Doom

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Doom, a 2016 FPS title. The data shows a combination capable of extreme frame rates, with the system ranking 8th out of 1681 tested combinations in this game. The following analysis breaks down how this configuration scales across resolutions and settings, and what that reveals about the underlying hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p, the system produces staggering numbers, with the Low preset achieving 460.8 FPS and even the demanding Ultra preset hitting 275.2 FPS. Moving to 1440p, these figures drop significantly but remain exceptionally high: Low settings yield 298.5 FPS, while Ultra produces 178.8 FPS. At 4K, the performance curve compresses further, with Low settings averaging 159.6 FPS and Ultra trailing at 98.5 FPS.

This scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 5090 is the dominant performance driver at higher resolutions. The transition from 1080p to 1440p on Low settings represents a 35.2% performance drop (from 460.8 to 298.5 FPS), while the jump from 1440p to 4K on the same settings results in a 46.5% reduction (from 298.5 to 159.6 FPS). These substantial drops are characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the massive pixel throughput demands of 4K (3840x2160) overwhelm the graphics card's raw fill rate.

Conversely, the relatively smaller gaps between settings at 1080p suggest the CPU begins to play a more significant role at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system approaches 461 FPS, a frame rate that pushes against the practical limits of even the Ryzen 5 9600X's single-thread capabilities. The data shows that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, can generate frames faster than the GPU can render them at this resolution, creating a bottleneck that caps overall performance.

The 4K results tell a different story. With the GPU fully saturated, the differences between settings become more pronounced, indicating that the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being taxed. The Ultra preset at 4K, producing 98.5 FPS, demonstrates that even a flagship GPU struggles to maintain triple-digit frame rates under maximum load at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 serves as the primary performance engine in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. Its Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, providing the computational throughput necessary for Doom's demanding Vulkan-based rendering.

The GPU's memory subsystem is a critical component in this game's results. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the RTX 5090 offers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This vast memory pool ensures that texture streaming and geometry data never become a limiting factor, even at 4K Ultra settings. The benchmark data supports this: the 4K Ultra preset still achieves 98.5 FPS, indicating the GPU has sufficient memory bandwidth to handle the game's most demanding visual configurations.

The RTX 5090's raw compute capabilities are equally impressive. Its 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s, while the 680 TMUs contribute to a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly to the high frame rates observed in the measured data. The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS ensures that even the most complex shader workloads in Doom are processed with minimal delay.

The benchmark scores reinforce the GPU's position relative to its peers. With an average benchmark score of 84,306 and a percentile ranking of 94 vs all GPUs, the RTX 5090 sits in the top tier of available graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a delta of just 0.1%. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%, while the NVIDIA CMP 40HX actually scores 1.6% higher, though this is a negligible difference in real-world gaming scenarios.

The GPU's performance in this specific game aligns with its synthetic benchmark results. The PassMark G3D score of 39,650 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 both indicate a GPU capable of handling modern game engines with ease. The Vulkan score of 379,571 in Geekbench is particularly relevant, as Doom is known to leverage Vulkan's low-overhead API for improved performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this configuration?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 460.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the ceiling of this particular CPU-GPU combination in Doom.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its closest competitor in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090's average benchmark score is 84,306. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a difference of just 0.1%. The NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 1.6% higher at 85,637, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%.

Q: What is the performance impact of switching from High to Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 resolution, the High preset averages 119.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 98.5 FPS. This represents a 17.8% performance reduction for the increased visual quality.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes a limiting factor at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 400 FPS on lower settings. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the larger performance drops between resolutions.

Q: How does the system's performance rank among all tested combinations in Doom?

A: This configuration ranks 8th out of 1,681 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the top 0.5% of systems tested for this game.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 298.5 FPS, while Ultra averages 178.8 FPS. The difference of 119.7 FPS represents a 40.1% performance penalty for maximum visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all resolution and setting combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results: Low settings produce 460.8 FPS, Medium achieves 398.6 FPS, High reaches 341.7 FPS, and Ultra still maintains 275.2 FPS. These numbers demonstrate that at standard HD resolution, the configuration is capable of driving any high-refresh-rate monitor to its limits.

At 2560x1440, performance remains exceptionally strong but shows a clear step down. Low settings average 298.5 FPS, Medium hits 258 FPS, High reaches 216.7 FPS, and Ultra settles at 178.8 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at this resolution represents a 40.1% reduction in average frame rate, a consistent pattern that reflects the increasing GPU workload.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the true demands of 4K gaming. Low settings produce 159.6 FPS, Medium achieves 139.8 FPS, High manages 119.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 98.5 FPS. At this resolution, the gap between Low and Ultra is 61.1 FPS, representing a 38.3% performance difference. The fact that the system can maintain nearly 100 FPS at 4K Ultra in Doom underscores the RTX 5090's position as a flagship GPU.

Across all resolutions, the scaling between settings follows a predictable pattern. The Medium preset consistently delivers approximately 86-88% of Low's performance, while High maintains around 74-75% of Low's frame rate. Ultra settings exact the heaviest toll, preserving only 59-62% of the Low preset's performance. This consistent scaling indicates that Doom's settings primarily affect GPU load rather than CPU requirements.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X plays a supporting role in this configuration, but its capabilities are essential for achieving the highest frame rates. Built on the Zen 5 architecture (codenamed Granite Ridge) using TSMC's 4 nm process, this 6-core, 12-thread processor operates at a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boosts to 5.40 GHz. Its 65W TDP and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR5 dual-channel) provide the foundation for the system's performance.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results position it well for gaming workloads. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,525 and single-core score of 3,603 indicate strong all-around performance. The Geekbench scores of 15,182 (multi-core) and 3,363 (single-core) further confirm this profile. In PassMark testing, the CPU achieves 30,027 in multi-thread and 4,570 in single-thread, with a notable data compression score of 341,021.

Relative to its peers, the Ryzen 5 9600X holds its own. Its average benchmark score of 28,246 places it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, scores 28,369, a delta of -0.4%, while the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230 each score 28,173 and 28,164 respectively, both 0.3% behind. The Intel Core i5-14500T trails by 0.5% with a score of 28,377.

In Doom specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident at 1080p resolution. The measured 460.8 FPS at Low settings approaches the practical ceiling for this processor's single-thread performance. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,253 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,570 both suggest that the 5.40 GHz boost clock is being fully utilized to generate frames as fast as the game engine allows.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The data shows that the performance gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K, indicating that the CPU can still feed the GPU adequately at 1440p. The system's 8th place ranking out of 1,681 combinations in Doom suggests that this CPU-GPU pairing is well-balanced for this game, with neither component severely bottlenecking the other at the resolutions where the GPU is fully loaded.