Doom

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 7 9850X3D with Intel’s Arc B370 in Doom produces a deeply asymmetric performance profile. The CPU is a flagship-tier desktop part with a 92nd percentile ranking among all processors, while the GPU is an integrated graphics solution that lands in the 5th percentile. That gap defines everything about how this game runs: the frame rate is almost entirely a function of the graphics hardware, with the processor operating far below its potential. Benchmark results across three resolutions and four settings presets confirm that this is a GPU-bound scenario in nearly every configuration, though the degree of that bottleneck shifts as resolution and quality settings change.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent pattern: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop by roughly half or more, depending on the settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 71 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p, then to 25 FPS at 4K. That represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K. At Low settings, the same progression runs from 96 FPS at 1080p to 62 FPS at 1440p and 34 FPS at 4K, with drops of 35% and 45% respectively. Medium settings show 84 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are the most demanding, starting at 58 FPS at 1080p, falling to 37 FPS at 1440p, and bottoming out at 20 FPS at 4K.

These numbers tell a story about where the performance ceiling lives. The fact that frame rates scale so steeply with resolution indicates that the limiting component is the renderer, not the CPU. If the processor were the constraint, we would expect to see relatively flat FPS across resolutions, because the CPU’s workload does not change much with pixel count. Instead, the data shows a near-linear relationship between pixel throughput and frame rate, which is the classic signature of a GPU bottleneck. The Arc B370’s integrated nature, with system-shared memory and a 25 W TDP, is simply not equipped to feed the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 9850X3D anywhere near its limits.

The scaling pattern also reveals that the GPU’s performance ceiling is low enough that even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 96 FPS. That is far below what the CPU could theoretically support in a game like Doom, which is known for its Vulkan-based scalability. The 9850X3D’s 96 MB of shared L3 cache and 5.60 GHz boost clock are wasted headroom in this configuration. The data suggests that dropping from 4K to 1080p does not unlock the CPU’s potential; it merely reduces the GPU’s workload to a level that still exceeds its capabilities. The result is a system that feels playable only at 1080p Low or Medium, and even then, the margin over 60 FPS is thin.

FAQ

Q: How does the Arc B370 perform in Doom at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 71 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. That is above the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth for fast-paced shooters, but it leaves little headroom for demanding scenes or background tasks. The minimum FPS is not listed for this configuration, but the Medium preset shows a min of 71 FPS and max of 96 FPS, which suggests similar variance at High.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9850X3D the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 58386. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, which scores 58323 (0.1% higher), and the Intel Core i9-14900, which scores 58115 (0.5% lower). The GPU, in contrast, ranks in the 5th percentile with an average score of 1184, sitting near the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, -0.2%) and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, -0.7%). The frame rates in Doom reflect the GPU’s position, not the CPU’s.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the only preset that breaks 30 FPS is Low, which averages 34 FPS. Medium averages 29 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. None of these are ideal for a fast-paced FPS, but Low is the only option that approaches playability. The data indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combination, regardless of settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Doom?

A: The combo ranks 2696 out of 2930 tested combinations. That places it in the bottom 8% of all systems tested for this game. The low ranking is consistent with the GPU’s 5th percentile standing, while the CPU’s 92nd percentile ranking does not compensate for the graphics bottleneck.

Q: Does the Arc B370’s system-shared memory affect performance?

A: The memory configuration is listed as "System Shared" for size, type, and bus width, with bandwidth noted as "System Dependent." This means the GPU relies on the CPU’s DDR5 memory, which runs at 89.6 GB/s on the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. While this is a high bandwidth for system memory, it is far below what dedicated graphics memory would provide, and the shared nature likely contributes to the low frame rates observed, especially at higher resolutions where memory pressure increases.

Q: What is the expected FPS range for Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At Medium settings, the measured data shows an average of 84 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. The min and max values are only provided for the 1080p (71 to 96 FPS) and 1440p (46 to 62 FPS) presets. These ranges indicate that the system can stay above 60 FPS at 1080p but will dip below 50 FPS at 1440p and below 30 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2696 out of 2930 tested combinations places this pairing in the 8th percentile overall. That is an exceptionally low position, and it aligns almost perfectly with the GPU’s individual percentile ranking of 5. The CPU, by contrast, sits at the 92nd percentile, which means the combination is effectively dragged down by its graphics component. The delta between the two components is stark: the 9850X3D’s average benchmark score of 58386 is roughly 49 times higher than the Arc B370’s 1184 score. No amount of CPU headroom can compensate for a GPU that ranks alongside discrete cards from over a decade ago.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the GPU provides context. The Arc B370’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 is within 1.4% of the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168) and within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). Those are older mobile and workstation parts, not modern gaming hardware. The CPU’s nearest rivals, by contrast, are server and high-end desktop parts: the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, +0.1%), the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58504, -0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58826, -0.7%). This pairing is a textbook case of a processor that belongs in a high-end gaming rig paired with a graphics solution that belongs in a low-power laptop.

The ranking also implies that in Doom specifically, the vast majority of tested combinations outperform this one. Only 234 combinations rank lower. The game’s engine is not particularly demanding by modern standards, but it still requires a functional level of GPU throughput that the Arc B370 cannot provide. The data suggests that any system with a discrete GPU from the last decade would likely outperform this setup, which is a direct consequence of the GPU’s 5th percentile standing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 96 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded across all tests. Medium settings average 84 FPS, with a measured range of 71 to 96 FPS. High settings average 71 FPS, and Ultra settings average 58 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 40% drop in performance, which is a narrower gap than at higher resolutions. This suggests that at 1080p, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the lower pixel count allows it to stretch its capabilities further. The 96 FPS at Low is the only configuration that reaches near the CPU’s potential, though even that is modest for a 2026-era processor.

At 2560x1440, the averages fall significantly. Low settings average 62 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS with a range of 46 to 62 FPS, High averages 46 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all presets, averaging around 35-37%. This resolution is the boundary where the system becomes marginal for smooth gameplay. Low settings stay above 60 FPS, but Medium and High fall below that threshold. The min FPS of 46 at Medium suggests that demanding scenes can dip into the 40s, which would be noticeable in a fast-paced shooter.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 34 FPS, Medium averages 29 FPS with a range of 25 to 34 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. None of these configurations reach 60 FPS, and only Low breaks 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 41%, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers are so low that the difference is academic. The data indicates that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo, regardless of how much the CPU has to offer.

The pattern across all resolutions is that Low and Medium settings are the only viable options, and even then, only at 1080p and 1440p. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are never stressed in this game; the bottleneck is always the GPU. The measured FPS values are consistent with a graphics solution that has 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs, all of which are modest numbers for a gaming workload.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel’s 3 nm process. Its base clock is 300 MHz, with a boost clock of 2400 MHz. It has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operations units, along with 10 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 12.29 TFLOPS (2:1). The TDP is 25 W, which is typical for an integrated solution, and it uses system-shared memory with no dedicated VRAM.

In Doom, these specifications translate directly into the measured frame rates. The 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is sufficient for basic rendering but falls far short of what a dedicated gaming GPU would provide. The system-shared memory is a particular liability: it relies on the Ryzen 7 9850X3D’s dual-channel DDR5 at 89.6 GB/s, which is shared with the CPU. At 4K, the memory bandwidth demands increase, and the shared nature of the memory causes the GPU to compete with the CPU for access, further reducing performance. The data supports this interpretation: the frame rate drops more steeply from 1440p to 4K than from 1080p to 1440p, which is consistent with memory bandwidth saturation.

The GPU’s benchmark profile is equally telling. Its only listed benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 1184. That places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, -0.2%), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, -0.5%), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, -0.7%), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, +1.4%). These are all legacy parts from the early 2010s, which gives a clear sense of the Arc B370’s performance class. In Doom, a game from 2016, the GPU is still the primary constraint, which suggests that its architecture and clock speeds are not sufficient for modern gaming at high resolutions.

The boost clock of 2400 MHz is decent for an integrated part, but the 25 W power envelope limits sustained performance. The GPU’s 20 ROPs are particularly low for a game like Doom, which relies heavily on fill rate and pixel throughput. The measured pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s is below what would be needed to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p with modern settings, and the data confirms this: the system only reaches 96 FPS at Low settings, which is still far from smooth for a competitive FPS. The RT cores are present but irrelevant here, as Doom does not use ray tracing, and the FP16 performance is not utilized by the game’s default renderer.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on TSMC’s 4 nm process with Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge). It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The L3 cache is 96 MB shared, which is a hallmark of the X3D line, designed to reduce memory latency in gaming. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and it has 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. Its TDP is 120 W, and it was released in January 2026 with a launch MSRP of $499.

In this pairing, the CPU’s role is almost entirely passive. The 9850X3D’s benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807, single-core of 2228, and Passmark multithread of 41318. Its average benchmark score of 58386 places it in the 92nd percentile, with nearest rivals including the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58504, -0.2%) and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58826, -0.7%). The CPU is capable of far more than what Doom demands, even at 1080p Low where the system reaches 96 FPS. The data shows no evidence of CPU throttling or bottlenecking; the frame rates track the GPU’s capabilities almost exactly.

The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly interesting for gaming, as it is designed to keep game data close to the cores, reducing the need to access system memory. In Doom, this cache could theoretically improve frame pacing and minimum FPS if the GPU were not the constraint. However, the measured min FPS values are only available for Medium settings, and they show a range that is consistent with GPU limitations rather than CPU cache misses. At 1080p Medium, the min FPS is 71 and max is 96; at 1440p Medium, min is 46 and max is 62. These ranges are narrow and scale with resolution, which indicates the CPU is not causing stutters or frame drops.

The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads are also overkill for Doom, which is a well-optimized title that can run on far fewer threads. The Passmark physics score of 4171 and data compression score of 474501 are high, but they do not translate into gaming performance here because the GPU cannot keep up. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz is among the highest available, but in this game, the system never approaches that limit because the GPU is always the lagging component. Even at 4K Ultra, where the CPU would typically have more headroom, the 20 FPS average is purely a GPU limitation.

The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s is shared with the GPU, which creates a potential conflict. In a system with a discrete GPU, the CPU’s memory access would be uncontested, but here, the Arc B370’s system-shared memory draws from the same pool. This could add latency for the CPU, but the benchmark scores suggest the CPU is not significantly impacted. The CPU’s single-thread Passmark score of 4704 and Cinebench R15 single-core of 343 indicate that it can handle any game logic or draw call processing Doom throws at it, but those calls are not the bottleneck. The data consistently points to the GPU as the sole limiting factor, with the CPU operating well within its capabilities across all tested configurations.