Doom

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti presents one of the most lopsided hardware combinations in the benchmark database. The processor is a 16-core, 24-thread Raptor Lake part with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, while the graphics card is a Pascal-era entry-level model with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. In Doom, this pairing produces playable frame rates only at 1080p with lower settings, and the data clearly shows the GPU is the dominant constraint at every resolution tested.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show a steep and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 74 FPS, which drops to 48 FPS at 1440p and further to 26 FPS at 4K. That represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p Low to 4K Low. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For High settings, the average goes from 55 FPS at 1080p to 35 FPS at 1440p to 19 FPS at 4K. Medium settings show 65 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p, and 23 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings start at 45 FPS at 1080p, fall to 29 FPS at 1440p, and bottom out at 16 FPS at 4K.

This resolution scaling behavior indicates that the GTX 1050 Ti is the limiting component. The Core i7-13700K has abundant computational headroom, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116. In contrast, the GTX 1050 Ti has a Passmark G3D score of 6340 and sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs. The frame rate drops are roughly proportional to the pixel count increase, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload. Moving from 1080p to 1440p increases pixel count by 78%, and the observed FPS drops range from 35% (Low) to 36% (High). Moving from 1440p to 4K adds another 125% pixel count, and FPS falls by 46% (Low) to 45% (High). These numbers align closely with the pixel-count scaling, confirming that the CPU is not the bottleneck in any resolution.

The 4K results are uniformly poor across all settings. Even at Low settings, the average FPS is 26, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced FPS. Ultra settings at 4K produce only 16 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 10 FPS, which is smaller than the 29 FPS gap seen at 1080p. This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions further demonstrates that the GPU is saturated; reducing graphical quality cannot compensate for the raw pixel throughput required at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i7-13700K and GTX 1050 Ti ranks 3652 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the bottom 2% of all configurations, which is expected given the GPU's low performance tier. The GPU alone has an average benchmark score of 4193 and ranks in the 25th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (score 4170, delta 0.6%), the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (score 4151, delta 1%), the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (score 4241, delta -1.1%), and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (score 4268, delta -1.8%). All of these are entry-level or mobile-oriented parts, which contextualizes the GTX 1050 Ti's position.

The CPU is a different story. The Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881 and ranks in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (score 46971, delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (score 47022, delta -0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (score 46654, delta 0.5%), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 (score 46653, delta 0.5%). The i7-13700K is essentially tied with these processors, with deltas under 0.5% in all cases. This CPU is among the strongest available, which makes the 3652nd place ranking entirely attributable to the GPU.

The contrast between the CPU's 89th percentile and the GPU's 25th percentile is stark. In Doom, this combo's rank is driven almost exclusively by the graphics card. The data suggests that any CPU from the last several generations would produce similar frame rates when paired with a GTX 1050 Ti in this game, as the GPU cannot keep up with even modest CPU demands at these settings.

GPU Role

The GTX 1050 Ti uses the GP107 chip on the Pascal architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process by Samsung. It has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The base clock is 1291 MHz with a boost clock of 1392 MHz. Memory runs at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 112.1 GB/s. The 4 GB GDDR5 frame buffer is a significant limitation for modern games, and Doom's texture requirements at higher settings can exceed this capacity, although the measured data does not directly show VRAM usage.

The GPU's compute capabilities are modest. It delivers 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, 66.82 GTexel/s of texture fill rate, and 44.54 GPixel/s of pixel fill rate. These figures place it far below any modern gaming GPU. The Passmark results confirm this: DirectX 12 score of 26, DirectX 11 score of 45, and DirectX 10 score of 31. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 10001 and OpenCL score of 18129 are also low compared to contemporary parts.

In Doom, the GPU's role as the limiting factor is evident from the settings scaling. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra reduces average FPS from 74 to 45, a 39% drop. At 1440p, the same settings change reduces FPS from 48 to 29, a 40% drop. At 4K, the drop is from 26 to 16, a 38% reduction. The consistency of this settings penalty across resolutions indicates that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are saturated even at Low settings. The 4 GB VRAM capacity likely causes texture thrashing at Ultra settings, but the frame rate data alone cannot confirm this.

The GTX 1050 Ti's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors suggest it was designed for basic desktops and light gaming. Its suggested PSU is 250 W, which is minimal by modern standards. The launch MSRP is 139 USD. None of these factors change the measured performance, but they do explain why this card is positioned so low in the GPU hierarchy.

FAQ

Q: Is the Core i7-13700K bottlenecking the GTX 1050 Ti in Doom?

A: No. The CPU is not the limiting component at any resolution. The i7-13700K has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30745 and a single-core score of 2116, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is proportional to pixel count increases, which indicates the GTX 1050 Ti is the bottleneck.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where average FPS exceeds 60 on any setting. Low settings produce 74 FPS, Medium produces 65 FPS, and High produces 55 FPS at 1080p. At 1440p, the highest average is 48 FPS (Low), and at 4K, the highest average is 26 FPS (Low).

Q: How does the GTX 1050 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 4193. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R5 M330 with a score of 4170 (0.6% slower). The NVIDIA Quadro K2100M scores 4151 (1% slower), the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M scores 4241 (1.1% faster), and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 scores 4268 (1.8% faster). All are within 2% of each other.

Q: Why does the combo rank so low despite having a high-end CPU?

A: The combo ranks 3652 out of 3712 tested combos because the GPU is the determining factor in Doom's performance. The GTX 1050 Ti sits in the 25th percentile of all GPUs, while the i7-13700K sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's low performance ceiling limits the entire system.

Q: Can the GTX 1050 Ti handle Ultra settings in Doom?

A: Only at 1080p, where Ultra produces an average of 45 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 29 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra produces just 16 FPS. For smoother gameplay, Medium settings at 1080p (65 FPS) or Low settings at 1080p (74 FPS) are preferable based on the measured data.

Q: What is the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900 scores 46971 (0.2% faster), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 47022 (0.3% faster), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX scores 46654 (0.5% slower), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 scores 46653 (0.5% slower). These are all statistically equivalent scores.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows. Low settings produce 74 FPS. Medium settings produce 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. High settings produce 55 FPS. Ultra settings produce 45 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 29 FPS, which is the largest settings gap of any resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 48 FPS. Medium settings average 42 FPS, with a minimum of 36 FPS and a maximum of 48 FPS. High settings average 35 FPS. Ultra settings average 29 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 19 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low settings average 26 FPS. Medium settings average 23 FPS, with a minimum of 19 FPS and a maximum of 26 FPS. High settings average 19 FPS. Ultra settings average 16 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 10 FPS.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the range is 55 to 74 FPS, which is a 19 FPS variation. At 1440p Medium, the range is 36 to 48 FPS, a 12 FPS variation. At 4K Medium, the range is 19 to 26 FPS, a 7 FPS variation. This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated as pixel count increases, leaving less variance in frame delivery.

The minimum FPS values, where available, are close to the averages. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 55 FPS, which is 84.6% of the average. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 36 FPS, which is 85.7% of the average. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 19 FPS, which is 82.6% of the average. These ratios suggest that frame pacing is relatively stable, without severe stutters, but the absolute values are too low for comfortable play at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it has 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes from the CPU. The integrated UHD Graphics 770 is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-13700K demonstrates strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 30745, and its single-core score is 2116. The Geekbench multi-core score is 19429, and the single-core score is 2529. The Passmark multi-thread score is 45887, and the single-thread score is 4333. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 1136 in single-thread to 12412 in max-threads, indicating good core utilization scaling.

For Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The i7-13700K's 16 cores and 24 threads provide far more processing power than Doom requires, even at high frame rates. The game was released in 2016 and is not known for being CPU-intensive. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation: frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a manner consistent with GPU-bound performance. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS across different resolutions at the same settings, which is not the case.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking confirms its high performance level. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its average benchmark score, indicating that the i7-13700K is at the top of its performance class. This CPU could easily support a much more powerful GPU in Doom, but the GTX 1050 Ti restricts the system to the low frame rates documented in the measured FPS table.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and acceptable frame rates. At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 74 FPS, Medium produce 65 FPS, and High produce 55 FPS. For a fast-paced FPS like Doom, 60 FPS is generally considered the minimum for smooth gameplay. Medium settings at 1080p achieve 65 FPS average, which clears this threshold while providing better visual quality than Low. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 55, which is still playable. High settings at 1080p drop to 55 FPS average, which may cause noticeable judder in intense combat scenes.

At 2560x1440, no settings preset reaches 60 FPS. Low settings average 48 FPS, Medium average 42 FPS, and High average 35 FPS. For players who must use 1440p, Low settings offer the highest frame rate, but 48 FPS is below the ideal threshold for a competitive shooter. Medium settings at 1440p provide 42 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS, which might be acceptable in single-player campaigns but is risky for online play.

At 3840x2160, all settings are below 30 FPS. Low settings produce 26 FPS, Medium produce 23 FPS, and High produce 19 FPS. These frame rates are not suitable for an action game. The data suggests avoiding 4K entirely with this combo unless the player is willing to accept a slideshow-like experience.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p with Medium settings, which yields 65 FPS average with a 55 FPS minimum. This provides a balance of visual quality and performance. If higher visual fidelity is desired, 1080p High at 55 FPS is an option, but the lower minimum frame rates could introduce stutter. For players prioritizing frame rate above all, 1080p Low at 74 FPS is the fastest configuration. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as it provides the lowest FPS at each resolution without delivering proportional visual improvements that would justify the performance cost. The data shows that the GTX 1050 Ti is simply too weak for Ultra settings in Doom beyond 1080p, where it still only manages 45 FPS.