Doom

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers an overwhelmingly strong performance profile for Doom, with measured frame rates that place it far above the 60 FPS playability threshold at every tested resolution and preset. Across the board, this combination produces average FPS figures that range from a low of 94 FPS at 4K Ultra settings to a high of 444 FPS at 1080p Low settings, indicating that the system is not merely playable but exceptionally overqualified for the game’s demands. The data shows a clear pattern: as resolution decreases, the frame rate headroom expands dramatically, with the most demanding 4K Ultra preset still maintaining an average of 94 FPS, which is more than 50% above the playability threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination of the Core i5-14600K and RTX 4090 produces extreme frame rates that far exceed any display refresh rate currently on the market. The Low preset yields an average of 444 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 387 FPS with a minimum of 329 FPS and a maximum of 445 FPS. Moving up to High settings, the average drops to 327 FPS, and at Ultra the average is 267 FPS. These figures indicate that at 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor; instead, the frame rates are so high that they approach the CPU’s ability to feed the graphics card, though no bottleneck is evident in the data.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high, with the Low preset averaging 287 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 250 FPS, with a minimum of 213 FPS and a maximum of 288 FPS. High settings produce an average of 211 FPS, and the Ultra preset still maintains a robust 173 FPS average. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent reduction in frame rates, but the system retains massive headroom above the 60 FPS threshold, with even the most demanding 1440p Ultra setting being nearly three times the playability requirement.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still impressive, though the frame rates begin to reflect the increased pixel count. The Low preset averages 156 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 136 FPS with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. High settings produce an average of 115 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 94 FPS. Even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average well above 60 FPS, with the minimum observed frame rate for Medium settings at 115 FPS indicating that the system does not experience significant frame rate dips under load.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 3,712 tested combinations for Doom, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 88. This places the system in the top 2.4% of all tested configurations, indicating that it outperforms the overwhelming majority of other CPU-GPU pairings in this game. The high rank is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the system delivering frame rates that are substantially above average across all resolutions and presets. The combination benefits from both a very strong CPU in the i5-14600K and one of the most powerful consumer GPUs available, resulting in a synergy that places it near the top of the performance hierarchy for Doom.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination at 1920x1080?

A: The highest average FPS occurs at the Low preset, where the system delivers an average of 444 FPS.

Q: Does the system maintain at least 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 94, which is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: How does the Medium preset at 2560x1440 compare to the 4K Medium preset?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the average FPS is 250 with a minimum of 213 and maximum of 288, while at 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 136 with a minimum of 115 and maximum of 156.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 94, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Are there any settings where the system falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold?

A: No, every tested combination of resolution and preset maintains an average FPS above 60, with the lowest being 94 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How large is the performance difference between 1080p Low and 4K Ultra?

A: The 1080p Low preset averages 444 FPS, while 4K Ultra averages 94 FPS, representing a difference of 350 FPS between the two extremes.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU side, the Intel Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 48,618, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with a score of 48,698 (0.2% slower), the AMD EPYC 4345P with a score of 48,470 (0.3% faster), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX with a score of 48,287 (0.7% faster). These alternatives would produce nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Doom, as the deltas are all within one percent of each other. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is also close, with a score of 48,995 (0.8% slower), meaning that any of these processors would behave similarly to the i5-14600K in this game.

On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 60,347, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 with a score of 60,326 (0% difference), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 with a score of 60,140 (0.3% slower), and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M with a score of 61,896 (2.5% faster). The AMD Radeon PRO V710 is also nearby with a score of 58,657 (2.9% slower). These GPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Doom, with the performance differences being negligible for practical purposes. Users seeking similar performance could expect comparable FPS numbers with any of these alternative components.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which achieves an average of 267 FPS. This provides a massive margin above the threshold, and the system could easily handle much higher refresh rates. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset again is the best choice, delivering an average of 173 FPS, which still leaves significant headroom above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset maintains an average of 94 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable margin. In all three resolutions, the Ultra preset is playable, meaning the system can run the game at maximum visual quality without sacrificing frame rate smoothness.

The Verdict

The data clearly indicates that this system can run Doom at all tested resolutions and presets, with no configuration falling below the 60 FPS playability threshold. At 3840x2160, the verdict is that all four settings (High, Low, Medium, and Ultra) are playable, with the best setting being Ultra at an average of 94 FPS. At 2560x1440, all settings are also playable, with Ultra averaging 173 FPS. At 1920x1080, the same pattern holds, with Ultra averaging 267 FPS. In every case, the system exceeds the 60 FPS requirement by a substantial margin, and the lowest average FPS recorded across all tested configurations is 94, which occurs at 4K Ultra. This means the system is not just playable but provides an exceptionally smooth experience even under the most demanding settings.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals which component dominates Doom’s workload at different settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 267 at Ultra to 444 at Low, with the gap between Low and Ultra being 177 FPS. At 2560x1440, the range is from 173 at Ultra to 287 at Low, a difference of 114 FPS. At 3840x2160, the range narrows to 94 at Ultra and 156 at Low, a difference of 62 FPS. This pattern indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor, while at lower resolutions, the CPU’s ability to process frames becomes relatively more important. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 444 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU at very high rates, but the diminishing returns at higher resolutions point to the GPU’s rasterization workload being the primary constraint. The RTX 4090’s substantial advantage in raw throughput is evident in the 4K results, where even the most demanding preset maintains nearly 100 FPS, while the i5-14600K’s strong single-threaded performance ensures that the CPU does not become a bottleneck at any tested resolution. The data shows that for Doom, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at 4K, while the CPU’s contribution is most visible in the extreme frame rates achieved at 1080p.