Doom

# Doom — AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces exceptional frame rates in Doom, with the data showing this combination ranks 76th out of 2,930 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.6% of all systems tested. This pairing leverages an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 5 processor with a 5.50 GHz boost clock alongside a 24 GB GDDR6X GPU with 16384 shading units, and the measured results indicate that the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases, while the CPU provides ample headroom even at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, with the average frame rate dropping by roughly half from 1080p to 4K across all settings. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (444 avg FPS) to 3840x2160 (156 avg FPS) represents a 64.9% reduction in frame rate, while the High preset shows a more moderate decline from 327 to 115 avg FPS, a 64.8% drop. This consistent scaling pattern across presets indicates that the rendering load scales predictably with pixel count, and the GPU's compute resources are being utilized progressively more heavily at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset data provides the most complete picture, with min and max FPS values recorded at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 387 avg FPS with a min of 329 and max of 445; at 1440p Medium, it drops to 250 avg FPS (min 213, max 288); and at 4K Medium, it falls to 136 avg FPS (min 115, max 156). The narrowing of the min-to-max spread at lower resolutions (116 FPS at 1080p versus 41 FPS at 4K) suggests that at high frame rates, CPU-side frame pacing or other system bottlenecks introduce more variance, whereas at 4K the GPU becomes the limiting factor and produces more consistent frame delivery.

This scaling behavior points to the RTX 4090 being the dominant constraint at 4K, where even the Low preset cannot exceed 156 avg FPS. The fact that 4K Ultra (94 avg FPS) still maintains a playable frame rate despite the demanding settings demonstrates the GPU's raw throughput, but the 62.5% gap between 4K Low and 4K Ultra (156 vs 94) shows how heavily the Ultra preset taxes the render pipeline. At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-bound at lower settings, with the 444 avg FPS at Low suggesting the Ryzen 7 9700F's 8 cores and 5.50 GHz boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at extreme frame rates, but the rendering engine itself cannot scale beyond that point.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, paired with 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In Doom, a game originally released in 2016, the CPU's single-thread performance is particularly relevant, and the PassMark single-thread score of 4,691 combined with a multithread score of 36,470 indicates strong per-core throughput. The processor's percentile ranking against all CPUs is 94, meaning it outperforms 94% of all tested processors, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher avg score), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher), and Intel Core i7-14700K (0.9% higher).

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU's capabilities are the primary factor limiting frame rates at Low and Medium settings. The 444 avg FPS at 1080p Low is remarkably high, but the fact that it doesn't exceed this level even with a top-tier GPU indicates that the game's engine has an upper bound on how many frames it can process per second, likely tied to the CPU's ability to submit draw calls and update game state. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is critical here, as Doom's id Tech 6 engine is known for its efficient multithreading but still shows sensitivity to single-thread performance in the main game loop.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes substantially, as the GPU's rendering workload dominates the frame time budget. The difference between 1080p Low (444 avg) and 4K Low (156 avg) can be attributed almost entirely to GPU load, and the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any point above 200 FPS. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra (267 avg) is significantly lower than 1080p Low (444 avg) suggests that the Ultra preset introduces additional CPU-side work—possibly more complex scene management or physics calculations—that reduces the achievable frame rate even when the GPU is not fully saturated.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip, featuring 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, with a base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 21 Gbps effective across a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth—a figure that proves sufficient for Doom's texture-heavy environments even at 4K Ultra settings. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and its 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicate strong overall performance, though its nearest rivals in the benchmark database—Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% higher), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% lower), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% higher)—are notably different product categories and should not be interpreted as direct gaming comparisons.

The measured FPS data shows the RTX 4090's raw compute power delivering 94 avg FPS at 4K Ultra, which is a demanding workload that includes high-resolution textures, advanced lighting, and post-processing effects. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are clearly sufficient to maintain playable frame rates at the highest settings, but the scaling from 4K Ultra (94) to 4K High (115) to 4K Medium (136) to 4K Low (156) reveals that each settings tier reduces the GPU workload significantly. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than adequate for Doom at any resolution, and the fact that the game was released in 2016 means it was not designed to fully utilize the RTX 4090's modern feature set, including the 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores.

At 1440p, the GPU's performance is exceptional, with the High preset achieving 211 avg FPS and Ultra at 173 avg FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 250 avg FPS with a max of 288 FPS shows the GPU operating at high utilization while maintaining consistent frame delivery. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s becomes relevant at 4K, where texture streaming and high-resolution assets demand rapid data transfer, and the data indicates that the RTX 4090 handles this without issue, as the 4K Low result of 156 avg FPS is still well above typical display refresh rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 76th out of 2,930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 2.6% of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the strong synergy between the two components, though it is notable that the combo does not crack the top 75, suggesting that some other processor pairings (likely with higher single-thread or multithread scores) can extract even more performance from the RTX 4090 in this title. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicate that both components are well above average, but the combination's relative ranking at 97.4th percentile overall (calculated from the rank position) suggests that the CPU's performance ceiling in Doom is not the primary limitation—the GPU itself may be the bottleneck in some configurations.

The nearest CPU rivals—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)—all have average benchmark scores within 1% of the Ryzen 7 9700F, indicating that this processor is competitive with higher-tier and previous-generation parts. In the context of Doom, where frame rates are already extremely high, such small CPU performance differences are unlikely to produce meaningful FPS variations, and the data supports this: the 1080p results are likely limited by the game engine's frame rate ceiling rather than CPU capability differences.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are less relevant for gaming comparison, as they include professional and workstation cards (Intel Arc Pro A60, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, AMD Radeon PRO V710) that are not typically used for gaming. The RTX 4090's percentile ranking of 88 among all GPUs is somewhat misleading, as the database likely includes many older and lower-tier GPUs, but the measured FPS in Doom confirms that this GPU is among the fastest available for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 444 avg FPS at Low, 387 avg FPS at Medium (min 329, max 445), 327 avg FPS at High, and 267 avg FPS at Ultra. The step from Low to Medium reduces performance by 12.8%, Medium to High by 15.5%, and High to Ultra by 18.3%, showing that each settings tier imposes a progressively larger performance cost. The Medium preset's min FPS of 329 at 1080p indicates that even the worst-case frame delivery remains well above any display refresh rate, making this resolution ideal for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the system delivers 287 avg FPS at Low, 250 avg FPS at Medium (min 213, max 288), 211 avg FPS at High, and 173 avg FPS at Ultra. The performance drops from 1080p are consistent: Low falls by 35.4%, Medium by 35.4%, High by 35.5%, and Ultra by 35.2%. This uniform reduction across all settings confirms that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, and the GPU's workload increases proportionally with pixel count. The 1440p Medium result of 250 avg FPS with a max of 288 FPS shows the system's ability to maintain high frame rates while providing a visual quality upgrade over 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 156 avg FPS at Low, 136 avg FPS at Medium (min 115, max 156), 115 avg FPS at High, and 94 avg FPS at Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is substantial: Low falls by 45.6%, Medium by 45.6%, High by 45.5%, and Ultra by 45.7%. This consistent 45.6% reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU's fill rate and shading throughput are the limiting factors at 4K, and the CPU is no longer constraining performance. The 4K Ultra result of 94 avg FPS remains playable for most users, though those seeking 120+ FPS at 4K would need to select the High preset (115 avg FPS) or lower.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 444 at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings, followed by 387 at 1080p Medium and 327 at 1080p High.

Q: Can this system maintain 120+ FPS at 4K in Doom?

A: Yes, the data shows 156 avg FPS at 4K Low, 136 avg FPS at 4K Medium, and 115 avg FPS at 4K High, meaning only the Ultra preset (94 avg FPS) falls below the 120 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69,996, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69,875), 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70,163), 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69,515), and 0.9% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700K (69,355).

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 287 avg FPS while Ultra produces 173 avg FPS, representing a 39.7% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom at 4K?

A: The measured data shows the system maintaining 94 avg FPS at 4K Ultra with no indication of VRAM-related stuttering or performance degradation, suggesting the 24 GB capacity is more than adequate for this game.

Q: Does the system show more frame rate variance at higher or lower resolutions?

A: The Medium preset data shows a wider min-to-max spread at 1080p (116 FPS difference between 329 min and 445 max) compared to 4K (41 FPS difference between 115 min and 156 max), indicating more consistent frame delivery at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's target resolution and frame rate preference. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset at 267 avg FPS is the best choice for visual quality without sacrificing competitive performance, as even the minimum frame rate would remain well above any high-refresh display's capability. The High preset at 327 avg FPS offers a good balance for users who prefer maximum frame rates at 1080p, but the difference between High and Ultra (60 FPS) may not justify the visual downgrade for most players.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 211 avg FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides excellent visual fidelity while maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors (typically 144-165 Hz). The Ultra preset at 173 avg FPS is also viable for users with 144 Hz displays, but the 38 FPS difference between High and Ultra makes High the better option for those prioritizing smoothness. The Medium preset at 250 avg FPS is only recommended for competitive players who want maximum headroom, though the visual trade-off from High is substantial.

For 3840x2160, the High preset at 115 avg FPS is the recommended setting for users with 120 Hz displays, as it provides the best visual quality while staying close to the refresh rate ceiling. The Medium preset at 136 avg FPS is the better choice for users with 144 Hz 4K displays, offering a 21 FPS improvement over High at a modest visual cost. The Ultra preset at 94 avg FPS is only suitable for users with 60-90 Hz displays who prioritize visual fidelity above all else, while the Low preset at 156 avg FPS is unnecessary for most users given the High preset's performance. Overall, the data indicates that the High preset provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate across all three resolutions, with Medium as a strong alternative for higher-refresh displays at 4K.