Doom

# Doom with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a playable but uneven experience in Doom, with the GPU clearly acting as the performance ceiling across all tested resolutions. The combination ranks 2080th out of 2930 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database, which is a surprising outcome given the CPU's strong synthetic benchmark presence. The measured frame rates reveal a pattern where the RX 6600 XT's 8 GB VRAM and mid-range compute capabilities dictate performance, while the 12-core Zen 5 processor remains largely underutilized in this 2016 title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, showing that the RX 6600 XT is the limiting component in this pairing. At 1080p High, the combo averages 141 FPS, but moving to 1440p High drops that to 91 FPS — a 35% reduction in frame rate. Pushing further to 4K High yields just 49 FPS, which is a 65% decline from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the bottlenecks, not the CPU.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 192 FPS, which falls to 124 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop) and 67 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). The consistent percentage declines across presets suggest that resolution scaling is purely GPU-bound, as the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient to feed frames at any of these settings.

Medium settings show the only measured min/max FPS data points, revealing frame time variance. At 1080p Medium, the average is 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 and maximum of 192, which is a 50 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 108 FPS with min/max of 92 and 124 respectively, maintaining a similar 32 FPS spread. The 4K Medium result averages 59 FPS with a min of 50 and max of 67, showing tighter but still noticeable variance.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, and the data shows the GPU struggling hardest at higher resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 115 FPS, which is still playable but 40% slower than Low at the same resolution. At 1440p Ultra, the average falls to 75 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it drops to just 40 FPS — the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p on Ultra (a 35% drop) matches the pattern seen on other presets, but the 4K Ultra result shows the GPU hitting a hard wall.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2080 out of 2930 tested combinations places it in the 29th percentile — meaning roughly 71% of tested combos perform better in Doom. This is a notable underperformance for a system featuring a flagship-class CPU, and it strongly implies that the RX 6600 XT is dragging down the overall ranking. For context, the RX 6600 XT alone sits at the 70th percentile among all GPUs in the database, which is respectable for a mid-range card, but the CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs highlights the mismatch.

The gap between the CPU's potential and the combo's actual in-game performance suggests that Doom's engine is not heavily threaded enough to leverage the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's 12 cores. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (with an average score 0.6% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (1.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 6505P (2% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700F (2.1% lower). These deltaPct values are all within a narrow band, showing that the CPU is competitive with other high-end desktop processors, but none of that matters if the GPU cannot deliver the frames.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (0.7% higher average score), the Intel Arc A350M (0.8% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (0.8% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (1.1% higher). This clustering around the RX 6600 XT's performance level suggests that the GPU is solidly mid-range, and when paired with a top-tier CPU in a game like Doom, the result is a combo that ranks far lower than the CPU alone would suggest.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. It features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, with 32 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz, which are healthy frequencies for a mid-range card. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and the card is rated for a TDP of 160 W.

In Doom, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at those resolutions. However, at 4K, the combination of higher resolution textures and the GPU's limited memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) creates a clear bottleneck. The 4K High result of 49 FPS and 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS indicate that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame delivery at this resolution, likely due to both pixel fill rate and memory throughput constraints.

The GPU's pixel rate is rated at 165.7 GPixel/s and its texture rate at 331.4 GTexel/s, which explains the steep scaling between 1440p and 4K. At 4K, the GPU must process over twice the pixels of 1440p, and the data shows that this nearly halves the frame rate on every preset. The measured FPS numbers align with the GPU's FP32 performance of 10.60 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards but adequate for a 2016 game at lower resolutions.

The RX 6600 XT's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant for Doom, which supports modern rendering paths. The GPU's benchmark scores, including a Passmark G3D score of 16461 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1804, indicate solid mid-range performance. Yet, in this specific game, the GPU's role is unambiguous: it caps performance at every resolution above 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings balance depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset offers 141 FPS average, which is smooth for most displays, while Medium provides 167 FPS and Low reaches 192 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset at 1080p yields the highest measured average of 192 FPS, but the Medium preset at 167 FPS with its documented min/max range of 142-192 shows only a 13% performance cost for improved visual quality.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 91 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gaming. The Medium preset at 1080p equivalent quality provides 108 FPS average with a min of 92 FPS, suggesting that Medium is the best choice for 1440p if you want to maintain a high frame rate. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 75 FPS, which is still playable but shows a 31% reduction from High, making it less attractive unless visual fidelity is paramount.

For 4K gaming, the data suggests that only the Low preset (67 FPS average) approaches playability, while Medium (59 FPS) and High (49 FPS) require compromises. The Ultra preset at 4K (40 FPS) falls below the 60 FPS threshold and would likely feel sluggish in a fast-paced FPS like Doom. The measured min/max data at 4K Medium (50-67 FPS) shows that frame pacing could be inconsistent, which might detract from the experience even at the average 59 FPS.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on the user's hardware. For a 1080p display, Medium or High provide excellent frame rates with good visual quality. For 1440p, Medium offers the best balance of performance (108 FPS) and fidelity. For 4K, users should stick to Low or Medium and accept the trade-offs, as the GPU cannot sustain 60 FPS at High or Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all settings. The Low preset averages 192 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium averages 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 and maximum of 192, showing that even at the low end, the frame rate stays above 140 FPS. High averages 141 FPS, and Ultra averages 115 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly but remains playable. Low averages 124 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS with a min of 92 and max of 124, and High averages 91 FPS. Ultra at 1440p averages 75 FPS, which is the first preset where the frame rate approaches the 60 FPS line. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent 35-37% reduction across all presets, indicating that resolution is the dominant factor.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low averages 67 FPS, Medium averages 59 FPS with a min of 50 and max of 67, and High averages 49 FPS. Ultra averages 40 FPS, which is the lowest measured result. The 4K data reveals that even the Low preset only barely exceeds 60 FPS, and the Medium preset's minimum of 50 FPS suggests that frame drops could be noticeable during intense action sequences.

The min/max data available only for Medium settings across all three resolutions provides insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 142-192 FPS (a 50 FPS spread), at 1440p Medium it is 92-124 FPS (a 32 FPS spread), and at 4K Medium it is 50-67 FPS (a 17 FPS spread). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently bottlenecked, which paradoxically leads to more stable frame delivery despite lower averages.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average is 67 FPS. Medium averages 59 FPS, High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 40 FPS, all of which fall below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

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

A: 1440p offers the best balance, with Low averaging 124 FPS, Medium averaging 108 FPS, and High averaging 91 FPS — all comfortably above 60 FPS while providing higher visual fidelity than 1080p.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 24442, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, 0.8% higher than the Intel Arc A350M, 0.8% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti, and 1.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D bottlenecked by the RX 6600 XT in Doom?

A: The data strongly suggests yes. The combo ranks 2080th out of 2930 tested combos, despite the CPU ranking in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, indicating that the GPU's mid-range performance (70th percentile) caps the system's in-game results.

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

A: Low averages 192 FPS while Ultra averages 115 FPS, a difference of 77 FPS or roughly 40% lower performance on Ultra compared to Low at 1080p.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM on the RX 6600 XT limit 4K performance in Doom?

A: The data indicates memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s) and the GPU's compute capabilities are the limiting factors at 4K, as frame rates drop by 35-65% compared to 1440p across all presets, with the Ultra preset falling to just 40 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge codename), manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 4.40 GHz and boosts up to 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU features 128 MB of L3 cache, 80 KB of L1 cache per core, and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. Its memory support includes dual-channel DDR5 with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, and it uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform with PCIe Gen 5 connectivity.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong performance with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 47737 and a single-core score of 6739. Its Geekbench scores are 22884 for multicore and 3041 for single-core, while Passmark shows a multithread score of 56154 and a single-thread score of 4646. The CPU's 3DMark scores range from 1269 for single-thread to 13795 for max threads, and it achieves 12490 in the 16-thread test. These figures place the CPU at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, which scores 0.6% higher on average; the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, which scores 1.3% lower; the Intel Xeon 6505P, which scores 2% lower; and the Intel Core i7-14700F, which scores 2.1% lower. These narrow deltas indicate that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is competitive with other high-end processors in general computing tasks.

However, in Doom, the CPU's role is minimal due to the game's age and the GPU bottleneck. The 12 cores and 24 threads are far more than Doom's engine requires, and the high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that even single-threaded performance is excellent. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 192 FPS, which could theoretically be CPU-limited on lesser processors, but with the RX 6600 XT being the constraining factor, the CPU's headroom is never fully utilized.

The CPU's 128 MB L3 cache is a notable feature for gaming, as it can reduce memory latency and improve frame pacing in CPU-bound scenarios. Yet, the data shows that the GPU is always the limiting component in this combo, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops across resolution changes. The CPU's 4 nm process and 16,630 million transistors provide ample compute resources, but Doom simply does not require that level of processing power to achieve the frame rates measured here.

The combination of a 91st-percentile CPU with a 70th-percentile GPU results in a combo that ranks in the 29th percentile for Doom, which illustrates the importance of balanced component selection for gaming workloads. The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores, including a Passmark floating point math score of 119622 and integer math score of 179727, would be more relevant in CPU-intensive titles, but in Doom, the RX 6600 XT's 8 GB VRAM and 10.60 TFLOPS compute capability are the decisive factors.