Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination in Doom demonstrates a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the dominant limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At 1080p, the system delivers exceptional headroom, but the transition to 1440p and 4K shows a progressive decline in frame rates that is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads. The data indicates that this pairing is exceptionally well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, while still delivering very playable performance at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve, where the performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, and the drop to 4K is even more pronounced. At the "Ultra" preset, the system achieves 205.9 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 134.7 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 35%. Moving to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls further to 73.8 FPS, representing roughly a 64% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that while the Ryzen 9 9900X has ample processing power to feed the RTX 5070 at lower resolutions, the GPU's rendering workload at 4K becomes the primary bottleneck.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. At "High" settings, the frame rate drops from 250.4 FPS at 1080p to 163.1 FPS at 1440p, and then to 87.5 FPS at 4K. The "Medium" preset shows a similar trajectory: 293 FPS at 1080p, 188.3 FPS at 1440p, and 106.2 FPS at 4K. Even at "Low" settings, where the system achieves a remarkable 341.2 FPS at 1080p, the 4K result of 120.4 FPS indicates that the resolution increase still imposes a substantial performance penalty. The relative consistency of the percentage drops across presets suggests that the scaling behavior is primarily governed by resolution rather than the specific quality settings, confirming the GPU's role as the limiting component at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070's specifications play a crucial role in understanding these results. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is well-suited for Doom's requirements, as the game's texture streaming and geometry processing at 4K Ultra settings would otherwise become a limiting factor. The boost clock of 2512 MHz, combined with 6144 shading units, allows the GPU to maintain high fill rates, but the data shows that even this capable hardware cannot fully overcome the demands of 4K rendering.

The GPU's 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present but are less relevant for Doom, which was released in 2016 and does not utilize ray tracing. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for the game's fast-paced action, but the 4K results suggest that the ROPs and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The RTX 5070's performance at 1080p, exceeding 340 FPS at Low settings, indicates that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution; the CPU's ability to feed the GPU becomes the limiting factor. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's workload expands, and its architectural capabilities become the deciding factor in the final frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

For the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance, the "High" preset at 2560x1440 appears to be the sweet spot for this combination. The data shows 163.1 FPS at this configuration, which is well above the threshold for smooth, competitive gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. Moving to "Ultra" at the same resolution yields 134.7 FPS, which remains very playable, but the 28.4 FPS difference may not justify the marginal visual improvements in a fast-paced FPS title.

At 3840x2160, the "Medium" preset delivers 106.2 FPS, which is a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS standard than the "High" preset's 87.5 FPS. The "Low" preset at 4K achieves 120.4 FPS, but the visual compromise may be too significant for many users. For those prioritizing maximum frame rates, the 1080p "Medium" preset at 293 FPS offers an exceptionally responsive experience, though the "High" preset at 250.4 FPS provides a better visual experience with only a modest performance cost. The "Ultra" preset at 1080p, at 205.9 FPS, still offers excellent performance, making it a viable option for users with 240 Hz displays who want the highest quality settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance. The "Low" preset produces an average of 341.2 FPS, while "Medium" reaches 293 FPS. The "High" preset delivers 250.4 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset, despite being the most demanding, still maintains an impressive 205.9 FPS. These figures indicate that the CPU and GPU combination has substantial headroom at this resolution, with even the highest quality settings producing frame rates suitable for competitive play.

The 2560x1440 results show a noticeable step down. The "Low" preset averages 217.3 FPS, "Medium" achieves 188.3 FPS, and "High" reaches 163.1 FPS. The "Ultra" preset drops to 134.7 FPS, which remains above the 120 FPS threshold commonly associated with high-refresh-rate gaming. At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The "Low" preset yields 120.4 FPS, "Medium" produces 106.2 FPS, "High" averages 87.5 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 73.8 FPS. While these 4K numbers are all playable, the gap between the "Low" and "Ultra" presets at 4K is 46.6 FPS, highlighting the significant impact of quality settings at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 323rd out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 19% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance of both components individually. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, which scores 54681 (a delta of -0.4%), and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 54097 (a delta of 0.7%), indicating that the standard 9900X is essentially on par with its 3D V-Cache sibling in overall compute performance.

The RTX 5070, meanwhile, holds the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610, delta 0.2%), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41897, delta -0.5%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441, delta 0.6%). The close deltas between these GPUs suggest that the RTX 5070's raw compute performance is comparable to previous flagship models. The combination's 323rd overall ranking indicates that while both components are individually strong, the pairing is not at the absolute top of the charts, likely due to the game's age and the fact that many higher-ranked combos may feature more powerful GPUs. However, the measured FPS data demonstrates that this combination delivers excellent real-world performance in Doom across all tested resolutions and settings.