Doom

# Doom: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + AMD Radeon RX 580 — Benchmark Analysis

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 produces a playable but clearly GPU-bound experience in Doom, with the combo ranking 1538th out of 1681 tested combinations. The data shows a system that handles 1080p competently but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at higher resolutions, with the RX 580's age showing most prominently at 4K. The Ryzen 7 9700X is never the limiting factor; the RX 580's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus dictate performance ceilings across all settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, confirming that the Radeon RX 580 is the primary bottleneck. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 78.2 FPS, but at 1440p that drops to 51.4 FPS (−34%), and at 4K it falls to 29.1 FPS (−63% from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU hitting its fillrate and memory bandwidth limits—the RX 580's 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient for 4K workloads in a 2016-era shooter built around fast-paced action.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (101 FPS) to Ultra (60.1 FPS) is 40.9 FPS. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 27.5 FPS (68.1 to 40.6), and at 4K it compresses further to 13.3 FPS (37.1 to 23.8). This compression indicates that at 4K, even the lowest settings cannot escape the GPU's fundamental throughput ceiling—the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 performance is exhausted regardless of quality presets.

The 4K results are uniformly below 60 FPS, with Ultra dipping to 23.8 FPS, which is borderline unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. Even Low settings at 4K only reach 37.1 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p is the realistic ceiling for this combo, and even then only with Medium settings (59.3 FPS) or Low (68.1 FPS) providing acceptable smoothness. The resolution scaling curve is steep, and the limiting component is unambiguously the GPU.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700X brings substantial processing headroom that this game never fully utilizes. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on Zen 5 architecture, the CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588 and a single-core score of 4459, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Doom, as a 2016 title, is not designed to exploit 16 threads, and the benchmark data reflects that—the GPU saturates long before the CPU's capabilities are stretched.

The CPU's 3.80 GHz base clock and 5.50 GHz boost clock provide ample single-thread performance for Doom's engine, which relies more on raw clock speed than multi-core scaling. The 32 MB shared L3 cache and 1 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame delivery, but the measured FPS deltas across resolutions show no signs of CPU-induced stuttering or frame drops. The nearest CPU rivals—Intel Core i5-14500HX (0.2% higher average score) and Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (0.4% lower)—all perform within a narrow band, confirming that any of these processors would yield nearly identical results in Doom when paired with an RX 580.

The CPU's DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth is far beyond what the RX 580's 256.0 GB/s VRAM bandwidth can feed back into the system. In practical terms, the Ryzen 7 9700X is never the constraint; the data shows that even at 1080p Low (101 FPS), where CPU overhead is highest, the system still delivers well above the 60 FPS threshold. The 16-thread 3DMark score of 9824 and single-thread score of 1280 further illustrate that this CPU has reserves for more demanding titles, but Doom simply doesn't need them.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the measured data points to Medium settings at 1440p as the sweet spot. The 59.3 FPS at 1440p Medium is just shy of the 60 FPS target, and dropping to Low (68.1 FPS) provides a comfortable margin. At 1080p, High settings (78.2 FPS) offer a strong experience without the visual degradation of Low, while Ultra (60.1 FPS) sits exactly at the playability threshold.

Avoid 4K entirely with this combo. Even Low settings (37.1 FPS) fail to reach 60 FPS, and the 29.1 FPS at High makes fast-paced combat feel sluggish. The 23.8 FPS at Ultra is a slideshow by any standard. For players prioritizing smoothness over visuals, 1080p Low (101 FPS) is the only preset that delivers triple-digit frame rates, ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays.

The data suggests that Medium at 1080p (87.2 FPS) is the most balanced recommendation—it maintains a substantial frame rate cushion while avoiding the sharp visual fidelity drops of Low. At 1440p, Low is the pragmatic choice, as the 68.1 FPS is solidly playable, whereas Medium's 59.3 FPS carries risk of dips below 60 in intense firefights. Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p (60.1 FPS) and should be avoided at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 1538th out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8.5% of all configurations. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU, as the RX 580's 53rd percentile standing among all GPUs drags down what would otherwise be a top-tier CPU pairing. The Ryzen 7 9700X alone sits in the 89th percentile of CPUs, but the RX 580's Passmark G3D score of 8813 and average benchmark score of 13559 place it near the bottom of modern gaming GPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals—NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0% delta), GTX 950 (0.1%), and AMD Radeon Pro 455 (1.1%)—are all older or lower-tier parts, underscoring how dated the RX 580 is for current gaming. The combo's rank reflects that pairing a high-end 2024 CPU with a 2017 GPU creates a severe imbalance; the CPU's potential is wasted in Doom because the GPU caps performance so low. In games that are more CPU-intensive, this pairing would rank higher, but Doom's GPU-bound nature exposes the weakness.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K?

A: Not at playable frame rates. The best 4K result is 37.1 FPS at Low settings, with High at 29.1 FPS and Ultra at 23.8 FPS—all well below 60 FPS.

Q: What is the highest playable resolution and settings?

A: 1440p Low (68.1 FPS) or Medium (59.3 FPS) are the highest playable configurations. At 1080p, all settings including Ultra (60.1 FPS) exceed 60 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700X or the RX 580 the bottleneck?

A: The RX 580 is the clear bottleneck. The CPU is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 53rd percentile, and FPS scaling across resolutions confirms GPU limits.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1538th out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8.5% of all configurations tested.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 78.2 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and suitable for most displays.

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for Doom at 1440p?

A: Yes, the 8 GB GDDR5 memory is not the limiting factor at 1440p. The GPU's raw compute (6.175 TFLOPS) and pixel rate (42.88 GPixel/s) are the constraints, not memory capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings achieve 101 FPS, Medium reaches 87.2 FPS, High hits 78.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 60.1 FPS. All presets at 1080p exceed the 60 FPS threshold, making this the only resolution where Ultra is viable.

At 2560x1440, performance falls below 60 FPS on most presets. Low delivers 68.1 FPS, Medium 59.3 FPS, High 51.4 FPS, and Ultra 40.6 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra at 1440p is 10.8 FPS, a larger penalty than the 5.5 FPS difference between Medium and High.

At 3840x2160, all results are below 40 FPS. Low reaches 37.1 FPS, Medium 33.9 FPS, High 29.1 FPS, and Ultra 23.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 13.3 FPS, indicating the GPU is fully saturated even at the lowest settings.

The full measured data: 1080p Low 101, Medium 87.2, High 78.2, Ultra 60.1; 1440p Low 68.1, Medium 59.3, High 51.4, Ultra 40.6; 4K Low 37.1, Medium 33.9, High 29.1, Ultra 23.8.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 580 is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. Built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process with the Polaris 20 chip, the GPU features 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock of 1257 MHz and boost clock of 1340 MHz drive 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, with a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s.

The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for Doom's textures at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS penalty from Low to High at those resolutions. However, at 4K, the bandwidth and compute limits collide, producing the sub-40 FPS results seen across all settings.

The GPU's 185 W TDP and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface are consistent with its 2017 release, and its end-of-life production status explains its 53rd percentile ranking. The nearest GPU rivals—GTX 570 (0% delta), GTX 950 (0.1%), and Radeon Pro 455 (1.1%)—are all contemporaries or older, confirming that the RX 580's performance class is firmly in the mid-range of its era. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005 and Passmark G3D score of 8813 quantify its modest standing, and the Vulkan score of 45173 in Geekbench shows the architecture's age in modern API workloads.

In Doom, the RX 580's role is to cap the system's potential. The Ryzen 7 9700X could drive far higher frame rates with a more modern GPU, but the data shows that every resolution and settings combination is constrained by the Polaris 20 chip's throughput. The 8 GB VRAM never becomes a limiting factor, but the 6.175 TFLOPS compute and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are insufficient for smooth 4K or high-refresh-rate 1440p gameplay.