Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a playable but clearly GPU-bound experience in Doom, with performance scaling that highlights the 1660 SUPER’s role as the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The data shows a system that can comfortably handle 1080p at high settings but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K, making it a combination best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming rather than 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with High settings, the combo averages 109 FPS, which drops to 70 FPS at 2560x1440—a 36% reduction—and further plummets to 38 FPS at 3840x2160, a 65% decrease from the 1080p figure. This pattern strongly indicates that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component, as the CPU’s capabilities are not being taxed proportionally to the frame rate drop.

The scaling between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution reinforces this conclusion. At 1080p, the spread from Low (148 FPS) to Ultra (89 FPS) is 59 FPS, while at 4K the same settings spread shrinks to 21 FPS (52 FPS Low versus 31 FPS Ultra). This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions is a classic symptom of GPU saturation—the graphics card is already working at maximum capacity, so reducing graphical fidelity yields diminishing returns. At 4K, even dropping to Low settings only recovers 14 FPS over Ultra, suggesting the GPU’s pixel throughput is the hard ceiling.

The Medium settings data provides additional insight into frame time stability. At 1080p Medium, the average is 129 FPS with a minimum of 110 FPS and maximum of 148 FPS, indicating consistent performance with no major stutters. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 83 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS and maximum of 96 FPS, still maintaining a reasonable frame time consistency. However, at 4K Medium, the average falls to 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and maximum of 52 FPS—the low minimum suggests occasional frame drops below the 40 FPS threshold, which could feel noticeable in fast-paced combat scenarios.

Given that Doom is a fast-paced FPS, the 4K performance is marginal at best. The 38 FPS average at High settings and 31 FPS at Ultra are below the 60 FPS target most competitive players would consider acceptable, while the 52 FPS at Low settings remains short of that mark. For a game that rewards quick reflexes and smooth motion, the data suggests that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo, with High settings delivering 70 FPS and Ultra at 58 FPS—both respectable figures for a GPU in this class.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700F brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide ample single-thread performance for Doom’s engine, which is known for being reasonably well-optimized but still benefits from strong per-core throughput. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth ensure that data feeding is not a constraint in this configuration.

Benchmark results for the 9700F show a Passmark single-thread score of 4691, placing it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. This strong single-threaded performance is directly relevant to Doom, which relies heavily on the main game thread for physics and game logic. The CPU’s multithreaded score of 36470 and integer math score of 120788 further demonstrate its capability to handle background tasks without stealing cycles from the game’s primary thread.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher), and Intel Core i7-14700K (0.9% higher). These tight deltas—all within 1%—indicate that the 9700F is squarely in the upper tier of desktop processors, and none of these differences would meaningfully alter Doom’s frame rates at the resolutions tested. The CPU’s 65 W TDP is notably efficient, though this is a power characteristic rather than a performance metric directly visible in the FPS data.

In the context of this game, the 9700F is clearly not the limiting factor. The FPS scaling pattern across resolutions points exclusively to the GPU, and even at 1080p Low settings (148 FPS), the CPU is not holding back the frame rate. The data suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700F has headroom to drive higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU, as its computational capabilities exceed what the GTX 1660 SUPER can feed it in most scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is the dominant factor in this combo’s gaming performance. Based on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip, this GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1530 MHz and boost clock of 1785 MHz, combined with 1408 shading units, deliver 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute—a modest figure by modern standards but sufficient for 1080p gaming in most titles.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 53rd percentile among all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 12699. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.4% higher), AMD Radeon RX 580 (0.4% higher), NVIDIA Tesla M2090 (0.7% lower), and AMD Radeon 740M (0.9% higher). These deltas are all under 1%, meaning the 1660 SUPER is positioned in a crowded mid-range segment where small performance differences are common.

In Doom, the 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the tested settings, as the game’s textures at 4K Ultra would likely fit within this allocation. However, the GPU’s raw compute power becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K (38 FPS High, 45 FPS Medium, 52 FPS Low) indicates that the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel count, struggling to maintain even 60 FPS at the lowest settings. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed and 336 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the game’s needs, but the shading units are simply not numerous enough to handle 3840x2160 output efficiently.

The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 5.027 TFLOPS is the key constraint. Doom’s renderer is heavily compute-bound, and the 1660 SUPER’s 1408 shaders are insufficient for 4K workloads. The fact that 1080p performance (89-148 FPS depending on settings) is strong while 4K performance collapses confirms that the GPU’s fill rate and compute capacity, not memory bandwidth or capacity, are the limiting factors. This is consistent with the GPU’s 48 ROPs and 85.68 GPixel/s pixel rate, which are adequate for 1080p but stretched at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 7 9700F + GTX 1660 SUPER combination ranks 2497 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 15th percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking is notably low for a system with a high-end CPU, reflecting the mismatch between the CPU’s 94th percentile performance and the GPU’s 53rd percentile standing. The data indicates that this combo performs far below what the CPU alone would suggest, underscoring the GPU’s role as the performance limiter.

This ranking suggests that many other combinations—likely those with mid-range CPUs paired with stronger GPUs—would outperform this setup in Doom specifically. The 2497th position out of 2930 means approximately 433 tested combos deliver worse performance, but a substantial majority do better. For a game like Doom that is more GPU-dependent than CPU-dependent, the 1660 SUPER’s modest capabilities drag down the overall ranking despite the 9700F’s strength.

The combo’s position in the lower 15% of tested configurations is consistent with the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the 109 FPS High average is respectable but not exceptional, and the 4K results are below what many other combos would achieve. The ranking reflects a system that is well-balanced for 1080p gaming but falls behind in higher-resolution scenarios where the GPU’s limitations are exposed. The CPU’s headroom is effectively wasted in this pairing, as the GPU cannot translate the 9700F’s computational advantages into higher frame rates.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this combo?*

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At 1080p, even Ultra settings average 89 FPS, while High settings deliver 109 FPS and Low reaches 148 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (96 FPS) and High (70 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while 3840x2160 fails to reach 60 FPS at any setting.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F’s average benchmark score is 69996. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher at 69875), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower at 70163), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher at 69515), and Intel Core i7-14700K (0.9% higher at 69355). All deltas are within 1%, indicating near-identical performance.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER better or worse than the RX 580?

A: The two GPUs are essentially tied in benchmark performance. The GTX 1660 SUPER has an average score of 12986, while the AMD Radeon RX 580 scores 12928, putting the 1660 SUPER 0.4% ahead. In Doom, this difference would be imperceptible in actual frame rates.

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

A: Technically yes, but not at smooth frame rates. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 31 (Ultra) to 52 (Low), with Medium at 45 FPS and High at 38 FPS. Only Low settings approach playable levels, and even then, the 52 FPS average falls short of a stable 60 FPS target.

Q: What are the frame time consistency results at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the combo shows good consistency. At 1080p, the average is 129 FPS with a minimum of 110 and maximum of 148. At 1440p, it averages 83 FPS with min/max of 71/96. At 4K, the average drops to 45 FPS with a minimum of 38 and maximum of 52, indicating some frame drops below the average.

Q: Does the CPU’s performance percentile match the combo’s in-game rank?

A: No. The CPU sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 53rd percentile. The combo ranks 2497 out of 2930 in Doom, which is in the bottom 15%. This mismatch shows the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s high percentile does not translate to a high combo rank in this GPU-bound title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table presents the exact measured FPS data for the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER in Doom:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 38 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 52 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 45 | 38 | 52 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 31 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | High | 70 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 96 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 83 | 71 | 96 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 58 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | High | 109 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 148 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 129 | 110 | 148 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 89 | — | — |

The data reveals a clear performance hierarchy: 1080p delivers excellent frame rates across all settings, 1440p offers good performance at Low and High but dips below 60 FPS at Ultra, and 4K is only marginally playable at Low settings. The Medium settings row for each resolution shows the most complete data, with minimum and maximum values that indicate frame time behavior. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 38 FPS is notably lower than the average of 45 FPS, suggesting occasional stutter-prone moments. The 1440p Medium minimum of 71 FPS stays comfortably above 60 FPS, while the 1080p Medium minimum of 110 FPS ensures a smooth experience even in demanding scenes.

This FPS breakdown confirms that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates at any preset. The 1440p results are usable for High settings (70 FPS) but require dropping to Low for a more comfortable margin (96 FPS). The 4K results are below 60 FPS across all settings, making this resolution impractical for competitive play. The GPU’s limitations are most evident at 4K, where even the lowest settings cannot break the 60 FPS barrier.