Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER produces a clear performance hierarchy across the three tested resolutions in Doom. The most telling relationship is the scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, where the average frame rate drops by roughly 63% when moving from the Low preset at 1080p to the Low preset at 4K. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 212 FPS, but at 4K Low, it falls to 74 FPS. This steep decline indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck as pixel count rises, since the CPU’s capabilities are less stressed at higher resolutions.

Examining the High preset specifically, the frame rate drops from 156 FPS at 1080p to 101 FPS at 1440p, then further to 55 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result of 55 FPS is just above the threshold for smooth play, but the 1440p High result shows a much healthier margin. The gap between 1080p and 1440p High is 55 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K High is 46 FPS, suggesting that the scaling is relatively consistent but the absolute performance at 4K is limited by the RTX 2070 SUPER’s compute and memory bandwidth. The data indicates that the limiting component at 4K is the graphics card, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 12 cores and 24 threads running at a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. In Doom, a game that relies heavily on single-thread performance for game logic and physics, the CPU’s strong single-core throughput is evident. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2253 and the 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 indicate that this processor can handle the game’s primary thread without creating a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU’s role becomes more pronounced. The 212 FPS Low result and 156 FPS High result show that the processor is capable of feeding the GPU with enough frames to push well beyond 144 Hz. However, the 9900X’s multi-threaded capabilities, reflected in a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172, are not fully utilized by Doom, which typically scales across a limited number of threads. The PassMark multithread score of 54643 further confirms that the CPU has excess capacity, but the game’s engine does not exploit all 24 threads effectively.

The combination of high boost clocks and a large 64 MB L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The CPU’s 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth, paired with DDR5 support, ensures that data can flow quickly to the GPU. Benchmark results indicate that the 9900X ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9015 (with a delta of -0.1%) and the Intel Core i9-14900 (with a delta of -1.1%). This positioning suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game, even at 4K, where the GPU’s workload dominates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 184 FPS average, with a minimum of 157 FPS and a maximum of 212 FPS. This is a strong choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it stays well above 144 FPS while offering better visual fidelity than Low. The High preset at 1080p produces 156 FPS, which is still excellent, but Medium provides a 28 FPS advantage with only a modest reduction in quality. For competitive play, the Low preset at 212 FPS maximizes frame rate, but the visual sacrifice may not be worth the extra 28 FPS over Medium.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset achieves 119 FPS average, with a minimum of 101 FPS. This is the sweet spot for 1440p, as it comfortably exceeds 100 FPS while maintaining decent visual quality. The High preset at 101 FPS is also playable, but Medium offers an 18 FPS improvement. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is still above 60 FPS, but the jump from Medium to Ultra costs 37 FPS, which may not justify the visual gains. For a balanced experience at 1440p, Medium is recommended.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The Medium preset delivers 65 FPS average, with a minimum of 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at 55 FPS is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 45 FPS dips below the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 74 FPS is the only option that maintains a comfortable margin. For 4K, the data suggests that Low or Medium are the viable choices, with Medium providing a better balance of quality and performance at 65 FPS. The Ultra preset is not recommended due to its 45 FPS average, which falls below typical playability thresholds.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 2153 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects the GPU’s age relative to newer hardware, as the RTX 2070 SUPER was released in 2019 and has since been succeeded by the GeForce 30 series. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 65 among all GPUs indicates that it performs better than the median, but the combo’s overall rank is dragged down by the CPU’s high-end status, which creates an imbalance.

The CPU’s percentile of 92 among all CPUs is significantly higher than the GPU’s percentile of 65, meaning the processor is substantially more capable than the graphics card. This mismatch is typical for a pairing where a top-tier CPU is combined with a mid-range GPU from an older generation. The combo rank of 2153 out of 3712 suggests that while the system is capable of playing Doom smoothly at 1080p and 1440p, it does not compete with newer GPU pairings that can achieve higher frame rates at 4K. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint on the combo’s overall ranking, as the CPU has ample headroom for more demanding graphics cards.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings is 127, which is the lowest among the 1080p presets but still well above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium preset compare to the 1080p High preset?

A: The 1440p Medium preset delivers 119 FPS average, while the 1080p High preset delivers 156 FPS. The 1080p High preset is 37 FPS faster, but the 1440p Medium preset offers a higher resolution with only a 37 FPS penalty.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER can achieve 74 FPS at 4K with Low settings and 55 FPS with High settings, but the Ultra preset drops to 45 FPS, indicating that 4K gaming is only viable at lower presets.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The minimum FPS recorded is 55, which occurs at 4K Medium settings. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 101, and at 1080p Medium it is 157.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X scores within -0.1% of the AMD EPYC 9015 and +0.2% of the AMD EPYC 7313. It trails the Intel Core i9-14900 by 1.1% and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M by 1.4%.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 212, achieved at 1080p with Low settings. The maximum FPS recorded is also 212, which occurs at 1080p Low and 1080p Medium.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo provides a complete picture of its performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 212 FPS, with no reported minimum or maximum values. The Medium preset averages 184 FPS, with a minimum of 157 FPS and a maximum of 212 FPS. The High preset averages 156 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 127 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in settings reduces the average FPS by roughly 28-29 FPS, except for the jump from High to Ultra, which costs 29 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 137 FPS, the Medium preset averages 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS, the High preset averages 101 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 82 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p shows a total drop of 55 FPS, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p scaling. The 1440p results indicate that the GPU is starting to become more of a limiting factor, as the frame rates are significantly lower than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 74 FPS, the Medium preset averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, the High preset averages 55 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 45 FPS. The 4K results show a dramatic drop from 1440p, with the Low preset losing 63 FPS and the Ultra preset losing 37 FPS. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 55, which matches the High preset average, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame times at this resolution. The data confirms that 4K is only playable at Low or Medium settings, with Low providing the best frame rate at 74 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary determinant of performance in this Doom pairing, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and the memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU’s 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 9.062 TFLOPS.

The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest that memory bandwidth and compute capacity become strained. The 4K Ultra preset at 45 FPS highlights this limitation, as the GPU’s 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is not enough to sustain high frame rates at that resolution with maximum settings. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 65 among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (delta of -1%) and the Intel Arc B570 (delta of -1.3%), indicates that it sits in the mid-range of current hardware.

The Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, is showing its age compared to newer GPUs, but it remains capable for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1651 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 83358 provide additional context for its compute capabilities. The GPU’s 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, but Doom does not utilize ray tracing, so these features do not impact the measured FPS. The data shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the limiting component in this combo, as the CPU has significant headroom for more demanding graphics hardware.