Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing delivers a highly playable Doom experience across most settings, with the data revealing a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the combination pushes frame rates well beyond display refresh thresholds, while 4K Ultra demands more than the GPU can consistently deliver, resulting in a noticeable performance cliff.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 142.3 FPS at 1080p to 89.6 FPS at 1440p, then falls further to 50.4 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64.6% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern that strongly indicates the GPU becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior is particularly telling when examining the Low settings preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 194.4 FPS, which drops to 121.9 FPS at 1440p and 66.6 FPS at 4K. The fact that even at the lowest graphical fidelity, 4K performance falls below 70 FPS suggests that pixel throughput, not shader complexity, is the primary constraint. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, are sufficient for the game's demands at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K pixel count overwhelms the GPU's compute resources.

Ultra settings reveal the most dramatic scaling penalty. The 115.3 FPS at 1080p Ultra drops to 76 FPS at 1440p, a 34% reduction, and then plummets to 38.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, a 66.3% drop from the 1440p result. This non-linear decline indicates that the combination of high resolution and maximum visual effects creates a compounding load that the TU106 chip, with its 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, cannot sustain.

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can this combo achieve at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 142.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS standard and suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this setup?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average is 50.4 FPS, which is playable but not smooth. Low settings at 4K reach 66.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 38.8 FPS, indicating that 4K requires significant settings compromises.

Q: How does the CPU perform in synthetic benchmarks relative to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X scores 20680 on average, placing it 0.3% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT and Intel Core i7-10700, and 0.5% behind the Intel Core i5-12490F. It outperforms the Intel Xeon 6325P by 0.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's benchmark standing compared to similar NVIDIA cards?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 19774 on average, which is 0.3% ahead of the GeForce GTX TITAN, 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070, and 0.8% ahead of the Quadro K5200. It leads the Tesla K40m by 1.3%.

Q: Which settings preset provides the best balance at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 yield 110.6 FPS, while Low reaches 121.9 FPS and High sits at 89.6 FPS. Medium offers a strong balance, being 21 FPS faster than High while only 11.3 FPS slower than Low.

Q: Does this combo rank highly among all tested configurations for Doom?

A: The combo ranks 1212 out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the overall distribution. This reflects the mid-range nature of both components rather than any specific incompatibility.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1212 out of 1681 tested combinations places it in the 28th percentile of all systems tested in Doom. This positioning is somewhat surprising given the strong individual benchmark scores of both components. The CPU sits in the 78th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards. The combination of two above-average components yielding a below-median game-specific rank suggests that Doom's engine is particularly sensitive to raw GPU throughput rather than CPU capabilities.

The rank implies that many systems with higher-tier GPUs, even those paired with weaker CPUs, achieve better frame rates in this title. The RTX 2060 SUPER's position relative to its nearest rivals—being only 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070 in average benchmark score—indicates that the performance envelope is tightly clustered. In a game like Doom, which emphasizes high frame rates, the difference between a mid-range and upper-mid-range GPU becomes more pronounced than synthetic benchmarks might suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings spectrum is explored. Low settings produce an average of 194.4 FPS, Medium reaches 167 FPS, High achieves 142.3 FPS, and Ultra delivers 115.3 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40.7% reduction in frame rate, with each settings tier costing roughly 25-28 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 121.9 FPS on Low, 110.6 FPS on Medium, 89.6 FPS on High, and 76 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 37.7%, but the absolute numbers remain comfortably above 60 FPS for all presets. The difference between Medium and High is 21 FPS, the largest single-tier jump at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress significantly. Low averages 66.6 FPS, Medium 56.7 FPS, High 50.4 FPS, and Ultra 38.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 41.7%, but the absolute values tell a different story: only Low settings maintain an average above 60 FPS, and Ultra falls below 40 FPS, which is generally considered the minimum for acceptable playability.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, Ultra settings at 115.3 FPS provide the best visual experience while still exceeding 100 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users with 120Hz or 144Hz monitors. The step down to High saves 27 FPS but sacrifices visual fidelity that the RTX 2060 SUPER can handle at this resolution.

At 1440p, Medium settings at 110.6 FPS offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. High settings drop to 89.6 FPS, which is still smooth for most users, but Medium provides a 23.4% performance uplift over High while the visual difference in Doom's fast-paced action is less noticeable. Ultra at 76 FPS is viable for those prioritizing image quality over frame rate consistency.

For 4K, the recommendation is Low settings at 66.6 FPS, which is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS. Medium at 56.7 FPS is borderline acceptable for slower-paced exploration, but High at 50.4 FPS and Ultra at 38.8 FPS will likely result in noticeable stuttering during intense combat sequences. Users with G-SYNC or FreeSync displays might tolerate High settings, but the data suggests Low is the safest choice for consistent performance.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5600X brings 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its Zen 3 architecture on the 7 nm process delivers strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 917 and a cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622. In Doom, which is known for being GPU-bound at higher resolutions, the CPU's capabilities are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 2060 SUPER.

The processor's multi-threaded performance, with a cinebench R23 multicore score of 18578 and a passmark multithread score of 21858, ensures that background tasks and game engine overhead do not create bottlenecks. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps maintain low latency for frequently accessed data. Given that the 5600X outperforms the Intel Xeon 6325P by 0.7% in average benchmark score, and the GPU is the clear limiting factor at 4K, the CPU's role is to provide consistent frame pacing rather than maximize peak FPS.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rate in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for Doom's texture-heavy environments at 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 1650 MHz and 2176 shading units deliver a peak FP32 throughput of 7.181 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark position, ranking in the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards, reflects its mid-range status. Its 0.3% advantage over the GTX TITAN and 0.5% lead over the RTX 2070 in average score shows that this card sits in a tightly contested performance tier. In Doom specifically, the 4K Ultra result of 38.8 FPS indicates that the TU106 chip lacks the raw compute power for maximum settings at that resolution, while the 1080p Ultra result of 115.3 FPS demonstrates that the card excels when pixel count is more manageable. The 175 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU requirement are modest, making this a practical pairing for mid-range systems.