Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing delivers a playable but heavily GPU-bound experience in Doom, with 1080p performance that easily exceeds 100 FPS but 4K Ultra falling to 38.8 FPS. The data shows this is a combination where the 12-core CPU is rarely the limiting factor; instead, the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth dictate the performance ceiling at higher resolutions and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 190.1 at 1080p to 125.1 at 1440p, then to 68.1 at 4K—a reduction of 64% from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the same scaling yields 142.6 FPS at 1080p, 88.8 FPS at 1440p, and 51.1 FPS at 4K, a 64% drop as well. This near-uniform scaling pattern indicates that the CPU is delivering consistent frame data, and the GPU's rendering workload is what scales with resolution.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic resolution penalty: 117.2 FPS at 1080p drops to 73.2 FPS at 1440p and then collapses to 38.8 FPS at 4K. That 4K Ultra result is 67% lower than 1080p Ultra, which is a larger relative drop than the other presets, suggesting that the combination of 4K resolution and maximum settings pushes the GPU past its comfortable operating range. Conversely, the Low preset at 1080p (190.1 FPS) shows the least pressure, but even that result is not CPU-limited—the 9900X's 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 is more than sufficient for Doom's engine at this frame rate.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X is vastly overqualified for Doom, a title that does not scale meaningfully with its 12 cores and 24 threads. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and single-core score of 6555 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, yet the measured frame rates show no evidence of CPU constraint. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 190.1 FPS, and the fact that this drops to 68.1 FPS at 4K Low—while the CPU workload stays roughly constant—proves the processor is not the bottleneck.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.60 GHz and base clock of 4.40 GHz provide ample single-thread performance for Doom's rendering thread. In the benchmark data, the 9900X sits 0.7% above the Intel Core i7-14700F in average benchmark score and 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, making it a mid-pack performer among its nearest rivals. However, these differences are irrelevant in this game, as the measured FPS at 1080p Low (190.1) versus 4K Low (68.1) shows the GPU is the sole determinant of performance. The CPU's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth ensure no memory-related frame drops, but none of these capabilities are stressed by Doom.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU+GPU combination ranks 1221 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 27% of all pairings. That ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's modest standing: the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19774. Its nearest GPU rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, scores 19680, a mere 0.5% difference, meaning this GPU is effectively at the entry point of the RTX 20-series performance tier.

The combo rank of 1221/1681 is not a reflection of CPU weakness but of GPU pairing. The 9900X alone is a top-tier processor (94th percentile), but when matched with a GPU that is 0.8% slower than the Quadro K5200 and 1.3% faster than the Tesla K40m, the overall system falls behind many combinations that pair mid-range CPUs with faster GPUs. In Doom specifically, the frame rates at 1440p Ultra (73.2 FPS) and 4K High (51.1 FPS) are respectable, but they do not place this combo in the upper echelon of the database. The data indicates that a stronger GPU would unlock far more performance from the 9900X, which is currently leaving most of its capability unused.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RTX 2060 SUPER delivers excellent results across all presets. Low settings produce 190.1 FPS, Medium 166.3 FPS, High 142.6 FPS, and Ultra 117.2 FPS. All four presets clear the 100 FPS threshold, making 1080p a smooth experience regardless of settings. The gap between Low and Ultra is 72.9 FPS, or 38%, indicating that Doom's Ultra preset heavily taxes the GPU's 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs.

At 1440p, performance remains strong but drops below the 100 FPS mark for High and Ultra. Low settings yield 125.1 FPS, Medium 109 FPS, High 88.8 FPS, and Ultra 73.2 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 73.2 FPS is 38% lower than 1080p Ultra, and the 1440p High result of 88.8 FPS is 38% lower than 1080p High. This consistent 38% penalty across settings at 1440p reinforces the GPU-bound nature of the system.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly overmatched. Low settings produce 68.1 FPS, which is playable, but Medium drops to 58.6 FPS, High to 51.1 FPS, and Ultra to 38.8 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the 40 FPS threshold that many players consider minimum for action games. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is severe: 4K Low is 46% lower than 1440p Low, and 4K Ultra is 47% lower than 1440p Ultra. This doubling of pixel count from 1440p to 4K nearly halves the frame rate across all presets, a clear sign that the 2060 SUPER's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 224.4 GTexel/s texture rate are saturated.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K smoothly?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 68.1 FPS. At Medium it drops to 58.6 FPS, High to 51.1 FPS, and Ultra to 38.8 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K for this combo?

A: At Low settings, 1080p (190.1 FPS) is 179% faster than 4K (68.1 FPS). At Ultra, 1080p (117.2 FPS) is 202% faster than 4K (38.8 FPS).

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X the bottleneck in this system?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores (Cinebench R23 multi-core 46438, single-core 6555) are far above what Doom requires, and the frame rate drops proportionally with resolution, indicating GPU limitation.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p?

A: Medium gives 109 FPS, which is above 100 FPS and only 16 FPS lower than Low (125.1 FPS). High drops to 88.8 FPS and Ultra to 73.2 FPS.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 19774 on average, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070 (19680) and 0.3% higher than the GTX TITAN (19706).

Q: What is the 4K Ultra experience like?

A: The 38.8 FPS average is below standard playability thresholds and represents a 67% drop from 1080p Ultra (117.2 FPS).

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the Medium preset at 1440p is the optimal choice from the measured data. It delivers 109 FPS, which is 19% higher than High (88.8 FPS) and only 13% lower than Low (125.1 FPS), while providing a meaningful upgrade in visual quality over Low. At 1080p, the High preset at 142.6 FPS is recommended over Ultra (117.2 FPS) because the 25.4 FPS gain from dropping one preset level is more valuable than the marginal visual improvement, and both far exceed the 100 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the data shows that only Low settings (68.1 FPS) provide a comfortable experience. Medium at 58.6 FPS is borderline, and High (51.1 FPS) and Ultra (38.8 FPS) are below the 60 FPS target. For players prioritizing frame rate at 4K, Low is the only measured preset that stays above 60 FPS. For those who prefer visual quality over speed, Medium at 4K offers a 53% improvement over Low in settings quality while maintaining a playable 58.6 FPS average. The Ultra preset should be avoided at any resolution above 1080p, as it provides the smallest performance headroom relative to its visual cost.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the defining component of this system's Doom performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU has enough memory bandwidth for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results (68.1 FPS Low, 38.8 FPS Ultra) show that the pixel throughput of 105.6 GPixel/s is insufficient for 4K at high settings. The GPU's boost clock of 1650 MHz and base clock of 1470 MHz are modest by modern standards, and its FP32 performance of 7.181 TFLOPS places it firmly in the mid-range tier.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 19774 puts it in the 63rd percentile, and its nearest rivals are all within 1.3%: the GTX TITAN (19706, +0.3%), RTX 2070 (19680, +0.5%), Quadro K5200 (19623, +0.8%), and Tesla K40m (19519, +1.3%). This tight clustering means the 2060 SUPER is not meaningfully faster or slower than its direct competitors in synthetic tests. In Doom specifically, the 4K Ultra result of 38.8 FPS versus 4K Low of 68.1 FPS (a 43% difference) demonstrates that the GPU's 136 TMUs and 64 ROPs are the bottleneck when texture filtering and pixel output are maxed out. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate for Doom's textures at all settings, but the raw compute and rasterization limits of the Turing architecture (12 nm process, 10,800 million transistors) cap the system well below what the 9900X could feed with a stronger GPU.