Doom

# Doom: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 — Benchmark Analysis

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Doom (2016), with measured frame rates ranging from 96.7 FPS at 4K Ultra to 352.1 FPS at 1080p Low. The combination ranks 43rd out of 1681 tested CPU-GPU pairings in this title, placing it in the top 2.6% of all configurations. The data reveals a system where the GPU's immense computational headroom is increasingly constrained by the CPU at lower resolutions, yet still produces playable-to-excellent results across all tested scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best overall frame rate this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 352.1 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the more demanding 4K Ultra preset, the average drops to 96.7 FPS, which remains comfortably playable.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600X has an average benchmark score of 20,680. Its closest competitor, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT, scores 20,740, placing the 5600X just 0.3% behind. The Intel Core i7-10700 matches at 20,746 (0.3% ahead), while the Intel Core i5-12490F is 0.5% ahead with 20,794. The Intel Xeon 6325P trails by 0.7% at 20,538.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 5090 sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a mere 0.1% difference.

Q: How much does frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 274.7 at 1920x1080 to 180.7 at 2560x1440, then to 96.7 at 3840x2160. This represents a 64.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Which settings preset provides the highest frame rate at each resolution?

A: Low settings consistently deliver the highest FPS: 352.1 at 1080p, 298.2 at 1440p, and 163.1 at 4K. Medium settings sit between Low and High at every resolution.

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

A: Yes, the combo ranks 43rd out of 1,681 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.6% of all CPU-GPU pairings for this specific game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the Low preset yields the highest average frame rates at every resolution: 352.1 FPS at 1080p, 298.2 FPS at 1440p, and 163.1 FPS at 4K. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, Low settings provide the maximum headroom, particularly at 1080p where the frame rate exceeds 350 FPS.

However, the High preset offers a more balanced experience. At 1080p, High delivers 315.7 FPS, which is only 10.3% lower than Low while presumably offering improved visual fidelity. At 1440p, High achieves 217.6 FPS, still well above the 144Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. At 4K, High maintains 119.8 FPS, which is suitable for 120Hz displays.

Ultra settings impose the heaviest performance penalty across all resolutions. The drop from High to Ultra is substantial: 315.7 to 274.7 FPS at 1080p (a 13% reduction), 217.6 to 180.7 FPS at 1440p (17% reduction), and 119.8 to 96.7 FPS at 4K (19.3% reduction). Given that Ultra still produces playable frame rates at every resolution, users with 4K displays may prefer it for maximum visual quality, while those prioritizing frame rate should select High or Medium.

Medium settings provide a middle ground: 339 FPS at 1080p, 261.3 FPS at 1440p, and 141.3 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that for most users, High at 1080p or 1440p represents the optimal balance, while 4K users must choose between Ultra's 96.7 FPS and High's 119.8 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the system's bottleneck characteristics. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 352.1 at 1080p to 298.2 at 1440p (15.3% decrease) and then to 163.1 at 4K (a further 45.3% decrease from 1440p). This pattern—a modest drop at 1440p followed by a dramatic fall at 4K—indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes increasingly dominant at 4K.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more linear: 274.7 FPS at 1080p, 180.7 FPS at 1440p (34.2% decrease), and 96.7 FPS at 4K (46.5% decrease from 1440p). The larger relative drops at each step suggest that Ultra settings place more sustained load on the GPU, reducing the CPU's ability to mask performance differences.

The gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 77.4 FPS (352.1 vs 274.7). At 1440p, it grows to 117.5 FPS (298.2 vs 180.7). At 4K, the gap is 66.4 FPS (163.1 vs 96.7). This non-monotonic pattern—peaking at 1440p—suggests that 1440p is where the CPU can still push high frame rates while the GPU's additional work from Ultra settings becomes more apparent.

The data indicates a system that is CPU-bound at 1080p, particularly at lower settings, transitioning to GPU-bound behavior as resolution and settings increase. The RTX 5090's massive compute resources are only fully utilized at 4K, where even Ultra settings produce sub-100 FPS results.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination achieves a rank of 43 out of 1,681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 97.4th percentile of all configurations. This top-tier ranking is notable given that the CPU is from the older Zen 3 architecture, while the GPU is NVIDIA's latest Blackwell flagship.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 20,680 places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's 84,306 average score places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. The discrepancy between these percentiles—78th for CPU versus 94th for GPU—suggests that the CPU is the weaker component in this pairing, and the combo's high ranking in Doom reflects the game's relatively modest CPU requirements.

Among the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Core i5-12490F scores 0.5% higher in synthetic benchmarks, yet the Ryzen 5 5600X's 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 32 MB L3 cache appears sufficient for Doom's needs. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores nearly identically (0.1% lower), confirming that the RTX 5090's performance is consistent with its closest market counterpart.

The rank of 43 out of 1,681 means that only 42 other tested combinations deliver higher frame rates in Doom. Given the RTX 5090's position in the 94th percentile of GPUs, this ranking suggests that the CPU choice has a measurable impact on final performance, even with the most powerful consumer GPU available.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 brings substantial resources to this pairing: 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, while 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operations processors provide the computational foundation. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz drive a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

In Doom, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the 352.1 FPS average suggests the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU could likely render more frames if the CPU could feed it faster. The frame rate only drops by 15.3% when moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, indicating that the GPU has sufficient headroom to absorb the additional pixel workload.

The GPU's 32 GB of VRAM is vastly more than Doom requires, even at 4K Ultra with the game's 2016-era texture sizes. This means VRAM capacity is never a constraint, and the measured frame rates reflect pure compute and bandwidth performance rather than memory limitations.

The 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth becomes more relevant at 4K, where the frame rate drops to 96.7 FPS at Ultra settings. This suggests that while the GPU is powerful enough for the game's rendering workload, the combination of memory bandwidth and compute throughput determines the final 4K performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 352.1 FPS average
• Medium: 339 FPS average
• High: 315.7 FPS average
• Ultra: 274.7 FPS average

At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 77.4 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 13.1 FPS (3.7% reduction), while Medium to High costs 23.3 FPS (6.9% reduction). The largest step is High to Ultra, which costs 41 FPS (13% reduction).

2560x1440:

• Low: 298.2 FPS average
• Medium: 261.3 FPS average
• High: 217.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 180.7 FPS average

At 1440p, the spread widens to 117.5 FPS. The incremental costs are: Low to Medium loses 36.9 FPS (12.4%), Medium to High loses 43.7 FPS (16.7%), and High to Ultra loses 36.9 FPS (17%). The percentage cost of each settings step increases at 1440p compared to 1080p.

3840x2160:

• Low: 163.1 FPS average
• Medium: 141.3 FPS average
• High: 119.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 96.7 FPS average

At 4K, the spread is 66.4 FPS. The steps are: Low to Medium loses 21.8 FPS (13.4%), Medium to High loses 21.5 FPS (15.2%), and High to Ultra loses 23.1 FPS (19.3%). The percentage cost of Ultra settings continues to rise with resolution.

Across all resolutions, the data shows consistent performance hierarchy with Low fastest, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra slowest. The absolute frame rates remain playable even at 4K Ultra, and the 1080p results exceed the refresh rates of virtually all gaming monitors.