Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT pairing delivers a fundamentally playable experience in Doom, but the data reveals a system that is clearly bound by its graphics card at higher resolutions and settings. The combination ranks in the 1259th position out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. While the CPU offers exceptional single-thread performance, the GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM and RDNA 1.0 architecture cap the system’s ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, particularly on the Ultra preset where the average FPS drops to 38.2.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the optimal resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 114.2 FPS on Ultra to 189 FPS on Low. At 2560x1440, the average FPS falls to between 75.8 and 124.4 depending on settings, while 3840x2160 dips below 60 FPS on every preset except Low.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 38.2. This is the lowest recorded score in the dataset, indicating that the RX 5700 XT is overburdened by the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X a bottleneck for the RX 5700 XT?

A: Benchmark results indicate the opposite. The CPU’s single-thread score of 1286 in 3dmark and multi-thread score of 13929 in 3dmark_max_threads are far ahead of what this GPU can utilize. The FPS drops observed between 1080p and 4K are attributable to GPU limits, not CPU performance.

Q: Which settings preset offers the highest frame rate at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 yields an average of 124.4 FPS, which is the highest score at that resolution. For a balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 91.7 FPS is the most viable option.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 24731, placing it 0.1% behind the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A350M. This indicates that the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly contested performance bracket.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 189 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 114.2 FPS. This represents a gap of 74.8 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution even with maximum settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the primary determinant of performance in this benchmark set. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p play but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 1905 MHz and game clock of 1755 MHz drive its 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, but the RDNA 1.0 architecture lacks the efficiency of newer designs.

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: the GPU struggles most when VRAM pressure and pixel throughput demands rise simultaneously. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset forces the GPU to render over 8 million pixels per frame, resulting in an average of 38.2 FPS. The High preset at the same resolution improves to 50.6 FPS, while Medium reaches 55.4 FPS. Only the Low preset at 66.8 FPS approaches a comfortable 60 FPS threshold.

The GPU’s position in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24731, confirms its mid-range status. Its nearest rivals—the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile at 24763 and the Intel Arc A350M at 24647—show that the RX 5700 XT is competitive with other mid-tier options but lacks the raw power needed for 4K Ultra gaming. The pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s are adequate for lower resolutions but cannot sustain high frame rates when the resolution scales upward.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data suggests prioritizing the High preset at 1920x1080. This configuration delivers 139.2 FPS on average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and only 49.8 FPS short of the Low preset’s maximum. The High preset offers a substantial visual improvement over Low while maintaining a frame rate that exceeds most display refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 91.7 FPS is the recommended choice. The Medium preset at 108.2 FPS provides a slightly higher frame rate, but the difference of 16.5 FPS does not justify the reduction in visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 75.8 FPS remains playable, but the data shows diminishing returns when compared to High.

For 3840x2160, users should limit themselves to the Low preset, which averages 66.8 FPS. Every other preset at this resolution falls below 60 FPS, with High at 50.6 FPS, Medium at 55.4 FPS, and Ultra at 38.2 FPS. The Low preset avoids the stutter and input lag associated with sub-60 FPS gameplay, making it the only viable option for 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the benchmark results show a clear hierarchy across settings. The Low preset averages 189 FPS, followed by Medium at 166.9 FPS, High at 139.2 FPS, and Ultra at 114.2 FPS. The spread of 74.8 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates that the GPU has substantial headroom at this resolution, with even the most demanding preset remaining well above playable thresholds.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern but with reduced headroom. Low averages 124.4 FPS, Medium drops to 108.2 FPS, High reaches 91.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 75.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 48.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the pressure of higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the performance curve steepens dramatically. Low averages 66.8 FPS, Medium drops to 55.4 FPS, High falls to 50.6 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 38.2 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra expands to 28.6 FPS, but the absolute values are far more concerning, with only the Low preset maintaining an average above 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1259 out of 1681 tested combinations places it in the 74.9th percentile of all pairings. This means that roughly three-quarters of the tested combos outperform this configuration in Doom, reflecting the GPU’s age and mid-range positioning. The CPU’s strong benchmark scores—including a passmark_multithread score of 54643 and a geekbench_singlecore score of 3341—do not compensate for the GPU’s limitations in this specific title.

The RX 5700 XT’s average benchmark score of 24731 places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, which is lower than the combo’s overall rank. This discrepancy suggests that the Ryzen 9 9900X is helping to boost the combo’s position slightly, even though the GPU remains the limiting factor. The nearest rival GPUs—the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile at 24763 and the Intel Arc A350M at 24647—show that the RX 5700 XT is not an outlier in its performance class, but rather a representative of a mid-range tier that struggles with demanding titles at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its single-thread performance is exceptional, as evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 1286 and a cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 6555. These results place the CPU in the 94th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54450.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU, but its performance ensures that it never becomes a bottleneck. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 12552 and the 3dmark_max_threads score of 13929 indicate that the processor can handle multi-threaded workloads with ease. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores 54681 on average, a delta of -0.4%, showing that the 9900X is nearly identical in general CPU performance.

The CPU’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core provide ample bandwidth for game data. The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface further supports the GPU’s data demands. In practice, the FPS differences between settings at the same resolution are entirely attributable to GPU load, as the CPU maintains consistent performance across all scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal that the GPU is the primary limiting component. At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 139.2 FPS, but this falls to 91.7 FPS at 2560x1440—a reduction of 47.5 FPS, or 34.1%. Moving to 3840x2160, the High preset drops to 50.6 FPS, a further reduction of 41.1 FPS from 1440p, representing a 44.8% loss.

The Ultra preset shows an even steeper decline. At 1080p, it averages 114.2 FPS, which falls to 75.8 FPS at 1440p (a 33.6% reduction) and then to 38.2 FPS at 4K (a 49.6% reduction from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are saturated as resolution increases, with the 8 GB VRAM capacity becoming a critical constraint at 4K.

The Low preset displays the smallest relative drop, from 189 FPS at 1080p to 124.4 FPS at 1440p (34.2% reduction) and then to 66.8 FPS at 4K (46.3% reduction). Even at the lowest settings, the 4K resolution forces a significant performance penalty, confirming that the RX 5700 XT is not designed for 4K gaming. The data indicates that 1440p is the practical ceiling for this combo, with 1080p offering the most consistent and high-frame-rate experience.