Doom

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, with frame rates scaling dramatically with lower settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, and the performance curve flattens considerably.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a classic performance curve that shifts from CPU-bound at low resolutions to GPU-bound at high resolutions. At 1920x1080, the RTX 2070 SUPER is clearly not the limiting factor; the average frame rate jumps from 127 FPS at Ultra to 212 FPS at Low settings. That is a massive 85 FPS spread, indicating that the CPU and game engine are capable of pushing far more frames than the GPU can render at higher settings. The 1080p Medium preset averages 184 FPS, while High sits at 156 FPS, showing that even at High settings there is significant headroom for more performance. This spread is the signature of a CPU-limited scenario, where lowering graphical load does little to ease the processor's workload.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling pattern shifts. The average frame rates compress into a tighter band: 82 FPS at Ultra, 101 FPS at High, 119 FPS at Medium, and 137 FPS at Low. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 55 FPS, compared to 85 FPS at 1080p. This indicates that the GPU is starting to assert its influence, but the CPU still has enough headroom to provide a meaningful performance delta. The 1440p Medium result of 119 FPS is particularly strong, suggesting that this resolution is the sweet spot for the combination, balancing visual fidelity with high refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the bottleneck. The average frame rate at Low settings is 74 FPS, and at Ultra it drops to 45 FPS. The total spread is just 29 FPS, which is a much smaller range than at lower resolutions. This compression shows that the RTX 2070 SUPER is working near its limits across all settings; lowering quality from Ultra to Low only yields a 29 FPS improvement. The 4K Medium preset averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain consistent frame pacing at this resolution. The data suggests that 4K gaming is possible, but only at lower settings, and even then, the frame rates hover around the 60 FPS threshold.

The delta between 1080p Low (212 FPS) and 4K Low (74 FPS) is 138 FPS, which is a stark illustration of how much the resolution increase taxes the GPU. Conversely, the delta between 1080p Ultra (127 FPS) and 4K Ultra (45 FPS) is 82 FPS. The larger absolute drop at Low settings shows that the GPU is the primary limiter when the CPU is not holding it back. This combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming and solid 1440p gaming, but 4K requires significant compromises in visual quality to maintain playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the decisive component in this system's 4K performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data shows it is a limiting factor at 4K, where the frame rates drop significantly. The GPU's base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, which is a modest overclocking headroom that contributes to its overall throughput.

In terms of raw compute, the RTX 2070 SUPER has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, which are features specific to the Turing architecture. The FP32 performance is rated at 9.062 TFLOPS, which is a solid number for a GPU of this generation. The pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, both of which are relevant for a fast-paced FPS like Doom.

The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, but it is also clear that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p. At 1080p, the GPU's scores are less relevant because the CPU is holding it back. The GPU's percentile ranking is 65, meaning it sits above the median of all tested GPUs, and its average benchmark score is 20282. Its nearest rivals, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534), Intel Arc B570 (20556), and Intel Arc A750 (20582), are all within 1.5% of its score, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER is competitively positioned in its performance class.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a notable factor. While it is sufficient for the measured settings at 1080p and 1440p, the 4K Ultra preset's 45 FPS average suggests that the GPU is both compute-bound and potentially memory-limited. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a significant figure, but it is not enough to prevent the frame rate from collapsing at 4K Ultra. The GPU's role in this system is clear: it provides excellent performance at mainstream resolutions, but it is not a 4K-class part for this title at high settings. The data indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a capable mid-range GPU that pairs well with the i5-14400F for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the optimal settings for this hardware combination. For users with a 1080p display, the High preset is the recommended choice. It averages 156 FPS, which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset is also viable at 127 FPS, but the 29 FPS penalty over High is not worth the marginal visual gains, especially since the game is already running at a very high frame rate. The Medium preset at 184 FPS is overkill for most displays, and the Low preset at 212 FPS is only useful for competitive play where maximum frame rate is the sole priority.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. It averages 119 FPS, which is excellent for a 1440p monitor with a 120 Hz or 144 Hz refresh rate. The High preset at 101 FPS is also a solid choice, but the Medium preset's higher frame rate makes it the better option for smoother gameplay. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is playable, but it is not ideal for a fast-paced FPS where frame consistency matters. The Low preset at 137 FPS is surprisingly strong, but it sacrifices too much visual quality for a marginal gain over Medium.

For 4K displays, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset averages 74 FPS, which is the only setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS, which means it will dip below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. The High preset at 55 FPS is borderline playable, but the Ultra preset at 45 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option, and even then, users should be prepared for occasional frame drops. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo is best left to titles that are less demanding than Doom at its highest settings.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize Medium or High settings at 1440p for the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 1440p Medium result of 119 FPS is the most impressive data point in the entire set, demonstrating that the GPU has enough headroom to deliver a high-refresh-rate experience at this resolution. For 1080p users, High is the default choice, while 4K users should stick to Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with High settings is 156 FPS.

*Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER capable of 4K gaming in Doom?*

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The 4K Low preset averages 74 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 45 FPS, which is not ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The data suggests that 2560x1440 with Medium settings is the sweet spot, delivering an average of 119 FPS. This provides a high frame rate while maintaining good visual quality.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 212 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 127 FPS. This is a difference of 85 FPS, indicating that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has a percentile ranking of 65, meaning it outperforms 65% of all GPUs in the benchmark database.

Q: Does the 4K Medium preset maintain a consistent frame rate?

A: No. The 4K Medium preset has an average of 65 FPS, but with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS, indicating significant frame time variance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2153 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the 58th percentile, meaning it outperforms a majority of the other systems in the database. While this is not a top-tier ranking, it is a respectable position for a mid-range CPU and an older-generation GPU. The rank indicates that this combo is competitive for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but it falls behind systems with more powerful GPUs that can handle 4K with higher settings.

The ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance, as the CPU is likely not the limiting factor in most scenarios. The RTX 2070 SUPER's percentile ranking of 65 is higher than the combo's overall ranking, which suggests that the CPU is dragging the combined score down slightly in some benchmarks. However, the i5-14400F's percentile ranking of 83 is quite strong, so the bottleneck is clearly the GPU in most gaming workloads. The combo ranking of 2153 out of 3712 is a fair representation of this system's capabilities, which are primarily oriented towards high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming and solid 1440p performance.

The data shows that this combo is not designed for 4K Ultra settings, as the 45 FPS result is well below the average for the top-ranked systems. However, for users with 1080p or 1440p monitors, this combination offers a compelling balance of price and performance. The rank of 2153 is a mid-table result, but the system's performance in Doom is better than the rank might suggest, since the game is well-optimized and runs smoothly at lower resolutions. This is a system that excels in its intended use case rather than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F plays a crucial role in the lower-resolution results, where it is the primary bottleneck. The CPU has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for gaming, as it provides ample single-thread performance for game logic and enough multi-threading for background tasks. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache is a significant asset for gaming, as it allows for faster access to frequently used data.

In the benchmark data, the i5-14400F shows strong performance in synthetic tests. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 21645, and its single-core score is 3055. The Geekbench multicore score is 11268, with a single-core score of 2058. These numbers indicate a CPU that is more than capable of handling the demands of Doom without becoming a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 is a strong showing, placing it well above the median of all tested CPUs.

The CPU's role is most evident in the 1080p results. At 1080p Low, the system averages 212 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. This suggests that the CPU is capable of pushing the game engine to its limits, and the GPU is not holding it back. The difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra is 85 FPS, which is entirely due to the GPU's workload increase. However, at 1080p, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain these high frame rates. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The 4K results are nearly identical regardless of the CPU's capabilities, showing that the i5-14400F is not a limiting factor at this resolution.

The CPU's 65W TDP and 10 nm process node are also relevant for system builders, as they indicate a power-efficient part that does not require an elaborate cooling solution. The architecture, Raptor Lake, is a mature design that offers strong performance for its class. Overall, the i5-14400F is a well-balanced CPU that pairs effectively with the RTX 2070 SUPER for 1080p and 1440p gaming, ensuring that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions.