Doom

This combo lands at rank 85 out of 3712 tested combinations for Doom, placing it comfortably in the top few percent of all systems evaluated. The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an extremely high-end pairing, and the benchmark data reflects that positioning. For a game released in 2016, this hardware is dramatically overqualified, and the measured frame rates confirm that there is no scenario in the tested configurations where this system struggles to maintain smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The rank of 85 out of 3712 combos means this pairing sits in roughly the 97.7th percentile of all tested systems for Doom. That is an exceptional standing, though not the very top — there are 84 other combinations that score higher, which likely involve even more specialized or overclocked configurations. Still, for practical purposes, this is elite-tier performance. The CPU alone holds a percentileVsAllCpus of 95, meaning it outperforms 95% of all processors in the database. The GPU holds a percentileVsAllGpus of 88, which is slightly lower but still very strong. The slight gap between CPU and GPU percentiles suggests the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card when compared against their respective peers, but both are far above average.

Looking at the measured FPS data, the lowest average frame rate recorded across all resolutions and settings is 92.8 FPS at 4K Ultra. That is the absolute worst-case scenario for this combo, and it still clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by a wide margin. The best-case scenario is 447.6 FPS at 1080p Low, which is more than seven times the playable threshold. The data shows a system that is never remotely constrained by the game’s demands, even at the highest resolution and most demanding settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 92.8, which is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdictByResolution for 3840x2160 lists Ultra as the best settings, with that 92.8 FPS average.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this system achieves in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 447.6, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, it still averages 266 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900KF, scores 79371, which is 0.3% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, 0.6% higher. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, 1.2% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower than the i9-14900K.

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 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. The AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, 2.9% lower.

Q: Is there any resolution or setting combination where the frame rate drops below 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all four tested settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) and all three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K), the lowest average FPS is 92.8 at 4K Ultra. Every single configuration exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings average 154.4 FPS, while Ultra settings average 92.8 FPS. That is a difference of 61.6 FPS, or roughly 40% lower performance at Ultra compared to Low.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows that this system is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but the CPU still matters for pushing extreme frame rates at lower resolutions. Consider the scaling between 1080p and 4K at the same settings. At Ultra settings, 1080p yields 266 FPS average, while 4K yields 92.8 FPS. That is a drop of 173.2 FPS, or about 65% less performance when moving from 1080p to 4K. This is a classic sign of GPU limitation — the graphics card is doing far more work at 4K, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

At Low settings, the pattern is even more pronounced. 1080p Low averages 447.6 FPS, while 4K Low averages 154.4 FPS. The gap of 293.2 FPS indicates that even at low graphical loads, the GPU is still the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. However, the fact that the system can exceed 400 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high rates. If the CPU were weak, the frame rate would plateau regardless of resolution.

The i9-14900K has 24 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, which is an extremely strong single-thread performer. For a game like Doom, which was released in 2016 and does not have particularly heavy multi-threading demands by modern standards, the CPU is almost certainly idling most of the time. The GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the data supports that: at 4K Ultra, the GPU’s workload is so high that the average FPS drops to 92.8, which is still great but shows the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the GPU has very little work, and the CPU manages to push 447.6 FPS, which tests the upper limits of what the game engine can output.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rival is the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which has an average score of 79371, just 0.3% higher than the i9-14900K. That chip is essentially the same processor without integrated graphics, so in gaming it would behave identically. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scores 79574, 0.6% higher — again, negligible in real-world gaming. The AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80041, 1.2% higher, but that is a server-class chip with a very different feature set. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 scores 77740, which is 1.7% lower. For Doom specifically, any of these CPUs would deliver virtually identical frame rates, as the game is not CPU-limited at the tested settings.

For the GPU, the nearest rival is the Intel Arc Pro A60, which has an average score of 60326, a 0% delta from the RTX 4090. That is surprising given the Arc Pro A60 is a workstation card, but the benchmark scores are close. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, 2.5% higher, which is the only rival that beats the RTX 4090 in average score. The AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, 2.9% lower. In practical terms, these deltas are all within a few percent, meaning that swapping the RTX 4090 for any of these would produce nearly identical frame rates in Doom. However, it is worth remembering the RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, which are far beyond what Doom requires, so any modern mid-range GPU would likely perform similarly in this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers enormous frame rates across all settings. Low settings average 447.6 FPS. Medium settings average 388.8 FPS. High settings average 325.3 FPS. Ultra settings average 266 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a drop of 181.6 FPS, or about 40% less performance at Ultra compared to Low. Even at Ultra, the frame rate is more than four times the 60 FPS playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the results are still extremely high but show a clear step down from 1080p. Low settings average 288.5 FPS. Medium settings average 254.1 FPS. High settings average 210.5 FPS. Ultra settings average 172.5 FPS. The drop from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra is 93.5 FPS, from 266 to 172.5, which illustrates the GPU workload increasing with resolution. At 1440p Ultra, the system still runs at nearly three times the playable threshold.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are the lowest of the tested configurations, but they remain well above 60 FPS. Low settings average 154.4 FPS. Medium settings average 133.4 FPS. High settings average 114.2 FPS. Ultra settings average 92.8 FPS. The jump from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra costs 79.7 FPS, dropping from 172.5 to 92.8. That is a 46% reduction, which is significant but expected for a 4K workload. Still, 92.8 FPS at 4K Ultra is a strong result for any system.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step up from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces the frame rate by roughly 35-45% at the same settings. This is typical GPU-bound scaling. The min and max FPS values are not provided in the data, so the analysis relies on average FPS, but the averages are so far above the playable threshold that even significant frame time spikes would not cause drops below 60 FPS.

The Verdict

This system can run Doom at every tested resolution and setting configuration with frame rates vastly exceeding the 60 FPS playable threshold. The verdictByResolution confirms that all four settings — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable at every resolution from 1080p up to 4K. The best settings at each resolution are Ultra, with average FPS of 266 at 1920x1080, 172.5 at 2560x1440, and 92.8 at 3840x2160.

For a 2016 FPS game, this hardware is dramatically overkill. The lowest recorded average frame rate across all tests is 92.8 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is still more than 50% above the playable threshold. At 1080p, the system is capable of exceeding 400 FPS, which would only matter if you have a very high refresh rate monitor. The combo ranks 85th out of 3712 tested, and the data shows no weakness in any scenario. If you are building a system specifically for Doom, this pairing will never be the bottleneck — you would be limited only by your display’s refresh rate and the game engine’s internal frame cap. The RTX 4090 is end-of-life in production status, but its performance remains near the top of the database, and the i9-14900K is still an active, unlocked processor that can be overclocked further. In short, this is a definitive yes: this PC runs Doom flawlessly at maximum settings on any resolution.