Doom

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT produces a fascinating dataset in Doom, revealing a system where the graphics card is the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions, yet the processor’s strength becomes evident when the load shifts. The measured frames per second (FPS) across three resolutions and four settings tiers paint a picture of a mid-range GPU struggling to keep pace with a high-end CPU, particularly as pixel counts rise. This analysis breaks down the measured results, examines the role of each component, and provides actionable recommendations based solely on the provided data.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The data shows a dramatic and consistent performance penalty as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 147 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that figure to 95 FPS, a reduction of 52 FPS. The jump to 3840x2160 is even more punishing, with the average falling to 51 FPS, which is a further 44 FPS loss from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern—where each step up in resolution yields a substantial absolute FPS loss—strongly indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is the component being pushed to its limits.

The trend is consistent across all settings presets, not just High. For instance, at Low settings, the average FPS goes from 200 at 1080p, to 129 at 1440p, and finally to 70 at 4K. This is a near-linear drop in performance relative to the increase in pixel count. The 4K Low result of 70 FPS is barely above the 1080p Ultra result of 120 FPS, which underscores how much headroom the CPU has that the GPU simply cannot utilize. The data implies that the Intel Core i7-13700K is not the bottleneck in these tests; if it were, we would expect to see the FPS remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU would be maxed out regardless of pixel count. Instead, the FPS scales inversely with resolution, which is the hallmark of a graphics card that is saturated.

Further evidence for the GPU being the limiting factor comes from the fact that the 1080p results, even at Ultra settings (120 FPS), are well below the CPU’s potential. The i7-13700K is a high-end processor with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz and 16 cores, capable of far higher frame rates in a game like Doom. The fact that the FPS ceiling at 1080p Low is 200 suggests that this is approximately the maximum output the RX 6650 XT can produce, even when the graphical load is relatively light. This gap between CPU capability and GPU output is the central story of this benchmark data.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2635 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz. These specifications are crucial for understanding the 4K results. At 3840x2160, the GPU is likely hitting memory bandwidth and pixel throughput limits. The pixel rate is 168.6 GPixel/s, which is modest for 4K rendering, where the sheer number of pixels to fill is immense. The 4K Ultra average of 42 FPS, with no min or max data, suggests the GPU is struggling to maintain a playable frame rate under the highest load.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is also a point of interest. While the fact pack does not provide VRAM usage data, the performance drop from High (51 FPS) to Ultra (42 FPS) at 4K is a 9 FPS gap. This could be due to increased texture detail exceeding the comfortable capacity of the 8 GB buffer, forcing the GPU to use slower memory paging. However, this is speculation based on the FPS delta. What the data does show is that the GPU’s performance is highly sensitive to settings changes at 4K, which is typical for a card in this class. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1859 and a Passmark G3D score of 17166 place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, reinforcing that it is a mid-range performer that is out of its depth at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database are professional workstation cards like the NVIDIA Tesla K40m and AMD FirePro D300, with delta percentages of -0.6% and +0.7% respectively. This is notable because it shows the RX 6650 XT's raw compute score is comparable to older, specialized hardware, but its gaming performance is what matters here. The data suggests that for this game, the GPU’s 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the primary constraint, as the frame rates at 4K are consistently in the 42-70 range, which is far below the 100+ FPS achieved at 1440p.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve at 1920x1080?

A: The highest average FPS recorded at 1080p is 200, which is achieved with the Low settings preset. This is the maximum frame rate in the entire dataset, indicating a hard limit for this combination at this resolution.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there between 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 on High settings?

A: On High settings, the average FPS drops from 95 at 1440p to 51 at 4K. This is a 44 FPS reduction, representing a 46.3% decrease in performance when moving to the higher resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K or the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. This is evidenced by the fact that FPS scales down significantly as resolution increases. If the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would remain more consistent across resolutions. The CPU’s high benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745, indicate it has ample headroom.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the entire test?

A: The lowest average FPS is 42, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset. This is the most demanding configuration tested and proves to be the most challenging for this hardware combo.

Q: Are the 4K results consistently playable across all settings?

A: No. The 4K results range from 70 FPS on Low to 42 FPS on Ultra. While the Low and Medium settings (70 and 61 FPS respectively) are playable, the High (51 FPS) and Ultra (42 FPS) settings are below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth for fast-paced games.

*Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems in Doom?*

A: The combo ranks 2418 out of 3712 tested combos for this game. This places it in the lower half of all tested systems, which is consistent with the GPU being a mid-range component that limits overall performance despite the high-end CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 200 FPS, Medium yields 174 FPS (with a min of 148 and max of 200), High yields 147 FPS, and Ultra yields 120 FPS. This shows a clear and steady decline as settings increase, with a 80 FPS difference between the lowest and highest presets. The min and max data for Medium indicates a range of 52 FPS, suggesting some frametime variance even at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 129 FPS, Medium at 113 FPS (min 96, max 129), High at 95 FPS, and Ultra at 78 FPS. The pattern remains consistent, but the absolute numbers are lower. The 1440p Medium min of 96 FPS is still high, but the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 51 FPS, showing that the GPU is becoming more of a constraint as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. The averages are: Low at 70 FPS, Medium at 61 FPS (min 52, max 70), High at 51 FPS, and Ultra at 42 FPS. The 4K results show a much tighter grouping, with only a 28 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. This is a clear sign that the GPU is saturated and that even reducing settings cannot provide the same relative boost seen at lower resolutions. The 4K Medium min of 52 FPS is notably low, indicating that the system can drop below 60 FPS even on the middle preset.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The provided data gives a specific rank for this Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT combination: 2418 out of 3712 total combos tested in Doom. This percentile placement is crucial for contextualizing the raw FPS numbers. Being in the 65th percentile of combos (since 2418/3712 is roughly 65%) means that this system performs better than 65% of all tested configurations, but it is still outclassed by 35% of them. This ranking highlights that while the CPU is a top-tier component (89th percentile among all CPUs), the GPU’s lower standing (65th percentile among all GPUs) drags the overall combo down.

The rank is a holistic measure that considers all settings and resolutions. The fact that the system ranks in the lower half of the tested combos is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limitations at 4K. If the dataset were limited to 1080p results, the rank would likely be much higher due to the excellent CPU performance. However, the inclusion of 4K Ultra results (42 FPS) pulls the average down. This rank serves as a warning to potential users: the CPU is a future-proof investment, but the GPU will need to be upgraded to unlock its full potential in demanding scenarios. The measured data is marked as "dataIsMeasured: true", confirming these are real-world results rather than estimates.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured rows, the best balance of visual fidelity and performance is achieved at 2560x1440 with High settings. This configuration yields an average of 95 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium settings. The 1440p High preset offers a 17 FPS advantage over Ultra (95 vs 78), while the visual difference between High and Ultra in Doom is often marginal. This is the sweet spot for this hardware.

At 1920x1080, the High preset (147 FPS) is also an excellent choice, as it offers a very high frame rate that will take full advantage of a 144Hz monitor. While Low (200 FPS) is faster, the visual quality trade-off is usually not worth the extra 53 FPS. For 4K gaming, the data suggests that users should stick to Low settings (70 FPS) if they want a playable experience, as the Medium preset (61 FPS) is borderline, and High (51 FPS) and Ultra (42 FPS) are too slow for a fast-paced FPS. The 4K Low setting is the only way to get near the 60 FPS baseline with this GPU.

The recommendation is to avoid Ultra settings at any resolution. At 1080p, Ultra (120 FPS) is still playable but sacrifices 27 FPS compared to High for minimal visual gains. At 1440p, the drop to 78 FPS is noticeable, and at 4K, the 42 FPS result is simply not competitive for an online shooter. The data clearly shows that High settings provide the best performance-per-visual-cost ratio across all resolutions, with 1440p High being the optimal overall experience.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its L3 cache is 30 MB shared. In the context of Doom, which is a well-optimized game that can utilize multiple threads, this CPU provides an immense amount of processing power. Its benchmark scores are stellar: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745 and a Geekbench multicore score of 19429. The Passmark multithread score of 45887 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

However, the benchmark results in this game do not show the CPU being a bottleneck. The FPS scaling with resolution points to the GPU as the primary limiter. The CPU's role is to ensure that frame rates do not drop due to physics, AI, or game logic. In this case, the CPU is likely providing more than enough headroom, as evidenced by the fact that the 1080p Low setting achieves 200 FPS, which is likely near the engine's own frame rate cap or the GPU's absolute maximum. The single-thread performance is also strong, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4333, which is critical for games that rely on a primary thread.

The nearest rival CPUs to the i7-13700K in the database are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, with delta percentages of -0.2% and +0.5% respectively. This indicates that the i7-13700K is essentially on par with these high-end chips in synthetic benchmarks. Yet, in this game, the combination's overall rank is dragged down by the GPU. This suggests that for users with this CPU, the path to higher frame rates is clearly a GPU upgrade, not a CPU one. The processor is ready to feed a much more powerful graphics card, and the current RX 6650 XT is the only thing holding the system back from achieving significantly higher scores in Doom.