Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a compelling 1080p experience in Doom, but the data reveals a predictable performance curve as resolution scales. At 1080p, the combination provides high refresh rate capability, with the Low preset hitting 178.4 FPS and even the demanding Ultra preset reaching 108 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain strong, with High at 84.3 FPS and Low at 114.7 FPS, suggesting the GPU is still managing the load well. At 4K, however, the picture changes dramatically; the Ultra preset drops to 37.1 FPS, and even High struggles at 45.1 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that the RX 6600, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus, becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, while the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are sufficient to keep up at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and steep decline from 1080p to 4K, which is typical for a mid-range GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 178.4 FPS, but this drops to 114.7 FPS at 1440p and 62.9 FPS at 4K—a reduction of roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45% from 1440p to 4K. This pattern suggests that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance headroom is not being fully utilized. For instance, the gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is 70.4 FPS (178.4 vs 108), but at 4K, the same settings gap narrows to 25.8 FPS (62.9 vs 37.1). This compression of frame rates at 4K indicates that the GPU’s pixel processing capabilities are saturated, making the choice of settings less impactful than at lower resolutions. The data implies that for a smooth 4K experience, users would need to rely on Low settings, which still only achieve 62.9 FPS, barely above the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, with High settings dropping from 84.3 FPS to 45.1 FPS, suggesting that the RX 6600’s 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 1792 shading units are insufficient for the pixel density of 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip, featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s clocks are notably high, with a base of 1626 MHz, a game clock of 2044 MHz, and a boost clock of 2491 MHz. These clock speeds are crucial for Doom, a fast-paced FPS where frame pacing and responsiveness matter. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU can leverage these clocks to deliver 126.5 FPS on High settings, which is impressive for a card in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. However, the 8 GB VRAM capacity may become a constraint at higher resolutions or with Ultra textures, as the 4K Ultra result of 37.1 FPS suggests. The GPU’s pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the fill rate requirements overwhelm the card. The 64 ROPs and 112 TMUs are also factors; at 4K Ultra, the system only manages 37.1 FPS, indicating that the ROP throughput is a limiting factor. The GPU’s 8.928 TFLOPS FP32 performance is solid for its class, but Doom’s rendering engine appears to be sensitive to memory bandwidth, as the drop from 1080p to 4K is more severe than what pure compute power would suggest.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Ryzen 7 3700X and RX 6600 achieves a combo rank of 1330 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the lower half of all tested systems, which is somewhat surprising given the strong 1080p results. The rank reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, and the 4K results likely drag the average down. The CPU alone sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28631, while the GPU is in the 69th percentile with an average score of 25235. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12600 with a deltaPct of -0.1% and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT with a deltaPct of 0.1%, indicating that the 3700X is essentially tied with these processors in synthetic tests. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 890M with a deltaPct of 0% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with a deltaPct of 0.5%, showing that the RX 6600 is within 0.5% of the RTX 3060 Ti in average benchmark scores. This ranking data suggests that while the individual components are competitive, the combination’s performance in Doom is hindered by the GPU at high resolutions, which is a common pattern for mid-range cards paired with capable CPUs.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 108 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for most gamers, while High achieves 126.5 FPS for a smoother experience. The Medium preset at 156.1 FPS offers a good balance if competitive play is the priority. For 1440p, the High preset at 84.3 FPS is the sweet spot, as it remains above 60 FPS and provides good visual fidelity; Low at 114.7 FPS is viable for high refresh rate monitors. At 4K, the data shows that even Low settings only reach 62.9 FPS, which is marginal for a smooth experience, and Medium drops to 56.6 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced play. Given these numbers, the recommendation is to play at 1080p with Ultra for maximum visual quality, or at 1440p with High for a balance of quality and performance. The 4K results suggest that this combo is not well-suited for 4K gaming, and users should either reduce resolution or accept lower frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combo can achieve in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 178.4 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is this combination capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: At 4K, the best result is 62.9 FPS with Low settings, while Ultra drops to 37.1 FPS, indicating that 4K is only playable at the lowest settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has an average benchmark score of 28631, which is within 0.1% of the Intel Core i5-12600 and 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25235.

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

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 114.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 66.4 FPS, a difference of 48.3 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as frame rates scale with resolution, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads providing ample headroom.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a Zen 2 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and 7 nm process node contribute to strong single-thread and multi-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 scores of 2694 single-core and 19087 multi-core. In Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the data indicates that it performs this task effectively at 1080p and 1440p. The 1080p Low result of 178.4 FPS suggests that the CPU can handle high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck, as the GPU is still able to render frames quickly. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score of 2656 and multithread score of 22458 indicate solid performance, and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its capability. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-12600 (deltaPct -0.1%) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (deltaPct 0.1%), show that it is competitive with modern mid-range processors. However, at 4K, the CPU’s performance is less relevant, as the GPU’s rendering limits dominate the frame rate, and the data shows that the CPU is not the limiting component at any resolution tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low at 178.4 FPS, Medium at 156.1 FPS, High at 126.5 FPS, and Ultra at 108 FPS. This shows a consistent decline as settings increase, with a total drop of 70.4 FPS from Low to Ultra. At 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low at 114.7 FPS, Medium at 99.5 FPS, High at 84.3 FPS, and Ultra at 66.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 48.3 FPS, which is less steep than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 62.9 FPS, Medium at 56.6 FPS, High at 45.1 FPS, and Ultra at 37.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 25.8 FPS, further confirming that the GPU is saturated at this resolution. The data also shows that the transition from 1440p to 4K has a significant impact, with High settings dropping from 84.3 FPS to 45.1 FPS, a reduction of 39.2 FPS. This breakdown highlights that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant compromises in settings.