Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, though 4K Ultra settings present a notable challenge. This combination ranks in the 70th percentile of all tested configurations, with the data showing a clear shift from CPU-bound performance at lower resolutions to GPU-bound performance at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 176 FPS. This is the lowest average at 1080p among the four tested settings, but still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 48477, which is 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (47743) and 3% lower than both the Intel Arc A550M (49737) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (49957).

Q: What is the CPU's multithreaded performance score?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D achieves a PassMark multithread score of 20363. This places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37018.

Q: Does the CPU have a high single-thread performance?

A: Yes, the PassMark single-thread score is 2941. This is competitive with its nearest rivals, as the CPU's average score is only 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 140 FPS, with a maximum of 189 FPS and an average of 165 FPS. This indicates consistent performance without major frame drops.

Q: How much VRAM does the graphics card have?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 21 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. This configuration delivers a peak FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS, which the data suggests is sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p in Doom.

The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is a defining feature, especially when considering the 4K results. The memory runs at 2000 MHz with a 16 Gbps effective rate, yielding 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth across the 256-bit bus. In Doom, this memory capacity and bandwidth appear adequate for Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra average of 62 FPS suggests the GPU's compute capabilities, rather than memory alone, are the limiting factor at that resolution.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. Its PassMark G3D score of 24980 and PassMark DirectX 12 score of 100 indicate strong raw performance. The GPU holds an 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48477. The nearest rivals show a tight competition: it is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile but 2.5% behind the Intel Arc A550M and 3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64.

The GPU's 72 ray accelerators and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) suggest it is prepared for modern rendering workloads, though Doom's 2016 release does not heavily leverage these features. The 288 texture mapping units and 128 ROPs contribute to a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s, which are reflected in the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT achieves a rank of 866 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 30% of all configurations, indicating a strong but not exceptional pairing for this title. The percentile ranking suggests that while this combo delivers excellent frame rates, there are other combinations that extract even more performance from Doom's engine.

The rank of 866 implies that the CPU-GPU pairing is well-balanced, as neither component appears to be a significant bottleneck at the tested resolutions. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking and the GPU's 85th percentile ranking are aligned, suggesting that their combined performance is roughly what would be expected from their individual capabilities. This alignment is reflected in the measured FPS, which scales predictably with resolution and settings changes.

The data shows that this combo performs best at 1080p, where it achieves an average of 176 FPS at Ultra settings. At 1440p, the Ultra average drops to 114 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 62 FPS. The progression suggests that the combo is more capable than the average tested configuration, but it does not reach the top tier of performance that would place it in the top 100 rankings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of how this combo performs across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are consistently high: Low settings produce an average of 292 FPS, Medium yields 254 FPS (with a minimum of 216 and maximum of 292), High delivers 215 FPS, and Ultra achieves 176 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 116 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are still impressive but show a clear step down. Low settings average 189 FPS, Medium averages 165 FPS (minimum 140, maximum 189), High averages 139 FPS, and Ultra averages 114 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 75 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the most significant performance drop. Low settings average 102 FPS, Medium averages 89 FPS (minimum 76, maximum 103), High averages 75 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is only 40 FPS, and the Ultra average sits just above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that 4K Ultra is at the edge of playable performance for this combo.

The minimum FPS values, where available, show that even at lower average frame rates, the combo maintains stability. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 76 FPS is still well above playable levels, and at 1440p Medium, the minimum of 140 FPS suggests no significant stuttering. The lack of min/max data for most settings limits the analysis, but the available numbers indicate consistent performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature, which likely contributes to its strong gaming performance in Doom.

The CPU's PassMark scores provide insight into its capabilities. The multithread score of 20363 and single-thread score of 2941 are competitive, with the CPU's average benchmark score of 37018 placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals show minimal differences: it is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 and 0.3% behind the Intel Core i9-12900T.

In Doom, the CPU's role appears to be more significant at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the high frame rates (176 FPS at Ultra) suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain these levels. The 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Doom's engine, which is known for being well-optimized. The large L3 cache likely helps with game data access, reducing latency and improving frame consistency.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The average FPS at 4K Ultra (62 FPS) is more than 2.8x lower than at 1080p Ultra (176 FPS), indicating that the GPU's rendering workload is the primary constraint. The CPU's performance, while strong, does not compensate for the GPU's limitations at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings are recommended for the best visual experience, as the average of 176 FPS is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. Even the minimum FPS at Medium (216) suggests that Ultra would maintain a high frame rate without significant drops.

At 2560x1440, High settings provide a good balance with an average of 139 FPS, which is suitable for 144 Hz displays. Ultra settings at 1440p average 114 FPS, which is still playable but may not fully utilize a 144 Hz monitor. For gamers prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, Medium settings at 165 FPS offer a smoother experience, though the visual difference between Medium and High should be considered.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation is more nuanced. High settings average 75 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a good experience on 60 Hz displays. Ultra settings average 62 FPS, which is just barely above 60 FPS but may experience occasional dips below that threshold. Medium settings at 89 FPS offer a safer margin for maintaining high frame rates at 4K, and Low settings at 102 FPS provide the smoothest 4K experience, though with reduced visual quality.

The data suggests that Medium settings at 4K provide the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with an average of 89 FPS and a minimum of 76 FPS. This ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains comfortably above 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the limiting component in this combo. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 292 at 1080p to 102 at 4K, a reduction of 65%. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 176 to 62, a 65% reduction as well. This consistent scaling across settings indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The scaling is less than linear, which is expected given the pixel count increase. The 4K resolution has 4x the pixels of 1080p, but the FPS does not drop by 4x. This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capabilities are sufficient to handle the increased load without a proportional performance hit, or that the CPU is still providing some support at 4K.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU plays a more significant role. The high frame rates at this resolution (292 FPS at Low) suggest that the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output, and the GPU is not fully utilized. As the resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the frame rates drop to levels where the GPU is the clear limiting factor. This is typical for a well-balanced combo, where the CPU has enough headroom to support the GPU at lower resolutions but the GPU's raw performance becomes the constraint at 4K.