Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a staggering performance profile in Doom, one that is defined by massive frame rates and a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution scales. The combination ranks 11th out of 1,681 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all configurations. This pairing leverages the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread Zen 4 architecture with the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute to obliterate the 2016 FPS title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a textbook scaling curve from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 435.8 FPS, which drops to 338.5 FPS at High, and 278 FPS at Ultra. This 1080p behavior indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter; the RTX 5090's raw throughput is so immense that it outstrips what the Ryzen 7 7700X can feed it at lower resolutions. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 157.8 FPS, showing that GPU load still matters, but the absolute ceiling is CPU-bound.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but begin to show a more balanced workload. Low settings yield 297.9 FPS, High produces 217.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 177.4 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is a 100.6 FPS reduction, which indicates the GPU is starting to take on more responsibility, though the CPU still has headroom. The fact that 1440p Low exceeds 1080p Ultra (297.9 vs 278) underscores how much of the 1080p Ultra result is constrained by the processor's single-thread performance.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. Ultra settings produce 97.3 FPS, Medium reaches 137.9 FPS, and Low hits 158.6 FPS. The drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 80.1 FPS, a 45% reduction that clearly demonstrates the RTX 5090 is now working near its limits. Interestingly, 4K Low (158.6 FPS) is still faster than 1440p Ultra (177.4 FPS) by a slim margin, suggesting that even at 4K, the CPU can occasionally throttle the GPU in lighter scenes. The overall pattern is classic: the 7700X holds the combo back at 1080p, while the 5090's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 176 ROPs carry the load at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Doom?*

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 435.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the absolute peak of the measured data, where the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock is the primary driver.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84,306, which is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (84,241) and 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (84,171). It trails the NVIDIA CMP 40HX by 1.6% (85,637).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra?

A: The difference is 180.7 FPS. At 1920x1080 Ultra, the combo averages 278 FPS, while at 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 97.3 FPS. This 65% reduction highlights the GPU's workload at 4K.

Q: Does the Ryzen 7 7700X outperform the Intel Core i5-13500 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: Yes, but narrowly. The 7700X has an average benchmark score of 34,313, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-13500's 34,175. The gap is 138 points, indicating near-identical multi-threaded performance.

*Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations in Doom?*

A: The combo ranks 11th out of 1,681 tested combos. This places it in the 99th percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings tested for this game, reflecting the strength of both components.

Q: How much FPS is gained by dropping from High to Low settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, dropping from High (217.8 FPS) to Low (297.9 FPS) yields a gain of 80.1 FPS. This 36.8% improvement shows that settings have a significant impact even at mid-range resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a 7000-series desktop processor built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename. It packs 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The 105W TDP and 5nm process node (TSMC) allow for high sustained clocks, which is critical for Doom's engine. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s of dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth provide the data throughput needed to feed the RTX 5090.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7700X scores 4,281 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 30,325 in multi-core. The single-core score is particularly relevant for Doom, as the 2016 title relies heavily on a few threads for game logic and draw calls. The CPU's 3DMark scores show scaling from 2,112 (2-thread) to 8,852 (max-thread), indicating that 16 threads are utilized but the performance curve flattens beyond 8 threads. The 8-thread score of 7,057 is 79.7% of the max-thread score, confirming that the CPU's physical cores are the primary assets.

The nearest rival in synthetic average score is the Intel Core i5-13500, which trails by only 0.4% (34,175 vs 34,313). This razor-thin margin means the 7700X is effectively matched by a 14-core Intel part in overall benchmarks, but in Doom specifically, the AMD's higher boost clock and lower latency cache hierarchy give it an edge. The 7700X's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its 6,570 million transistors on a 71 mm² die underscore its efficiency, though the game's performance at 1080p suggests it still becomes the bottleneck when the GPU is this powerful.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 11th out of 1,681 tested configurations in Doom, a remarkable position that places it in the top 0.65% of all pairings. This ranking is driven by the RTX 5090's 94th percentile standing among all GPUs, which is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The GPU's average benchmark score of 84,306 is 0.1% ahead of the RTX 5090 D and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, though it lags the NVIDIA CMP 40HX by 1.6%.

The CPU's contribution to this ranking is more nuanced. The 7700X's 89th percentile among CPUs is strong, but its nearest rivals — the Intel Core i5-13500 and Intel Core i7-12800HX — are within 0.5% of its average score. This means the CPU is not the differentiator; the GPU is. In fact, the combo's 11th-place ranking likely reflects that the top 10 combos all feature even faster CPUs, such as higher-binned 7000-series parts or Intel's flagship Raptor Lake chips, which can push 1080p frame rates closer to the RTX 5090's theoretical ceiling.

Data indicates that the combo's rank is more impressive at 4K than at 1080p. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the 97.3 FPS result is competitive with any setup, as the GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate take over. At 1080p Ultra, the 278 FPS result is bottlenecked by the CPU, meaning the combo rank could be higher if paired with a faster processor. The 11th-place rank out of 1,681 confirms the RTX 5090's dominance, but the measured data suggests the Ryzen 7 7700X leaves some performance on the table at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo posts its highest numbers. Low settings yield 435.8 FPS, Medium produces 398.4 FPS, High reaches 338.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 278 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 157.8 FPS, with each settings tier costing roughly 60-80 FPS. These figures indicate that Doom's Vulkan renderer is extremely efficient, and the 7700X's 5.40 GHz boost clock is the limiting factor in all cases. The difference between Medium and Low is 37.4 FPS, while High to Ultra is 60.5 FPS, showing that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the CPU.

At 2560x1440, the numbers remain high but scale down predictably. Low settings produce 297.9 FPS, Medium hits 260.4 FPS, High achieves 217.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 177.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 120.5 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p (157.8 FPS), confirming the GPU is taking more of the load. Medium to High costs 42.6 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 40.4 FPS, showing a consistent degradation as settings increase. Notably, 1440p Low is still 19.9 FPS faster than 1080p Ultra, which underscores the CPU bottleneck at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's dominance is clear. Ultra settings produce 97.3 FPS, Medium reaches 137.9 FPS, Low hits 158.6 FPS, and High sits in between at 117.3 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 61.3 FPS, which is less than half the 1080p spread. This compression indicates the GPU is now fully saturated. The jump from Ultra to High is 20 FPS, while High to Medium is 20.6 FPS, and Medium to Low is 20.7 FPS — a nearly linear relationship. The 4K Low result of 158.6 FPS is still faster than 1440p Ultra (177.4 FPS) by 18.8 FPS, highlighting that the RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth can handle 4K textures without issue, but the CPU struggles to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions.