Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers a performance profile in Doom that is heavily skewed by resolution and preset. The data shows a combination capable of extreme frame rates at 1080p, but one that encounters a clear performance ceiling as resolution increases. This analysis breaks down the measured results, contextualizes them against other tested combinations, and examines the role each component plays in the final output.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combination in Doom?

A: The combo ranks 710th out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 19.1% of all tested systems for this game.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5600 compare to its closest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600 has an average benchmark score of 20468. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, scores 20454, which is a 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen 5 8500G trails by 0.2% with a score of 20425, while the AMD EPYC 9454P also sits 0.2% behind.

Q: What is the best measured average FPS for this combo at 4K resolution?

A: The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 119, achieved with the Low preset. The Medium preset delivers 103 FPS, High delivers 87 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71 FPS.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 219 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 132 FPS. This represents a 65.9% performance increase for the Low preset over Ultra.

Q: Does the GPU have a high percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: No, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT has a percentile rank of 55 against all GPUs, meaning it is roughly in the middle of the pack according to its average benchmark score of 13745.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the minimum is 251 FPS, at 1440p it is 162 FPS, and at 4K it is 88 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary driver of frame rate in Doom, and its specifications from the FACT PACK explain the performance scaling observed. The GPU features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. This substantial memory configuration is likely a key factor in maintaining playable frame rates at higher resolutions, as the data shows the 4K results are still robust.

The GPU's clock speeds are also relevant. The base clock is 1387 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz and a boost clock of 2394 MHz. The boost behavior is critical, as the measured FPS at lower resolutions suggests the GPU is operating at or near its peak capability. The architecture is RDNA 3.0 on a 5 nm process, with 5376 shading units and 192 ROPs. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are high, which aligns with the strong performance seen at 1440p.

However, the GPU's percentile rank of 55 is notably modest, and its average benchmark score of 13745 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 660M (13812, a -0.5% difference). This suggests that while the card is powerful in a gaming context, its general compute benchmarks do not distinguish it from a wide range of other GPUs. In this game, the GPU's role is to translate its raw specifications into high frame rates, and the data indicates that it is the component that becomes the limiting factor as resolution scales up.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 710 out of 3712 tested combinations places it in the 81st percentile of all tested systems for Doom. This is a strong result, indicating that the pairing is well-suited for this title. However, the ranking is a single data point that obscures the significant variance across settings and resolutions.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals is tight. The Ryzen 5 5600's average benchmark score of 20468 is only 0.1% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (20454), and 0.2% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G and AMD EPYC 9454P. This indicates that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in the overall combo ranking; the GPU and its interaction with the game's engine are more responsible for the final position.

The GPU's benchmark position is more complex. Its average score of 13745 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon 660M (13812, -0.5%) and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13821, -0.5%). The fact that a desktop high-end card like the RX 7900 XT is ranked so closely to integrated and mobile solutions in general compute benchmarks is a data anomaly, but it does not reflect the gaming performance shown in the measured FPS. In Doom, the combo's rank is likely driven by the GPU's gaming-specific capabilities rather than its average benchmark score.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four presets.

At 1920x1080, the results are exceptionally high. The Low preset achieves an average of 338 FPS, the Medium preset 295 FPS (with a minimum of 251 and maximum of 339), the High preset 249 FPS, and the Ultra preset 203 FPS. All these figures are far beyond the refresh rate of typical monitors, indicating that the CPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains very strong but begins to drop. The Low preset averages 219 FPS, Medium 191 FPS (min 162, max 219), High 161 FPS, and Ultra 132 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent reduction of roughly 35% across all presets, suggesting a shift in the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The Low preset averages 119 FPS, Medium 103 FPS (min 88, max 119), High 87 FPS, and Ultra 71 FPS. These numbers are still playable, but the gap between the Ultra preset at 4K (71 FPS) and the Low preset at 1080p (338 FPS) is substantial, highlighting the performance cost of higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable and steep decline in FPS as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. The average FPS for the High preset drops from 249 at 1080p, to 161 at 1440p, and finally to 87 at 4K. This represents a 35.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46.0% drop from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 65.1%.

This scaling pattern is a strong indicator of the limiting component. At 1080p, the extremely high frame rates (338 FPS on Low) suggest the CPU is the bottleneck, as the GPU is capable of rendering frames faster than the CPU can feed it. The Ryzen 5 5600 has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, and its single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 882) appears sufficient for this task at lower resolutions.

As resolution increases, the GPU's workload becomes more demanding. The RX 7900 XT's 800.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are taxed more heavily. The 4K results, where the Ultra preset drops to 71 FPS, show that the GPU is now the limiting factor. The performance scaling is not linear, which means the bottleneck transition is not clean, but the overall trend is clear: the CPU is the limit at 1080p, and the GPU becomes the limit at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 203 FPS. This is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor and provides the best visual quality. The data suggests that users with 1080p displays should select the Ultra preset without concern, as the frame rate remains above 200 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 132 FPS. This is still excellent for most displays, but the drop from the High preset (161 FPS) is noticeable. For users with a 144Hz monitor, the High preset is the better choice, as it provides a 22% higher average FPS while likely offering a minimal visual difference. The Medium preset at 191 FPS is the best option for those seeking maximum smoothness, but the High preset is the recommended balance.

For 3840x2160, the situation is different. The Ultra preset averages 71 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset averages 87 FPS, which is a more comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 103 FPS, which is the best choice for a 4K display with a 100Hz or 120Hz refresh rate. The data indicates that the High preset is the optimal choice for 4K, offering a significant FPS boost over Ultra while maintaining high visual fidelity. The Low preset at 119 FPS is an option for competitive play, but the visual quality trade-off is substantial.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 plays a crucial role in the high frame rates seen at 1080p. As a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, it provides a solid foundation for gaming. Its boost clock of 4.40 GHz is key to its single-thread performance, which is often the most important factor in older games like Doom (released in 2016). The CPU's 3dmark_single_thread score of 882 is a modest number, but in this game, it is sufficient to drive frame rates above 300 FPS at 1080p.

The CPU's cache configuration includes 32 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant amount and helps with game data access. Its memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is standard for DDR4, and it is not a limiting factor in this context. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as the cinebench_r23_multicore score of 18309 and the passmark_multithread score of 21541, indicate a balanced processor that is not a weak link in the system.

However, the data shows that the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p (around 35%) is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the bottleneck. The CPU is still providing enough data to the GPU, but the GPU's rendering time dominates the frame time. In this sense, the Ryzen 5 5600 is a capable partner for the RX 7900 XT, but it is not a performance differentiator. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% of its average benchmark score, which suggests that swapping in a comparable CPU would have little effect on the measured FPS in Doom. The CPU's 65W TDP is low, which means it is efficient, but the performance ceiling in this game is ultimately set by the GPU at higher resolutions.