Doom

# Doom — Intel Core i5-14400F + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

This combination of a 10-core Intel Core i5-14400F and the 24 GB AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Doom across all tested resolutions, with the 1080p results clearly demonstrating that the GPU is the primary performance driver. The measured data shows a system that comfortably exceeds 220 FPS at Ultra settings even at 1440p, making it a strong fit for high-refresh-rate displays. The pairing places 500th out of 3712 tested combinations in this game, which places it in the upper percentile of all tested systems.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with an interesting nuance: the drop-off is steeper than typical because the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions. At 1080p High settings, the system produces 269 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 174 FPS, a reduction of approximately 35%. At 4K High, the average falls to 94 FPS, which is about 65% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern holds across all settings presets.

For Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 366 FPS at 1080p, 237 FPS at 1440p, and 128 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 129 FPS (35%) and the 1440p-to-4K drop of 109 FPS (46%) both indicate that the RX 7900 XTX is the limiting factor — the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU's 61.39 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are being fully exercised, as evidenced by the fact that even at Low settings, 4K only reaches 128 FPS.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, 1440p yields 206 FPS while 4K yields 112 FPS — a 46% reduction. This is consistent with pixel count scaling (4K has 2.25x the pixels of 1440p), meaning the GPU's shading units, ROPs, and memory subsystem are the bottleneck. The 192 ROPs and 479.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are sufficient for high frame rates, but the sheer pixel throughput required at 4K inevitably reduces performance.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 3712 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing ranks 500th. This places it in the top 13.5% of all tested systems, which is a strong result given that the CPU is a mid-range 10-core part and the GPU is a high-end RDNA 3.0 flagship. The rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing — the RX 7900 XTX provides most of the performance headroom, while the i5-14400F avoids being a bottleneck in most scenarios.

The CPU's own benchmark profile supports this interpretation. The i5-14400F scores 21645 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3055 in single-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 25470. Its percentileVsAllCpus of 83 means it outperforms 83% of all CPUs in the database. The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% faster) and the Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% faster), which puts the i5-14400F in a competitive position despite its lower core count compared to some alternatives.

However, the GPU's ranking is more modest. The RX 7900 XTX has a percentileVsAllGpus of 64, meaning 36% of GPUs in the database score higher on average benchmarks. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (0.4% faster) and the NVIDIA TITAN Xp (1.2% slower). This seems counterintuitive given the GPU's raw specs, but it reflects the fact that the average benchmark score of 19410 is pulled down by older DirectX tests where the card's modern architecture doesn't excel. In Doom specifically, the GPU's Vulkan and DirectX 12 performance is what matters, and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6841 confirms strong modern API performance.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX is built on the Navi 31 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process. It contains 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 109.1M per mm². The GPU has 6144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs, along with 96 ray tracing cores. Its base clock is 1929 MHz, with a boost clock of 2498 MHz and a game clock of 2365 MHz. Memory is 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, running at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), yielding 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

For Doom, which is a fast-paced FPS with heavy texture streaming and particle effects, the 24 GB VRAM is overkill — the game's texture budget is well below even 8 GB, so capacity is never a limiting factor. The memory bandwidth, however, is crucial. At 4K, the GPU must feed 384-bit wide memory with high-resolution textures, and the 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures no stutters. The 192 ROPs handle pixel fill at 479.6 GPixel/s, which is sufficient for the 4K Ultra preset's 77 FPS average.

The GPU's FP32 compute of 61.39 TFLOPS is the key spec for Doom's rendering workload. The game's idTech 6 engine uses a forward renderer with heavy per-pixel shading, so the 6144 shading units directly translate to frame rate. The DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility mean the card can use modern draw call batching, which Doom benefits from. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 85612 indicates strong low-level API performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, 4K), for a total of 12 data points. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 366 to 220 FPS, with Medium at 319 FPS and High at 269 FPS. The Ultra preset's 220 FPS is still well above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors, meaning even the most demanding settings are playable at 1080p.

At 1440p, the results are 237 FPS (Low), 206 FPS (Medium), 174 FPS (High), and 143 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 176 and a maximum of 237, indicating some frame time variance but nothing that would cause perceptible stuttering. The Ultra preset's 143 FPS is still smooth for 144Hz displays, and the 4K results continue this trend.

At 4K, the averages are 128 FPS (Low), 112 FPS (Medium), 94 FPS (High), and 77 FPS (Ultra). The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS, showing that even at the highest resolution, the system maintains playable frame rates across all settings. The Ultra preset's 77 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, though it would not take full advantage of a 120Hz or 144Hz display.

The relative scaling between presets is consistent: moving from Low to Ultra costs roughly 40-45% of performance at any resolution. For example, at 1080p, Low (366 FPS) to Ultra (220 FPS) is a 40% reduction; at 4K, Low (128 FPS) to Ultra (77 FPS) is a 40% reduction as well. This suggests that the settings presets scale uniformly across resolutions, with no single setting causing an outsized performance hit.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process at Intel. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, boosting to 4.70 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

For Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics updates. The game is not heavily multithreaded — it typically uses 4-6 threads effectively — so the i5-14400F's 10 cores are more than sufficient. The single-core performance is what matters most, and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055, along with Geekbench single-core of 2058, indicates strong per-thread performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 3701 confirms this.

The CPU's 4.70 GHz boost clock ensures that even the most demanding frame pacing scenarios in Doom won't cause the GPU to wait. At 1080p Low, where the GPU can produce 366 FPS, the CPU must generate draw calls fast enough to keep up. The fact that the system reaches 366 FPS suggests the CPU is not bottlenecking at this resolution. At 4K, the CPU's load is lower because the GPU is slower, so the CPU's headroom is even greater.

The CPU's TDP of 65 W and the fact that it is not multiplier-unlocked mean it runs at stock clocks, but the boost behavior is sufficient. The PassMark data compression score of 315521 and encryption score of 16949 indicate good general-purpose throughput, but these are not directly relevant to Doom's performance. The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 83 and its average benchmark score of 32279 place it just behind the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (0.2% slower) and just ahead of the Intel Core i7-12800H (0.5% faster), showing that it holds its own against mobile and older desktop parts.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays with 240Hz or higher refresh rates, the Low preset at 366 FPS is the only way to push beyond 360 FPS, but the Medium preset at 319 FPS is a better balance of visual quality and speed. For 144Hz 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 220 FPS provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset's 143 FPS is the recommended choice for 144Hz monitors, as it delivers the highest visual quality while still matching the refresh rate. For 240Hz 1440p displays, the High preset at 174 FPS is a compromise, but the Medium preset at 206 FPS is more appropriate for competitive play where frame rate matters more than shadows or texture filtering.

At 4K, the High preset at 94 FPS is the sweet spot for 60Hz displays, but for 120Hz displays, the Medium preset at 112 FPS is the better option. The Ultra preset at 77 FPS is playable but leaves performance on the table — the visual difference between Ultra and High in Doom is subtle, while the 17 FPS difference is noticeable. The Low preset at 4K (128 FPS) is only recommended if the user prioritizes frame rate over all else, as the visual downgrade is significant.

For the best overall experience, the Medium preset at 1440p (206 FPS) offers a strong balance: it runs at nearly twice the refresh rate of standard 60Hz displays, provides good visual quality, and has a minimum FPS of 176 that prevents any stutter. If the display supports variable refresh rate, the High preset at 1440p (174 FPS) or 4K (94 FPS) would be preferable for the enhanced visual details.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 77 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, for higher refresh rates, the Medium preset at 112 FPS is more suitable.

Q: How does this CPU-GPU combo compare to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 500th out of 3712 combinations, placing it in the top 13.5% of all tested systems for Doom. This is a strong result given that the CPU is a mid-range part and the GPU is the primary performance driver.

Q: What is the maximum frame rate this system can achieve in Doom?

A: The highest measured average is 366 FPS at 1080p with Low settings. At 1080p Ultra, it still achieves 220 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it averages 77 FPS.

Q: Is the 24 GB VRAM on the RX 7900 XTX necessary for Doom?

A: No, Doom's texture and geometry requirements are well below 24 GB, so the VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor. The 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is more relevant for maintaining high frame rates at 4K.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14400F a bottleneck for this GPU in Doom?

A: No, the CPU's single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055, boost clock of 4.70 GHz) is sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows GPU-bound behavior.

Q: What settings preset provides the best experience at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 143 FPS is recommended for 144Hz displays, as it provides the highest visual quality while matching the refresh rate. For 240Hz displays, the Medium preset at 206 FPS is preferable.