Doom

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X compare to its nearest CPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X posts an average benchmark score of 57498, placing it in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs. It sits within 1.4% of its nearest rivals: it is 0.1% behind the AMD EPYC 9015 (57555), 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313 (57399), 1.1% behind the Intel Core i9-14900 (58115), and 1.4% behind the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323).

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves an average benchmark score of 16014, which places it in the 59th percentile among all GPUs. It is 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129), 1% ahead of both the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852), and 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679).

Q: What is the best 4K average FPS recorded for this combo in Doom?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 74, achieved with Low settings. Medium settings produce 65 FPS average, High produces 54 FPS average, and Ultra produces 45 FPS average, showing a clear performance drop as quality increases.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Ultra compared to 4K Ultra in Doom?

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the combo reaches 127 FPS average, while at 3840x2160 Ultra it drops to 45 FPS average. That represents a 64.6% reduction in average frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Doom among all tested combinations?

A: The data indicates this CPU-GPU combination ranks 1686 out of 2930 total combos tested for Doom. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, reflecting a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU.

Q: What are the key clock specifications for the CPU and GPU in this combo?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4nm process at TSMC. It carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU's memory clock runs at 2250 MHz, which translates to 18 Gbps effective. These specifications establish a baseline for understanding how the card handles Doom's demands across different resolutions and settings.

The GPU's compute resources include 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. It also features 28 ray tracing cores. The card achieves a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance also at 21.43 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). These throughput figures explain why the card performs adequately at lower resolutions but begins to strain at 4K, particularly with higher quality presets that demand more pixel and texture processing.

The GPU's power configuration includes a TDP of 132 W, a dual-slot cooler, and a single 8-pin power connector. Its suggested PSU is 300 W. The card interfaces via PCIe 5.0 x16 and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.1b port and two DisplayPort 2.1a ports.

In Doom specifically, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a critical factor. At 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 45, which suggests the card is hitting a memory bandwidth or capacity wall. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest for 4K workloads, and the 128-bit bus width limits how quickly data can be fed to the GPU cores. This is reflected in the benchmark data showing a steep decline from 74 FPS at 4K Low to 45 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its placement. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3322, and its Geekbench OpenCL score is 88183. The PassMark G3D score is 17631, which aligns with its 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs. In Doom, this positions the card as capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, but only marginal performance at 4K, where the average FPS at High settings (54) barely crosses the 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions in Doom. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 211 at 1920x1080 to 137 at 2560x1440, then to 74 at 3840x2160. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 65%.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 184 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.3%, and from 1440p to 4K is 45.4%. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings is 64.7%. The min and max FPS at Medium settings show consistency: at 1080p, the range is 156 to 212; at 1440p, it is 101 to 137; at 4K, it is 55 to 74.

High settings follow the same trajectory: 155 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 46.5% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction is 65.2%. Ultra settings show the steepest absolute decline: 127 FPS at 1080p, 82 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K, with a 35.4% drop followed by a 45.1% drop.

The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. The consistent 34-35% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings suggests the GPU is handling the additional pixel count relatively efficiently. However, the larger 45-46% drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are becoming bottlenecks. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are insufficient to maintain performance parity at 4K, particularly with higher quality settings that increase texture and shading loads.

The data also shows that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 9 9900X has ample processing power, as evidenced by its high multi-threaded scores, so the frame rate declines at 4K are attributable to GPU limitations. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU's role diminishing as pixel count increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 211 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth for a fast-paced FPS. Medium settings yield 184 FPS average, with a minimum of 156 FPS and a maximum of 212 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 155 FPS, while Ultra settings bring it down to 127 FPS. Even at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate remains well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a comfortable experience for competitive or high-refresh-rate gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows clear scaling. Low settings average 137 FPS, which is still excellent for 1440p gaming. Medium settings average 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. High settings drop the average to 101 FPS, which is right at the cusp of high-refresh-rate territory. Ultra settings produce 82 FPS average, which is still smooth but begins to show the GPU's limits as settings increase.

At 3840x2160, the performance picture changes dramatically. Low settings average 74 FPS, which is playable but not optimal for a competitive FPS. Medium settings average 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, suggesting occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 54 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. Ultra settings average 45 FPS, which is the lowest recorded value in the dataset and indicates a compromised experience at 4K with maximum quality.

The Medium settings data provides the most complete picture, as it is the only setting with min and max FPS recorded across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 156 to 212 FPS; at 1440p, the range is 101 to 137 FPS; at 4K, the range is 55 to 74 FPS. These ranges show that frame pacing remains relatively stable, with the spread between min and max FPS staying consistent at approximately 19-26% of the average.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium settings as the optimal balance for this combo across most resolutions. At 1080p, Medium provides 184 FPS average, which is 45% higher than High settings (155 FPS) and only 13% lower than Low settings (211 FPS). The visual quality improvement over Low is substantial, while the performance penalty is modest. At 1440p, Medium delivers 119 FPS average, which is sufficient for smooth gameplay on most monitors, while High drops to 101 FPS and Ultra to 82 FPS.

For 4K gaming, the recommendation shifts depending on the user's tolerance for visual quality. Medium settings at 4K produce 65 FPS average, with a minimum of 55 FPS, which approaches playable levels but may exhibit occasional stutter. High settings at 4K average 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. Low settings at 4K average 74 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Given the data, Low settings are the recommended choice for 4K if smoothness is the priority, while Medium offers a better visual experience at the cost of some frame rate.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo at any resolution above 1080p. At 1440p, Ultra averages 82 FPS, which is playable but represents a 31% performance drop from Medium settings. At 4K, Ultra averages 45 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The performance cost of Ultra over High is consistent: 18% at 1080p (127 vs 155 FPS), 19% at 1440p (82 vs 101 FPS), and 17% at 4K (45 vs 54 FPS). These reductions are not justified by the marginal visual improvements Ultra typically offers over High.

For competitive play at 1080p, Low settings at 211 FPS provide the highest frame rate and lowest latency, which may be preferable for esports scenarios. However, for a balanced experience that prioritizes visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness, Medium settings at 184 FPS (1080p) or 119 FPS (1440p) are the strongest choices based on the measured data.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge codename), manufactured on a 4nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of L3 cache.

In Doom, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game's 2016 release date means it is not particularly demanding on modern CPUs, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The Ryzen 9 9900X's benchmark scores demonstrate its capacity: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32172 and a single-core score of 2253, a Geekbench multi-core score of 22174 and single-core score of 3010, and a 3DMark max-threads score of 13929.

The CPU's single-thread performance is particularly relevant for Doom, as the game's engine relies heavily on a few primary threads. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 353 indicate strong per-core performance, which is sufficient to avoid CPU bottlenecks in this title. The PassMark single-thread score of 4672 reinforces this assessment.

The data on FPS scaling confirms that the CPU is not limiting performance in Doom for this combo. If the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would not scale as dramatically with resolution changes. Instead, the observed pattern shows consistent 34-35% drops from 1080p to 1440p and 45-46% drops from 1440p to 4K across all settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for the game's workload, even at 1080p where the GPU is producing over 200 FPS.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 92nd among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498, places it in the top tier of desktop processors. Its nearest rivals include server-class chips like the AMD EPYC 9015 and EPYC 7313, as well as the Intel Core i9-14900. This level of performance means the Ryzen 9 9900X will not be the limiting factor in Doom, regardless of resolution or settings. The measured FPS data reflects this, with the GPU being the clear constraint at 4K Ultra settings where the average FPS drops to 45.