Doom

This analysis examines the measured performance of the Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the Intel Arc B580 in Doom, based on benchmark data. The combination produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on resolution and quality preset, with the playable threshold set at 60 FPS. The data reveals a system that is heavily capable at lower resolutions but begins to hit a wall at 4K, making the choice of settings critical for a smooth experience.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Low, which delivers an average of 65 FPS. This is the only setting at 4K that clears the playable threshold. The jump from Low to Medium drops the average to 57 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target, while High and Ultra average 48 and 39 FPS respectively. The data indicates that 4K requires a significant compromise on visual quality to maintain fluidity.

For 2560x1440, the best settings are Ultra, producing an average of 72 FPS. This is a substantial improvement over the 4K results and allows the game to run at its highest quality preset while still exceeding the 60 FPS mark. The margin is comfortable, with the Ultra preset sitting 12 FPS above the threshold, suggesting headroom for any minor frame time spikes.

At 1920x1080, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 112 FPS. This is nearly double the 60 FPS threshold and indicates that the system is far from being stressed at this resolution. The 1080p Ultra result is 40 FPS higher than the 1440p Ultra result, showing that the lower resolution provides a significant performance buffer.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Doom at 4K with the highest settings?

A: No. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of only 39 FPS, which is 21 FPS below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The only playable setting at 4K is Low, which averages 65 FPS.

Q: What is the best quality setting for 1440p gaming?

A: The data shows that Ultra at 2560x1440 averages 72 FPS, making it the best playable preset. This is the highest quality option that remains above the 60 FPS line, with a 12 FPS cushion.

Q: How does the performance scale between 1080p and 1440p?

A: At the Ultra preset, the average frame rate drops from 112 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72 FPS at 2560x1440. That is a 40 FPS reduction, or approximately a 36% decrease, when moving up one resolution step.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K or Intel Arc B580 the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The benchmark results show that at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only averages 65 FPS. Given that the CPU is a high-end 24-core part, the data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at this resolution, as the frame rate is limited to a narrow band across all settings.

Q: What are the minimum frame rates for the Medium preset?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS is 48 at 3840x2160, 89 at 2560x1440, and 137 at 1920x1080. The 4K minimum falls below the 60 FPS threshold, while the 1440p and 1080p minimums remain comfortably above it.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 2786 out of 3712 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the lower portion of the overall ranking, even though it achieves playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 48 FPS on High, 65 FPS on Low, 57 FPS on Medium, and 39 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has the only complete min/max data, showing a range from 48 FPS minimum to 65 FPS maximum. The spread between Low and High is 17 FPS, while the gap between Medium and Ultra is 18 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at this resolution, as changing quality settings has a direct and significant impact on output.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 88 FPS on High, 120 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, and 72 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 48 FPS, which is a larger absolute gap than at 4K. The data reveals that the 1440p results are consistently above the 60 FPS line, with even the Ultra preset providing a 12 FPS margin.

At 1920x1080, the averages are 137 FPS on High, 186 FPS on Low, 162 FPS on Medium, and 112 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset ranges from 137 FPS minimum to 186 FPS maximum. The delta between Low and Ultra is 74 FPS, the largest of any resolution. All presets at 1080p exceed the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin, with the lowest average (Ultra) still hitting 112 FPS. This suggests the system has ample headroom for high refresh rate displays at this resolution.

The Verdict

The data shows that this PC can run Doom, but the experience depends heavily on the chosen resolution. At 1920x1080, every measured preset clears the 60 FPS threshold, with the Ultra preset achieving 112 FPS on average. This is a fully playable configuration with room to spare. At 2560x1440, all four presets also remain above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 72 FPS and Low at 120 FPS. This makes 1440p a viable target for the highest quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. Only the Low preset averages 65 FPS, which is just above the threshold. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 60 FPS, with averages of 57, 48, and 39 FPS respectively. The verdict is that 4K gaming is possible only with significant graphical compromises. The system is not capable of running Doom at 4K with medium or higher settings while maintaining the playable frame rate. For users targeting 4K, the Low preset is the only option that clears the line, and even then the margin is slim.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences across resolutions. At 3840x2160, the frame rate varies from 39 to 65 FPS across the four presets, a range of 26 FPS. At 1920x1080, the range is 74 FPS, from 112 to 186 FPS. This larger spread at lower resolutions indicates that the GPU has more capacity to respond to settings changes when not fully saturated by pixel output.

The scaling between resolutions reinforces this interpretation. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at the Ultra preset reduces the average from 112 to 72 FPS, a drop of 40 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K at the same preset reduces it from 72 to 39 FPS, a drop of 33 FPS. The consistent reduction across resolution steps points to the GPU as the bottleneck, since the CPU workload for a 2016 game like Doom is unlikely to change dramatically at these settings. The Intel Core i9-14900K, with its high single-thread benchmark scores, appears to be more than sufficient for this title, leaving the Arc B580 as the component that determines the final frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2786 out of 3712 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the 25th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 75% of configurations perform better. Despite this low relative ranking, the absolute performance is playable at 1080p and 1440p. The ranking suggests that while the system can handle the game, many other hardware pairings deliver higher frame rates. The 4K results, where only the Low preset is playable, likely contribute significantly to this low rank, as other GPUs in the database may handle higher settings at that resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for the GPU, the Intel Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021. The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP scores 23061, which is 0.2% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 scores 22895, which is 0.6% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 scores 23172, which is 0.7% higher. These deltas are minimal, indicating that all four GPUs fall within a narrow performance band. In practical terms, swapping the Arc B580 for any of these cards would likely produce very similar frame rates in Doom, with differences of less than one percent in synthetic benchmarks.

For the CPU, the Intel Core i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79097. The closest rival is the Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79371, which is 0.3% lower. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, which is 0.6% lower. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, which is 1.2% lower. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% higher. These small deltas suggest that the CPU choice is not a significant factor for this game, as any of these processors would provide similar levels of performance. The data indicates that the system's overall capability is largely determined by the GPU, and users seeking to improve frame rates would need to look beyond these closely matched alternatives.