Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Doom across the three tested resolutions show a clear and consistent pattern of scaling that identifies the GPU as the dominant performance limiter. At 1080p, the combo delivers strong results across all presets, with the Low preset achieving 156.5 FPS average, Medium at 137.9 FPS, High at 118.5 FPS, and Ultra at 94 FPS. Moving to 1440p, those figures drop to 99.6 FPS on Low, 90.6 FPS on Medium, 75.1 FPS on High, and 63.2 FPS on Ultra. The transition to 4K produces the most dramatic reduction: 55.8 FPS on Low, 48.1 FPS on Medium, 39.4 FPS on High, and 34 FPS on Ultra.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent. For the Low preset, the drop from 156.5 FPS to 55.8 FPS represents a reduction of roughly two-thirds of the total performance. The High preset falls from 118.5 FPS to 39.4 FPS, again a loss of approximately two-thirds. The Ultra preset sees 94 FPS at 1080p reduced to 34 FPS at 4K, a 60 FPS absolute decline. The consistency of this scaling across presets—each losing between 63% and 66% of their 1080p performance when moving to 4K—indicates that the limiting component is the rendering pipeline rather than any CPU-bound constraint.

The data suggests that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is moderate, while the gap between 1440p and 4K is severe. At 1080p, the High preset at 118.5 FPS is still well above the refresh rate of typical 60 Hz displays. At 1440p, the High preset at 75.1 FPS remains playable for most users. At 4K, even the Low preset at 55.8 FPS begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing becomes a concern for smooth gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS is barely playable, and the 4K High result of 39.4 FPS is only marginally better.

The resolution scaling behavior indicates that Doom's rendering load scales nearly linearly with pixel count. The fact that the Low preset at 4K (55.8 FPS) is still slower than the Ultra preset at 1080p (94 FPS) demonstrates that resolution has a larger impact on performance than the in-game quality settings. This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the vertex and pixel processing demands overwhelm the available shading throughput as pixel count increases.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X provides substantial compute headroom for this title. With 8 cores and 16 threads, the processor offers a wide parallel execution capacity that Doom's engine can utilize effectively. The base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz give the chip solid single-thread performance, which is often the more critical factor in modern FPS games. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing memory latency stalls.

The CPU's benchmark data supports its adequacy for gaming workloads. In Cinebench R23, the processor scores 19087 in multi-core and 2694 in single-core. The PassMark single-thread score of 2656 indicates that the chip can handle the per-thread demands of game logic and physics. The PassMark physics score of 1181, while not directly comparable to gaming FPS, suggests that the CPU can handle the collision detection and rigid body simulations that Doom's combat encounters generate.

In terms of peer comparison, the Ryzen 7 3700X sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12600 with a deltaPct of -0.1%, meaning the Ryzen is essentially tied with that chip. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT is 0.1% ahead, and the AMD EPYC 7203P is 0.2% ahead. These are negligible differences, placing the Ryzen 7 3700X in a performance class where CPU limitations are unlikely to manifest in Doom's frame rates.

The measured FPS data confirms this. At 1080p, where CPU overhead is most likely to appear, the Low preset achieves 156.5 FPS, which is well beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 4K, where GPU load is highest, the CPU is never the bottleneck—the FPS continues to scale with GPU load rather than plateauing at a CPU-imposed ceiling. The fact that the 4K Low preset (55.8 FPS) is still lower than the 1080p Ultra preset (94 FPS) indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor even at lower quality settings, not the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the clear performance limiter in this combination. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz drive 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Pascal architecture's 16 nm process node and 7,200 million transistors deliver a peak FP32 throughput of 6.463 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it near the middle of the pack. It sits at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (1.3% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% behind), and the NVIDIA Tesla K20Xm (1.7% behind). These close margins indicate that the GTX 1070 is a mid-range performer in the current landscape, which aligns with its observed behavior in Doom.

The memory subsystem is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom's textures at all tested presets, but the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 4K results show a degradation pattern typical of bandwidth saturation: the gap between Low (55.8 FPS) and Ultra (34 FPS) at 4K is only 21.8 FPS, whereas at 1080p the same preset gap is 62.5 FPS. This compression of performance differences at higher resolutions indicates that memory bandwidth constraints are capping the GPU's ability to take advantage of reduced shading loads.

The pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s provide context for the resolution scaling. At 4K, the GPU must process approximately 8.3 million pixels per frame, which when multiplied by the observed frame rates approaches the pixel throughput limit. The 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS corresponds to roughly 283 million pixels per second, which is well below the theoretical peak but consistent with real-world efficiency losses.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU combination ranks 1413 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 16% of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the GTX 1070's mid-range position (51st percentile among GPUs) combined with the Ryzen 7 3700X's stronger position (85th percentile among CPUs). The large gap between the CPU's percentile and the GPU's percentile indicates that the system is heavily GPU-limited, and the overall ranking is dragged down by the graphics card's relative weakness.

The ranking makes sense when considering the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all presets, with even the Ultra preset achieving 94 FPS. However, the ranking compares against all 1681 combos, many of which include higher-end GPUs that can push 4K Ultra well beyond 60 FPS. The GTX 1070's 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS is below the threshold most benchmark aggregators consider playable, placing the combo in the lower quartile of the overall distribution.

The CPU's strong relative performance does not compensate for the GPU's limitations in Doom. While the Ryzen 7 3700X sits at the 85th percentile and has near-identical scores to the Intel Core i5-12600 (deltaPct of -0.1%), the GTX 1070's 51st percentile position anchors the combo's overall ranking. In Doom specifically, where the engine scales well with GPU compute but has modest CPU requirements, the GPU is the primary determinant of system ranking.

The data suggests that if the GPU were upgraded to a higher-tier card, the combo's ranking would improve significantly, as the CPU has ample headroom to support faster graphics hardware. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (156.5 FPS) indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to saturate even a faster card, and the 4K results show no signs of CPU-induced frame pacing issues.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 94 FPS, which is sufficient for smooth gameplay on 60 Hz displays and offers the best visual quality. For users with 144 Hz monitors, the High preset at 118.5 FPS provides a better balance, while the Medium preset at 137.9 FPS approaches the 144 Hz threshold. The Low preset at 156.5 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is prioritized over visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset at 75.1 FPS is the recommended choice for most users, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while providing good visual quality. The Medium preset at 90.6 FPS is preferable for those who prioritize frame rate stability, as it offers a 15 FPS advantage over High with a modest visual trade-off. The Ultra preset at 63.2 FPS is borderline playable, but frame drops below 60 FPS may occur in intense combat scenes. The Low preset at 99.6 FPS is excessive for 60 Hz displays but suitable for high-refresh 1440p panels.

At 4K, the data shows that only the Low preset (55.8 FPS) approaches playable frame rates. The Medium preset at 48.1 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold, and the High preset at 39.4 FPS and Ultra preset at 34 FPS are not recommended for a smooth experience. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only viable option, and even then, users should expect some frame pacing variability. The steep drop from Low to Medium (7.7 FPS) at 4K indicates that the Medium preset's additional visual features impose a significant performance cost that outweighs the visual benefit at this resolution.

The overall recommendation is to play at 1080p Ultra (94 FPS) or 1440p High (75.1 FPS), depending on the display's native resolution and refresh rate. The 4K resolution is not viable for this combo beyond the Low preset, and even that preset requires accepting a sub-60 FPS experience. The measured data indicates that the GTX 1070's 8 GB VRAM and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions, and no amount of CPU headroom can overcome this limitation.