Doom

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination ranks 2833 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 4% of all pairings. This is a deeply lopsided pairing where a high-end 12-core CPU is held back by an entry-level GPU that was already end-of-life when this benchmark data was collected. The measured FPS numbers tell a consistent story: at 1080p the combo is playable, at 1440p it is borderline, and at 4K it falls below acceptable thresholds for an action FPS. For anyone considering this pairing, the data suggests the GTX 1650 is the dominant bottleneck at every resolution tested, and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s substantial compute resources go largely unused in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2833 out of 2930 means this pairing sits in the 3.3rd percentile of all tested combinations for Doom. That is not a typo — 97% of all CPU-GPU combos in the database deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The data indicates a severe mismatch: the Ryzen 9 9900X3D ranks in the 91st percentile against all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 ranks in the 40th percentile against all GPUs. When you pair a top-decile processor with a GPU that is below the median, the result is what the benchmark data shows — a combo that underperforms because the GPU cannot keep up with the CPU’s capabilities.

For context on the CPU side, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s average benchmark score is 54762, which puts it just 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (score 55093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (score 54053). The nearest rivals also include the Intel Xeon 6505P at 53701 (2% behind) and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53620 (2.1% behind). These deltas are small, meaning the 9900X3D is essentially neck-and-neck with other strong desktop CPUs in synthetic workloads. However, none of that CPU strength translates into Doom performance because the GTX 1650 is the limiting factor.

On the GPU side, the GTX 1650’s average benchmark score is 7472, which is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447), 0.4% ahead of the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7441), and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 350 (7425). It sits 1% behind the Intel Arc A310 (7550). These are all low-end or integrated graphics parts, which confirms the GTX 1650’s position as an entry-level GPU. In Doom, this GPU’s performance ceiling is what determines the combo’s ranking, not the CPU.

The measured FPS data reinforces this: even at 1080p Low, the combo only achieves 92 FPS average, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 19 FPS. The gap between the CPU’s theoretical capability and the actual frame rates is enormous. The data shows that this combo is not balanced for Doom, and users should expect GPU-bound performance in virtually all scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is built on the Turing architecture with the TU117 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It has 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. The GPU’s base clock is 1485 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and memory runs at 2001 MHz with 8 Gbps effective speed. The memory configuration is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The pixel rate is 53.28 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 93.24 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 2.984 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 5.967 TFLOPS (2:1). The card has a 75 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. It was released on 2019-04-22 with a launch MSRP of 149 USD.

In Doom, the GPU’s limited VRAM and bandwidth are the primary constraints. At 4K, the game’s High settings require more memory bandwidth than the 128.1 GB/s can provide, which explains why the average FPS at 3840x2160 High is only 24 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is also a concern — Doom at 4K Ultra with high-resolution textures can exceed 4 GB, and the benchmark shows 19 FPS at that setting. The memory bus width of 128 bit is narrow for 4K workloads, and the data reflects this with a steep drop from 1080p to 4K.

The GTX 1650’s DirectX 12 support is limited to feature level 12_1, which is sufficient for Doom since the game runs on the id Tech 6 engine that supports Vulkan and OpenGL. The card also supports Vulkan 1.4, which Doom can use for better CPU overhead management — but that does not help when the GPU itself is the bottleneck. The benchmark scores show the GPU’s relative position: a Passmark G3D score of 7880 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305. These are low figures, and the percentile rank of 40 against all GPUs confirms this is an entry-level part.

When comparing to nearest rivals, the GTX 1650 is only 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M and 0.4% ahead of the Intel UHD Graphics 750 in average benchmark score. This means the GTX 1650 is barely faster than some integrated graphics solutions. In Doom, this translates to playable but not smooth frame rates at 1080p, and unplayable at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 1665 MHz is decent for the architecture, but the 896 shading units are simply not enough to push high frame rates in a modern FPS at resolutions above 1080p.

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 a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 120 W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a large 128 MB L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, and it includes Radeon Graphics integrated graphics. The CPU uses the AMD Socket AM5 and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes. It was released on 2025-01-05 with a launch MSRP of $599. The processor has 16,630 million transistors on a 2x 70.6 mm² die size.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 9900X3D shows strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 47737 and a single-core score of 6739. The Geekbench multicore score is 22884 with a single-core score of 3041. The Passmark multithread score is 56154, and the single-thread score is 4646. The 3DMark scores show scalability from 2512 at 2 threads to 13795 at max threads. The CPU’s percentile rank of 91 against all CPUs confirms its high-end positioning.

However, in Doom, the CPU’s role is secondary. The game is primarily GPU-bound with this pairing, and the 9900X3D’s 12 cores and 24 threads are far more than Doom needs. Doom’s id Tech 6 engine is well-optimized for multi-threading, but the GTX 1650 cannot produce enough frames to stress the CPU. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 92 FPS average — this is likely near the GPU’s limit, not the CPU’s. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.50 GHz and large 128 MB L3 cache help with frame pacing, but the data shows the bottleneck is clearly on the GPU side.

Compared to nearest rivals, the 9900X3D is 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K in average benchmark score. It is also 2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6505P and 2.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F. These small deltas indicate that the 9900X3D is competitive with other high-end CPUs, but that performance is wasted in this pairing. The CPU’s 24 threads and high clocks do not translate into higher FPS in Doom because the GPU saturates first.

One notable point is the CPU’s integrated Radeon Graphics. While this iGPU is present, it is irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GTX 1650 installed. The CPU also supports ECC memory, which is unusual for a desktop part but not relevant to gaming performance. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth is more than sufficient for Doom, as the game does not heavily depend on system memory bandwidth when a discrete GPU is used.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Doom covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). The data includes average FPS for all settings, with min and max FPS only recorded for Medium settings at each resolution.

At 1080p:

• Low: 92 FPS average
• Medium: 80 FPS average, with min 68 and max 92
• High: 68 FPS average
• Ultra: 55 FPS average

The 1080p results show a clear progression: dropping from Low to Ultra reduces average FPS from 92 to 55, a 40% reduction. The Medium setting’s min FPS of 68 suggests some frame dips, but the average of 80 is playable for a single-player FPS. The High setting at 68 FPS is still smooth, and Ultra at 55 FPS is acceptable but not ideal for fast-paced action.

At 1440p:

• Low: 59 FPS average
• Medium: 52 FPS average, with min 44 and max 60
• High: 44 FPS average
• Ultra: 36 FPS average

The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant. The Low setting goes from 92 to 59 FPS, a 36% reduction. Medium drops from 80 to 52 FPS, and the min FPS of 44 indicates noticeable stutters. High at 44 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 36 FPS is below the 40 FPS threshold that many players consider minimum for an FPS. The data suggests 1440p is only playable on Low or Medium settings.

At 4K:

• Low: 32 FPS average
• Medium: 28 FPS average, with min 24 and max 32
• High: 24 FPS average
• Ultra: 19 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the combo is not playable in any realistic sense. Even Low settings only achieve 32 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. Medium at 28 FPS with a min of 24 FPS means the experience will be choppy. High at 24 FPS and Ultra at 19 FPS are cinematic but not playable for a shooter. The 4K data strongly indicates the GPU cannot handle this resolution in Doom.

The FPS scaling across settings is consistent: each step from Low to Ultra reduces average FPS by roughly 10-15% at 1080p, 10-15% at 1440p, and 10-15% at 4K. This suggests the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions, as CPU-bound scenarios would show less scaling with settings changes.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data shows a steep decline in FPS as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. From 1080p Low (92 FPS) to 1440p Low (59 FPS), the drop is 36%. From 1440p Low to 4K Low (32 FPS), the drop is another 46%. The overall drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 65%. For Medium settings, the progression is 80 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K — a total drop of 65% as well. High settings go from 68 FPS at 1080p to 44 FPS at 1440p to 24 FPS at 4K, a 65% total drop. Ultra settings show 55 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K, again a 65% drop.

This consistent 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS drop would be less severe because the resolution increase would not change CPU load much. The fact that FPS scales almost linearly with pixel count (4K has 4x the pixels of 1080p, but performance drops to about 35% of 1080p) suggests the GTX 1650’s fill rate and bandwidth are inadequate for higher resolutions.

The 4K Ultra result of 19 FPS is particularly telling. This is 20% of the 1080p Low result, which means the GPU is severely overloaded. The 128.1 GB/s memory bandwidth is a major constraint — at 4K, the GPU needs to fetch and process more texture data, and the narrow 128-bit bus cannot keep up. The 4 GB VRAM also likely causes swapping at 4K Ultra, further reducing performance.

The resolution scaling data also shows that the CPU’s high clocks and large cache do not help at higher resolutions. The 9900X3D can feed the GTX 1650 with frames at 1080p, but at 4K the GPU simply runs out of compute and memory bandwidth. This is a classic case of a CPU that is far more capable than the GPU, and the benchmark data makes it clear that the limiting component is the GPU at every resolution tested.

For practical advice, the data suggests that 1080p is the only resolution where this combo provides a consistently playable experience, and even then, Ultra settings may push the GPU to its limits. At 1440p, users should stick to Low or Medium settings. At 4K, the combo is not viable for Doom.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings achieves 92 FPS average, which is the highest measured result. At 1080p Medium, the average is 80 FPS with a min of 68 FPS. For a smooth experience, 1080p Low or Medium is recommended. At 1440p, only Low (59 FPS) and Medium (52 FPS) are playable. At 4K, all settings are below 32 FPS, which is not recommended.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D bottlenecking the GTX 1650 in Doom?

A: No, the data indicates the opposite. The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile against all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 40th percentile. The measured FPS drops by 65% from 1080p to 4K across all settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU has 12 cores and 24 threads with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, far more than Doom requires, so the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 7472. It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447), 0.4% ahead of the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7441), and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 350 (7425). It is 1% behind the Intel Arc A310 (7550). These are all low-end parts, confirming the GTX 1650’s entry-level status.

Q: What is the impact of the GTX 1650’s 4 GB VRAM on Doom performance?

A: The 4 GB VRAM is likely a constraint at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 19, and at 4K High it is 24. The 128-bit memory bus with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth also limits performance at 4K. The data shows a steep FPS drop from 1440p to 4K, which is consistent with VRAM and bandwidth limitations.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s CPU benchmark scores compare to its rivals?

A: The 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762. It is 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053). It is also 2% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701) and 2.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F (53620). The CPU’s single-thread score in Cinebench R23 is 6739, and its multicore score is 47737.

Q: Is this combo suitable for playing Doom at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the data shows 59 FPS on Low and 52 FPS on Medium, with a min FPS of 44 on Medium. These are playable but not ideal. High settings drop to 44 FPS, and Ultra drops to 36 FPS, which are below the 60 FPS target. If 1440p is desired, Low or Medium settings are the only viable options based on the measured data.