Doom

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + Intel Arc B390 combination perform in Doom at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 107 FPS on Low settings, 93 FPS on Medium, 78 FPS on High, and 64 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p Low result is the only measured configuration that exceeds the 100 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a balance of visual quality and frame rate?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p provides 93 FPS average, which is 15 FPS higher than High and 29 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p, Medium delivers 60 FPS while High drops to 51 FPS. Medium offers the most consistent experience across resolutions.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. It sits 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% ahead of the GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% ahead of the GT 710 (1443). Its percentile rank among all GPUs is 9.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance relative to its closest competitors?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 20363 in Passmark multithread tests. Its average benchmark score is 37018, placing it 0.2% above the Ryzen 5 5600F (36945), 0.2% above the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938), 0.2% below the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093), and 0.3% below the Core i9-12900T (37112). The CPU ranks in the 85th percentile among all processors.

Q: Does the GPU have dedicated VRAM?

A: No. The Intel Arc B390 uses System Shared memory for both size and type, with bandwidth listed as System Dependent. This means the GPU relies on the system's main memory rather than dedicated graphics memory.

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

A: The combination ranks 2580 out of 2930 total tested combos in the game, placing it in the lower portion of the database's results table.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal settings preset for this hardware combination. At 1080p, Medium produces 93 FPS average, which is 15 FPS below Low but 15 FPS above High and 29 FPS above Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium costs only 14 FPS while providing substantial visual improvements. The gap between Medium and High is equally telling: 15 FPS is sacrificed for the move to High settings.

At 1440p, the argument for Medium strengthens. Medium achieves 60 FPS average, which is exactly the standard refresh rate target. Low produces 69 FPS, but the extra 9 FPS comes at the cost of reduced visual fidelity. High drops to 51 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS. Medium is the only preset that balances playability with acceptable visuals at this resolution.

The 4K results make Medium less appealing. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 and maximum of 37. Low achieves 37 FPS, High 28 FPS, and Ultra 22 FPS. None of these configurations reach playable frame rates, so the choice at 4K is about minimizing stutter rather than maximizing quality. Low provides the highest average and avoids the sub-30 dips seen in Medium's minimum frame rate.

For users prioritizing smooth gameplay, the data suggests Medium at 1080p as the primary recommendation. The 93 FPS average leaves headroom for demanding scenes, and the minimum FPS of 79 indicates the hardware can maintain playable performance during intense moments. At 1440p, Medium is the only preset that hits 60 FPS average, making it the default choice for 60Hz displays. Low at 1080p is the option for high-refresh pursuit, delivering 107 FPS, but the visual tradeoff is significant.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 93 at 1080p to 60 at 1440p (a 35.5% reduction) and then to 33 at 4K (a 45.0% reduction from 1440p). The consistent scaling pattern indicates the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component as resolution increases.

The High preset shows similar scaling behavior. From 78 FPS at 1080p to 51 FPS at 1440p is a 34.6% drop, and from 1440p to 4K the decrease is 45.1% to 28 FPS. The near-identical percentage drops across settings suggest the GPU's rendering pipeline saturates at each resolution regardless of the quality preset.

Low settings exhibit the same trend. The 107 FPS at 1080p falls to 69 FPS at 1440p (35.5% reduction) and then to 37 FPS at 4K (46.4% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across all three presets points to a purely resolution-driven bottleneck. The CPU, with its 96 MB of shared L3 cache and 6 cores, is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The 4K results are uniformly poor, with even Low settings failing to reach 40 FPS. This indicates the Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 24 ROPs are insufficient for 4K rendering in Doom. The 1080p to 1440p transition maintains playability for Medium and Low presets, but the 1440p to 4K jump crosses into unplayable territory for all settings.

The scaling pattern also suggests the System Shared memory configuration plays a role. As resolution increases, the GPU requires more memory bandwidth, and the System Dependent bandwidth figure becomes a limiting factor. The 51.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of the CPU is shared with the GPU, creating contention at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: Low settings produce an average of 107 FPS, the highest measured result for this combo. Medium averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107. High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra drops to 64 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 43 FPS, demonstrating significant scaling across quality presets.

2560x1440: Low achieves 69 FPS average. Medium delivers 60 FPS with a minimum of 51 and maximum of 69. High averages 51 FPS, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS. The 28 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, reflecting the GPU's diminishing capacity as resolution increases.

3840x2160: Low produces 37 FPS average. Medium averages 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 and maximum of 37. High drops to 28 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 22 FPS. The 15 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K shows that settings have reduced impact when the GPU is heavily constrained.

The Medium presets at each resolution include minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 79 FPS is 84.9% of the average, indicating reasonably stable performance. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 51 FPS is 85.0% of the average. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 28 FPS is 84.8% of the average. The consistency of these ratios suggests the frame pacing remains stable even as absolute performance drops.

Ultra settings at all resolutions show the steepest penalties. At 1080p, Ultra is 31.2% slower than High (64 vs 78 FPS). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 19.6% (41 vs 51 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is 21.4% slower than High (22 vs 28 FPS). The Ultra preset's additional visual features exact a disproportionate cost on this GPU.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the clear performance limiter in this configuration. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts. The 1.3% advantage over the GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% over the GT 710 illustrates the performance tier this GPU occupies.

The GPU's specifications explain the measured results. With 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, the Arc B390 has limited pixel throughput. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p but insufficient for higher resolutions. The FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) confirm the compute limitations.

The 12 RT cores are present but contribute little in Doom, which does not heavily utilize ray tracing. The DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API support ensure compatibility with modern rendering paths, but the raw hardware throughput caps performance.

The System Shared memory configuration is a significant constraint. With no dedicated VRAM, the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth. The System Dependent bandwidth figure means performance scales with the platform's memory subsystem. The dual-channel DDR4 at 51.2 GB/s theoretical bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU needs to move larger framebuffers through the shared memory pool.

The GPU's boost clock of 2500 MHz with a base of 300 MHz indicates aggressive power management. The 80 W TDP and IGP form factor suggest this is a mobile-oriented part, explaining the low percentile ranking. The 3 nm process node from Intel allows for the high boost clock, but the small chip size limits overall throughput.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D provides ample processing power for Doom. Its Passmark multithread score of 20363 and single-thread score of 2941 place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. The average benchmark score of 37018 is effectively tied with its nearest rivals, all within 0.3% delta.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with Zen 3 architecture and Vermeer codename deliver strong gaming performance. The 96 MB shared L3 cache is the standout feature, providing high hit rates for game assets. The base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost of 4.00 GHz are modest, but the large cache compensates in gaming workloads.

Passmark sub-scores reveal the CPU's strengths. The integer math score of 60033 and floating point math of 34511 show balanced compute capability. The extended instructions score of 15925 and data encryption of 13967 indicate strong SIMD performance. The data compression score of 230392 and random string sorting of 23675 suggest excellent memory subsystem efficiency.

The 7 nm TSMC process node and 74 mm² die size contribute to the 105 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 with dual-channel memory and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is sufficient for the GPU's System Shared memory requirements at 1080p but becomes strained at 4K.

The nearest rival comparisons show the Ryzen 5 5500X3D is well-positioned. It edges out the Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225 by 0.2% each, while trailing the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 and Core i9-12900T by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. These negligible differences indicate the CPU is not a differentiator in Doom performance.

In Doom specifically, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. At 1080p Low, the 107 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the GPU's limits prevent higher frame rates. The consistent percentage drops across resolutions confirm that the CPU is not the bottleneck. Even at 4K, where the GPU struggles, the CPU's 12 threads and large cache ensure game logic and draw calls are processed without delays.