Doom

The data for Doom on the Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination reveals a system that is fundamentally constrained by its graphics card at higher resolutions, while the CPU proves more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower settings. The measured FPS figures show a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a game of this era but is exaggerated by the RX 570's 4 GB memory capacity and aging GCN architecture. The combination ranks 3547 out of 3712 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower percentile of systems, but the data still provides useful guidance on how to achieve a playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a dramatic drop in frame rates across all settings, with the data showing a consistent trend of performance halving or worse at each major resolution step. At 1080p Low, the system achieves an average of 92 FPS, which drops to 60 FPS at 1440p Low, and then further to 32 FPS at 4K Low — a total reduction of 65% from the lowest to highest resolution. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom is not being taxed by these resolution changes.

The Medium preset tells a similar story, with averages of 80 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. The High preset shows 68 FPS, 44 FPS, and 24 FPS respectively, while Ultra drops from 56 FPS at 1080p to 36 FPS at 1440p and just 19 FPS at 4K. The fact that even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K (32 FPS average) is a clear indicator that the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM buffer and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the pixel throughput required at that resolution.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly harsh for this GPU. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 44 FPS to 24 FPS, a 45% reduction, while the pixel count only increases by 2.25 times. This disproportionate drop suggests that the GPU is not just fill-rate limited but also hitting memory bandwidth walls. The 4K Medium row has a minimum of 24 FPS and maximum of 32 FPS, showing that even the variance narrows at higher resolutions, which points to consistent GPU saturation rather than CPU-induced frame pacing issues.

At 1080p, the scaling between settings is more gradual, with a 92 FPS Low to 56 FPS Ultra spread (36 FPS difference). This range suggests that at this resolution, the CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are sufficient to keep the GPU fed, and the frame rate differences are purely due to GPU load. The data reveals that the sweet spot for this combination is 1080p, where even Ultra settings remain playable at 56 FPS, whereas 1440p requires dropping to Low for a 60 FPS experience, and 4K is only viable for very undemanding visual scenarios.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combination in Doom?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the only resolution where all four settings presets remain above 55 FPS average, with Low hitting 92 FPS, Medium at 80 FPS, High at 68 FPS, and Ultra at 56 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset achieves 60 FPS, and at 3840x2160, even Low drops to 32 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 68 FPS at 1920x1080 to 44 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 24 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating severe GPU limitation at higher resolutions.

*Q: Does the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM cause issues in Doom?*

A: The measured FPS data suggests memory capacity is a bottleneck at 4K, where even the Low preset only achieves 32 FPS. The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth and 256-bit bus are insufficient for 3840x2160 pixel throughput, and the 4 GB GDDR5 buffer likely struggles with texture loading at that resolution.

Q: Is the Core i5-14400F holding back the RX 570 in this game?

A: No, the benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the limiting factor. The i5-14400F scores 21645 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and has a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, which provides ample headroom. When the GPU is not saturated (at 1080p Low), the system achieves 92 FPS, showing the CPU can push the GPU to its limits.

Q: What is the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the measured data shows an average of 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS. This narrow band indicates consistent performance without significant frame drops.

*Q: How does this system compare to other tested configurations in Doom?*

A: The combination ranks 3547 out of 3712 total tested combos, placing it in the bottom 5% of systems. This low ranking is primarily due to the GPU's age, as the RX 570 was released in 2017 and is now end-of-life, while the CPU is a modern 14th Gen part.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience at 1080p, the High preset at 68 FPS average is the recommended choice, as it provides a significant visual improvement over Medium (80 FPS) while maintaining a smooth frame rate. The jump from High to Ultra costs 12 FPS (from 68 to 56 FPS) for what is typically a marginal visual gain in Doom's fast-paced action, making Ultra less desirable unless the player prioritizes image quality over frame rate consistency.

At 1440p, the data clearly shows that only the Low preset (60 FPS average) delivers a frame rate suitable for competitive play. The Medium preset at 52 FPS is playable but risks dropping to 44 FPS minimums, which can be noticeable in intense combat sequences. The High and Ultra presets at 44 FPS and 36 FPS respectively are not recommended for a smooth experience, as the game's fast movement and demons benefit from higher frame rates.

For 4K resolution, the measured data shows no ideal preset. The Low setting at 32 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 19 FPS is unplayable. If a player insists on 4K, Low is the only viable option, but the data suggests that dropping to 1440p or 1080p with higher settings provides a better overall experience. The Medium preset at 4K has a 24 FPS minimum, which falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium or High. Medium at 80 FPS offers a 17% improvement over High at 68 FPS, while High provides better visual fidelity. For players who prioritize frame rate, Medium is the sweet spot; for those who want better visuals without sacrificing playability, High is the maximum recommended setting. Ultra at 56 FPS is borderline and only suitable for single-player exploration rather than fast combat.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance across all settings. The Low preset averages 92 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium averages 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS, showing good frame time consistency. High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 56 FPS. The 36 FPS spread between Low and Ultra indicates that the GPU is the sole determinant of performance at this resolution, as the CPU has no trouble keeping up with even the lowest settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are significant but the system remains usable at lower settings. Low averages 60 FPS exactly, which is the minimum target for smooth gameplay. Medium averages 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 60 FPS, showing a wider variance than at 1080p. High averages 44 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a fast-paced shooter. Ultra averages 36 FPS, which falls below the threshold for responsive gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the RX 570 clearly struggles. Low averages 32 FPS, which is the only preset that achieves more than 30 FPS. Medium averages 28 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS and maximum of 32 FPS, showing that the GPU is consistently saturated. High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra drops to 19 FPS. These numbers indicate that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combination, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a consistent 30 FPS.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each resolution step up halves the frame rate at corresponding settings. The 1080p to 1440p transition at Low drops from 92 to 60 FPS (35% reduction), while the 1440p to 4K transition at Low drops from 60 to 32 FPS (47% reduction). This non-linear scaling suggests that memory bandwidth becomes increasingly critical at higher resolutions, and the 224.0 GB/s available to the RX 570 is insufficient for 4K workloads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, based on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, is the primary bottleneck in this system for Doom. The GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1244 MHz. The 4 GB GDDR5 memory operates at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications, while adequate for 1080p gaming in 2017, are clearly insufficient for 4K in this benchmark.

The GPU's compute capabilities, measured at 5.095 TFLOPS FP32, are not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 92 FPS, which is close to what the hardware can deliver. However, at 4K, the pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels per frame, resulting in the sub-30 FPS averages seen in the data.

The 4 GB VRAM capacity is a significant concern at higher resolutions. While Doom's textures are well-optimized, the 4K resolution requires more memory for framebuffers and texture streaming. The data shows that the 4K Medium preset achieves 28 FPS with a 24 FPS minimum, indicating that the GPU is likely experiencing memory pressure that causes stutters. The 150 W TDP and 14 nm process node from GlobalFoundries mean the GPU runs hot and cannot sustain high clocks under sustained load, further limiting performance.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a mixed picture. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 880, while Geekbench Vulkan shows 42752 and OpenCL 32084. These scores place the GPU at the 74th percentile of all GPUs, but the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 470 (deltaPct -0.8) and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (deltaPct 1.2), showing that the RX 570 sits in a crowded mid-range tier. The RX 6800M, a much more powerful laptop GPU, scores 28874, just 0.4% higher, which is surprising but likely due to thermal constraints in the benchmark.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is clearly not the limiting factor in this system for Doom. With 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficiency) and 16 threads, the CPU has ample processing power for the game's AI, physics, and game logic. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for Doom's engine. The 65 W TDP and 20 MB shared L3 cache are more than sufficient for this workload.

The CPU's benchmark results confirm its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 21645 multi-core and 3055 single-core, while Geekbench shows 11268 multi-core and 2058 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 25470 and single-thread score of 3701 further demonstrate strong performance. The CPU ranks at the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (deltaPct 0.1) and Intel Core i9-11900 (deltaPct 0.2), showing it is competitive with much more expensive parts.

In Doom, the CPU's role is to prepare frames for the GPU, and the data shows it does this without bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 92 FPS, which is likely near the GPU's maximum capability. The fact that increasing resolution causes frame rates to drop proportionally with the GPU's fill rate indicates that the CPU is not being taxed. Even at 4K Ultra (19 FPS), the CPU is likely idle waiting for the GPU to finish rendering.

The 10-core configuration with 16 threads is well-suited for Doom's multi-threaded engine, which can utilize up to 8 threads effectively. The 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures high single-threaded performance for the main game loop. The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel memory bus, provides sufficient bandwidth to feed the GPU's 224.0 GB/s without creating a bottleneck. The lack of integrated graphics is irrelevant in this configuration, as the discrete RX 570 handles all rendering duties.