Doom

This benchmark analysis examines the performance of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 in Doom. The data comprises measured average, minimum, and maximum frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets. The analysis focuses on identifying the optimal settings configuration, isolating CPU and GPU contributions, contextualizing the combo's overall rank, and tracing resolution scaling behavior.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows present a clear hierarchy across the four available presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 167 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset follows closely at 146 FPS, representing a 12.6% drop from Low. The High preset produces 123 FPS, which is 26.3% lower than Low. The Ultra preset yields 101 FPS, a 39.5% reduction from the Low setting.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same ordering persists. Low achieves 108 FPS, Medium drops to 94 FPS, High reaches 80 FPS, and Ultra falls to 65 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low produces 59 FPS, Medium 51 FPS, High 43 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 35 FPS.

For the best experience per the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 offers a compelling balance. It provides 146 FPS, which is 83 FPS higher than High at the same resolution. The Medium preset also shows a minimum FPS of 124 and a maximum of 168, indicating stable frame pacing. While Low at 1080p yields 167 FPS, the Medium preset's 146 FPS is still well above typical display refresh rates. The jump from Medium to High costs 23 FPS, representing a 15.7% performance penalty, which may not be justified by visual gains in a fast-paced FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out. It delivers 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 108. This is 14 FPS higher than High's 80 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 65 FPS, which approaches the lower boundary of playability for competitive gaming. For 4K, no preset achieves a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset at 59 FPS is the only configuration above the 60 FPS threshold, while Medium sits at 51 FPS and Ultra at 35 FPS. Users seeking 4K should prioritize the Low or Medium presets, but the data suggests this combo is not ideal for 4K gaming at higher settings.

The measured data indicates that the Medium preset provides the most efficient use of the hardware across all resolutions. It consistently maintains a meaningful gap above High while remaining closer to Low's performance. At 1080p, the 146 FPS average leaves substantial headroom. At 1440p, the 94 FPS average is suitable for high-refresh monitors. The minimum FPS values for Medium at both 1080p and 1440p are 124 and 80 respectively, suggesting no severe frame drops.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Strix Halo. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The processor's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU has a TDP of 55 W and supports LPDDR5X memory over a quad-channel bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 35314 and a single-core score of 2044. Its Geekbench multicore score is 20992, with a single-core score of 2464. The processor sits at the 95th percentile among all CPUs, indicating strong overall performance. Its average benchmark score is 77740, placing it 1.6% above the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and 1.6% above the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P. It trails the Intel Core i9-14900K by 1.7% but leads the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX by 2%.

For Doom, a game released in 2016, the CPU's role is largely about maintaining frame delivery at high refresh rates. The game's engine is not particularly demanding on modern multi-core processors. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's 16 cores and 32 threads are far more than the game requires, but the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz and strong single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2044) are more relevant. The game's frame rate at 1080p Low reaches 167 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened.

The processor's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is substantial and could help with texture streaming and level loading. The 64 MB L3 cache is also beneficial for keeping frequently accessed game data close to the cores. In the measured data, the 1080p Low preset's 167 FPS indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, and the CPU's strong performance ensures it does not interfere.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, using the GB207 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process. It features 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GPU has 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. Its base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost clock of 2572 MHz. The memory configuration includes 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, with a texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s. The RTX 5050's TDP is 130 W, requiring a 300 W power supply and a single 8-pin connector. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and a Passmark G3D score of 17326. It sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035. This places it 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, 1% below the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, and 1.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. It also trails the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile by 1.6%.

In Doom, the GPU's role is dominant across most settings and resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces only 35 FPS, indicating the GPU is heavily stressed. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for Doom's 2016-era textures, but the GPU's raw compute power limits performance. The measured FPS scaling with settings shows that reducing from Ultra to Low at 4K increases FPS from 35 to 59, a 68.6% improvement. This is a clear sign that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K.

At 1440p, the GPU still governs performance, with Ultra at 65 FPS and Low at 108 FPS. The RTX 5050's 13.17 TFLOPS is adequate for this resolution but not overkill. At 1080p, the GPU begins to show more headroom. The Low preset reaches 167 FPS, and even Ultra achieves 101 FPS. The boost clock of 2572 MHz and the 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth contribute to these results. The GPU's 32 ROPs may limit fill-rate-dependent scenes, but the overall data indicates a capable mid-range part for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 2974 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places the combo in the 20th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 80% of tested combos perform better. This rank reflects the combination of a high-end CPU and a mid-range GPU.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs contrasts sharply with the GPU's 66th percentile. The data suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. The combo's rank is more closely tied to the GPU's performance tier than the CPU's. In the context of Doom, which is not heavily CPU-dependent, the RTX 5050's mid-range positioning drags the overall rank down.

The nearest rival GPUs provide context. The RTX 5050's average score of 21035 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153) and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237). These are older or lower-end parts, which suggests the RTX 5050 is not a high performer in absolute terms. The CPU, by contrast, is competitive with top-tier desktop processors like the Intel Core i9-14900K, trailing by only 1.7% in average score.

Given this imbalance, the combo's rank of 2974 is expected. The CPU has ample headroom that the GPU cannot utilize in this game. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 167 FPS, which is strong, but at 4K Ultra, the 35 FPS result is indicative of the GPU's limitations. Users with this combo should expect to play Doom at 1080p or 1440p with medium-to-high settings to get the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 123 at 1080p to 80 at 1440p, a 35% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the FPS drops from 80 to 43, a 46.3% reduction. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High is from 123 to 43 FPS, a 65% decrease.

The Low preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 167 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 108 FPS, a 35.3% reduction. At 4K, it falls to 59 FPS, a 45.4% reduction from 1440p. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 64.7%, from 167 to 59 FPS.

The Medium preset follows the pattern with 146 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p (a 35.6% drop), and 51 FPS at 4K (a 45.7% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset drops from 101 FPS at 1080p to 65 FPS at 1440p (35.6% drop) and then to 35 FPS at 4K (46.2% drop).

The consistent drop percentages across all presets indicate that the GPU is the limiting component. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 35%, and the reduction from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 46%. This non-linear scaling is typical of GPU-bound scenarios, where the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate does not scale linearly because other factors like memory bandwidth and fill rate also play a role.

The RTX 5050's 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 82.30 GPixel/s pixel rate are likely the key constraints at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM is not a bottleneck for Doom, but the GPU's compute throughput of 13.17 TFLOPS becomes exhausted as resolution increases. The data strongly suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution, as the drop patterns are uniform and the CPU's single-core performance is robust.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 167 FPS. The Medium preset produces an average of 146 FPS, with a minimum of 124 and a maximum of 168. The High preset averages 123 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 101 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 108 FPS. The Medium preset averages 94 FPS, with a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 108. The High preset averages 80 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 65 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 59 FPS. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 and a maximum of 59. The High preset averages 43 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 35 FPS.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the Medium preset's minimum of 124 FPS is still higher than the High preset's average of 123 FPS. At 1440p, the Medium preset's minimum of 80 FPS matches the High preset's average exactly. At 4K, the Medium preset's minimum of 43 FPS matches the High preset's average of 43 FPS.

The frame rate deltas between settings are consistent. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS. At 1440p, this difference narrows to 43 FPS. At 4K, the difference is 24 FPS. This compression at higher resolutions further confirms the GPU-bound nature of the workload. The RTX 5050 simply cannot differentiate settings as much at 4K because it is already near its performance ceiling.

FAQ

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

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 provides an average of 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS. This is 23 FPS higher than the High preset at the same resolution and only 21 FPS lower than Low. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 94 FPS, which is 14 FPS higher than High.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The RTX 5050 ranks at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 ranks at the 95th percentile among CPUs. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent around 35% for each resolution step, indicating GPU-bound performance.

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K?

A: At 4K, the Low preset achieves 59 FPS, and Medium achieves 51 FPS. The High preset drops to 43 FPS, and Ultra to 35 FPS. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, 4K is not viable at any preset, as even Low falls below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score is 21035. This is 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, 1% below the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, and 1.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. It trails the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile by 1.6%.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 167 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 101 FPS. This is a difference of 66 FPS, representing a 39.5% reduction from Low to Ultra.

Q: Does the combo's rank in Doom reflect its overall hardware capabilities?

A: The combo ranks 2974 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the 20th percentile. This rank is lower than the CPU's 95th percentile and the GPU's 66th percentile might suggest, because the pairing of a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU results in the GPU capping overall performance in this game.