Doom

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with the data showing that High settings offer the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1440p High, the combo averages 126.5 FPS, which is comfortably above the 100 FPS mark for smooth gameplay, while 1080p High hits 195.4 FPS. The Ultra preset is playable but demands a significant performance cost, dropping to 99.9 FPS at 1440p and 158.9 FPS at 1080p. For users prioritizing maximum refresh rate on a 144Hz or higher monitor, Low settings at 1080p push the average to 260.5 FPS, but the visual trade-off is substantial. Medium settings provide a middle ground, with 147 FPS at 1440p and 231.8 FPS at 1080p, though High appears to be the sweet spot for most users given the relatively small gap between Medium and High at both resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear hierarchy across presets, and the choice depends heavily on your target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays, the High preset is the recommended starting point, delivering 195.4 FPS average. This is 36.4 FPS lower than Medium at 231.8 FPS, but the visual uplift from Medium to High is typically more noticeable than the frame rate difference suggests. If you have a 240Hz monitor, Low settings at 260.5 FPS will maximize the hardware’s potential, but only if you can tolerate the reduced detail. At 1440p, High again wins the recommendation, with 126.5 FPS average. This is more than sufficient for a 120Hz display and only 20.5 FPS behind Medium at 147 FPS. Ultra at 1440p drops to 99.9 FPS, which is still technically playable but risks dipping below 60 FPS in demanding scenes, making High the safer bet for consistent performance. For 4K, the situation is different: High averages 65.4 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, but Medium at 79.5 FPS offers a more comfortable margin. Given that Ultra at 4K falls to 54.7 FPS, High or Medium are the only viable options at this resolution, with High providing the better visual experience if you can tolerate occasional frame dips.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the primary driver of Doom’s frame rates, and its memory configuration plays a critical role in high-resolution performance. The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for the game’s textures, even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 54.7. The boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz allow the card to sustain high throughput, but the data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is nearly linear: at High settings, the frame rate drops from 195.4 FPS to 126.5 FPS, a 35% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is steeper, falling to 65.4 FPS, a 48% reduction. This indicates that the RX 7700 XT’s 192-bit memory bus and 12 GB capacity are adequate for 1440p High, but the card is pushed to its limits at 4K. Interestingly, the Low preset at 4K still averages 93.4 FPS, showing that the GPU’s raw compute power (35.17 TFLOPS FP32) is not the bottleneck; rather, memory bandwidth and fill rate constraints emerge with higher settings. The card’s 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs handle the game’s geometry well, but the pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s is what ultimately caps 4K Ultra performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF provides ample processing headroom for Doom, as the game’s engine is not heavily threaded. The CPU has 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, indicating GPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Low, where the GPU load is lightest, the average FPS reaches 260.5, which is well within the CPU’s capability to feed frames. The single-core performance is strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643, which is crucial for Doom’s main thread. The multi-core score of 32889 in Cinebench R23 shows the CPU has plenty of headroom for background tasks, but the game itself rarely uses more than a few cores. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared and L2 cache of 2 MB per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game’s hit detection and physics calculations. The CPU’s Intel Socket 1700 and PCIe Gen 5 support (16 lanes) ensure the GPU has a fast connection, though the RX 7700 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16, which is more than sufficient for this workload. In terms of relative CPU performance, the i5-14600KF sits at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367. It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, showing that it is a top-tier gaming processor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks 745th out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 44th percentile of all combinations. This ranking reflects the GPU’s position in the market; the RX 7700 XT sits at the 73rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30097. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, has a virtually identical score (30109, deltaPct 0), while the AMD Radeon RX 570 is 0.2% ahead. This means the RX 7700 XT is essentially tied with these cards in raw compute, but its actual gaming performance in Doom is influenced by driver optimization and memory bandwidth. The CPU, by contrast, is a high-end part, but its impact on this game’s FPS is minimal beyond ensuring the GPU is fully utilized. The combo rank of 745 suggests that while the CPU is overkill for this title, the GPU is the limiting factor. Users with a stronger GPU would see higher frame rates, but this pairing is well-balanced for 1440p gaming. The data shows that the combo outperforms the majority of tested systems, but it is not in the top tier for Doom specifically, as the game is relatively lightweight and favors high-end GPUs.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K High, the average FPS is 65.4, which is playable but close to the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 4K averages 79.5 FPS, offering a safer margin. Ultra at 4K drops to 54.7 FPS, which may feel stuttery in intense combat.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz 1440p monitor?

A: High settings are the best choice, with an average of 126.5 FPS. This is above the 120 FPS mark and provides good visual quality. Medium settings offer 147 FPS, but the visual difference between Medium and High is usually worth the 20 FPS trade-off.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rival, the RTX 5060?

A: The benchmark scores are essentially identical, with the RTX 5060 having an average score of 30109 and the RX 7700 XT at 30097, a deltaPct of 0. In Doom specifically, the RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, so performance should be comparable.

Q: Is the i5-14600KF bottlenecking the RX 7700 XT in Doom?

A: No. The frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the CPU keeps up with 260.5 FPS, and its single-core performance (Cinebench R23 score of 4643) is more than adequate for this game.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Low settings average 260.5 FPS, while Ultra averages 158.9 FPS. This is a difference of 101.6 FPS, or roughly 39% lower performance at Ultra. The visual uplift from Low to Ultra is significant, but the frame rate cost is steep.

Q: Should I use Medium or High settings at 4K?

A: The data suggests Medium is safer, with 79.5 FPS average versus 65.4 FPS on High. If you prefer visual fidelity and can tolerate occasional dips below 60 FPS, High is acceptable. For consistent smoothness, Medium is the better choice.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 54.7 FPS average
• High: 65.4 FPS average
• Medium: 79.5 FPS average
• Low: 93.4 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: 99.9 FPS average
• High: 126.5 FPS average
• Medium: 147 FPS average
• Low: 171.1 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 158.9 FPS average
• High: 195.4 FPS average
• Medium: 231.8 FPS average
• Low: 260.5 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step down in settings yields a roughly 15-20% frame rate increase at 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K the gains are smaller due to GPU memory bandwidth constraints. The jump from Ultra to High at 4K is 19.6%, but from High to Medium it is 21.5%, suggesting the card’s 12 GB VRAM is not the limiting factor until Ultra textures are enabled. At 1080p, the scaling is more linear, with High to Medium adding 18.6% and Medium to Low adding 12.4%. This indicates that the CPU and GPU are well-matched at lower resolutions, with the GPU still being the primary constraint. The minimum FPS values are not provided in the data, so the average figures should be interpreted with caution, especially for Ultra settings where frame pacing may be less consistent. Overall, the RX 7700 XT with the i5-14600KF provides a robust 1080p and 1440p experience, with 4K being playable only at reduced settings.