Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a robust experience in Doom, a 2016 FPS that scales well across a wide range of hardware. This combination produces playable frame rates even at the most demanding settings, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution changes. At 1080p, the system pushes well past 200 FPS on lower settings, indicating that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting. By 4K, the frame rates drop significantly, and the GPU becomes the primary constraint. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, contextualizes the combo’s standing among 2,930 tested combinations, and examines the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but notable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 178 FPS at 1080p to 115 FPS at 1440p, and then to 62 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, with the 4K step being particularly punishing, which strongly suggests the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

At Low settings, the trend intensifies. The system averages 241 FPS at 1080p, 156 FPS at 1440p, and 85 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 85 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 71 FPS. Interestingly, the absolute FPS loss is similar between steps, but the percentage loss is larger at the higher resolution step. This indicates that while the CPU can still feed the GPU at 1440p, the GPU’s raw pixel throughput becomes the ceiling at 4K.

Medium settings show a similar pattern: 210 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS recorded at Medium settings also scales with resolution, with 179 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. These minimums are crucial for understanding consistency; the gap between average and minimum narrows as resolution increases, suggesting that frame pacing becomes more stable when the GPU is fully saturated.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board. At 1080p, the average is 145 FPS, which drops to 94 FPS at 1440p and 51 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS on average, marking it as the boundary for a smooth experience on this hardware. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is a 35% reduction, while the step to 4K is a 46% reduction, mirroring the High settings pattern.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts based on resolution. At 1080p, the high frame rates on Low and Medium settings (241 and 210 FPS respectively) suggest that the CPU is capable of handling the game’s logic and draw calls, but the GPU is still able to keep up. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D’s 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with its 96 MB of shared L3 cache, help maintain high minimum frame rates. However, as resolution climbs, the RX 7700’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the dominant factors. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1440p but strained at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of CPU and GPU ranks 1,314th out of 2,930 combos for Doom. This places it in the 55th percentile, meaning it outperforms just over half of the tested configurations. While this is not a top-tier result, it is a solid mid-range standing. The combo’s rank reflects a balance between the CPU’s strong multi-threaded capabilities and the GPU’s mid-range positioning in the overall GPU hierarchy.

The CPU alone holds an 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37,018. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36,945 (a 0.2% difference), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, which scores 37,093 (a -0.2% difference). This indicates that the 5500X3D is competitive with other mid-range processors, offering performance that is nearly identical to these alternatives. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and Intel Core i9-12900T also sit within a 0.3% margin, showing that this CPU is well within the expected performance band for its class.

The GPU, however, ranks lower in the overall GPU pool, sitting in the 58th percentile with an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15,862, -0.1% difference) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15,679, 1.1% difference). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16,129, which is 1.7% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 scores 16,014, which is 1% higher. This places the RX 7700 in a tight cluster of GPUs with similar raw compute performance, though the 3060 Ti holds a slight edge in synthetic benchmarks.

The combo’s rank of 1,314 out of 2,930 suggests that while neither component is a standout in its respective category, the pairing works well for Doom. The game is not particularly demanding by 2016 standards, so even a mid-range GPU can produce high frame rates at lower resolutions. The CPU’s percentile ranking is significantly higher than the GPU’s, which implies that in many other titles, the GPU would be the limiting factor. However, in Doom, the CPU’s strength helps maintain high FPS at 1080p, pushing the combo’s rank above what the GPU alone might suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. This clock configuration allows for a peak FP32 performance of 25.18 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a mid-range card. The memory subsystem consists of 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s. This is a key specification for Doom, as the game can be memory-intensive at high resolutions and texture settings.

The GPU’s 96 ROPs are responsible for pixel output, and the pixel rate is rated at 236.1 GPixel/s. In Doom, this translates to the ability to fill the screen with geometry and effects. At 4K, the resolution demands 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the RX 7700’s pixel rate is a limiting factor when settings are raised. The texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s also matters, as Doom uses detailed textures for its demonic environments.

The measured FPS results show the GPU’s influence clearly. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 51, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider necessary for smooth gameplay. The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s is likely the bottleneck here, as Ultra settings require large texture datasets that must be streamed from VRAM. The 16 GB capacity is not an issue, but the speed of the memory interface and the core clock speed determine how quickly those textures can be processed.

At 1080p, the GPU has less work to do per frame, allowing it to reach 241 FPS at Low settings. This indicates that the GPU is not the primary constraint at this resolution. Instead, the CPU’s ability to process game logic and issue draw calls becomes more important. The RX 7700’s 40 ray tracing cores are present but are not heavily utilized in Doom, as the game was released before ray tracing was a common feature. This means the GPU’s raw rasterization performance is what matters most for this title.

The GPU’s benchmark scores provide additional context. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2,865, which is a modern test that measures overall gaming performance. The PassMark G3D score is 20,974, while the PassMark GPU compute score is 10,963. These scores align with the GPU’s 58th percentile ranking, indicating that it performs adequately for its class but does not exceed expectations. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 106,028 further confirms its compute capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution most likely to be used by gamers with high refresh rate monitors, the combo delivers excellent results. With Low settings, the average FPS is 241, which is suitable for a 240 Hz display. Medium settings produce an average of 210 FPS, with a minimum of 179 FPS and a maximum of 242 FPS. High settings lower the average to 178 FPS, while Ultra settings still manage an average of 145 FPS. This shows that even at the highest settings, the system stays well above 144 FPS, making it ideal for competitive play on high-refresh panels.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU’s limitations. Low settings average 156 FPS, which is still excellent for most monitors. Medium settings average 136 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. High settings drop to 115 FPS, and Ultra settings average 94 FPS. At this resolution, the system can handle High settings comfortably above 100 FPS, but Ultra settings may require a lower refresh rate monitor or an adaptive sync solution to avoid tearing.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 85 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high refresh. Medium settings average 74 FPS, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS. High settings average 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra settings average 51 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and may result in noticeable stuttering on a 60 Hz display. For a smooth 4K experience, users would need to stick to Low or Medium settings, or accept a lower frame rate at High.

The minimum FPS data, available only for Medium settings, shows that the system maintains a floor of 179 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 63 FPS at 4K. These minimums are important for understanding frame time consistency. The gap between average and minimum FPS widens with resolution, indicating that frame pacing becomes less stable at higher pixel counts. At 1080p, the minimum is 85% of the average, while at 4K, it is 85% as well (63/74). This consistency is a positive sign, suggesting that the hardware does not suffer from severe frame time spikes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates at a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a TDP of 105 watts. The processor is built on a 7 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 74 mm². Its most notable feature is the 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant amount for a gaming CPU. This cache is crucial for Doom, as the game’s engine benefits from having frequently accessed data stored close to the cores.

The CPU’s benchmark results show a strong all-around performance. In PassMark’s multithread test, it scores 20,363, while the single-thread score is 2,941. The integer math score is 60,033, and the floating point math score is 34,511. These numbers indicate that the CPU can handle both the game’s logic and the physics calculations that Doom requires. The extended instructions score of 15,925 suggests that the CPU supports modern instruction sets that can accelerate specific workloads.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is to manage the game’s AI, physics, and rendering commands. At 1080p, the high frame rates on Low and Medium settings (241 and 210 FPS) are a direct result of the CPU’s ability to process frames quickly. The 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for this game, which was designed to run on a wide range of hardware. The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly beneficial, as it reduces the need to access slower system memory, which has a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which has an average score of 36,945, just 0.2% lower than the 5500X3D’s 37,018. This suggests that the 3D V-Cache does not provide a significant advantage in synthetic benchmarks, but it may help in games that are cache-sensitive. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36,938, also 0.2% lower, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37,093, 0.2% higher. These small deltas indicate that the CPU is competitive with other mid-range options, though not a clear leader.

The CPU’s percentile rank of 85th among all CPUs is high, reflecting its strong multi-threaded performance. However, in Doom, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K, the frame rates are limited by the GPU, not the CPU. This is evident from the fact that lowering settings from Ultra to Low at 4K only increases FPS from 51 to 85, a 67% improvement, while at 1080p, the same settings change increases FPS from 145 to 241, a 66% improvement. The similar percentage gains suggest that both components are being utilized effectively, but the absolute FPS at 4K is capped by the GPU’s throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS is 178 at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is well above the 144 FPS threshold for high-refresh monitors, making it suitable for smooth gameplay.

*Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations for Doom?*

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 1,314th out of 2,930 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the 55th percentile, meaning it outperforms just over half of all tested configurations.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: At 4K, the GPU is the limiting factor. The average FPS at 4K High is 62, while at 4K Low it is 85. The CPU’s strong single-thread performance is sufficient to feed the GPU, but the RX 7700’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth cap the frame rate.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 179 at 1080p, 116 at 1440p, and 63 at 4K. These minimums indicate that the system maintains a stable frame rate, with the 4K result being the only one that dips close to the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15,852. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 370X, scores 15,862, which is 0.1% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16,129, which is 1.7% higher, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15,679, which is 1.1% lower.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock and L3 cache size?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D has a boost clock of 4.00 GHz and 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large cache helps reduce memory latency, which can benefit gaming performance in titles like Doom that rely on frequent data access.