Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination delivers a decisive performance profile in Doom, with the data indicating that the CPU’s architecture provides ample headroom for the GPU to operate at its full potential. The Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it carries a 65 W TDP. The processor’s memory bandwidth is rated at 89.6 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 31,588 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,459 in single-core, placing it in the 89th percentile against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 36,029 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i5-14500HX, which scores 35,940, a delta of 0.2 percent. It is also 0.4 percent behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36,165) and 0.6 percent ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35,802).

For a fast-paced FPS like Doom, the CPU’s single-thread performance is often the primary constraint on maximum frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. The Ryzen 7 9700X’s single-core score of 4,459 in Cinebench R23 and 3,353 in Geekbench single-core are strong indicators of its ability to handle game logic and physics without bottlenecking the graphics card. The data suggests this is not a limiting factor in this pairing, as the measured frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes, a pattern typical of a GPU-bound scenario rather than a CPU-bound one. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration also ensures that background tasks and modern game engines that utilize multiple threads will not starve the main render thread. While the CPU has a launch MSRP of $359, the measured results show that its processing power is more than sufficient for the demands of Doom at the tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the three tested resolutions and four quality presets. For a 60 Hz display, virtually any setting at any resolution will deliver a smooth experience, but the data shows where the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate lies. At 3840x2160, the High preset produces an average of 90.5 FPS, which is a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at this resolution yields 108.1 FPS, offering a substantial performance boost for a minor visual step down. The Ultra preset drops to 73.2 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset at 123.4 FPS is the fastest at 4K but sacrifices the most visual quality.

For 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 136.4 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset at 164.7 FPS provides an even larger buffer, and the Medium preset at 196.6 FPS is exceptionally smooth. At 1920x1080, the data shows that the RTX 4070 SUPER is capable of exceeding 200 FPS even at the highest quality settings, with the Ultra preset averaging 208.9 FPS. The High preset at 255.7 FPS and Medium at 306.8 FPS are optimal for 240 Hz displays. The best experience per the measured rows, balancing visual quality with frame rate, is the High preset at 2560x1440, which delivers 164.7 FPS. This combination provides a significant improvement over 4K performance while maintaining high detail settings, and it is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. For those with 4K displays, the Medium preset at 108.1 FPS is the recommended choice, as it offers a 19 percent average FPS increase over High while maintaining a playable frame rate.

FAQ

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X bottleneck the RTX 4070 SUPER in Doom?

A: No. The data shows frame rates scale predictably with resolution, moving from 346.5 FPS at 1080p Low down to 90.5 FPS at 4K High. This pattern indicates the GPU is the primary performance limiter, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom across all tested settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I have a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 2560x1440, all settings exceed 136 FPS, with the Ultra preset at 136.4 FPS and High at 164.7 FPS. This resolution fully utilizes a 144 Hz display without any compromise to visual quality.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: The Low preset averages 346.5 FPS, which is 65.9 percent higher than the Ultra preset’s 208.9 FPS. This shows a significant performance headroom when reducing settings, though the Ultra preset is already well above typical refresh rates.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB VRAM a limiting factor at 4K Ultra?

A: The measured data shows an average of 73.2 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra, which is playable. There is no indication from the frame time data that VRAM capacity is causing a severe performance penalty, as the drop from High to Ultra is consistent with increased rendering load.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in Doom?

A: The combination ranks 301st out of 1,681 tested combos, placing it in the top 17.9 percent of all configurations. This is a strong result, indicating that the pairing is well-balanced for this title.

Q: Can this system achieve 200 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes. The Medium preset at 2560x1440 averages 196.6 FPS, and the Low preset reaches 225.9 FPS. While the High and Ultra presets fall below 200 FPS, they are still very high at 164.7 FPS and 136.4 FPS, respectively.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 301 out of 1,681 tested combinations places this system in the 82nd percentile overall. This is a strong showing for a mid-range to high-end pairing, indicating that it outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations in Doom. The rank suggests that the Ryzen 7 9700X and RTX 4070 SUPER are well-matched, with neither component dragging down the overall performance. The CPU’s benchmark percentile of 89 and the GPU’s percentile of 84 are both high, but their combined rank in this game is slightly lower, which reflects the specific demands of Doom’s engine. The data indicates that the system is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1440p and 4K, with the 4K Ultra preset being the only setting that dips below 90 FPS. In comparison to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the performance delta is negligible, with a 0.2 percent difference from the Intel Core i5-14500HX and a 0.4 percent difference from the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H. This means that swapping the CPU for a comparable rival would yield almost no observable difference in frame rates, reinforcing that the GPU is the dominant factor in this game’s performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of the measured frame rates in Doom. It is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture with an AD104 chip, built on a 5 nm process. The GPU features 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines. Its boost clock is 2475 MHz, and it has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The card’s FP32 compute performance is 35.48 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 554.4 GTexel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 29,995 in Passmark G3D and 192,684 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 84th percentile against all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 42,576 is 0.2 percent below the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42,653) and 0.3 percent below the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723). The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom’s textures at all tested settings, and the 504.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures that data transfer does not bottleneck the rendering pipeline.

The GPU’s role is evident in the frame rate scaling across resolutions. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 208.9 at Ultra to 346.5 at Low, showing a 65.9 percent increase. At 1440p, the range is from 136.4 to 225.9, a 65.6 percent increase. At 4K, the range is from 73.2 to 123.4, a 68.6 percent increase. This consistent scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions, as the relative performance difference between settings remains similar. The 4K Ultra result of 73.2 FPS shows that the card can handle high-resolution rendering, but the performance headroom is reduced compared to lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 346.5 FPS for Low, 306.8 FPS for Medium, 255.7 FPS for High, and 208.9 FPS for Ultra. This shows a clear progression where each step up in quality costs roughly 15-18 percent of the frame rate. The 1080p results are exceptionally high, indicating that the system is heavily GPU-bound at this resolution, with the CPU providing more than enough headroom to push the GPU to its limits.

At 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 225.9 FPS for Low, 196.6 FPS for Medium, 164.7 FPS for High, and 136.4 FPS for Ultra. The performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, ranging from 34.8 percent at Low to 34.7 percent at Ultra. This suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the workload increases with pixel count. The 1440p results are still very high, with even the Ultra preset exceeding 136 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 123.4 FPS for Low, 108.1 FPS for Medium, 90.5 FPS for High, and 73.2 FPS for Ultra. The transition from 1440p to 4K results in a performance drop of approximately 45 percent across all settings. The 4K Ultra result of 73.2 FPS is the lowest measured value, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data shows that the RTX 4070 SUPER is capable of delivering playable frame rates at 4K, but the High and Ultra presets require a significant performance trade-off. The Low preset at 4K, at 123.4 FPS, offers a viable option for players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity. Overall, the measurements indicate that this combo excels at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K being a viable but more demanding scenario.