Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a formidable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with performance scaling that clearly indicates the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The combination ranks in the 65th percentile of tested configurations, and the measured frame rates show a system capable of exceeding 200 FPS at Full HD with High settings. This analysis breaks down the benchmark data for this specific CPU-GPU pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall standing of this CPU-GPU combination in Doom benchmarks?

A: The combo ranks 582nd out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 9600X compare to its closest performance rivals?

A: The CPU has an average benchmark score of 28246, placing it 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230, and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS.

Q: What is the GPU's performance standing relative to comparable cards?

A: The Radeon RX 6800 XT scores 0.5% higher than the Intel Arc A550M but trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7% in average benchmark scores.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440 resolution with Ultra settings, the system achieves an average of 111.5 FPS, which remains highly playable for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: How much headroom is there at 1080p for high-refresh-rate monitors?

A: With Low settings at 1920x1080, the system reaches an average of 289.6 FPS, and even at High settings it maintains 212.8 FPS, comfortably supporting 144Hz and 240Hz displays.

Q: Does the CPU's single-threaded performance suggest a bottleneck in this game?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X scores 3603 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is exceptionally strong and suggests the CPU is not limiting frame rates in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 582 out of 1681 tested configurations places it in the 65th percentile of all systems benchmarked with Doom. This position reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically underperforms relative to the other. The Ryzen 5 9600X itself holds the 85th percentile among all CPUs tested, while the Radeon RX 6800 XT sits in the 87th percentile among GPUs. The slight gap between the component percentiles and the combo's overall rank suggests that Doom's engine does not fully utilize the theoretical capabilities of this hardware, likely due to the game's age and its optimization for older architectures.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 28246 places it in a tight cluster of rivals. The data shows only a 0.5% spread between the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and the Intel Core i5-14500T, which scores 28377. This near-tie indicates that the Ryzen 5 9600X's Zen 5 architecture provides no meaningful advantage over competing designs in synthetic tests, though its real-world gaming performance may benefit from the 32 MB shared L3 cache. The GPU's average score of 49982 places it 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, which scores 48704, demonstrating that this older RDNA 2 card still competes effectively with newer mid-range offerings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is substantial for Doom, which was released when 4 GB to 8 GB GPUs were common, and ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not cause stuttering or frame drops. The GPU's clock speeds are set at a base of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

The GPU's 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs contribute to its raw pixel throughput of 288.0 GPixel/s, which is more than sufficient for Doom's id Tech 6 engine. The card's FP32 performance of 20.74 TFLOPS provides ample compute headroom, and the 72 ray accelerators, while not heavily utilized in this game, future-proof the system for titles that use DirectX 12 Ultimate features. The GPU's benchmark scores show a PassMark G3D score of 24980 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3689, confirming its strong DirectX 12 performance, which Doom can leverage for improved draw call handling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 289.6 FPS, Medium settings yield 252.8 FPS, and High settings maintain 212.8 FPS. Even at Ultra settings, which typically impose the heaviest load, the average remains at 176.4 FPS. These numbers indicate that the Ryzen 5 9600X has no trouble feeding the GPU at this resolution, and the limiting factor is purely the GPU's rendering speed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear reduction as resolution increases. Low settings average 191.2 FPS, Medium settings drop to 166 FPS, and High settings produce 140.7 FPS. Ultra settings at 1440p still deliver a smooth 111.5 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for competitive play. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows roughly a 34% reduction in frame rate for Low settings (289.6 to 191.2 FPS), which is consistent with the increased pixel count requiring more GPU work.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings average 102.9 FPS, Medium settings drop to 92.1 FPS, and High settings produce 72.7 FPS. Ultra settings at 4K fall to 61.9 FPS, which is still playable but no longer meets the high-refresh-rate expectations set by lower resolutions. The 4K results demonstrate that the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB memory buffer helps maintain stability, but the GPU's compute throughput is the primary constraint at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a consistent pattern of frame rate decline that points directly to the GPU as the bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 289.6 at 1080p to 191.2 at 1440p, then to 102.9 at 4K. This represents a 64% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is slightly less than the 4x pixel count increase, suggesting the CPU still has some influence at lower settings. However, at Ultra settings, the drop from 176.4 FPS at 1080p to 61.9 FPS at 4K is a 65% reduction, showing that the GPU's workload scales predictably with resolution.

The data shows that the Ryzen 5 9600X's single-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3603, is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p Low settings where frame rates approach 300 FPS. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide more than enough processing power for Doom's game logic and physics. The measured FPS deltas between settings at each resolution are consistent, with Ultra settings costing roughly 39% of the frame rate compared to Low settings at 1080p (289.6 to 176.4 FPS) and 40% at 4K (102.9 to 61.9 FPS). This uniformity indicates that the game's graphical presets primarily affect GPU-bound work, while the CPU maintains a steady frame delivery rate. The 4K Ultra result of 61.9 FPS, while playable, does not take full advantage of the GPU's capabilities, and users with 4K 120Hz displays would need to reduce settings to Medium or Low to approach that target.