Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptional performance in Doom, with results that place this combination in the 79th percentile of all tested configurations. The data reveals a system capable of extreme frame rates across all resolutions, though the specific bottlenecks and optimal settings vary significantly depending on whether you prioritize visual fidelity or raw responsiveness.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the High preset provides the most balanced experience, delivering 232 FPS average. While the Low preset reaches 316 FPS and Medium hits 275 FPS, the High preset maintains a substantial frame rate advantage over Ultra, which drops to 190 FPS. The 42 FPS gap between High and Ultra represents a meaningful visual upgrade cost, but High remains well above the 144Hz refresh rate threshold that most competitive displays use. The Medium preset, with its 234 FPS minimum, offers the safest choice for maintaining high refresh rates during intense combat sequences.

At 2560x1440, the High preset again emerges as the optimal choice, producing 150 FPS average. The Medium preset delivers 178 FPS with a 151 FPS minimum, which might tempt users seeking maximum smoothness, but the High preset's visual improvements come at only a 28 FPS penalty. The Ultra preset falls to 123 FPS, which remains playable but sacrifices the headroom needed for consistent high-refresh-rate output. For users with 144Hz monitors, High offers the best compromise between image quality and performance.

The 3840x2160 resolution presents a different calculus. Here, the Medium preset delivers 96 FPS with an 82 FPS minimum, making it the only 4K setting that reliably exceeds 60 FPS. The High preset achieves 81 FPS, which is playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The Low preset reaches 111 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is the primary limiter at this resolution rather than the CPU. For 4K gaming, Medium provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate stability, while users with VRR displays might prefer High for its improved visuals.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which proves more than sufficient for Doom's requirements at all tested settings. The 4K Ultra preset, the most demanding configuration, still achieves 67 FPS, indicating that memory capacity is not a limiting factor even at maximum settings. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate explain the substantial frame rate differences between settings presets.

The clock behavior shows a base frequency of 2235 MHz with a boost up to 2520 MHz, and the data suggests the GPU maintains high utilization across resolutions. The transition from 1080p Low (316 FPS) to 4K Low (111 FPS) represents a 65% performance drop, which aligns with the pixel count increase from approximately 2 million to 8.3 million pixels. This scaling pattern indicates the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS showing the expected performance degradation at maximum load.

The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347, places it near the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% difference) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% difference). While these nearest rivals show similar average scores, the RTX 4090's gaming performance in Doom demonstrates its architectural advantages with Ada Lovelace features that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 8945HX's 16 cores and 32 threads, based on Zen 4 architecture, provide substantial processing headroom for Doom's engine. The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz, combined with 64 MB of L3 cache, ensures that frame pacing remains consistent even at the highest frame rates. The 1080p Low preset's 316 FPS result demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at extreme frame rates without becoming a bottleneck.

The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 and single-core score of 6030 indicate strong performance across both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. Doom's engine benefits from the CPU's single-thread performance for game logic and physics, while the multi-threaded capabilities handle background tasks and streaming. The PassMark multithread score of 51405 and single-thread score of 3907 confirm balanced performance across different workload types.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 76212, places it in elite company. The nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, scores 76155 (0.1% difference), while the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D scores 75779 (0.6% difference). This tight grouping suggests that CPU performance is not the differentiator in Doom, as the GPU handles most of the rendering workload, particularly at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Ryzen 9 8945HX and RTX 4090 ranks 614th out of 2930 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the high-end nature of both components, though it also indicates that other combinations, likely with desktop-class CPUs or more recent GPU architectures, achieve higher frame rates in this game.

The ranking position relative to the component percentiles (CPU 95th, GPU 88th) suggests that the GPU is the more significant factor in determining overall performance. The CPU's high percentile ranking provides sufficient headroom, but the GPU's slightly lower percentile still allows it to be the primary performance driver in most scenarios. The combination's rank at 614 of 2930 indicates that while this is a high-performance setup, it is not the absolute top configuration for Doom.

The data shows that this combo excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming, with frame rates that exceed the capabilities of most displays. At 4K, the performance remains strong, with the Medium preset achieving 96 FPS and the High preset at 81 FPS, demonstrating that this combination can handle 4K gaming without compromising playability.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 at High settings provides 150 FPS average, which balances visual quality with high refresh rate performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 232 FPS, while 3840x2160 at Medium delivers 96 FPS, making 1440p the sweet spot for this hardware.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 8945HX scores 76212 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155) and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779). These differences are minor, indicating similar CPU-level performance.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, the data indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drops from 316 FPS at 1080p Low to 111 FPS at 4K Low, a 65% reduction that corresponds to the pixel count increase. The 4K Ultra result of 67 FPS shows the GPU struggling to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings.

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

A: The Low preset achieves 316 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 190 FPS, representing a 126 FPS difference. This 40% performance penalty for Ultra settings at 1080p suggests that High (232 FPS) offers a better trade-off for most users.

Q: How does this combo's gaming performance compare to its benchmark ranking?

A: The combo ranks 614th of 2930 in Doom, placing it in the top 21% of configurations. This is lower than the CPU's 95th percentile ranking, indicating that the GPU's 88th percentile ranking has a greater influence on gaming performance.

Q: Is the 24 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom at maximum settings?

A: Yes, the 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, and the Ultra preset at 4K still achieves 67 FPS. The data shows no evidence of VRAM capacity limiting performance at any tested resolution or setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance ranges from 190 FPS at Ultra to 316 FPS at Low. The Medium preset delivers 275 FPS with a 234 FPS minimum and 316 FPS maximum, while High achieves 232 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 126 FPS total drop, with the largest single-step decrease occurring between High (232 FPS) and Ultra (190 FPS), a 42 FPS reduction.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease proportionally. Low achieves 204 FPS, Medium delivers 178 FPS with a 151 FPS minimum and 205 FPS maximum, High reaches 150 FPS, and Ultra drops to 123 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 81 FPS, with the High to Ultra step again showing the largest single decrease at 27 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance shows the most significant impact from settings changes. Low achieves 111 FPS, Medium delivers 96 FPS with an 82 FPS minimum and 111 FPS maximum, High reaches 81 FPS, and Ultra drops to 67 FPS. The total range from Low to Ultra is 44 FPS, with each settings step producing a roughly 15 FPS decrease, indicating consistent scaling without sudden bottlenecks.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a 35% average performance decrease across all settings. At Low, the drop is from 316 to 204 FPS (35%), at Medium from 275 to 178 FPS (35%), at High from 232 to 150 FPS (35%), and at Ultra from 190 to 123 FPS (35%). This consistent scaling suggests the GPU handles the 78% pixel increase predictably, with no unexpected bottlenecks appearing at 1440p.

The move from 1440p to 4K produces a more pronounced performance impact. The Low preset drops from 204 to 111 FPS (46% decrease), Medium from 178 to 96 FPS (46%), High from 150 to 81 FPS (46%), and Ultra from 123 to 67 FPS (45%). The larger percentage decrease at 4K compared to 1440p indicates the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor, as the pixel count doubles while frame rates do not halve proportionally.

The overall scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 65% reduction in frame rates across all settings. This scaling pattern, combined with the consistent performance at 1080p and 1440p, suggests the CPU provides adequate headroom at lower resolutions, but the GPU's rendering capabilities become the determining factor at 4K. The CPU's high single-thread performance and the GPU's massive bandwidth ensure that neither component becomes a severe bottleneck until the highest resolution is reached, where the GPU's pixel throughput limits achieve frame rates.