Doom

# Doom Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a remarkably fluid Doom experience across all tested configurations. With measured average frame rates ranging from 60 FPS at 4K Ultra to 284 FPS at 1080p Low, this combination demonstrates exceptional headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The data indicates a system that prioritizes raw frame throughput, with the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and the CPU's six Zen 3 cores working in concert to produce some of the highest frame rates seen in this benchmark database for the title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four quality presets, with the optimal choice depending heavily on target resolution and display refresh rate. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 209 FPS average, which is already far beyond what most displays can show, while the Ultra preset still manages a very playable 171 FPS. For 1440p gaming, the High preset's 135 FPS average represents the sweet spot for 144 Hz displays, offering a 25 FPS advantage over Ultra's 110 FPS. At 4K, the High preset's 73 FPS average is the most balanced option, sitting comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while maintaining visual fidelity.

For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, the Low preset at 1080p produces 284 FPS average, which is 66% higher than the High preset at the same resolution. This massive frame rate advantage comes at the cost of visual quality, but for players using 240 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors, this becomes the only option that fully utilizes the display's capabilities. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, providing 247 FPS at 1080p and 160 FPS at 1440p, with the data showing minimum frame rates of 210 FPS at 1080p and 136 FPS at 1440p, indicating consistent performance without significant drops.

The Ultra preset, while visually impressive, shows the largest performance penalty across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 171 FPS, which is still highly playable, but at 4K it drops to exactly 60 FPS average, suggesting the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this extreme combination. For most users, the High preset emerges as the recommended choice due to its balanced performance across all three resolutions, offering frame rates that are 18-22% higher than Ultra while maintaining most of the visual enhancements that matter in fast-paced gameplay.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X brings six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. With a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, this processor demonstrates strong single-threaded performance that is crucial for Doom's engine. The benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 917 in 3DMark and 1541 in Cinebench R23, with the CPU placing in the 75th percentile against all CPUs in the database.

The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core provide the low-latency memory access that Doom's id Tech 6 engine benefits from. The 65 W TDP rating indicates efficient power delivery, allowing sustained boost clocks during extended gaming sessions. The processor's average benchmark score of 21771 places it within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H and Intel Core i7-11700, showing that the 5600X competes well with higher-tier processors in general workloads.

In the context of Doom's performance, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 284 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to maintain extremely high frame rates. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores show scaling from 1793 at 2 threads to 5588 at maximum threads, indicating that the processor efficiently utilizes its available threads for gaming workloads. The Geekbench multicore score of 9173 reinforces that this CPU provides sufficient computational headroom for Doom's physics and AI systems, even at the highest frame rates measured.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT features the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process with 28,100 million transistors. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz, paired with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration proves particularly valuable at 4K resolution, where the High preset maintains 73 FPS average without dropping below playable thresholds.

The GPU's 3840 shading units and 96 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s, which translates to 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance. These specifications explain the substantial frame rate differences between Low and Ultra presets at each resolution. At 1080p, the spread from 284 FPS at Low to 171 FPS at Ultra represents a 40% performance penalty for maximum visual quality, while at 4K the same comparison shows 99 FPS versus 60 FPS, a 39% penalty that pushes the Ultra preset to exactly 60 FPS average.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a Passmark G3D score of 24176 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157, with the GPU placing in the 51st percentile against all GPUs. The nearest rival comparisons reveal interesting positioning, with the RX 7800 XT scoring within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 and 0.9% above the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M in average benchmark scores. However, these synthetic benchmarks do not fully capture the RX 7800 XT's gaming capabilities, as the measured Doom frame rates demonstrate exceptional performance that belies the mid-pack percentile ranking.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings in Doom?

A: Yes, the data shows exactly 60 FPS average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This represents the baseline for smooth gameplay, though High settings at 4K provide a more comfortable margin at 73 FPS average.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average is 284 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this CPU-GPU pairing in Doom, likely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance at such extreme frame rates.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: At every resolution, Medium delivers 18-22% higher frame rates than High. Specifically, Medium achieves 247 FPS versus 209 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS versus 135 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS versus 73 FPS at 4K.

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

A: The 60 FPS average at 4K Ultra, compared to 171 FPS at 1080p Ultra, indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution. The CPU's single-thread performance is sufficient to drive over 280 FPS at lower resolutions.

Q: What minimum frame rates can be expected at Medium settings?

A: The data shows minimum FPS values only for Medium settings: 210 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. These minimums indicate consistent frame pacing without severe dips.

Q: How does the 1440p High experience compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1440p High, the system delivers 135 FPS average, while 1080p Ultra achieves 171 FPS. The 1440p High experience offers higher resolution with a 36 FPS penalty, which many players would consider a worthwhile trade-off for improved image clarity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the performance characteristics of this hardware combination. At High settings, the system delivers 209 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 135 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction), and further to 73 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern shows that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, while the CPU maintains sufficient headroom throughout.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 284 FPS at 1080p falling to 184 FPS at 1440p and 99 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p (35%) and from 1440p to 4K (46%) are consistent with High settings, suggesting the GPU is the dominant factor in resolution scaling regardless of quality preset. The Medium preset follows a similar pattern: 247 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, and 87 FPS at 4K, maintaining the same proportional relationship.

Ultra settings exhibit the most severe resolution scaling, with 171 FPS at 1080p dropping to 110 FPS at 1440p and finally to 60 FPS at 4K. The 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 45% reduction from 1440p to 4K indicate that the GPU's rendering workload at Ultra settings amplifies the resolution impact. The fact that performance never drops below 60 FPS even at the most demanding configuration suggests a well-balanced system where the GPU's 16 GB memory buffer and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth prevent VRAM-related stutters.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 284 FPS average, representing the maximum frame throughput of this configuration. Medium settings deliver 247 FPS average with a minimum of 210 FPS and maximum of 284 FPS, showing tight frame pacing. High settings achieve 209 FPS average, while Ultra settings still maintain 171 FPS, making every preset at 1080p suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains highly playable across the board. Low settings yield 184 FPS average, Medium delivers 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 184 FPS, High achieves 135 FPS, and Ultra maintains 110 FPS. These figures indicate that 1440p with High or Ultra settings provides an excellent balance for 144 Hz displays, while Medium and Low exceed the refresh rate capabilities of most monitors.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limits while remaining playable. Low settings produce 99 FPS average, Medium delivers 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, High achieves 73 FPS, and Ultra reaches exactly 60 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that this combination can handle 4K gaming comfortably at High settings, with the Medium preset offering the best combination of visual quality and performance headroom for 4K 60 Hz displays. The minimum frame rate of 74 FPS at Medium settings suggests that even during intense combat sequences, the system maintains smooth gameplay.