Doom

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT delivers exceptional performance in Doom, placing the combo in the top 20% of all tested configurations. The data shows this pairing is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s substantial thread count ensures no bottleneck even at the highest frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, revealing where the system’s limits lie. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 250.9 FPS at 1920x1080 to 158.6 FPS at 2560x1440, a 36.8% reduction. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 88.5 FPS, representing a 64.7% decline from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates the Radeon RX 7900 XT’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint as pixel count increases; the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions.

The Low preset demonstrates the same trend but from a higher starting point. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 337.1 FPS. This falls to 221.4 FPS at 1440p (a 34.3% drop) and then to 121.2 FPS at 4K (a 64.1% drop from 1080p). The near-identical percentage drops across presets confirm that resolution scaling is purely a function of GPU fill-rate and memory bandwidth, not of the settings complexity. The 800.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 459.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the specs dictating these limits.

The most demanding scenario, Ultra at 4K, yields 71.2 FPS, while the same preset at 1080p reaches 201 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 50 FPS (121.2 vs 71.2), whereas at 1080p the gap is 136.1 FPS (337.1 vs 201). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU’s compute units are saturated by pixel workload before the increased shader complexity of Ultra settings can fully express itself, a classic sign of a resolution-bound configuration.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 88.5 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it remains above the 60 FPS threshold while providing a significant improvement over Medium’s 104.8 FPS. Ultra at 71.2 FPS is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 104.8 FPS is the safer choice for 4K if frame rate stability is prioritized over maximum fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 158.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Ultra at 134 FPS is also viable, but the 24.6 FPS penalty over High is not justified by the marginal visual gains in Doom’s fast-paced action. The Low preset at 221.4 FPS is unnecessary unless targeting a 240Hz display, where the extra frames matter more than graphical detail.

At 1080p, every preset exceeds 200 FPS, making the choice purely about visual preference. Ultra at 201 FPS is the recommended choice for the full experience, as it still clears 200 FPS. Medium at 294.3 FPS and Low at 337.1 FPS are only relevant for competitive play on 360Hz panels, where the CPU’s 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures the frame rate remains GPU-limited at all times.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the definitive performance driver in this pairing. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus provides 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for handling Doom’s texture-heavy environments at 4K. The boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz allow the 5376 shading units to achieve 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, explaining the high raw frame rates observed.

The GPU’s 84 ray accelerators are not directly stressed by Doom, which uses traditional rasterization, but the 192 ROPs are crucial for the pixel-rate-limited scaling seen across resolutions. The 459.6 GPixel/s pixel rate is the spec that explains why 4K Ultra drops below 90 FPS while 1080p remains above 200 FPS. The card’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures full feature compatibility, though the game’s Vulkan API path also benefits from the GPU’s 1.4 Vulkan support.

Benchmark results place this GPU at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 38358. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, scores 38349 with a 0% deltaPct, indicating near-identical raw compute performance. The RX 7900 XT’s 57,700 million transistors on a 5 nm process provide the efficiency needed to sustain high clocks without thermal throttling, though the 300 W TDP requires robust cooling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT achieves a combo rank of 332 out of 1681 tested configurations in Doom, placing it in the top 19.8% of all systems. This ranking reflects the synergy between the CPU’s high single-thread performance and the GPU’s rasterization strength, which together eliminate any apparent bottleneck.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 47282 puts it at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-13700KF at 47334 (deltaPct -0.1) and the AMD EPYC 4364P at 47131 (deltaPct 0.3). The negligible differences of less than 1% between these CPUs indicate that processor choice has minimal impact on Doom’s frame rates, as the game is not thread-bound beyond 8 threads. The GPU’s rank of 82nd percentile, while lower, is the more decisive factor in this combo’s overall position.

The fact that this combo sits at 332nd place, rather than higher, suggests that higher-ranked systems likely pair the RX 7900 XT with even faster CPUs or use multiple GPUs. However, the data shows that for a single-GPU setup, this pairing is near-optimal, as the CPU’s 3dmark_16_threads score of 10717 and single-thread score of 1136 are more than sufficient to support the GPU’s 88.5 FPS at 4K High.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K’s role in Doom is to provide a stable, high-frequency platform that never limits the GPU. Its 16 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz, deliver a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505. These figures place it firmly in the top tier, with a passmark_single_thread score of 4333 ensuring that the game’s main thread is never the bottleneck.

Doom is known for its efficient multi-threading, but the data shows diminishing returns beyond a certain core count. The CPU’s 3dmark_8_threads score of 8193 is nearly double its 4-thread score of 4469, but the jump to 16 threads (10717) and max threads (12412) is much smaller. This indicates that the game scales well up to 8 threads, and the 13700K’s additional cores are largely idle during gameplay. The 30 MB of shared L3 cache also helps with frame pacing, though its exact impact is not measurable from the provided FPS data.

The CPU’s negligible deltaPct against its nearest rivals—the 13700KF at -0.1% and the Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 at -0.5%—confirms that CPU choice has virtually no effect on Doom’s average FPS. The 125 W TDP is modest for the performance class, and the unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the stock configuration already provides sufficient headroom for the GPU’s maximum output at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achieved at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS is 337.1 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Ultra settings, the average drops to 201 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 332nd out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the top 19.8% for Doom performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drops from 250.9 FPS at 1080p to 88.5 FPS at 4K on High settings, while the CPU’s benchmark scores indicate it has ample headroom.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield 221.4 FPS, while Ultra settings yield 134 FPS, a difference of 87.4 FPS. This gap is smaller at 4K (50 FPS) due to GPU pixel-rate saturation.

Q: How does the RX 7900 XT compare to its nearest rival in benchmarks?

A: The RX 7900 XT scores 38358 on average, which is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile’s 38349, with a deltaPct of 0%. The GPU sits at the 82nd percentile overall.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread?

A: The CPU’s passmark_single_thread score is 4333, while its passmark_multithread score is 45887. The single-thread score ensures Doom’s main game thread runs efficiently, while multi-thread performance is sufficient for background tasks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 337.1 (Low) to 201 (Ultra). The Medium preset achieves 294.3 FPS, while High reaches 250.9 FPS. All 1080p results exceed 200 FPS, making the resolution ideal for high-refresh displays.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS scales from 221.4 (Low) to 134 (Ultra). Medium produces 193.5 FPS, and High delivers 158.6 FPS. The 1440p results show a 87.4 FPS spread between lowest and highest presets, highlighting the GPU’s sensitivity to shader complexity.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS narrows to a range of 121.2 (Low) to 71.2 (Ultra). Medium yields 104.8 FPS, while High achieves 88.5 FPS. The 4K results have a 50 FPS spread, indicating that pixel throughput limits the impact of settings changes. Only the Low preset remains above 120 FPS at this resolution, while Ultra dips below 75 FPS.