Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B370 combination delivers playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p in Doom, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K. The data shows a clear pattern: the CPU provides ample headroom while the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases. This analysis examines the measured results, component roles, and scaling behavior to determine the optimal configuration for this specific pairing.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Doom?

A: The measured data indicates 1920x1080 is the most viable resolution, with the Low preset achieving 96 FPS and the High preset reaching 71 FPS. At 2560x1440, performance drops to 62 FPS on Low and 46 FPS on High, while 3840x2160 only manages 34 FPS on Low, which falls below typical playability thresholds.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 rank among all GPUs?

A: The Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest competitors include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which scores 1186, and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190, placing it within a tight performance cluster of older discrete graphics solutions.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 7900X bottleneck the Arc B370?

A: Benchmark results suggest the CPU is not the limiting factor. The Ryzen 9 7900X scores 29300 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2016.5 in single-core, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. The frame rate drops from 96 FPS at 1080p Low to 20 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrate GPU-bound scaling rather than CPU limitations.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The measured data shows a 38 FPS gap between the Low preset (96 FPS) and Ultra preset (58 FPS) at 1920x1080. This represents a 39.6% performance reduction when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B370 a discrete or integrated GPU?

A: The Arc B370 is classified as an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) with a slot width of "IGP" and no power connectors. It runs on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a 25 W TDP, making it fundamentally different from traditional discrete graphics cards in terms of power delivery and cooling requirements.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 0.2% behind the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186) and 0.5% behind the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190). It is 1.4% ahead of the AMD FirePro M2000, which scores 1168.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X provides substantial processing power for Doom, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture. The CPU operates at a base clock of 4.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, delivering strong single-threaded performance that is critical for game logic and frame pacing. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain data locality, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory interface provides 83.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7900X demonstrates exceptional multi-threaded capability, scoring 29300 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 19267 in Geekbench multi-core. Single-threaded performance is equally impressive, with scores of 2016.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 2617 in Geekbench single-core. These results place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 53288.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the 7900X is 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P (53206) and 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon 634 (52974). It trails the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 0.3% (53469) and the Intel Core i7-14700F by 0.6% (53620). These deltas are minimal, indicating the 7900X sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

For Doom specifically, the CPU's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that even at 1080p with Low settings, where the GPU is least stressed, the processor can feed frames without becoming a bottleneck. The measured 96 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is capable of handling the game's physics and AI workloads without constraint. The 12-core configuration provides headroom for background tasks and future game updates, though Doom's engine does not heavily utilize multi-threading beyond a few cores.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is a compact integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, delivering 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GPU features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, along with 10 ray tracing cores.

Memory configuration is unconventional, as the Arc B370 uses System Shared memory with a "System Dependent" bandwidth figure. This means the GPU relies on the same DDR5 memory pool as the CPU, which can introduce latency and bandwidth constraints compared to dedicated VRAM. The lack of dedicated memory is a significant factor in the performance characteristics observed in Doom.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, indicating very low performance relative to the broader graphics card market. Its nearest rivals are older discrete GPUs like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), which are over a decade old. The Arc B370's 25 W TDP and IGP classification reinforce its position as an entry-level integrated solution rather than a gaming-focused discrete card.

In Doom, the GPU's limitations become apparent at higher resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates show a consistent pattern where the Arc B370 cannot sustain 60 FPS at 1440p or 4K, regardless of quality preset. The system shared memory architecture likely contributes to this, as the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, particularly at higher resolutions where texture data demands increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Arc B370 delivers playable performance across all tested presets. The Low preset achieves 96 FPS average, while Medium reaches 84 FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS and maximum of 96 FPS. High settings produce 71 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58 FPS. These results show that 1080p is the only resolution where the combo can maintain frame rates above 60 FPS on most presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance declines significantly. Low settings yield 62 FPS, Medium produces 54 FPS with a range of 46 to 62 FPS, High drops to 46 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. At this resolution, only the Low preset maintains a 60 FPS average, while Medium and High remain playable but below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playability. Low settings produce 34 FPS, Medium achieves 29 FPS with a minimum of 25 FPS and maximum of 34 FPS, High drops to 25 FPS, and Ultra falls to 20 FPS. None of these frame rates meet the conventional 30 FPS minimum for playable performance, with only Low marginally exceeding that threshold.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each resolution step down from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces performance by roughly 35-40% for equivalent settings. The minimum and maximum FPS values for Medium settings show tight ranges, indicating stable frame pacing without significant stuttering, but the absolute performance levels are too low for competitive or smooth gameplay at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K highlights the GPU-bound nature of this configuration. At Low settings, performance drops from 96 FPS at 1080p to 62 FPS at 1440p (a 35.4% reduction) and further to 34 FPS at 4K (a 64.6% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is severely bandwidth and compute limited.

At High settings, the reduction from 1080p (71 FPS) to 1440p (46 FPS) represents a 35.2% drop, while 4K (25 FPS) shows a 64.8% reduction from 1080p. The consistency of these percentages across different settings indicates that resolution scaling is the dominant performance factor, with settings changes having a secondary effect.

The scaling behavior suggests the Arc B370's system shared memory architecture is the primary bottleneck. As resolution increases, the demand for texture bandwidth grows exponentially, and the shared DDR5 memory cannot provide the dedicated bandwidth that discrete GPUs offer. The 4K results, where even Low settings only reach 34 FPS, illustrate this constraint clearly.

Comparing to the CPU's role, the 7900X shows no signs of being the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would remain relatively flat across resolutions, but the data shows steep declines that are purely GPU-driven. The 91st percentile CPU ranking versus the 5th percentile GPU ranking confirms that the graphics solution is overwhelmingly the performance constraint in this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal configuration for this combo is 1920x1080 with the High preset, which delivers 71 FPS average. This provides a balanced experience with improved visual quality over Medium (84 FPS) while maintaining smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is marginally below 60 FPS but may be acceptable for less demanding players.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rate, the 1080p Low preset at 96 FPS offers the smoothest experience, though with reduced visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 84 FPS represents a reasonable middle ground, offering better visuals than Low while still exceeding 60 FPS comfortably.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset at 62 FPS is the only option that maintains 60 FPS average. Medium at 54 FPS is playable but may exhibit noticeable frame pacing issues during intense scenes. The High preset at 46 FPS and Ultra at 37 FPS are not recommended for smooth gameplay, as they fall below the 60 FPS threshold that most FPS players expect.

The 4K resolution is not viable for this combo. Even the Low preset at 34 FPS struggles to maintain playable frame rates, and the visual quality benefits of 4K are negated by the low performance and likely reduced settings required to approach 30 FPS. Players with 4K displays should consider running the game at 1080p or 1440p with upscaling rather than native 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + Intel Arc B370 combination ranks 2696 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the severe GPU bottleneck, as the CPU is capable of much higher performance but is constrained by the Arc B370's limited graphics capabilities.

The disparity between component rankings is stark: the CPU sits in the 91st percentile of all processors, while the GPU sits in the 5th percentile of all graphics solutions. This imbalance means the combo's overall ranking is almost entirely determined by the GPU's performance, with the powerful CPU providing no tangible benefit in this GPU-bound scenario.

In practical terms, this combo performs similarly to systems using decade-old discrete GPUs like the ATI Radeon HD 5770, based on the nearest rival comparisons. The Arc B370's integrated nature and 25 W TDP limit its ability to compete with even entry-level discrete graphics cards, making it unsuitable for high-resolution or high-settings gaming in Doom.

The ranking suggests that users pairing a high-end CPU like the 7900X with the Arc B370 would be better served by a dedicated graphics card, even a modest one, to unlock the CPU's potential. However, for users constrained to integrated graphics, the 1080p Low and Medium presets provide the only playable experiences, with the understanding that the combo's overall ranking reflects its significant performance limitations in modern FPS titles.