Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER pairing in Doom shows a classic case of GPU-bound scaling as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 145.8 FPS, which drops to 109.1 FPS at High settings—a 25% reduction. Moving to 2560x1440, the same Low-to-High spread sees 95.1 FPS versus 72.4 FPS, while at 3840x2160 the numbers fall to 50.6 FPS and 39.9 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset tells a steeper story: 88 FPS at 1080p, 59.3 FPS at 1440p, and just 32.5 FPS at 4K.

The pattern is unambiguous. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by roughly 32-35%, and from 1440p to 4K, the drop accelerates to 44-45%. This accelerating decline points directly at the GPU as the limiting component. The GTX 1660 SUPER, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s, simply runs out of pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The CPU, a 12-core Zen 4 part with a 5.60 GHz boost clock, is not the bottleneck here—the frame rate deltas track the GPU's fill-rate limits, not the processor's compute capacity.

FAQ

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER capable of 60 FPS at 2560x1440 in Doom?

A: Yes, but only at Medium or lower settings. The measured results show 82.9 FPS at Medium, 95.1 FPS at Low, and 72.4 FPS at High. The Ultra preset falls short at 59.3 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a high refresh rate?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 88 FPS, with Low hitting 145.8 FPS and Medium at 131.1 FPS. This makes 1080p the only resolution where the Ultra preset stays above 85 FPS, though High at 109.1 FPS offers a safer margin.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 14286 places it 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314) and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352). It sits 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389).

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 7900X bottleneck the GTX 1660 SUPER in Doom?

A: Benchmark data suggests no. The CPU's single-thread score of 6168 in Cinebench R23 and 1093 in 3DMark single-thread are far above what a GTX 1660 SUPER needs. The FPS scaling with resolution—not settings—confirms the GPU is the constraint.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low (145.8 FPS) beats Ultra (88 FPS) by 57.8 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 35.8 FPS (95.1 vs 59.3). At 4K, the difference is 18.1 FPS (50.6 vs 32.5), showing diminishing returns from settings changes as resolution climbs.

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

A: The combo ranks 1480 out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12% of all pairings. This reflects the GTX 1660 SUPER's mid-range position (55th percentile among all GPUs) rather than the CPU's strength (93rd percentile among all CPUs).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X brings substantial processing headroom to this pairing. With 12 cores and 24 threads on the Zen 4 architecture, it operates at a 4.70 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.60 GHz. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data feeding for any game. Its synthetic scores are formidable: 43695 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 6168 in single-core, and 17830 in Geekbench multi-core.

In Doom, this CPU's role is largely supportive. The game's engine, released in 2016, does not heavily tax modern high-core-count processors. The measured frame rates show that the GTX 1660 SUPER, not the 7900X, determines performance. Evidence comes from the scaling pattern: when resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, the FPS drops proportionally across all settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the limit, we would see similar FPS regardless of resolution, which is not the case.

The CPU's benchmark percentile (93rd among all CPUs) versus the GPU's (55th) highlights the imbalance. The processor's nearest rivals—Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50598, -0.1%), AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50738, -0.4%), Intel Core i7-13850HX (50827, -0.5%), and Intel Core i9-13980HX (50944, -0.8%)—all score within 1% of the 7900X's average of 50556. This tight grouping indicates the CPU is not the differentiator in this combo; any of these chips would produce nearly identical Doom frame rates with the same GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for this combo. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 88 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. High settings at 109.1 FPS offer a better balance, while Medium at 131.1 FPS and Low at 145.8 FPS push toward high-refresh-rate territory. For 1080p gaming, High is the recommended preset—it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while retaining visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the situation tightens. Ultra drops to 59.3 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. High at 72.4 FPS provides a solid 60+ experience, while Medium at 82.9 FPS is the sweet spot for competitive play. Low at 95.1 FPS is the choice for maximum frame rates, but the visual trade-off is significant. For 1440p, Medium is the pragmatic recommendation: it stays well above 60 FPS and preserves enough detail for the resolution to matter.

At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS. Ultra sits at 32.5 FPS, High at 39.9 FPS, Medium at 45.1 FPS, and Low at 50.6 FPS. Even the lowest settings fail to hit playable frame rates for fast-paced FPS action. The recommendation is to avoid 4K with this GPU unless the user accepts sub-60 FPS performance. If 4K is required, Low settings at 50.6 FPS is the only viable option, and even that is marginal.

The overall best experience, weighing performance against quality, is 1080p at High settings (109.1 FPS) or 1440p at Medium (82.9 FPS). Both stay comfortably above 60 FPS and deliver the visual improvements that justify their resolution. The data indicates that pushing to Ultra at any resolution costs 20-25% performance for incremental visual gains, making it a poor trade for this GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 7900X and GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 1480 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 12% of all pairings. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU. The GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 14286 puts it at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals—AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314, -0.2%), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, -0.2%), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352, -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, -0.7%)—are all within 1% of its performance. This means the GPU is competitive with other mid-range options but is fundamentally outclassed by the CPU paired with it.

The CPU, by contrast, ranks at the 93rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 50556. Its nearest rivals are all within 1%: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50598, -0.1%), AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50738, -0.4%), Intel Core i7-13850HX (50827, -0.5%), and Intel Core i9-13980HX (50944, -0.8%). The 7900X is a top-tier processor, but in Doom, its potential is capped by the GPU.

The rank of 1480 reflects this mismatch. In a game like Doom, which scales well with GPU power, the combo's performance is representative of the GPU's tier rather than the CPU's. The data shows that upgrading only the GPU would dramatically improve the ranking, while upgrading the CPU alone would yield no measurable gain. This combo serves as a clear example of GPU-bound system design, where the processor's headroom goes unused due to the graphics card's limitations. The 1480th position out of 1681 is not a condemnation of either component individually, but rather a statement about their pairing: a high-end CPU constrained by a mid-range GPU produces mid-range results.