Doom

FAQ

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rates at every resolution: 312.1 FPS at 1080p, 205.1 FPS at 1440p, and 110.9 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing 189.8 FPS at 1080p, 124.1 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K.

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

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 228.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 146.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 83.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a substantial scaling curve, with the 4K result being roughly a third of the 1080p result.

Q: Does the RTX 4070's memory capacity play a limiting role in this game?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Given that even the Ultra preset at 4K maintains 64 FPS, the memory subsystem appears sufficient for this title, as no preset or resolution combination produces a sub-60 FPS average.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 205.1 FPS while Ultra achieves 124.1 FPS. The gap is 81 FPS, meaning Ultra delivers roughly 60% of the Low preset's frame rate.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark standing compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores 49062, a delta of 0.2% — effectively a statistical tie. The Intel Core i5-14600KF is 0.4% ahead, while the AMD EPYC 4345P is 0.9% ahead.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's synthetic benchmark score competitive with its immediate peers?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 37283, placing it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival, AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37507, which is 0.6% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is 2.2% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M trails by 2.5%.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data presents a clear hierarchy across all three resolutions. For players prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, the Ultra preset is viable at 1080p and 1440p, with average frame rates of 189.8 and 124.1 FPS respectively. These numbers indicate the GPU has ample headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors at those resolutions.

At 4K, however, the Ultra preset drops to 64 FPS average. This is still playable, but it sits close to the threshold where frame pacing becomes noticeable. The High preset at 4K offers 83.8 FPS, which represents a 31% improvement over Ultra while presumably retaining most visual quality. This makes High the sensible choice for 4K displays.

The Medium preset occupies an interesting middle ground. At 1440p it delivers 174.3 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 272.8 FPS. These are excellent numbers for competitive play, and the jump from Low to Medium costs only 32.3 FPS at 1080p (from 312.1 to 272.8) while likely providing noticeably better image quality. The data suggests Medium is the sweet spot for high-refresh competitive scenarios.

For 4K users, the Low preset's 110.9 FPS versus Medium's 95.1 FPS shows a 15.8 FPS penalty for the upgrade. Given that Doom is a fast-paced FPS, the extra smoothness of Low might be preferable on 4K panels without adaptive sync. However, the High preset's 83.8 FPS likely offers a better balance for most users, as the visual uplift from Low to High at 4K is substantial in typical game content.

The Ultra preset at 4K, at 64 FPS, is the only configuration that approaches the 60 FPS floor. This suggests that 4K Ultra is pushing the RTX 4070 to its limits in this title, and users with 144 Hz 4K displays should expect to compromise on settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the drop from 312.1 FPS at 1080p to 205.1 FPS at 1440p represents a 34% reduction, and further to 110.9 FPS at 4K — a 64% reduction from the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where pixel count is the dominant variable.

At High settings, the scaling is similar but less severe in absolute terms: 228.9 to 146.3 FPS (36% drop from 1080p to 1440p) and then to 83.8 FPS (63% drop from 1080p to 4K). The relative consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor even at 1080p, as the frame rate scales predictably with resolution.

The 1080p Low result of 312.1 FPS is particularly telling. This high frame rate indicates the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently in this title, which aligns with the Core i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz likely contributes to this strong performance in a game that responds well to high single-thread throughput.

The fact that 4K Ultra still maintains 64 FPS is noteworthy. The RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate provide sufficient raw throughput for this 2016 title, which is less demanding than modern releases. The scaling curve suggests that for future titles with heavier shading workloads, the GPU would become the primary constraint at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range delivers exceptional performance. Low averages 312.1 FPS, Medium 272.8 FPS, High 228.9 FPS, and Ultra 189.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 122.3 FPS, indicating that even the most demanding preset leaves substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 205.1 FPS (Low), 174.3 FPS (Medium), 146.3 FPS (High), and 124.1 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 81 FPS in absolute terms, but the proportional relationship remains similar to 1080p. This resolution is arguably the sweet spot for this combo, as all presets exceed 120 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 110.9 FPS (Low), 95.1 FPS (Medium), 83.8 FPS (High), and 64 FPS (Ultra). The Ultra preset is the only one that dips into the 60 FPS range, while Low remains above 100 FPS. The step from Medium to High at 4K costs 11.3 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 19.8 FPS — a larger penalty, suggesting the Ultra preset includes disproportionately expensive effects.

Across all resolutions, the jump from Medium to High is smaller than the jump from High to Ultra. At 1080p, Medium to High costs 43.9 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 39.1 FPS. At 1440p, the corresponding penalties are 28 FPS and 22.2 FPS. This pattern indicates that the Ultra preset's additional features have a diminishing cost at lower resolutions but a more pronounced impact at 4K.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's specifications provide context for these results. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and 5888 shading units produce 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, which is ample for Doom's Vulkan-based rendering. The 184 texture mapping units and 64 ROPs deliver a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s, respectively.

The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. For a 2016 title, this memory configuration is far beyond requirements — even at 4K Ultra, the game's texture set does not appear to tax the memory subsystem. The absence of sub-60 FPS results confirms that memory capacity is not a bottleneck in this scenario.

The GPU's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present on the AD104 chip, but Doom was released before ray tracing became a standard feature. These cores remain largely idle, meaning the GPU's traditional rasterization performance is the primary driver of these frame rates. The 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs positions it as a strong mid-to-high-end part, and these results in Doom confirm that standing.

The power draw of 200 W with a 550 W suggested PSU indicates the card is not power-limited in this title, as the workload is well within its design envelope. The dual-slot cooler and 240 mm length are physical characteristics that don't affect performance but are relevant for system integration.

CPU Role

The Core i5-14600K brings 14 cores and 20 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide substantial on-die storage for game data. This configuration places the CPU in the 93rd percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 49166.

Doom's engine is known for efficient multi-threading, and the 20 threads available here are more than sufficient. The 1080p Low result of 312.1 FPS is a strong indicator that the CPU can maintain high frame rates without bottlenecking the GPU. The single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2803 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642, is particularly relevant for the game's main thread.

The CPU's closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, has a near-identical average benchmark score (49062, delta 0.2%). This suggests that swapping between these two CPUs would produce negligible differences in Doom's performance. The Intel Core i5-14600KF, a 0.4% advantage, is essentially the same chip without integrated graphics.

The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility are platform considerations, but the benchmark data shows this CPU is well-matched to the RTX 4070. The 14 cores are not fully utilized by Doom, but the high boost clock ensures that the threads that are active operate at maximum efficiency. The ECC memory support and DDR4/DDR5 compatibility offer flexibility for system builders.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Core i5-14600K and RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 459 out of 1681 combos. This places it in roughly the 73rd percentile of all tested systems, which is a strong showing given that the GPU is in the 81st percentile and the CPU in the 93rd percentile individually.

The discrepancy between the combo's relative ranking and the individual component percentiles suggests that other factors, such as memory configuration or driver optimization, influence the final results. The combo's absolute performance in Doom is excellent — even the weakest measured result (4K Ultra at 64 FPS) is above the 60 FPS threshold.

The rank of 459 indicates that 458 other combinations produce higher overall scores in this game. These are likely systems with more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4080 or higher, which would naturally outperform the 4070 in a GPU-bound title at 4K. The CPU's high percentile ranking is somewhat mitigated by the GPU being the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

This combo's performance in Doom specifically benefits from the CPU's strong single-thread capabilities, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 312.1 FPS. Many of the combinations ranked above this one may have faster GPUs but potentially weaker CPUs, and in a game where CPU overhead can matter at very high frame rates, the 14600K holds its own. The data shows this is a balanced pairing that delivers high performance across all tested settings and resolutions.