Doom

Doom, the 2016 id Software reboot, is a demanding but highly scalable title that rewards both CPU and GPU investment. The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 delivers an exceptionally strong gaming experience, with benchmark results showing a combination that is rarely the limiting factor at any resolution. The data indicates that this combo ranks in the 754th position out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it comfortably in the top 20% of all systems tested. This placement is supported by the hardware's underlying benchmark scores, where the CPU's 87th percentile ranking and the GPU's 82nd percentile ranking suggest a balanced pairing that can handle Doom's fast-paced action with ease. The measured FPS data confirms this, showing that the system can achieve high frame rates even at 4K, making it a versatile choice for gamers who prioritize both visual fidelity and smooth performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Doom at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 achieve an average of 335 FPS. Even at Ultra settings, the system maintains a very high average of 202 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle Doom at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, benchmark results show it is quite capable at 3840x2160. The average FPS ranges from 71 at Ultra settings to 118 at Low settings, indicating a playable experience across all tested presets.

Q: How does the RTX 5070's performance compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 40377. It is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, while being 1.2% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile.

Q: What is the performance gap between the Ryzen 9 5900X and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14650HX?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X has an average benchmark score of 41376, while the Intel Core i7-14650HX scores 41576. This makes the Ryzen 9 5900X 0.5% slower than the Intel part in this comparison.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 217 on Low settings to 131 on Ultra settings. This is a performance decrease of 86 FPS, or roughly 40%, when moving to the highest quality preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in this system for Doom?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. For example, at 1080p Ultra, the system averages 202 FPS, but this drops to 71 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating the load shifts heavily onto the GPU as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling in Doom reveals a classic pattern where the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as pixel count rises. The data shows a clear and consistent drop in average FPS as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the system moves from an average of 335 FPS at 1080p to 217 FPS at 1440p and finally to 118 FPS at 4K. This progression demonstrates a substantial performance cost, with the 4K result being roughly 65% lower than the 1080p figure. This scaling indicates that while the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070's rendering workload grows exponentially at higher pixel counts.

The trend is similar across all settings presets, but the relative drop is most pronounced at the higher quality levels. For instance, at Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 202 at 1080p to 131 at 1440p and then to 71 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents a 65% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. This steep decline at 4K Ultra suggests that the 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and the GPU's compute resources are being heavily taxed, making the graphics card the definitive bottleneck in this scenario. Conversely, at 1080p, the high frame rates across all settings imply that the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is more than sufficient to keep the GPU fed, and the system is not CPU-limited.

The data implies that for gamers targeting the highest refresh rates on 1080p or 1440p monitors, this combo is exceptionally well-suited. The 1440p High setting produces an average of 160 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. However, at 4K, the system is firmly in GPU-bound territory. The performance gap between the 1080p and 4K results highlights the immense computational demands of 4K rendering, and users should expect to adjust settings to maintain their desired frame rate. The scaling is smooth and predictable, with no anomalies in the data, which points to a well-optimized game engine and a stable hardware configuration.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 plays a pivotal role in determining the overall performance of this combo, especially at higher resolutions. The GPU's specifications, including its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, provide a 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth. This is a significant asset for a game like Doom, which features fast-paced textures and complex environments. The data shows that the GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs is a strong indicator of its capability, and its average benchmark score of 40377 places it in a competitive position, though its closest rivals are professional workstation cards rather than gaming-focused models.

The core clock speeds of the RTX 5070, with a base of 2325 MHz and a boost of 2512 MHz, are key to its performance in Doom. The game's engine scales well with GPU compute power, and the data reflects this. At 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the extremely high frame rates; however, its performance ceiling is exposed at 4K. The drop from 118 FPS at Low to 71 FPS at Ultra at 3840x2160 shows how the GPU's shading units, TMUs, and ROPs are stressed by the increased resolution and graphical effects. The 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a theoretical measure, but the real-world results show it is sufficient for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and solid 4K performance.

The memory configuration is also crucial. With 12 GB of VRAM, the card is well-equipped to handle Doom's textures at 4K, and the fact that it can average 87 FPS at 4K High suggests that memory capacity is not a limiting factor in this title. The 672.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that the GPU can quickly access texture data, which is vital for maintaining smooth frame pacing. In comparison to its synthetic benchmark rivals, the RTX 5070's performance in Doom is more indicative of a gaming-focused GPU. While it is nominally 2% slower than the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile in the PassMark suite, its desktop-class specifications and higher power envelope (250 W TDP) likely contribute to its strong sustained performance in this game, though the provided data only shows the average FPS figures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all major resolutions and settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast, with an average of 335 FPS on Low, 292 FPS on Medium, 247 FPS on High, and 202 FPS on Ultra. The Medium settings row also provides a min FPS of 248 and a max FPS of 336, showing a narrow and consistent frame time distribution that is ideal for competitive play. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is almost certainly CPU-bound or hitting a game engine frame rate cap, as the variance between settings is relatively small compared to higher resolutions.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains very high but shows a greater dependency on the GPU. The average FPS figures are 217 on Low, 189 on Medium, 160 on High, and 131 on Ultra. The Medium settings at this resolution show a min FPS of 161 and a max of 217, which is a wider spread than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is beginning to work harder. The 1440p Ultra result of 131 FPS is still excellent and provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The data shows a clear scaling pattern where each step up in quality costs roughly 20-30 FPS on average.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, and the results show a more dramatic performance impact. The average FPS drops to 118 on Low, 102 on Medium, 87 on High, and 71 on Ultra. The Medium settings row at 4K shows a min FPS of 87 and a max of 118, indicating that even the average frame rate is significantly lower than at other resolutions. The Ultra preset's 71 FPS average is still playable, but it is the only preset where the system drops below the 100 FPS threshold. This data highlights the importance of settings management at 4K, as the difference between Low and Ultra is a 47 FPS swing, which is substantial for maintaining a high refresh rate experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 754th out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 20.3% of all systems, which is a strong showing for a pairing of a previous-generation CPU and a current-generation mid-range GPU. This ranking is a holistic measure of the system's ability to run the game, and it reflects the balance between the two components. The high ranking is supported by the individual component benchmarks: the CPU's 87th percentile and the GPU's 82nd percentile both indicate above-average hardware that can deliver high frame rates.

In the context of the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 5900X's average benchmark score of 41376 is very close to the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H (41263, 0.3% slower) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (41215, 0.4% slower). It is also 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 (41208). However, it is 0.5% slower than the Intel Core i7-14650HX (41576). This suggests that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo's ranking; it provides a solid foundation but is not the primary driver of the high FPS numbers.

The GPU's ranking is similarly competitive, but its rivals are all professional or mobile parts. The RTX 5070's score of 40377 is 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 580 and 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, while being 1.2% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. The 754th overall rank in Doom confirms the fact that the combination of these two specific parts works well together in this game, and the measured data shows that the system is capable of delivering a top-tier experience, even if it does not have the absolute best hardware available.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the user's display resolution and refresh rate priorities. For 1080p gamers with high-refresh-rate monitors, the Ultra preset is the clear recommendation, as it still delivers an average of 202 FPS. This provides a visually stunning experience without sacrificing the high frame rates that are crucial for fast-paced FPS games. If a user has a 360Hz monitor, the Low preset at 335 FPS would be the only way to fully utilize it, but the visual trade-off is significant.

At 1440p, the High preset offers the best balance, with an average of 160 FPS. This is more than sufficient for most high-refresh-rate displays (144Hz or 165Hz) and provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium. The Ultra preset at 131 FPS is also viable, but the performance drop of 29 FPS compared to High may not justify the marginal visual improvement for all users. For those with 144Hz monitors, the Medium preset at 189 FPS offers a comfortable margin above the refresh rate, ensuring no screen tearing when V-Sync is enabled.

For 4K gaming, the recommendation is to prioritize the High preset, which yields an average of 87 FPS. This is the highest quality setting that remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 102 FPS is a better choice for those who want a higher frame rate buffer, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often more noticeable at 4K. The Ultra preset at 71 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, so it is only recommended for gamers who prioritize image quality above all else and have displays with variable refresh rate technology to smooth out frame pacing.