Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination delivers a playable Doom experience at 1080p and 1440p, but the data clearly shows that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. The measured frame rates demonstrate a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, with the performance gap between settings narrowing significantly at 4K, indicating that the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the decisive constraints.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and predictable decline as resolution moves from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the rate of decline varies dramatically by settings preset. At Low settings, the combo delivers 173 FPS at 1080p, drops to 109 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 57 FPS at 4K—a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the corresponding figures are 87 FPS, 55 FPS, and 29 FPS, representing a 67% drop as well, confirming that the scaling penalty is consistent regardless of preset.

Medium settings tell a similar story with slightly more granularity: 123 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 40 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, however, reveals the harshest scaling: 82 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and just 27 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result—27 FPS—is the only measured configuration that falls below the 30 FPS playability threshold, and it does so by a margin of 3 FPS. This pattern strongly indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the bottleneck at 4K, as the Ryzen 7 3700X’s 8 cores and 16 threads are more than capable of feeding frames at lower resolutions.

The delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution quantifies the GPU's headroom. At 1080p, the spread is 91 FPS (173 vs 82), at 1440p it is 57 FPS (109 vs 52), and at 4K it narrows to 30 FPS (57 vs 27). This narrowing spread is a textbook sign of GPU saturation—when the pixel count rises, the difference between graphical presets shrinks because the GPU is already working at maximum capacity. The data suggests that at 4K, even Low settings cannot push beyond 57 FPS, meaning the limiting component is unequivocally the graphics card, not the processor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing ranks 3235 out of 3712 combos for Doom, placing it in the lower 13% of all tested systems. This rank reflects the GTX 1660 SUPER’s modest standing among GPUs—it sits at the 53rd percentile versus all GPUs—combined with the Ryzen 7 3700X’s stronger 84th percentile ranking among CPUs. The combination’s performance is therefore constrained by its weaker component, which is a recurring theme across the resolution scaling analysis.

The combo’s rank of 3235 out of 3712 means that roughly 477 tested combinations delivered worse performance in Doom, while the vast majority of systems outperformed it. This is not surprising given the GPU’s age; the GTX 1660 SUPER is marked as end-of-life and was released on 2019-10-28, nearly three years after Doom’s 2016-05-12 release. However, the rank does not tell the whole story—the measured FPS at 1080p Low (173 FPS) and 1080p Medium (123 FPS) are highly playable, indicating that the combo’s low rank is more about the ceiling of its GPU than any fundamental inadequacy for the game.

Benchmark data for the individual components reinforces this interpretation. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 12699 places it near the AMD Radeon RX 580 (deltaPct 0.4) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (deltaPct 0.4), while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 by -0.7%. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 34260 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (deltaPct 0.1) and AMD EPYC 4244P (deltaPct 0.1), and slightly ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (deltaPct 0.5). This pairing of a mid-tier GPU with a high-tier CPU creates a lopsided system that excels in CPU-heavy tasks but falls short in GPU-bound scenarios like high-resolution gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with the TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It features 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs, with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications directly explain the measured FPS results—the 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but the 4K Ultra preset’s 27 FPS average suggests that texture data and memory bandwidth are stretched thin.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are modest by modern standards: 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 and 10.05 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). Its pixel rate is 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate is 157.1 GTexel/s, which are adequate for 1080p but become limiting factors at 4K. The measured 4K Medium result of 40 FPS (min 34, max 47) and 4K High result of 29 FPS illustrate this ceiling—the GPU simply cannot maintain higher frame rates when pixel output demands exceed its fill rate.

The GPU’s overall benchmark percentile of 53 places it in the middle of the pack, but its nearest rivals show how close the competition is. The RTX 3050 Ti Mobile scores a deltaPct of 0.4, meaning it is 0.4% faster on average, while the RX 580 is also 0.4% faster. The Tesla M2090 is 0.7% faster, and the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.9% slower. This tight clustering indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is a known quantity with predictable performance, and the Doom results align with its position—capable at lower resolutions, but not designed for 4K gaming.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 173 FPS, Medium delivers 123 FPS (min 104, max 141), High delivers 87 FPS, and Ultra delivers 82 FPS. For a 60 Hz display, any preset except Ultra is sufficient, but Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom—123 FPS leaves ample margin for frame drops while still benefiting from improved textures over Low. Ultra’s 82 FPS is also viable, but the 41 FPS cost over Medium (123 vs 82) is substantial for marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to High settings, which produce 55 FPS. Medium delivers 77 FPS (min 66, max 89), Low delivers 109 FPS, and Ultra falls to 52 FPS. For a 60 Hz target, High is the sweet spot—55 FPS is close to the threshold, but the data shows that Medium’s 77 FPS provides a safer margin. If visual fidelity is prioritized, High’s 55 FPS is acceptable for most players, but those sensitive to frame pacing should choose Medium. Ultra’s 52 FPS is only 3 FPS lower than High, making it a viable alternative if the graphical settings are more important than the marginal frame rate difference.

At 3840x2160, the data is less forgiving. Low delivers 57 FPS, Medium delivers 40 FPS (min 34, max 47), High delivers 29 FPS, and Ultra delivers 27 FPS. Only Low settings achieve a comfortable 60 FPS target, and even that is marginal. Medium’s 40 FPS is playable but below the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra are below 30 FPS and should be avoided. The recommendation for 4K is to play at Low settings for a consistent experience, or to accept the visual compromises of Medium for a more detailed image at 40 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 27 FPS is the only setting that falls below the generally accepted playability floor, confirming that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming at high presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, with all four presets achieving above 80 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium exceed 60 FPS, while at 3840x2160, only Low reaches 57 FPS. The sweet spot is 1080p Medium at 123 FPS, which provides both high frame rates and improved visuals over Low.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: The measured results show 4K is only playable at Low settings (57 FPS) or Medium settings (40 FPS). High and Ultra presets at 4K produce 29 FPS and 27 FPS respectively, which are below the 30 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 12986 is 0.4% faster than the RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and RX 580, 0.7% slower than the Tesla M2090, and 0.9% faster than the Radeon 740M. Its percentile ranking of 53 places it in the middle of all GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the large FPS spread between Low and Ultra presets (91 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p). At 4K, the bottleneck is even more pronounced, with the spread narrowing to 30 FPS, indicating the GPU is fully saturated.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 109 FPS while Ultra produces 52 FPS, a difference of 57 FPS. Medium sits at 77 FPS and High at 55 FPS, showing that the most significant performance drop occurs when moving from Low to Medium.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 3700X hold back the GTX 1660 SUPER?

A: No, the CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor. The Ryzen 7 3700X scores 34260 on average, ranking at the 84th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals show less than 1% performance differences. The measured FPS scaling patterns are consistent with a GPU-bound scenario.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a Zen 2 (Matisse) architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It features 32 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 64 KB of L1 cache per core, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance—Cinebench R15 multicore scores 2092, Geekbench multicore scores 8899, and Passmark multithread scores 22458. Its single-thread performance is also respectable, with Geekbench singlecore at 1593 and Passmark single-thread at 2656.

In the context of Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration is far more than the game requires, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS scaling across resolutions follows a GPU-bound pattern. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 173 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors, indicating the CPU is not constraining frame delivery. The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores—the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, AMD EPYC 4244P, and Intel Core Ultra 7 165H—all fall within 0.5% of the 3700X’s average score, confirming that this processor is not a performance outlier in either direction.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and dual-channel DDR4 support are adequate for Doom’s demands, and the PCIe Gen 4 interface (24 lanes) provides ample bandwidth for the GPU’s PCIe 3.0 x16 connection. The processor’s 7 nm process node and 3,800 million transistors contribute to its efficiency, but the gaming performance is primarily determined by the GPU. The data indicates that upgrading the CPU alone would not yield meaningful FPS improvements in Doom, as the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component across all tested resolutions. Conversely, the CPU’s high percentile ranking (84) suggests it has headroom to support a more powerful GPU in future upgrades, making it a solid foundation for a gaming system even if the current GPU holds back 4K performance.