Doom

FAQ

Q: How does the Core i7-13700K + GTX 1660 Ti combo rank in Doom among all tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 3193rd out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom. That places it in the lower portion of the overall ranking, which is expected given the GPU's age, though the CPU is a top-tier part.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 148 at 1080p with Low settings. At Ultra settings, the average drops to 89 FPS, showing a 59 FPS swing purely from settings at the same resolution.

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

A: Barely. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 31 on Ultra to 52 on Low. Only the Low preset crosses the 50 FPS threshold; High and Medium sit at 38 and 45 FPS respectively, which is playable but not smooth for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB VRAM a limiting factor in this game?

A: The data does not show VRAM capacity as the primary constraint. The FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings, which points to raw GPU compute being the bottleneck rather than memory capacity. At 4K Ultra, the 31 FPS average suggests the GPU is maxed out, not running out of VRAM.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i7-13700K scores 46881 average across all benchmarks, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46971) and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47022). It is 0.5% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46654 and 46653).

Q: What does the GPU's percentile ranking tell us about its overall standing?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti sits in the 41st percentile among all GPUs, meaning it outperforms roughly 41% of the database. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 540, scores 7673 average, which is 0.7% lower, indicating the 1660 Ti is marginally stronger than direct competitors in its tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It carries 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and memory runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). With 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, it achieves a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is rated at 5.437 TFLOPS.

In Doom, these specifications translate to a GPU that is clearly the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 129 FPS, but at 4K Medium that drops to 45 FPS—a 65% reduction. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game's textures at all settings tested, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from Low to Ultra without sudden drops that would indicate memory swapping. The 48 ROPS are the likely constraint at 4K, where pixel fill rate becomes critical. The boost clock of 1770 MHz helps at lower resolutions where the GPU can stretch its legs, but at 4K the raw throughput limits frame rates.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this picture. PassMark G3D scores 12871, while DirectX 12 performance is 51 and DirectX 11 is 103. Vulkan scores 5827 in Geekbench, which is relevant since Doom's Vulkan path can significantly impact performance. The 1660 Ti's overall average benchmark score is 7723, placing it in the 41st percentile. Its nearest rivals—AMD Radeon 540 (7673, 0.7% lower), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, 1.9% lower), AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, 2.2% lower), and Intel Arc A310 (7550, 2.3% lower)—are all slightly weaker, meaning this GPU sits at the top of its immediate performance class.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: resolution has a dramatic impact on performance, and the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as the bottleneck. At 1080p, the combo delivers 148 FPS on Low, 129 on Medium, 109 on High, and 89 on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, those numbers drop to 96, 83, 70, and 57 respectively. At 4K, the averages collapse to 52, 45, 38, and 31.

The scaling between resolutions reveals where the bottleneck shifts. From 1080p Low (148 FPS) to 1440p Low (96 FPS), the drop is 35%. From 1440p Low to 4K Low (52 FPS), the drop is 46%. This steeper decline at higher resolutions indicates the GPU is increasingly saturated. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to push the GPU to its limits, but as pixel count rises, the GPU's shading units and ROPs become the constraint.

The same pattern holds for Ultra settings: 89 FPS at 1080p, 57 at 1440p, and 31 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, and from 1440p to 4K is 46%. This consistent scaling suggests the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient performance even at 1080p where frame rates are highest. The 4K numbers are particularly telling: even at Low settings, the combo barely reaches 52 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced shooter.

The difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution is also instructive. At 1080p, the gap is 59 FPS (148 vs 89). At 1440p, it is 39 FPS (96 vs 57). At 4K, it is 21 FPS (52 vs 31). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that settings changes have less impact—the pixel throughput is the primary constraint, not the quality settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its strongest results. Low settings yield an average of 148 FPS, with Medium at 129 FPS (min 109, max 148), High at 109 FPS, and Ultra at 89 FPS. These numbers show that even at Ultra, the combo stays above 60 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where high refresh rate monitors can be fully utilized.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. Low averages 96 FPS, Medium 83 FPS (min 71, max 96), High 70 FPS, and Ultra 57 FPS. The Ultra preset falls just below the 60 FPS threshold, meaning players targeting 1440p will need to use High or lower settings to maintain smooth frame rates. Medium provides a comfortable 83 FPS average with a 71 FPS minimum, which is adequate for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles. Low averages 52 FPS, Medium 45 FPS (min 38, max 52), High 38 FPS, and Ultra 31 FPS. None of these averages reach 60 FPS, and even the Low preset's 52 FPS is borderline for a fast-paced FPS. The Ultra preset's 31 FPS average is barely playable, and the Medium preset's 38 FPS minimum indicates frame drops that could hurt gameplay in intense combat scenes.

The min/max data available for Medium settings at each resolution provides insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 109 to 148 FPS, a 39 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the range is 71 to 96 FPS, a 25 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 38 to 52 FPS, a 14 FPS spread. This tightening of the range at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is consistently pegged at its maximum load, whereas at 1080p there is more variability, likely due to CPU or driver overhead.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks 3193rd out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. That places it in the 14th percentile of all combinations, meaning roughly 86% of tested combos perform better. This is a low ranking, but it is driven almost entirely by the GPU, not the CPU.

The CPU alone is a top-tier performer. The i7-13700K has a percentile rank of 89 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its performance: AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46971, -0.2%), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47022, -0.3%), AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46654, 0.5%), and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46653, 0.5%). This CPU is not the reason for the low combo ranking.

The GPU, however, sits in the 41st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7723. Its nearest rivals are slightly weaker, but the overall GPU tier is modest. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU creates an imbalance: the CPU is far more capable than what the GPU can utilize in Doom, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck.

In the context of Doom specifically, the combo's rank of 3193 suggests that most other tested combinations deliver higher frame rates. This is expected given the GPU's age and tier, but the CPU's strength means that upgrading the GPU later would unlock significant headroom without needing to replace the processor.

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, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 30 MB shared L3. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and has 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. The CPU includes UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics, though in this combo the discrete GTX 1660 Ti handles rendering.

Benchmark results show this CPU's strength. Cinebench R23 multicore scores 30745, while single-core scores 2116. Geekbench multicore is 19429, and single-core is 2529. PassMark multithread scores 45887, with single-thread at 4333. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 1136 single-thread to 12412 max-threads, indicating strong multi-threading capability. The CPU's percentile rank of 89 confirms it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs in the database.

In Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. Given that the game was released in 2016, the i7-13700K vastly exceeds minimum requirements. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the combo reaches 148 FPS on Low settings, which is likely GPU-limited rather than CPU-limited. The CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock and high single-thread performance (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 303) ensure that even the most demanding scenes in Doom are unlikely to be CPU-bound.

The 16 cores and 24 threads are overkill for Doom, which is primarily single-threaded or lightly threaded in its engine. However, this headroom means the CPU will not become a bottleneck even with future GPU upgrades. The 30 MB L3 cache helps with game asset streaming, and the 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures maximum responsiveness. The CPU's nearest rivals in overall performance are all within 0.5% of its average score, indicating that any of these CPUs would perform similarly in Doom when paired with the same GPU.

The data suggests that in this combo, the CPU is never the limiting factor. At every resolution and settings combination, the FPS scales consistently with GPU workload, and the CPU's benchmarks show it has ample headroom. Players using this combo should focus on GPU upgrades to improve Doom performance, as the i7-13700K will easily keep pace with any modern GPU in this game.