Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Doom with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti reveals a steep performance curve as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 148 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 96 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 52 FPS, which is 65% below the 1080p Low result. This pattern—where every resolution step costs a substantial chunk of frame rate—points squarely at the GPU as the limiting component. The GTX 1660 Ti's 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being saturated as pixel count rises, while the CPU has ample headroom.

The scaling between settings at each resolution reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p, the spread from Low (148 FPS) to Ultra (89 FPS) is 59 FPS, a 40% penalty for maxing out quality. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 39 FPS (96 Low vs. 57 Ultra), and at 4K it tightens further to 21 FPS (52 Low vs. 31 Ultra). As resolution increases, the absolute difference between presets shrinks because the GPU becomes the bottleneck regardless of settings. The data implies that at 4K, even dropping to Low cannot rescue playability—52 FPS average is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider smooth—whereas at 1080p, even Ultra stays above 89 FPS.

Notably, the Medium preset at each resolution sits almost exactly midway between Low and High in average FPS, but the min/max readings for Medium reveal consistency. At 1080p Medium, the min is 109 FPS and max is 148 FPS, matching the High average and Low average respectively, suggesting the GPU is delivering a stable frame pacing window at these settings. The 4K Medium row shows a min of 38 FPS and max of 52 FPS, which brackets the Low average exactly—another sign that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the hard ceiling, not the CPU or memory subsystem.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 Ti is a Turing-architecture card built on TSMC's 12 nm process, with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed across a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications align closely with the observed 4K behavior: at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 31, which is below the 38 FPS Low average at the same resolution. The card's 48 ROPs and 84.96 GPixel/s pixel rate are likely being overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels of 4K, even with reduced shading load.

The memory capacity also plays a role. With 6 GB of VRAM, Doom at 4K with High textures may be pushing against the limit, though the card's 288.0 GB/s bandwidth helps mitigate stutter. The benchmark's percentileVsAllGpus of 41 indicates this GPU sits below the median of all tested cards, which explains why it trails so dramatically at higher resolutions. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the AMD Radeon 540 (0.7% higher), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (1.9% higher), AMD Radeon R7 250 (2.2% higher), and Intel Arc A310 (2.3% higher)—all cards that would struggle similarly in a demanding FPS title at 4K.

The card's FP32 throughput of 5.437 TFLOPS and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, but Doom's id Tech engine is known for efficient rendering. The data suggests the GTX 1660 Ti can handle 1080p Ultra at 89 FPS average, which is respectable for a card that has 1536 shading units. At 1440p, the card still delivers 57 FPS on Ultra, indicating it remains viable for high-refresh 1440p gaming on this title, but 4K is clearly beyond its comfort zone—every preset at 3840x2160 falls below 52 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 7600 and GTX 1660 Ti ranks 3193 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 14th percentile of all system pairings. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, since the CPU's own percentileVsAllCpus is 78, meaning the Ryzen 5 7600 outperforms 78% of all CPUs in general benchmarks. The mismatch between a top-quartile CPU and a bottom-half GPU (the GTX 1660 Ti sits at the 41st percentile) creates a system where the data shows clear GPU limitation.

The measured FPS at 1080p Low (148 FPS) demonstrates that the CPU is not holding back the system at lower resolutions—that frame rate is high enough to suggest the Ryzen 5 7600's 6 cores and 12 threads are feeding the GPU adequately. However, the combo rank relative to other pairings reflects that many systems with better GPUs achieve far higher frame rates in Doom, even if their CPUs are weaker. The 3712 total combos tested means 3192 other pairings outperform this one, and 519 perform worse. This puts the combo in a position where upgrading the GPU would yield the largest FPS gains, based on the data's resolution scaling pattern.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores—AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (0.3% lower), Intel Core i9-11900KF (0.4% higher), and AMD Ryzen 5 8540U (0.5% higher)—all cluster within 0.5% of the Ryzen 5 7600's average score of 26324. This tight grouping confirms the CPU is not the differentiator here; swapping it for a similar-tier part would produce negligible FPS changes in Doom. The GPU's rival cluster, by contrast, shows that cards with near-identical average scores (like the Radeon 540 at 0.7% higher) would perform almost the same, reinforcing that the GTX 1660 Ti is the performance ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured rows provide a complete picture across all four presets. Low settings yield an average of 148 FPS, Medium drops to 129 FPS (with min 109, max 148), High sits at 109 FPS, and Ultra falls to 89 FPS. The 1080p numbers show that even the most demanding preset stays above 88 FPS, making this resolution fully playable for competitive or fast-paced play. The Medium min/max range of 109-148 FPS is identical to the High average and Low average, respectively, indicating that Medium at 1080p offers a frame rate window that spans the full quality spectrum.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with lower absolute values. Low averages 96 FPS, Medium 83 FPS (min 71, max 96), High 70 FPS, and Ultra 57 FPS. The 1440p Medium min of 71 FPS is still above 60, suggesting that Medium is the highest preset that guarantees a smooth experience at this resolution. The step from Medium to High at 1440p costs 13 FPS, while High to Ultra costs another 13 FPS—a consistent degradation that reflects the GPU's linear scaling with quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become marginal. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium 45 FPS (min 38, max 52), High 38 FPS, and Ultra 31 FPS. The 4K Medium min of 38 FPS matches the High average exactly, and the max of 52 FPS matches the Low average, showing that Medium at 4K produces a frame rate range that spans the Low-to-High averages. This overlap indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so constrained that preset choices have diminishing returns—the 21 FPS spread from Low to Ultra is less than half the 59 FPS spread at 1080p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a Zen 4 (Raphael) part built on TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and it carries 32 MB of shared L3 cache plus 1 MB L2 per core and 64 KB L1 per core. The CPU's 3DMark scores show strong scaling: 999 single-thread, 1938 for 2 threads, 3686 for 4 threads, 5508 for 8 threads, and 6499 for 16 threads, with 6503 at max threads. This near-linear scaling from 8 to 16 threads suggests the CPU has ample headroom for gaming workloads, where 6-8 threads are typically utilized.

In Doom, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 148 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's frame generation limit for this title, but the GPU is still the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 5 7600's Cinebench R23 scores of 12735 multi-core and 1852 single-core place it well above the median CPU, and its PassMark multithread score of 27058 confirms strong parallel performance. The CPU's 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth with DDR5 support ensures the GPU receives data without starvation.

The fact that the combo ranks 3193 out of 3712 despite having a top-22% CPU (78th percentile) is telling. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the ranking to be higher relative to the GPU's percentile. Instead, the ranking aligns more closely with the GPU's 41st percentile, suggesting that in Doom, the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting factor across all measured resolutions. The CPU's 5.10 GHz boost clock and 6 cores are more than sufficient for this title, which was released in 2016 and is known to be well-optimized for multi-core processors.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the data supports using Ultra settings. The average FPS of 89 is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and even if the minimum dips into the 80s, the experience remains smooth. The step from High (109 FPS) to Ultra (89 FPS) costs 20 FPS but likely delivers meaningful visual improvements in texture quality and shadow detail. If competitive play is the priority, Low settings at 148 FPS provide the highest refresh rate, but for most users, Ultra strikes the best balance.

At 2560x1440, Medium is the recommended preset. The 83 FPS average with a 71 FPS minimum stays comfortably above 60, while High drops to 70 FPS average and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The 13 FPS penalty from Medium to High is not worth the visual gain at this resolution, especially since the minimum at High is likely below 60 FPS (though not recorded). Medium offers the highest preset that maintains a consistent sub-60 minimum, making it the best choice for a 1440p monitor.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a 60 FPS average—the best is Low at 52 FPS. For 4K gaming, Low settings are the only viable option if playability is required, but even then, the 52 FPS average leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Medium at 45 FPS is playable but may feel sluggish, and Ultra at 31 FPS should be avoided. The data suggests that 4K is not a realistic target for this combo in Doom, and users with 4K displays should consider lowering resolution or upgrading the GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the only resolution where all presets exceed 85 FPS average. At 2560x1440, Medium achieves 83 FPS, but Ultra falls to 57 FPS. At 3840x2160, even Low only reaches 52 FPS average.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has an average benchmark score of 7723. Its closest rivals are the AMD Radeon 540 at 7673 (0.7% higher), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 at 7580 (1.9% higher), AMD Radeon R7 250 at 7557 (2.2% higher), and Intel Arc A310 at 7550 (2.3% higher). All are within 3% of each other.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Doom?

A: The resolution scaling data points to the GPU. At 1080p Low, the system hits 148 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 52 FPS—a 65% reduction. The CPU's 78th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 41st percentile, combined with the combo's 3193rd rank out of 3712, indicates the GTX 1660 Ti limits performance.

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the average FPS is 109. At 2560x1440 High, it drops to 70 FPS, a 36% reduction. The decline from 1440p High (70 FPS) to 4K High (38 FPS) is another 46% drop.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 7600 have enough cores for Doom?

A: The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient. Its 3DMark scores scale from 999 single-thread to 6503 max-threads, showing strong multi-core performance. The 1080p Low result of 148 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions.

Q: What are the VRAM and clock specifications of the GTX 1660 Ti?

A: The card has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. Its base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. Memory runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed.