Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a performance profile in Doom that is defined by extreme GPU headroom at lower resolutions and a progressive shift toward graphics-card dominance as resolution increases. The data shows a system capable of exceeding 400 frames per second at 1080p, but the scaling pattern reveals that the CPU becomes the limiting factor well before the GPU's potential is exhausted. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data, contextualizes the component roles, and ranks this specific combination against the broader tested database.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combination demonstrates a predictable yet steep decline as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 442.8 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure across all tested configurations. Moving to 1440p Low reduces this to 289.8 FPS, a decrease of 153 FPS, and then to 4K Low at 158.9 FPS, which represents a further 130.9 FPS drop. The scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p, the rendering pipeline is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU is capable of far higher output than the processor can feed.

At higher quality settings, the resolution scaling becomes even more pronounced. With High settings, the frame rate goes from 327.5 FPS at 1080p to 213.5 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 114.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is less than half of the 1080p result, suggesting that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The Ultra settings show the most extreme scaling: 266.9 FPS at 1080p drops to 175.8 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 92.8 FPS at 4K. This last figure is the lowest in the entire dataset, confirming that at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090 is working at its limits for this title.

The data also reveals how the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 175.9 FPS, while at 4K, the same comparison yields only a 66.1 FPS difference. This compression of the settings range at 4K indicates that pixel throughput, not shader complexity, is the dominant bottleneck. Between 1080p and 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by roughly 35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K averages around 47%, showing a non-linear relationship between pixel count and performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the most significant contributor to this system's frame rates, and its specifications align with the measured results. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Doom at any resolution, but it becomes particularly relevant at 4K Ultra where the frame rate falls to 92.8 FPS. The card's boost clock of 2520 MHz, up from a base of 2235 MHz, provides the raw compute throughput needed for high-refresh-rate gaming.

The RTX 4090's architecture, Ada Lovelace, includes 16384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units, which explains its strong performance in this Vulkan-based title. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the theoretical ceiling that the measured FPS approaches at 1080p Low, where the 442.8 FPS result suggests the card is not fully saturated. However, at 4K Ultra, the 92.8 FPS figure indicates the GPU is heavily loaded, with the 176 ROPs processing 3840x2160 pixels at full quality settings.

The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is never a limiting factor in these tests, as even at 4K Ultra, the memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s provides ample headroom. The GPU's percentile ranking of 91 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473, places it in the top tier. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66733, a delta of -0.4%, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 scores 67097, a delta of -0.9%. These close margins in synthetic benchmarks contrast with the large FPS deltas seen in actual gameplay, highlighting the RTX 4090's gaming-specific strengths.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing achieves a combo rank of 21 out of 1681 tested combinations. This places it in the top 1.25% of all systems tested, which is consistent with the high-end nature of both components. The rank reflects the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, with the system's weakest performance being 92.8 FPS at 4K Ultra and its strongest being 442.8 FPS at 1080p Low.

The rank of 21 indicates that there are 20 other combinations that outperform this setup in Doom. Given that the RTX 4090 is the most powerful consumer GPU in the database, the combinations ranked above this one likely feature even faster CPUs or configurations that better feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The Ryzen 7 9700X, with its average benchmark score of 36029, ranks in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, but its 8-core, 16-thread configuration may not be the absolute best pairing for a card of the RTX 4090's caliber.

The delta between this combo and the top-ranked systems is not available in the data, but the raw FPS figures suggest the gap is small at 4K and larger at 1080p. The rank of 21 out of 1681 is a strong result, but it also indicates that for users seeking the absolute maximum frame rates in Doom, a more powerful CPU could yield marginal improvements. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system produces 442.8 FPS, which is likely near the practical limit for any CPU, as the frame time at that rate is just over 2 milliseconds.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 442.8 FPS, Medium produces 387.3 FPS, High produces 327.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 266.9 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent reduction of approximately 40 FPS per step, indicating that each quality tier adds a similar computational load. The 1080p results are characterized by the CPU being the primary bottleneck, as the RTX 4090 could likely render these frames faster if the processor could supply them.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the first signs of GPU limitation. Low settings yield 289.8 FPS, Medium yields 249.7 FPS, High yields 213.5 FPS, and Ultra yields 175.8 FPS. The step between Low and Medium is 40.1 FPS, but the step between High and Ultra is 37.7 FPS, showing a slight narrowing of the settings gap. The 1440p results indicate a balanced workload between CPU and GPU, with neither component being fully saturated.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. Low settings produce 158.9 FPS, Medium produces 137.4 FPS, High produces 114.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 92.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 21.5 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 22 FPS, showing a more uniform distribution of performance across settings. The 4K results demonstrate that the RTX 4090 is capable of maintaining playable frame rates even at the highest quality settings, but the system is no longer CPU-bound at this resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a Zen 5 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, built on a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz boosts up to 5.50 GHz, providing strong single-thread performance that is critical for Doom's rendering pipeline. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's asset streaming. The processor supports DDR5 memory with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, ensuring the GPU is fed with data quickly.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 9700X scores 4459 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 31588 in multi-core, with a Geekbench single-core score of 3353 and multi-core score of 17002. These scores place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, scores 35940, a delta of 0.2%, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 scores 35802, a delta of 0.6%. The CPU's 3DMark scores show strong scaling from 1280 single-thread to 9771 max threads, indicating good multi-threading efficiency.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 442.8 FPS result suggests the processor is delivering frames as fast as possible. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration is well-suited for the game's multi-threaded renderer, but the data shows that at 1080p, the system is still CPU-bound. At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 65W TDP of the Ryzen 7 9700X is notable, as it delivers this performance while maintaining power efficiency.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest frame rate achieved by this combination in Doom?

A: The highest measured FPS is 442.8, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The lowest is 92.8 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested combinations in Doom?

A: This combination ranks 21st out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the top 1.25% of all systems in the database for this game.

Q: Is the system CPU-bound or GPU-bound at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the system is CPU-bound at 1080p, as the frame rates of 442.8 FPS at Low settings suggest the GPU is not the limiting factor.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 158.9 FPS while Ultra produces 92.8 FPS, a difference of 66.1 FPS. This shows a significant impact of quality settings at high resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth affect Doom's performance?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, which prevents memory-related bottlenecks even at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What is the Ryzen 7 9700X's single-thread performance relative to its rivals?

A: The CPU scores 4459 in Cinebench R23 single-core, with its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14500HX, scoring 35940 in average benchmark score, a delta of 0.2% in the CPU's favor.