Doom

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a combo rank of 175 out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the top 4.7% of all systems evaluated. This high percentile positioning reflects a pairing that is exceptionally well-suited to the game’s engine, which rewards both high single-thread throughput and substantial graphics bandwidth.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 175 out of 3712 tested combinations indicates that this system outperforms roughly 95% of all recorded configurations in Doom. The data shows that this pairing sits comfortably in the upper echelon of results, a position driven by the synergy between the CPU’s strong multi-threaded capabilities and the GPU’s high raw fill rate.

Benchmark results indicate that the Ryzen 7 9700X holds an average benchmark score of 37943, placing it in the 86th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14901E, scores 37911, a delta of only 0.1%, meaning the two processors are effectively tied in general compute performance. This near-parity in synthetic tests suggests that CPU-bound scenarios in Doom will see the 9700X performing at a level consistent with the top tier of desktop processors, though not necessarily leading the pack.

On the graphics side, the RTX 5080 achieves an average benchmark score of 56083, ranking in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest competitor, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55757, a 0.6% difference, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is 2.2% ahead with a score of 57367. These margins are small enough that in real-world gaming, the RTX 5080’s performance will be dictated more by driver optimization and specific game engine demands than by raw synthetic throughput.

In Doom specifically, the combination of the 9700X’s 8 cores and 16 threads, capable of a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and the RTX 5080’s 10752 shading units, results in frame rates that are consistently high across all tested settings. The rank of 175 reflects that only a small fraction of systems, likely those with even more powerful GPUs or CPUs overclocked beyond stock, manage to surpass this pairing’s output.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This high bandwidth is crucial for Doom, a game that streams large texture sets and geometry at high resolutions. The GPU’s base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2617 MHz allow it to sustain high fill rates, with a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s.

The measured FPS data reveals how the GPU’s capabilities scale with settings. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is 166 FPS (416 vs 250), which shows that even at lower resolutions, the GPU’s shading units are the primary driver of performance. At 4K, the same settings gap narrows to 58 FPS (146 vs 88), indicating that at higher resolutions, memory bandwidth and fill rate become more significant factors, but the GPU still has ample headroom.

The RTX 5080’s 112 ROPs and 336 TMUs are well-matched to Doom’s rendering pipeline, which relies heavily on traditional rasterization rather than ray tracing. The GPU’s 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than sufficient to handle the game’s lighting and particle effects at maximum settings, as evidenced by the 88 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which remains playable despite being the most demanding configuration tested.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 416, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra compared to 4K Low?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops from 146 at Low settings to 88 at Ultra settings, a decrease of 58 FPS or approximately 40%.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the GPU is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the frame rates scaling significantly with graphics settings, from 416 FPS at Low to 250 FPS at Ultra.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in any test?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 108, which occurred at 3840x2160 with Medium settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700X compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X scores 37943 in average benchmarks, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i9-14901E’s score of 37911.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 175th out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across three resolutions and four settings levels.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 416. Medium settings reduce this to 363 FPS, with a minimum of 308 and a maximum of 417. High settings yield 306 FPS, while Ultra settings still produce a very high 250 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is almost always GPU-bound, with the CPU providing more than enough headroom to feed the graphics card.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains high but scales downward. Low settings average 269 FPS. Medium settings average 235 FPS, with a minimum of 199 and a maximum of 270. High settings produce 198 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 162 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 35% across all settings, which is consistent with the increased pixel count demanding more from the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable frame rates, though the gap between settings becomes more pronounced. Low settings average 146 FPS. Medium settings average 127 FPS, with a minimum of 108 and a maximum of 146. High settings yield 107 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 88 FPS. The 4K results show that even the most demanding configuration remains above 60 FPS, indicating that the RTX 5080’s 16 GB of VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid any memory-related stutters.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound title. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by approximately 35% across all settings. For example, at High settings, the frame rate goes from 306 FPS at 1080p to 198 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 108 FPS. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is more severe, with High settings falling from 198 FPS to 107 FPS, a 46% decrease.

This scaling behavior reveals that the limiting component at higher resolutions is the GPU. The RTX 5080’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being taxed more heavily as pixel count increases, while the CPU’s role diminishes. At 1080p, the CPU’s high boost clock of 5.50 GHz helps maintain high frame rates, but at 4K, the GPU’s raw throughput becomes the bottleneck. The fact that the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly linear (e.g., 416 to 146 at Low, a 65% decrease) suggests that the game engine scales well with resolution and that the GPU is the primary constraint.

The data also shows that the difference between Low and Ultra settings widens at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the gap is 166 FPS, while at 4K, it narrows to 58 FPS. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has spare capacity that can be consumed by higher settings, whereas at 4K, the GPU is already near its limit and setting changes have a smaller absolute impact.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X features 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture and manufactured on a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with 32 MB of shared L3 cache, make it a strong performer for gaming workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 1280 in 3DMark single-thread and 9771 in 3DMark max-threads, indicating robust single-core and multi-core performance.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor, as frame rates are extremely high and scale with GPU settings. The 9700X’s 16 threads are more than sufficient to handle Doom’s multi-threaded rendering tasks, and its high boost clock ensures that single-threaded physics and AI calculations do not become bottlenecks.

The CPU’s cache configuration, with 80 KB of L1 per core and 1 MB of L2 per core, provides low-latency access to frequently used data. This is beneficial for a fast-paced FPS like Doom, where quick reaction to player input and enemy behavior is critical. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth of the dual-channel DDR5 support is adequate for the game’s data streaming needs, and the 65 W TDP suggests that thermal throttling is unlikely to be an issue in a well-cooled system.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the 9700X’s performance is nearly identical to the Intel Core i9-14901E (0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (0.1% delta). This means that in CPU-bound scenarios, any of these processors would yield similar results, and the observed frame rates in Doom are likely more dependent on the GPU than on the specific CPU model.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

For 1080p gaming, the system is capable of running Ultra settings at 250 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 88 is playable, though players with high-refresh-rate 4K displays may prefer High settings at 107 FPS for a smoother experience.

At 1440p, High settings offer 198 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, while Ultra at 162 FPS is still very smooth. The data suggests that the difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is a 36 FPS drop, which may not be visually significant to most players, making High the recommended preset for maintaining high frame rates with minimal visual compromise.

For 4K, the choice is between High at 107 FPS and Medium at 127 FPS. Medium provides a 20 FPS advantage over High while offering most of the visual fidelity, and the minimum FPS of 108 at Medium ensures consistent performance. Given that Ultra at 88 FPS is the only configuration below 100 FPS, the data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for 4K, offering a 44% improvement over Ultra while still looking close to maximum quality.

In all cases, the system never drops below 88 FPS average, which means that even the most demanding settings are playable. However, for players prioritizing frame rate consistency, Medium settings at any resolution provide the best balance of performance and visual quality, as evidenced by the data showing minimum FPS values of 308 (1080p), 199 (1440p), and 108 (4K) at this preset.