Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination lands at rank 1207 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. That places it in the lower third of all tested systems, a surprisingly modest position given the hardware involved. The data suggests this pairing sits behind roughly 72% of the configurations tested in this title, which is notable because the CPU is a high-end 16-core part while the GPU is a mid-range Turing card. The rank implies that while the system is fully capable of running the game, it does not deliver the kind of top-tier performance that the processor alone might suggest. The bottleneck is clearly on the graphics side, as the RTX 2060 SUPER’s position in the overall GPU percentile (63rd) aligns more closely with the combo’s overall ranking than the CPU’s far stronger 93rd percentile standing. This is a case where the processor has far more headroom than the graphics card can exploit in this particular title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1207 out of 1681 tested configurations places it in the 28th percentile of all tested systems for Doom. That is a surprisingly low position for a setup featuring a Ryzen 9 5950X, which itself ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The disconnect between the CPU’s high standing and the combo’s modest rank points directly to the GPU as the limiting factor. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, which is a much closer match to the combo’s overall rank than the CPU’s percentile. The data indicates that in Doom, the graphics card is the component that defines the experience, and the processor’s substantial multi-core capabilities are largely left untapped. When compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 5950X scores within 1.1% of the AMD EPYC 4345P and within 0.7% of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, but those differences are irrelevant here because the GPU does not allow the CPU to stretch its legs. The benchmark results suggest that swapping the GPU for a higher-tier card would move this combo up the rankings dramatically, while upgrading the CPU would yield almost no benefit in this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip using a 12 nm process. It has 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, along with 34 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Doom’s fast-paced texture streaming. The pixel rate is 105.6 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 224.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS. The GPU’s benchmark scores show a PassMark G3D score of 16462, which places it just 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070. In practical terms, the data shows this GPU is the primary constraint in Doom. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 193.9 FPS, but that drops to 140.4 FPS at High settings — a clear sign that the GPU is working hard even at lower resolutions. The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is sufficient for this title, but the raw compute power limits how far the frame rate can climb, especially at higher settings where the Ultra preset pulls the average down to 113.8 FPS at 1080p. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is adequate, but it does not compensate for the GPU’s mid-range compute throughput. The data suggests that Doom’s rendering demands saturate the RTX 2060 SUPER well before the CPU becomes a factor, particularly at 4K where the Ultra preset drops to 39 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer) built on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 cache per core, and a 64 MB L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s and uses PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes. Its benchmark results are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 38607, a single-core score of 5450, and a Geekbench multi-core score of 12084. The PassMark multithread score of 45424 and single-thread score of 3470 confirm strong all-around performance. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 49062 places it in the 93rd percentile, just 0.2% behind the Intel Core i5-14600K and 0.6% behind the i5-14600KF. However, in Doom, the CPU’s role is dramatically underutilized. The game’s measured FPS at 1080p Low is 193.9, which is high but not indicative of a CPU bottleneck. When moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low, the FPS drops from 193.9 to 66.3, a 66% reduction that points squarely at the GPU. The CPU has far more headroom than the game can use at these settings — the data shows that even at 1080p, the frame rate is limited by the GPU’s ability to render frames, not by the CPU’s ability to feed them. The 32 threads and high boost clock are simply not the limiting factor in this title, as Doom’s engine does not appear to scale meaningfully with the CPU’s massive multi-core capacity. The processor’s 105 W TDP and boost behavior suggest it can sustain high clocks, but the game never pushes it to that limit based on the measured results.

FAQ

Q: Why does the combo rank so low at 1207 out of 1681 if the CPU is in the 93rd percentile?

A: The CPU’s high percentile does not translate to a high combo rank because the GPU is the limiting component. The RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd GPU percentile, which aligns much more closely with the combo’s overall rank, indicating the graphics card defines the experience.

Q: What is the best 1080p setting for this combo?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 193.9 FPS, Medium delivers 167.7 FPS, High delivers 140.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 113.8 FPS. The data shows that Low offers the highest frame rate, but the step from Low to Medium costs only 26.2 FPS, which may be a worthwhile trade for visual quality.

Q: How much does the GPU’s memory bandwidth affect performance?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus. The measured results show a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, where the bandwidth is sufficient but the GPU’s compute power (7.181 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the limiting factor, especially at 4K Ultra where FPS drops to 39.

Q: Is the CPU ever the bottleneck in Doom with this combo?

A: No. The data shows that FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s strong single-thread score of 5450 in Cinebench R23 and 3470 in PassMark single-thread suggest it could handle higher frame rates, but the GPU cannot deliver them.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in raw GPU benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 19774 is 0.3% ahead of the GTX TITAN, 0.5% ahead of the RTX 2070, and 1.3% ahead of the Tesla K40m. These narrow margins show the GPU is positioned firmly in the mid-range tier.

Q: What happens to frame rates when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, FPS drops from 140.4 at 1080p to 91.9 at 1440p and 52.1 at 4K. This represents a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K, confirming that the GPU’s rendering load increases dramatically with resolution, while the CPU’s role remains constant.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-limited scaling across resolutions. At High settings, the combo delivers 140.4 FPS at 1080p, 91.9 FPS at 1440p, and 52.1 FPS at 4K. That is a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a further 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with a GPU that is being progressively saturated as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the frame rates are 193.9, 122.9, and 66.3 for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively, showing the same proportional drop. The fact that the FPS drops by roughly half when moving from 1440p to 4K at every settings level indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint across the board. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the 1080p Low result to be capped at a similar level to the 1440p Low result, but the data shows a 71 FPS difference between those two points. This strongly suggests that the RTX 2060 SUPER is working at its limit even at 1080p, and the scaling behaviour is purely a function of GPU load. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, dropping from 113.8 FPS at 1080p to 74.7 at 1440p and 39 at 4K, a 66% reduction from the lowest to highest resolution. This pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario where the CPU has no influence on the outcome.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of the trade-offs between visual quality and frame rate. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 193.9 FPS, which is far above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most gaming monitors. The Medium preset at 167.7 FPS still provides excellent smoothness, while High at 140.4 FPS remains playable for high-refresh displays. Ultra at 113.8 FPS is the most demanding but still crosses the 100 FPS threshold. For the best experience at 1080p, the High preset is the sweet spot: it offers significantly better visuals than Medium while only costing 27.3 FPS compared to Low. At 1440p, the story changes. High delivers 91.9 FPS, which is solid for 1440p gaming, but Medium at 110 FPS provides a better balance for users with 100 Hz+ monitors. Ultra at 74.7 FPS is playable but not ideal for fast-paced Doom gameplay. At 4K, the data shows that High at 52.1 FPS is the only preset that approaches playable territory, with Medium at 58.1 FPS being the best option for those who can tolerate slightly lower quality. Ultra at 39 FPS is not recommended for any serious gaming session. The recommendation from the data is clear: at 1080p, use High; at 1440p, use Medium or High depending on refresh rate; at 4K, use Medium or Low (66.3 FPS) for the smoothest experience. The Low preset at 4K provides the highest frame rate of 66.3 FPS, which may be the best choice for competitive play on 4K displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low averages 193.9 FPS, Medium averages 167.7 FPS, High averages 140.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 113.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 80.1 FPS, showing that the GPU has a wide performance envelope at this resolution. The step from Low to Medium costs 26.2 FPS, Medium to High costs 27.3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 26.6 FPS, which is a remarkably consistent penalty per settings tier.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low averages 122.9 FPS, Medium averages 110 FPS, High averages 91.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 74.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 48.2 FPS, which is a smaller absolute spread than at 1080p but a larger percentage drop. The jump from Medium to High costs 18.1 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 17.2 FPS, indicating that the GPU is becoming more sensitive to settings changes as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly struggling. Low averages 66.3 FPS, Medium averages 58.1 FPS, High averages 52.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread is 27.3 FPS, the smallest absolute range of any resolution, but the percentage drop from Low to Ultra is 41%, the highest of all resolutions. The data shows a clear pattern: as resolution increases, the GPU’s headroom diminishes, and the settings choices have a proportionally larger impact on the experience. The 4K results confirm that this combo is not suited for ultra-quality 4K gaming, but it can handle 4K at lower settings with playable frame rates.