Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 delivers a playable experience in Doom, but the data clearly shows that the optimal balance of visual fidelity and frame rate depends heavily on your target resolution. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to guide settings selection and contextualize the combo’s standing.

Settings Recommendations

At 1920x1080, the combination is well-equipped for high refresh rate gaming. The Low preset yields an average of 100.6 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo at any resolution. This setting is ideal for competitive play or for users with 144Hz displays, as it comfortably clears the 100 FPS threshold. The Medium preset offers a strong alternative, delivering 88.9 FPS while presumably adding more visual detail, and it remains well above the 60 FPS baseline. High settings drop to 78.1 FPS, which is still smooth, but Ultra falls to 63.0 FPS—this is playable but represents the steepest performance cost for marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, the data suggests that Low is the only preset that maintains a high-refresh experience. With an average of 68.7 FPS, it is the sole 1440p setting above the 60 FPS mark. Medium drops to 57.1 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while High (50.8 FPS) and Ultra (39.8 FPS) become increasingly less fluid. For a consistent 60 FPS experience at this resolution, the Low preset is the recommended choice, as the performance delta between Low and Medium (11.6 FPS) is significant enough to warrant the visual trade-off.

At 3840x2160, the RX 580 is clearly out of its depth. All presets fail to reach 40 FPS, with Low being the best option at 35.5 FPS. Medium (32.5 FPS) and High (28.4 FPS) are marginally worse, while Ultra (24.0 FPS) is nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. Based on the measured rows, 4K gaming with this combo is not recommended, as even the lowest preset struggles to provide a smooth experience.

The overall pattern indicates that the Medium preset at 1080p is the most balanced choice, offering 88.9 FPS while retaining more graphical features than Low. If prioritising maximum frame rate, Low at 1080p is the definitive pick, delivering 100.6 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing holds a rank of 1542 out of 1681 combos. This places it in the bottom percentile, indicating that while it can run the game, it is far from the top tier of hardware configurations. The rank suggests that a substantial majority of other tested combos deliver higher average frame rates.

The CPU, an AMD Ryzen 5 5600, is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, based on the Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture. Its benchmark scores are respectable, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18309 and a single-core score of 2584. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus is 79, meaning it outperforms 79% of all tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (0.6% faster), AMD EPYC 9554P (0.6% slower), and Intel Core i7-11700F (0.9% slower). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the 5600 is a solid mid-range performer.

However, the GPU, an AMD Radeon RX 580, is an older Polaris 20 chip with a percentileVsAllGpus of 53. Its average benchmark score of 13559 places it in a tight cluster with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0% difference) and GTX 950 (0.1% faster). This suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as its performance level is contemporary with much older hardware. The combo’s low rank is therefore primarily attributable to the GPU’s limitations rather than the CPU’s capability.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). For Doom, a game released in 2016, this memory capacity is sufficient, but the bandwidth and the GPU’s compute capabilities are the limiting factors.

The GPU’s base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz. It has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS. These specifications are modest by modern standards and explain the performance drop at higher resolutions. As the resolution increases from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K, the pixel fillrate and memory bandwidth requirements grow exponentially. The measured FPS data confirms this: the average FPS at 1080p Low (100.6) drops to 68.7 at 1440p Low, and further to 35.5 at 4K Low. This scaling reflects the RX 580’s inability to sustain high throughput at pixel densities beyond 1080p.

The GPU’s support for DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3 is relevant, as Doom is known for its Vulkan API performance. However, the hardware’s GCN 4.0 architecture is not optimised for the same level of efficiency as newer designs, which is why the frame rates remain moderate even at lower settings. The 8 GB VRAM is never a constraint in this game, as even the Ultra preset at 4K does not show signs of memory-related stutter, but the compute units are saturated.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear gradient of performance across settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 100.6 FPS, Medium 88.9 FPS, High 78.1 FPS, and Ultra 63.0 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is a 15.1 FPS drop, which is the largest single-setting penalty at this resolution, suggesting that Ultra’s additional effects are disproportionately demanding.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 68.7 FPS, Medium 57.1 FPS, High 50.8 FPS, and Ultra 39.8 FPS. The transition from Medium to High is a 6.3 FPS loss, while High to Ultra is an 11.0 FPS loss. This indicates that Ultra becomes particularly punishing at 1440p, with a 28.9 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance is consistently low: Low 35.5 FPS, Medium 32.5 FPS, High 28.4 FPS, and Ultra 24.0 FPS. The maximum difference between any two presets at 4K is 11.5 FPS (Low vs Ultra), which shows that the GPU is so constrained that even reducing settings yields only marginal gains.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low score of 100.6 FPS is the only entry exceeding the 100 FPS mark. The 1440p Low score of 68.7 FPS is the only 1440p entry above 60 FPS. No 4K entry reaches 40 FPS. This data suggests that the RX 580 is best paired with a 1080p monitor, where it can provide a high-refresh experience on lower presets and a solid 60 FPS experience on Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 FPS experience at 2560x1440?

A: The Low preset is the only 1440p option that averages above 60 FPS, with a measured 68.7 FPS. The Medium preset falls to 57.1 FPS, so Low is required for a consistent 60 FPS target.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 35.5 on the Low preset. The Ultra preset averages 24.0 FPS, which is below acceptable playability for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 has an average benchmark score of 21765. It is 0.6% faster than the Intel Xeon D-1746TER and 0.6% slower than the AMD EPYC 9554P. It sits 0.9% behind the Intel Core i7-11700F.

Q: Is the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom?

A: Yes, the 8 GB GDDR5 memory is not a limiting factor in this game. The performance scaling across resolutions is consistent with compute and bandwidth limitations, not memory capacity.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 100.6, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only setting that breaks the 100 FPS barrier.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 13559. It performs identically (0% delta) to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 and is 0.1% slower than the GTX 950. It is 1.1% faster than the AMD Radeon Pro 455.