Doom

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an exceptionally powerful combination for Doom, delivering playable frame rates at every tested resolution and preset. Benchmark data shows this system exceeds the 60 FPS playability threshold by a wide margin, with the most demanding Ultra preset still averaging 94 FPS at 4K, 173 FPS at 1440p, and 267 FPS at 1080p. The combination ranks in the 88th percentile of all tested combos, placing it among the top performers in this database.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Doom at 4K Ultra settings?*

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 94 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playability threshold. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and it remains comfortably playable.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 444, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium settings produce 387 FPS, High produces 327 FPS, and Ultra produces 267 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 69355. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 9115, scores 69288 (0.1% lower). The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515, which is 0.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F are 0.7% and 0.9% lower, respectively.

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 60347. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326, essentially identical (0% delta). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896 (2.5% higher) and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657 (2.9% lower).

Q: Is there any resolution where the Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all three tested resolutions, the Ultra preset maintains playable frame rates. The lowest Ultra average is 94 FPS at 3840x2160, still 34 FPS above the playability threshold.

Q: What is the frame rate scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 287 FPS, Medium yields 250 FPS, High yields 211 FPS, and Ultra yields 173 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 114 FPS, representing a 39.7% reduction in average frame rate.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals a system where the GPU is overwhelmingly the dominant factor, but the CPU's headroom becomes visible at lower resolutions. At 4K, the scaling between presets is moderate: Low settings produce 156 FPS, Medium produces 136 FPS, High produces 115 FPS, and Ultra produces 94 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is 62 FPS, indicating that rendering load increases substantially with preset quality at this resolution.

At 1440p, the same preset progression shows a larger absolute spread: Low at 287 FPS, Medium at 250 FPS, High at 211 FPS, and Ultra at 173 FPS. The 114 FPS difference between extremes suggests that the GPU still handles most of the work, but the reduced pixel count allows higher overall throughput. At 1080p, the pattern intensifies: Low hits 444 FPS, Medium reaches 387 FPS, High achieves 327 FPS, and Ultra drops to 267 FPS.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K at equivalent settings shows where the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At Ultra settings, frame rates drop from 267 FPS at 1080p to 173 FPS at 1440p, then to 94 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K, consistent with the GPU being the primary constraint. The CPU's contribution is more evident at 1080p, where even the Ultra preset averages 267 FPS—this high frame rate indicates the Core i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads are not bottlenecking the rendering pipeline.

The data suggests that at 4K, the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are fully utilized, given the substantial frame rate drop from lower resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, the system appears to be operating within the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, as frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution changes. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 38194 and the CPU's cinebench R23 multicore score of 33440.5 both indicate top-tier performance, but the measured FPS data shows the GPU is the primary driver of frame rate differences across presets.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is the best choice because it delivers an average of 94 FPS while remaining above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the most visually demanding configuration tested, and it still provides a comfortable margin over playability. The next step down, High, averages 115 FPS, but the Ultra preset's 94 FPS is already sufficient for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset achieves 173 FPS on average. This is 113 FPS above the playability threshold, making it the clear recommendation. Medium settings produce 250 FPS, but the visual quality improvement from Ultra is worth the frame rate trade-off, as 173 FPS remains exceptionally high.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 267 FPS. This is the highest frame rate among all Ultra presets across resolutions, and it far exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. High settings produce 327 FPS and Medium produces 387 FPS, but the Ultra preset's 267 FPS is still more than adequate for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays.

The data shows that this combination never requires a preset reduction to maintain playability. At every resolution, the most demanding preset tested—Ultra—stays well above 60 FPS. The minimum measured frame rates, where available, reinforce this: at 4K Medium, the minimum is 115 FPS; at 1440p Medium, the minimum is 213 FPS; and at 1080p Medium, the minimum is 329 FPS. These minimums all exceed the playability threshold by substantial margins.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 88th out of 3712 tested combos for this game. This places it in the top 2.4% of all configurations in the database, indicating that this system is among the most capable for running Doom. The rank reflects the measured FPS data, which shows playable performance at all tested settings.

The percentile positioning is consistent with the individual component scores. The CPU sits in the 94th percentile vs all CPUs, and the GPU sits in the 88th percentile vs all GPUs. When combined, the system's rank of 88 out of 3712 suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for this game, with neither component dragging down the overall performance.

The high rank is driven by the fact that the RTX 4090's raw compute capabilities—82.58 TFLOPS FP32 and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate—are more than sufficient for a 2016 title like Doom. Even at 4K Ultra, the game cannot saturate the GPU's rendering pipeline, leaving headroom that results in the 94 FPS average. The CPU's 33 MB of L3 cache and 5.60 GHz boost clock ensure that draw calls and game logic are processed without introducing bottlenecks.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are all extremely close. The AMD EPYC 9115 scores 69288, which is 0.1% lower than the Core i7-14700K's 69355. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515, 0.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69875 (0.7% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F scores 69996 (0.9% higher). These deltas are negligible, meaning any of these CPUs would deliver near-identical performance in Doom when paired with the same GPU.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals show more variance. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326, essentially matching the RTX 4090's 60347 with a 0% delta. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, which is 2.5% higher, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, 2.9% lower. In practice, the RTX 4090's measured FPS in Doom would be closely replicated by the Arc Pro A60, while the W6600M might yield slightly higher frame rates and the PRO V710 slightly lower ones.

Given that the measured FPS for this combo shows 94 FPS at 4K Ultra, swapping to any of these rival GPUs would likely produce frame rates within a few percent of that figure. The CPU alternatives are even closer, with all four rivals within 0.9% of the Core i7-14700K's average score. For a game like Doom, which is not particularly CPU-intensive at these frame rates, any of these processors would maintain similar performance.

The Verdict

This PC runs Doom exceptionally well at every resolution and preset combination tested. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: at 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is playable with an average of 94 FPS; at 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 173 FPS; and at 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 267 FPS. All four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are listed as playable at each resolution, meaning no configuration falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

The strongest evidence of this system's capability is the 4K Ultra result. At 94 FPS, this is not merely a "playable" outcome—it is a high-refresh-rate experience on a 4K display. The 1440p and 1080p results are even more impressive, with the latter exceeding 267 FPS even at maximum settings. The data indicates that this combination has substantial headroom, and the 88th rank out of 3712 combos confirms its position among the elite configurations in the database.

For users with high-refresh-rate monitors, the 1080p and 1440p results provide ample frame rates to take advantage of 240 Hz or 360 Hz displays. The 4K result, while lower, still exceeds what most 4K displays can show, as 94 FPS is above the 60 Hz standard and enters the territory of 120 Hz panels. The Core i7-14700K and RTX 4090 are not just sufficient for this game—they are overqualified, with performance that leaves significant headroom for future titles or higher refresh rates.