Doom

This combo—AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT—delivers a solidly mid-pack result in Doom, securing the 944th position out of 1681 tested combinations. That places it in the 56th percentile of all combos, meaning a slight majority of systems outperform it, but it also leaves a substantial number behind. The data suggests this is not an outlier in either direction; it is a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other in this particular title.

How This Combo Ranks

The 944th rank out of 1681 combos places this system in the upper-middle tier of the database. To contextualize, the Ryzen 9 5900X holds the 90th percentile among all CPUs in general benchmark averages, while the RX 6700 XT sits at the 77th percentile among GPUs. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's lower rank indicates that the graphics card is the more limiting factor in this game, pulling the overall standing down from what the processor alone might suggest.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals in general benchmarks, the differences are marginal. The AMD EPYC 4245P scores within 0.2% of the 5900X, the Intel Core i7-13700F is 0.9% ahead, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS trails by 0.7%. These tiny deltas mean that swapping the 5900X for any of these chips would barely move the needle in Doom. For the GPU, the RX 6700 XT's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800, is only 0.7% faster on average, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 1.3% ahead. The RX 6700 XT edges out the Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 by 1% each. This clustering suggests the combo's rank is more about the inherent game engine's scaling than about any dramatic weakness in either part.

Settings Recommendations

Across all three resolutions, the Low preset consistently delivers the highest average frame rates, but the question is whether the visual trade-off is worth it. At 1920x1080, Low produces 229.6 FPS, while Medium drops to 201.1 FPS, High to 170.9 FPS, and Ultra to 137.1 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 28.5 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs 30.2 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 33.8 FPS. The scaling is roughly linear, so the choice depends on refresh rate targets.

For 2560x1440, the measured rows show Low at 146.9 FPS, Medium at 128.4 FPS, High at 109.6 FPS, and Ultra at 92.3 FPS. Here, High remains above 100 FPS, which is a strong baseline for most high-refresh monitors. At 3840x2160, the story changes: Low hits 81.8 FPS, Medium 70.7 FPS, High 57.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 50.6 FPS. The data suggests that for 4K, Low or Medium are the only presets that maintain fluid motion above 60 FPS. For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, Medium at 1440p or High at 1080p appear to be the sweet spots, offering frame rates well above typical display refresh rates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the GPU's workload scaling. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 229.6 at 1080p to 146.9 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 81.8 at 4K (a 44% further reduction). This steep decline indicates the RX 6700 XT is heavily taxed by pixel count, which is expected given its mid-range positioning. At High settings, the drop is from 170.9 to 109.6 (36%) and then to 57.6 (47%). The pattern holds across all presets: the transition from 1440p to 4K is proportionally similar to the 1080p to 1440p transition.

This scaling behavior points to the GPU being the primary limiting component. The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its high single-thread and multi-thread scores—4680 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 33150 in multi-core—should easily feed the GPU at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the 229.6 FPS Low result shows the CPU is not holding back the frame rate, as the GPU is still able to push well past typical high-refresh targets. However, at 4K, the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth become more critical, and the frame rates drop to a range where the CPU's headroom is irrelevant. The data implies that to push higher 4K frame rates, a stronger GPU would be needed, not a faster CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 229.6 FPS on Low, 201.1 FPS on Medium, 170.9 FPS on High, and 137.1 FPS on Ultra. These numbers are all comfortably above 120 FPS, making 1080p a non-issue for this pairing. The spread from Low to Ultra is 92.5 FPS, showing that the GPU has enough headroom to allow for significant visual upgrades without compromising smoothness.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are 146.9 FPS on Low, 128.4 FPS on Medium, 109.6 FPS on High, and 92.3 FPS on Ultra. The data shows that even at Ultra, the frame rate stays above 90 FPS, which is playable on most high-refresh displays. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings is roughly 60 FPS per preset, indicating a consistent scaling penalty. At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to 81.8 FPS on Low, 70.7 FPS on Medium, 57.6 FPS on High, and 50.6 FPS on Ultra. Only Low and Medium maintain 60+ FPS, while High and Ultra dip below that threshold, suggesting 4K gaming is possible but only with reduced settings.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo more CPU-limited or GPU-limited in Doom?

A: The data indicates GPU limitation, especially at higher resolutions. The CPU's 90th percentile rank versus the GPU's 77th percentile, combined with the steep FPS drops from 1080p to 4K, shows the RX 6700 XT is the bottleneck.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Based on the measured rows, High at 2560x1440 yields 109.6 FPS, which is above 100 FPS. Ultra drops to 92.3 FPS, so High offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K at 60 FPS?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 81.8. Medium drops to 70.7 FPS, but High falls to 57.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

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

A: Low produces 229.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 137.1 FPS. This is a 92.5 FPS difference, meaning Low is about 67% faster than Ultra in raw frame rate.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 5900X compare to its closest rivals?

A: In general benchmarks, the Intel Core i7-13700F is 0.9% faster, while the AMD EPYC 4245P is 0.2% faster. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS is 0.7% slower, and the Intel Core i7-13700 is 1% slower.

Q: What is the GPU's closest competitor in performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is 0.7% faster in average benchmark scores. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 is 1.3% faster, while the AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 are both 1% slower.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads to the table, running at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. This is a Zen 3 architecture chip on the 7 nm process, with a 64 MB L3 cache. The benchmark results show it excels in multi-threaded tasks, scoring 33150 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 10075 in 3DMark max threads. Single-thread performance is also strong, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 941 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4680.

In Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The high single-thread performance ensures that the game's main thread is not a bottleneck, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU is less taxed. The 229.6 FPS Low result at 1080p demonstrates that the 5900X can push frame rates well beyond what most displays can show. The 24 threads are likely overkill for Doom, which is not known for heavy multi-threading, but they provide headroom for background tasks and future titles. The CPU's 64 MB L3 cache helps with data locality, though the game's engine is more dependent on raw clock speed than cache size.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2321 MHz, with a boost clock of 2581 MHz and a game clock of 2424 MHz. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 40 ray tracing cores. The FP32 performance is 13.21 TFLOPS, which is a solid number for 1440p gaming.

In Doom, the GPU is the limiting factor as resolutions increase. The measured FPS drops from 229.6 at 1080p Low to 81.8 at 4K Low, a 64% reduction. The 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for Doom's textures at 4K, as the game does not typically exceed 8 GB, but the bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s becomes a constraint at higher pixel counts. The pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s determine how fast the GPU can fill the screen, and the data shows this is where the system falls short at 4K Ultra, dropping to 50.6 FPS. The GPU's 77th percentile rank among all GPUs places it below the CPU's 90th percentile, confirming that the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing for Doom.