Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a revealing performance profile in Doom, one that changes character dramatically depending on resolution and quality preset. The measured data shows a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at 1080p, yet one that becomes progressively more constrained as pixel count rises, shifting the bottleneck from the processor to the graphics card. The combination ranks 1095th out of 1681 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, a position that reflects its mixed strengths across different use cases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and tells a clear story about which component is doing the heavy lifting. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 198.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 131.9 FPS at 2560x1440, and then plummets to 72.3 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 63.6% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution at the same preset, a massive scaling penalty that points directly at the GPU as the primary limiter at 4K.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling at higher quality settings. At Ultra, the frame rate drops from 121 FPS at 1080p to 78.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 44.8 FPS at 4K — a 63% total reduction. Interestingly, the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is steeper at Low settings (45.2% reduction) than at Ultra (43.2% reduction), suggesting that at lower settings the CPU has more headroom, allowing the GPU to become the sole bottleneck earlier in the resolution ladder. At 1080p, the gap between Low (198.7 FPS) and Ultra (121 FPS) is 77.7 FPS, indicating that even at the lowest resolution, the GPU is still significantly taxed by higher quality settings rather than the CPU hitting a hard ceiling.

GPU Role

The RX 7600 XT’s specifications explain much of this scaling behavior. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample memory capacity for Doom’s textures at any resolution, but the bandwidth figure is modest by modern standards. The boost clock of 2755 MHz and game clock of 2470 MHz are healthy, and the 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs provide solid raw throughput, reflected in the 22.57 TFLOPS FP32 compute rating.

The benchmark data shows this GPU sits at the 63rd percentile among all tested graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 20146. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the AMD Radeon RX 7600, which scores 20258 (0.6% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER at 19774 (1.9% lower). The fact that the RX 7600 XT is essentially tied with the RX 7600 in synthetic benchmarks, despite the XT’s larger memory pool, suggests that memory capacity is not the limiting factor in this game’s measured results. The 4K Ultra result of 44.8 FPS is close to the edge of playability, and the data indicates that the GPU’s compute and bandwidth, not its 16 GB VRAM, are what hold it back at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 3700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 2 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This is a 7 nm part from TSMC with 32 MB of L3 cache, and it achieves an 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 28631. Its nearest rivals in aggregate CPU performance include the Intel Core i5-12600 at 28654 (0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT at 28591 (0.1% lower), indicating that the 3700X is positioned in a tight cluster of capable mid-range processors.

In Doom, the CPU’s role appears to be one of enabling, not limiting, at 1080p. The fact that Low settings at 1080p achieves 198.7 FPS suggests the CPU can feed frames well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that most monitors support. However, the data does not show a hard CPU ceiling — the frame rates scale smoothly with both resolution and settings changes, meaning the 3700X is not presenting a wall that prevents higher performance. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this game’s demands, and the 16 threads provide ample parallel processing headroom for the Vulkan-based engine that Doom uses, though the game’s release in 2016 predates some of the architectural efficiencies found in newer processors.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of presets at each resolution, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target display. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver playable frame rates, but the jump from Medium (172.3 FPS) to High (145.2 FPS) is a 15.7% reduction, while the jump from High to Ultra (121 FPS) is a 16.7% reduction. For a 144 Hz monitor, High is the sweet spot — it clears the refresh threshold with margin while providing better visual quality than Medium.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low (131.9 FPS) and Medium (110.9 FPS) both remain above 100 FPS, but High drops to 94.8 FPS and Ultra falls to 78.9 FPS. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p offers the best balance, delivering 110.9 FPS while still providing a meaningful quality uplift over Low. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained: only Low (72.3 FPS) achieves a frame rate that could be considered smooth on a 60 Hz display, while Medium (59.7 FPS) is borderline and High (50.1 FPS) and Ultra (44.8 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K, Low is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS, though the 44.8 FPS at Ultra is still playable for slower-paced sections.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1095 out of 1681 tested combinations places it in the 65th percentile of all tested combos, which is lower than the individual component percentiles (85th for the CPU, 63rd for the GPU). This discrepancy is telling: the combination underperforms relative to what the individual parts might suggest, likely because Doom is a game that favors high-frequency single-thread performance and GPU compute, and the 3700X’s Zen 2 architecture, while strong, does not have the same per-core efficiency as newer designs.

The nearest rival CPUs in aggregate performance, the Intel Core i5-12600 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT, both have higher single-thread performance characteristics that would likely translate to better frame rates in Doom, even if their overall benchmark scores are nearly identical. This suggests that for this specific game, the combo’s ranking is more influenced by the GPU’s mid-range positioning than the CPU’s solid multi-threaded capabilities. The rank also reflects that the RX 7600 XT, while 0.6% behind the RX 7600 in aggregate benchmarks, carries a significant price premium for its 16 GB memory that does not translate into higher frame rates in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 198.7, Medium 172.3, High 145.2, Ultra 121. The spread from Low to Ultra is 77.7 FPS, with each step up in quality costing between 24.2 FPS (Medium to High) and 27.1 FPS (High to Ultra). At 2560x1440, the values are: Low 131.9, Medium 110.9, High 94.8, Ultra 78.9. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is consistent: Low drops by 66.8 FPS, Medium by 61.4 FPS, High by 50.4 FPS, and Ultra by 42.1 FPS, showing that higher quality presets experience smaller absolute resolution penalties. At 3840x2160, the values are: Low 72.3, Medium 59.7, High 50.1, Ultra 44.8. The 4K to 1440p drops are: Low 59.6 FPS, Medium 51.2 FPS, High 44.7 FPS, Ultra 34.1 FPS, again demonstrating that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, with the gap narrowing as quality increases.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 144 FPS at 1080p in Doom?

A: Yes, but only at Low (198.7 FPS) and Medium (172.3 FPS) settings. High (145.2 FPS) narrowly exceeds 144 FPS, while Ultra (121 FPS) falls short.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this hardware?

A: Medium at 110.9 FPS provides the best balance of quality and frame rate. Low (131.9 FPS) is smoother but visually reduced, while High (94.8 FPS) and Ultra (78.9 FPS) drop below 100 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combination?

A: Only at Low settings (72.3 FPS) does it stay above 60 FPS. Medium (59.7 FPS) is borderline, while High (50.1 FPS) and Ultra (44.8 FPS) are below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT compare to the RX 7600 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 7600 XT scores 20146 on average, which is 0.6% lower than the RX 7600’s 20258, despite having 16 GB of memory versus the non-XT model.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-thread performance relative to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X scores 2694 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, has a 0.1% higher average benchmark score, indicating very similar overall performance.

Q: At what resolution does the CPU stop being the primary performance driver?

A: The data suggests the CPU is sufficient at all tested resolutions, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes. The GPU becomes the clear bottleneck at 4K, where even Low settings (72.3 FPS) show a 45.2% drop from 1440p Low (131.9 FPS).