Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance scaling across settings and resolutions, with the combination ranking 857th out of 1681 tested combos in this specific title. The analysis below breaks down the benchmark results, focusing on the GPU's role, resolution scaling behavior, and the CPU's contribution to overall performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this hardware for a high refresh rate experience?

A: At 1920x1080, the average frame rate ranges from 146.1 FPS on Ultra to 238.8 FPS on Low, making it the only resolution where all settings comfortably exceed 144 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset still delivers 114.2 FPS, but the Ultra preset drops to 96.2 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its closest rival in terms of overall benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 30109 puts it in a dead heat with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which scores 30097, resulting in a 0% delta. It is also only 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile, which scores 29928.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: The measured data shows a significant drop from 82.1 FPS on Low to 48.7 FPS on Ultra at 3840x2160, a difference of 33.4 frames per second. The High preset sits in between at 61.2 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's multi-threaded performance align with its single-threaded performance?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X shows strong scaling, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 31588 versus a single-core score of 4459. The 3DMark tests show a jump from 1280 single-thread to 9771 max threads, indicating the 8 cores and 16 threads are well-utilized.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 238.8 FPS average at 1080p Low is the highest recorded in the data, suggesting the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1280) is sufficient to feed the GPU at this level. The bottleneck likely shifts to the GPU as settings increase to Ultra, which drops the frame rate to 146.1 FPS.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth, and how does it relate to performance?

A: The RTX 5060 features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This high bandwidth is likely a key factor in maintaining playable frame rates at higher resolutions, though the 4K Ultra preset still falls below 60 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory with a 128-bit bus width, resulting in 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 2280 MHz with a boost clock of 2497 MHz, and it houses 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its compute capabilities peak at 19.18 TFLOPS for FP32 operations, which is a substantial amount of raw processing power for a game like Doom.

In the context of the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes evident in the scaling between settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 92.7 FPS (from 238.8 to 146.1), which is a 38.8% reduction in performance. This gap widens at 4K, where the Ultra preset (48.7 FPS) is 40.7% slower than Low (82.1 FPS). The RTX 5060's average benchmark score of 30109 places it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, and its closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a score of 30097, indicating near-identical overall performance.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom's requirements, as the game's release date in 2016 predates the high-VRAM demands of modern titles. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is particularly relevant at 4K, where the data shows the High preset achieving 61.2 FPS. This suggests the GPU's memory subsystem is capable of handling the texture and geometry data required at higher resolutions without becoming a severe bottleneck, though the Ultra preset's 48.7 FPS indicates the shading units are being pushed to their limits.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 174.9 at 1080p to 114.2 at 1440p (a 34.7% decrease), and then to 61.2 at 4K (a 46.4% decrease from 1440p). This indicates a significant scaling cost, which is typical for a game that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

The Low preset exhibits a similar trend, with 238.8 FPS at 1080p falling to 153.9 FPS at 1440p (a 35.5% drop) and then to 82.1 FPS at 4K (a 46.7% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is uniform, meaning the RTX 5060's performance is scaling in a predictable manner with pixel count. The 4K resolution has approximately 4.4 times the pixels of 1080p, and the frame rate scales roughly inversely with this ratio, confirming that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 92.7 FPS, while at 4K, the same settings difference is only 33.4 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's compute resources are saturated more quickly at 4K, making the settings choice less impactful on absolute frame rate. The data suggests that for a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K, the High preset (61.2 FPS) is the highest quality option, while at 1440p, all presets except Ultra (96.2 FPS) exceed 114 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5060 and Ryzen 7 9700X combination delivers high frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 238.8 FPS, Medium produces 210.7 FPS, High reaches 174.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 146.1 FPS. These figures show that even the most demanding preset at this resolution is well above the 144 FPS threshold for high refresh rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are noticeable but still playable. The Low preset averages 153.9 FPS, Medium hits 138.8 FPS, High manages 114.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 96.2 FPS. The jump from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 35-40% of the frame rate depending on the preset, which is consistent with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the data shows a more challenging scenario. The Low preset averages 82.1 FPS, Medium reaches 77.2 FPS, High drops to 61.2 FPS, and Ultra dips below 60 FPS to 48.7 FPS. This resolution represents the limit of the RTX 5060's capabilities for high-quality gaming in Doom, as only the Low and Medium presets maintain frame rates above 75 FPS. The Ultra preset's 48.7 FPS is the only measured result that falls below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay, indicating that this combination is not suited for maximum settings at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal preset depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset provides 146.1 FPS, which is sufficient for high refresh rate displays and offers the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The High preset at 174.9 FPS is a strong alternative for those who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, but the difference between them is only 28.8 FPS.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 114.2 FPS represents the best balance between quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 96.2 FPS is still playable and may be preferable for users with 100Hz monitors, but the jump to High provides a 18.7% increase in frame rate. The Medium preset at 138.8 FPS is recommended for those seeking higher refresh rates, as it approaches the 144 FPS mark while maintaining good visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the data suggests that the Medium preset at 77.2 FPS is the most reasonable choice for a smooth experience, as it provides a 26.2% improvement over High (61.2 FPS) while still looking substantially better than Low (82.1 FPS). The Ultra preset at 48.7 FPS is not recommended for 4K gaming, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold. Users with 4K displays should consider the High preset if they have VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, as the 61.2 FPS average would be playable despite occasional dips.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (codename Granite Ridge) manufactured on a 4nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 89.6 GB/s with dual-channel DDR5 support.

In the context of Doom's measured FPS, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 238.8 FPS, which places significant demand on the CPU to process game logic and draw calls. The Ryzen 7 9700X's single-thread performance, as measured by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4459, is sufficient to prevent a CPU bottleneck at this level. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 31588, ensures that background tasks and game threads do not interfere with frame pacing.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029, places it slightly above the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940, +0.2%) and below the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36165, -0.4%). This indicates that the 9700X provides competitive performance for this game, which is not heavily multi-threaded but benefits from strong single-core throughput. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is particularly relevant for Doom, as the game's engine tends to favor higher clock speeds over additional cores, and the data shows that the CPU can sustain high frame rates even at the most demanding 1080p settings.