Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers exceptional performance in Doom, ranking 278th out of 2,930 tested processor and graphics card combinations. This places the combo in the top 9.5% of all configurations tested for this title, a strong result that reflects the synergy between the CPU's large cache and the GPU's raw throughput. The data shows that this pairing is well-balanced for the game's engine, though the specific bottlenecks shift predictably as resolution and settings change.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo achieves a rank of 278 out of 2,930 possible combinations, putting it firmly in the upper echelon of tested systems for Doom. This percentile position indicates that the Ryzen 5 5500X3D and RTX 4080 SUPER combination outperforms the vast majority of alternatives, with only about 9.5% of combos delivering higher frame rates. The ranking is particularly impressive given the CPU’s modest core count of 6 cores and 12 threads, suggesting that Doom’s engine is more sensitive to the CPU's 96 MB of shared L3 cache than to raw multi-threading capability.

Looking at the individual components, the CPU’s average benchmark score of 37,018 places it nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with a delta of just 0.2% against the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and -0.2% against the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450. The GPU’s average score of 54,209 is similarly tight, sitting 0.1% below the standard RTX 4080 and 1.1% below the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X. These marginal differences in synthetic benchmarks translate into a combo ranking that is dominated by how well the two parts interact under Doom's specific workload, rather than by any single component's raw score.

The 85th percentile ranking for the CPU against all processors and the 86th percentile for the GPU against all graphics cards confirm that both are high-end parts individually. However, the combo’s 278th place out of 2,930 suggests that while each component is strong, the pairing is not necessarily the absolute peak configuration for this game. The data indicates there are 277 other combos that achieve higher frame rates, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs, but for the vast majority of users, this setup will provide a top-tier experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the RTX 4080 SUPER handles Doom across its four quality presets. At 1080p, the differences between settings are relatively small in percentage terms, with Low achieving 306 FPS, Medium at 292 FPS, High at 275 FPS, and Ultra at 240 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 35 FPS, a 12.7% drop, which is a significant penalty for the visual improvements Ultra offers. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, High is the sweet spot, delivering 275 FPS while remaining well above the 240 FPS threshold that Ultra barely clears.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts slightly. Low runs at 259 FPS, Medium at 225 FPS, High at 190 FPS, and Ultra at 155 FPS. Here, the drop from High to Ultra is 35 FPS again, but the percentage loss is larger at 18.4%. Medium presents a strong compromise, offering 225 FPS, which is nearly 35 FPS higher than High. For most users at 1440p, Medium or High will be the recommended settings, as both stay well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors, while Ultra’s 155 FPS is still playable but leaves less headroom.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor more prominently. Low delivers 140 FPS, Medium 122 FPS, High 103 FPS, and Ultra 84 FPS. The data shows a steady decline with each preset step. Ultra at 84 FPS is still smooth for most displays, but the 19 FPS gap between High and Ultra is substantial. For a 4K 120 Hz display, Medium at 122 FPS is the optimal choice, as it clears the refresh rate threshold while providing a noticeable visual upgrade over Low. High at 103 FPS is also viable if visual fidelity is prioritized over hitting the exact refresh rate cap.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the balance between CPU and GPU load. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 306 FPS at 1080p to 259 FPS at 1440p (a 15.4% decrease) and then to 140 FPS at 4K (a 45.9% decrease from 1440p). This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p Low, the CPU is the primary limiter, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. The large drop to 4K shows the GPU starting to hit its limits, but even at 4K Low, the 140 FPS result suggests the CPU is still contributing to the bottleneck.

At Medium settings, the scaling is more linear: 292 FPS at 1080p, 225 FPS at 1440p (a 22.9% drop), and 122 FPS at 4K (a 45.8% drop from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across resolutions indicate that the workload is scaling as expected with pixel count, and the GPU is becoming the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The 4K Medium result of 122 FPS, with a minimum of 104 FPS, shows that the GPU is being pushed but still maintaining playable frame rates.

The High settings show a similar trend: 275 FPS at 1080p, 190 FPS at 1440p (a 30.9% drop), and 103 FPS at 4K (a 45.8% drop from 1440p). The larger drop from 1080p to 1440p at High compared to Low suggests that the increased graphical load is starting to engage the GPU more significantly. At 4K High, the 103 FPS average indicates a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 4080 SUPER is working near its full capacity for this game. The Ultra preset confirms this: 240 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p (a 35.4% drop), and 84 FPS at 4K (a 45.8% drop from 1440p). The consistent 45.8% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings is a clear sign that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K, regardless of quality preset.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU and GPU in Doom?*

A: The data shows that at 1440p Medium, the combo achieves 225 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming. For 4K, Medium at 122 FPS is the best balance, as it clears the 120 Hz threshold while maintaining visual quality.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500X3D's 96 MB of L3 cache affect performance?

A: The CPU's large 96 MB shared L3 cache likely explains why its 6-core, 12-thread configuration performs so well in Doom, as the game appears to benefit from the cache, allowing the combo to rank in the top 9.5% of all tested configurations.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER the limiting factor at 4K?

A: Yes, the FPS data indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The consistent 45.8% drop in frame rate from 1440p to 4K across all settings confirms that the graphics card is working at its limit, while the CPU has more headroom.

Q: How does this combo compare to the standard RTX 4080?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, which is 0.1% lower than the standard RTX 4080's score of 54,247. This suggests the two GPUs perform virtually identically in synthetic tests, and in Doom, the combo's ranking is likely similar.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded in the data is 104 FPS, which occurs at 4K Medium settings. This is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating stable performance.

Q: Should I use Low settings to maximize frame rate?

A: At 1080p, Low settings achieve 306 FPS, but High settings still deliver 275 FPS, a difference of only 10%. Given the small FPS penalty, High is recommended for better visual quality without sacrificing much performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1438 MHz, translating to 23 Gbps effective, and the GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz. These specifications make the card a high-end part, as evidenced by its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 54,209.

In Doom, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor, as even Ultra settings achieve 240 FPS, which is well above the CPU's ability to feed frames. However, at 4K, the GPU's workload increases significantly, and the frame rates drop to 140 FPS at Low and 84 FPS at Ultra. This indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is being fully utilized at 4K, with the 16 GB of VRAM providing ample capacity for the game's textures at all settings.

The GPU's 10240 shading units and 320 TMUs contribute to its high texture and pixel rates of 816.0 GTexel/s and 285.6 GPixel/s, respectively. These figures explain why the card can maintain high frame rates even at 4K High, where it achieves 103 FPS. The card's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, though Doom's 2016 release does not heavily utilize ray tracing or AI features, making the FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS the more relevant metric for this game. The 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die highlight the architectural efficiency that allows the card to deliver these results within a 320 W TDP.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer) on a 7 nm TSMC process. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. The CPU's defining feature is its 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is significantly larger than typical processors in its class. This cache configuration is likely the reason the CPU performs well in Doom, as the game's engine appears to benefit from the large cache to reduce memory latency.

The CPU's benchmark scores show a strong single-thread performance of 2,941 in the PassMark single-thread test, and a multi-thread score of 20,363. These scores place the CPU in the 85th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 37,018. The nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, have nearly identical average scores, with deltas of just 0.2%, indicating that the 5500X3D is competitive with other mid-range to high-end CPUs.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p and 1440p Low settings, where the frame rates are high enough that the CPU becomes the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 306 FPS, which is likely near the maximum that the CPU can feed to the GPU. The 12 threads and 6 cores are sufficient for the game's engine, and the 96 MB L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The CPU's 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for the game's requirements, and the 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes provide enough bandwidth for the RTX 4080 SUPER.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings achieve an average of 306 FPS, Medium 292 FPS with a minimum of 248 FPS and maximum of 336 FPS, High 275 FPS, and Ultra 240 FPS. The data shows that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution, as the GPU has significant headroom. The difference between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS, a 21.6% drop, which is noticeable but still leaves all settings well above the 200 FPS mark.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear GPU influence. Low settings average 259 FPS, Medium 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS and maximum of 259 FPS, High 190 FPS, and Ultra 155 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 104 FPS, a 40.2% drop, indicating that the GPU is starting to become a more significant factor. The Medium setting's minimum of 191 FPS shows good consistency, with the maximum matching the Low setting's average, suggesting the GPU is still capable of pushing high frame rates when the scene allows.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the dominant bottleneck. Low settings average 140 FPS, Medium 122 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS and maximum of 140 FPS, High 103 FPS, and Ultra 84 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 56 FPS, a 40% reduction, similar to the percentage drop at 1440p. The Medium setting at 4K shows a minimum of 104 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but the Ultra setting's 84 FPS average is the lowest recorded for this combo, indicating that the RTX 4080 SUPER is being pushed to its limits at this resolution and quality level.