273.5 vs 165.8). By 4K, the difference expands to 59.2 FPS (148.8 vs 89.6). This widening gap reinforces that the GPU’s fill rate and shading capabilities are the limiting factors at higher resolutions and quality settings, while the CPU has a larger relative impact on the frame rate ceiling at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth experience at 4K, the High preset appears to be the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 109.4 FPS, which is a significant improvement over the 89.6 FPS of the Ultra preset. The jump from Medium to High is also notable, with a gain of 22 FPS (from 131.4 to 109.4), but the Ultra preset’s cost in performance is steep for the visual fidelity gain. The Low preset at 4K, at 148.8 FPS, is playable, but the visual compromise is likely too great for a modern title.

At 2560x1440, the High preset provides an excellent balance, achieving an average of 201.8 FPS. This is comfortably above the 165.8 FPS seen at Ultra, and the difference between High and Medium (201.8 vs 241.1) is also considerable. For competitive play, the Low preset’s 273.5 FPS is a clear advantage, but the High preset’s frame rate is more than sufficient for a responsive experience without sacrificing visual quality.

At 1920x1080, the choice is less critical, as even the Ultra preset delivers an average of 255.2 FPS. The Low preset’s 321.2 FPS is the highest measured result for this combination, but the Medium preset at 303.4 FPS and High at 288.2 FPS are all excellent. The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is heavily GPU-bound, and the differences between presets are less impactful on the overall experience, allowing users to prioritize visual fidelity without worrying about frame rate drops below the high refresh rate territory.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications support the observed performance. It features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This substantial memory bandwidth is crucial for handling the high-resolution textures and effects in Doom at 4K, where the frame rate data shows a steep drop-off at the Ultra preset. The GPU’s boost clock of 2617 MHz and its 10752 shading units are the primary drivers of the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU’s performance percentile of 89 versus all GPUs indicates it is a top-tier part, and its average benchmark score of 59188 places it in a strong position. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Arc A570M with an average score of 58239 (a 1.6% difference), are significantly lower in the performance hierarchy. The RTX 5080’s 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a clear indicator of its raw compute capability, which translates directly into the high pixel rates observed in the benchmark data.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is more than sufficient for Doom at any of the tested settings. The data shows no signs of a memory bottleneck, as the frame rate scaling is consistent with the GPU’s compute load. The GPU’s role is clearly to push frames, and it does so effectively until the CPU becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 4K, the RTX 5080’s workload increases dramatically, resulting in the expected performance drop, but it still maintains a playable average at High settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are as follows: Low 148.8 FPS, Medium 131.4 FPS, High 109.4 FPS, and Ultra 89.6 FPS. This represents a clear and consistent performance penalty for each step up in quality. The most significant single-step drop is from High to Ultra, which costs 19.8 FPS, highlighting the demanding nature of the Ultra preset’s effects.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 273.5 FPS, Medium 241.1 FPS, High 201.8 FPS, and Ultra 165.8 FPS. The scaling here is less steep than at 4K, with the difference between High and Ultra being 36 FPS. The system is still heavily GPU-bound at this resolution, but the higher frame rates indicate that the CPU is less of a constraint.

At 1920x1080, the results are: Low 321.2 FPS, Medium 303.4 FPS, High 288.2 FPS, and Ultra 255.2 FPS. These are exceptionally high frame rates, showing that the RTX 5080 is barely challenged at this resolution. The difference between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS, but even the lowest result is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. The data shows that the CPU and GPU combination is capable of delivering a very high-performance experience at 1080p, regardless of the settings chosen.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 114th out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 6.8% of all tested configurations, indicating a very strong performance level. This high rank is primarily driven by the RTX 5080’s exceptional capabilities, as the CPU’s individual performance is more modest.

The CPU’s percentile versus all CPUs is 79, with an average benchmark score of 20875. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897, which is a delta of only -0.1%. This shows the Ryzen 5 5500 is a solid mid-range processor, but its performance is not in the top tier. The GPU, on the other hand, has a percentile of 89, and its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A570M, is a full 1.6% behind in average score, showing the RTX 5080’s dominance.

The combination’s rank of 114 reflects the GPU’s ability to carry the system to high performance levels. The CPU’s role is more about providing a stable foundation and avoiding being a significant bottleneck, which it does well up to the 4K resolution. The data shows that this combo is an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, and it is capable of handling 4K at High settings, making it a versatile and powerful pairing for Doom.