Doom

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable Doom experience at 4K, but the data shows a GPU-bound system where frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combo pushes well past 115 FPS on every preset, while 4K Ultra drops to 40 FPS average, indicating that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary limiter at higher resolutions. The CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for this 2016 title, leaving headroom that the GPU cannot exploit at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop by roughly 2.5x to 3x depending on the settings preset. At 1080p High, the system averages 141 FPS; at 1440p High, that falls to 91 FPS; at 4K High, it reaches 50 FPS. This progression shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER’s rendering workload grows faster than the pixel count, which is typical for a GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 256-bit bus.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more pronounced. At 1080p Low, the average is 192 FPS, dropping to 124 FPS at 1440p Low, and then to 67 FPS at 4K Low. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 68 FPS, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 57 FPS, showing a nearly linear relationship with pixel count. This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU is still the bottleneck, but the CPU’s high single-thread performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 1136) prevents any CPU-side stalls at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset tells a similar story: 167 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result includes a minimum FPS of 50 and maximum of 67, showing some frame-time variance but still maintaining a playable average. Ultra settings are the most demanding, with 115 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and just 40 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K Ultra is 75 FPS, the largest absolute drop across all presets, reinforcing that Ultra’s additional shading and texture work hits the GPU hardest.

What this scaling says about the limiting component is unambiguous: the RTX 2060 SUPER is the constraint. The i7-13700K’s benchmarks (cinebench_r23_multicore score of 30745, passmark_multithread score of 45887) place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (deltaPct 0.5), Intel Xeon w3-2535 (deltaPct 0.5)—are all within 0.5% in average score. No CPU-side bottleneck appears in the data because even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system still delivers 192 FPS, which any modern CPU can feed.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 59, with a minimum of 50 and maximum of 67. At 4K High, the average is 50 FPS. 4K Ultra drops to 40 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players prefer. 4K Low averages 67 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS on average.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this context?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 18093, placing it at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (deltaPct -0.4), AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (deltaPct -0.5), AMD Radeon RX 460 (deltaPct -1.5), and Intel Arc A770M (deltaPct -1.6). The RTX 2060 SUPER sits within 1.6% of all these cards, meaning performance parity in synthetic tests, though in Doom the measured FPS shows it handles 1080p and 1440p well.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K overkill for this game?

A: The data suggests yes. The CPU’s 16 cores, 24 threads, and 5.40 GHz boost clock deliver a cinebench_r23_multicore score of 30745 and a passmark_single_thread score of 4333. In Doom, the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is entirely consistent with GPU limitation—there is no resolution where the CPU appears to cap performance. Even at 1080p Low, the system hits 192 FPS, which is near the practical limit for many displays.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: 1440p is the sweet spot. At 1440p High, the average is 91 FPS; at 1440p Medium, 108 FPS; at 1440p Low, 124 FPS. Only 1440p Ultra falls below 90 FPS at 75 FPS average. At 4K, only the Low preset (67 FPS) and Medium preset (59 FPS) come close to or exceed 60 FPS, but they are not consistent enough for a locked 60.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K on the same settings?

A: On High settings, the drop is from 141 FPS to 50 FPS, a loss of 91 FPS (roughly 65%). On Low, it is 192 FPS to 67 FPS, a loss of 125 FPS. On Medium, 167 FPS to 59 FPS, a loss of 108 FPS. On Ultra, 115 FPS to 40 FPS, a loss of 75 FPS. The percentage loss is highest on Low (65%) and lowest on Ultra (65% as well, but from a lower base), showing the GPU’s fill-rate limits dominate.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 2060 SUPER affect Doom’s performance?

A: The measured data does not show VRAM-related stutters or crashes, but the 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a known constraint at 4K Ultra in many titles. In Doom, the 4K Ultra average of 40 FPS suggests the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems are saturated, though the game’s 2016 release date means texture sizes are modest by modern standards.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU built on TSMC’s 12 nm process, with a die size of 445 mm² and 10,800 million transistors. Its base clock is 1470 MHz, boosting to 1650 MHz, and it carries 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s pixel rate is 105.6 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 224.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 7.181 TFLOPS.

In Doom, these specifications translate into the measured FPS across all resolution and settings combinations. The GPU’s 62nd percentile ranking (avgBenchmarkScore 18093) places it slightly below the RTX 3060 Mobile (deltaPct -0.4) and Radeon Pro 5700 (deltaPct -0.5), but above the RX 460 (deltaPct -1.5) and Arc A770M (deltaPct -1.6). This mid-range positioning is consistent with the 4K results: the card can handle 4K at Medium settings (59 FPS average) but struggles at Ultra (40 FPS).

The RTX 2060 SUPER’s boost clock of 1650 MHz is relatively modest compared to newer GPUs, but Doom’s id Tech engine is well-optimized for Turing’s feature set. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which means it can use modern APIs to reduce draw-call overhead. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, where the measured FPS exceeds 91 on High and 124 on Low at 1440p. At 4K, the bandwidth and ROP count become limiting factors, especially on Ultra settings where texture compression and overdraw increase.

The GPU’s TDP is 175 W, with a suggested PSU of 450 W, and it uses a single 8-pin power connector. These power characteristics are not directly reflected in FPS, but they indicate that the card is not a high-end part that would excel at 4K Ultra. The data shows that for a 2016 FPS like Doom, the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable 1080p and 1440p performer, with 4K requiring settings compromises.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. On Low settings, the average FPS is 192, which is near the top of what most 1080p 144 Hz monitors can display. Medium settings average 167 FPS, with a minimum of 142 and maximum of 192, showing tight frame times. High settings average 141 FPS, still well above 60 FPS. Ultra settings average 115 FPS, the lowest 1080p result but still very playable. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 77 FPS, indicating that the GPU has plenty of headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, frame rates drop noticeably but remain strong. Low settings average 124 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS (min 92, max 125), High averages 91 FPS, and Ultra averages 75 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 30-40% across settings, which aligns with the pixel count increase of 78%. The 1440p results show that High settings (91 FPS) are ideal for 144 Hz gaming, while Ultra (75 FPS) still clears 60 FPS comfortably.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 SUPER begins to struggle. Low settings average 67 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS. Medium settings average 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 and maximum of 67, indicating occasional dips below 60. High settings average 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 40 FPS. The 4K results show a clear settings hierarchy: Low is the only preset that averages above 60 FPS, while Medium is borderline, and High/Ultra are below 60. The minimum FPS data for 4K Medium (50) and the absence of min/max data for other 4K presets suggest that frame pacing is consistent but not flawless.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most complete data, with min and max FPS recorded for each resolution: 1920x1080 (142-192), 2560x1440 (92-125), and 3840x2160 (50-67). This shows that the system’s frame time variance increases with resolution, as the 4K range (17 FPS) is larger than the 1080p range (50 FPS) in relative terms. The average FPS for Medium at 4K is 59, which is just 1 FPS below the 60 FPS target, making it a borderline choice for 4K gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, boosting to 5.40 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3. Memory support includes DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel mode, with ECC support enabled. The CPU’s integrated graphics are UHD Graphics 770, but they are not used in this discrete GPU configuration.

Benchmark results for the i7-13700K are strong across the board. The 3dmark suite shows scaling from 1136 (single-thread) to 12412 (max threads), with 8-thread score of 8193 and 16-thread score of 10717. Cinebench R23 scores are 2116 single-core and 30745 multi-core, while Geekbench shows 2529 single-core and 19429 multi-core. Passmark tests include a multithread score of 45887, single-thread of 4333, and physics score of 2716. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus is 89, meaning it outperforms 89% of all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 46881.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics updates, and AI logic. Given the game’s 2016 release date, it does not utilize 16 cores effectively, but the i7-13700K’s high single-thread performance ensures no bottleneck. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 1136 and passmark_single_thread of 4333 are indicative of strong per-core performance, which matters more than raw core count in this title. The nearest CPU rivals—AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (deltaPct -0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (deltaPct 0.5), Intel Xeon w3-2535 (deltaPct 0.5)—are all within 0.5% in average score, confirming that the i7-13700K is in the top tier of desktop CPUs.

The measured FPS data shows no CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the system hits 192 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s frame rate cap or the GPU’s maximum output at these settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar FPS across all resolutions at the same settings, but instead we see a clear downward trend as resolution increases. This confirms the GPU is the limiting factor, and the CPU has ample headroom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this combo depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, any setting works, but High (141 FPS) provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate for 144 Hz displays. Ultra (115 FPS) is also viable, with only a 26 FPS penalty over High. Low (192 FPS) and Medium (167 FPS) are only useful for extreme refresh rates beyond 165 Hz, which most 1080p monitors do not support.

At 1440p, High (91 FPS) is the recommended preset for 60-100 Hz monitors, offering near-maximum visual quality while staying above 90 FPS. Ultra (75 FPS) is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but may feel less smooth on 144 Hz panels. Medium (108 FPS) is the best choice for high-refresh 1440p monitors (120-144 Hz), as it averages above 100 FPS with a minimum of 92. Low (124 FPS) sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a modest FPS gain.

At 4K, the choices are limited. Low (67 FPS) is the only preset that averages above 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K gaming. Medium (59 FPS) is borderline, with a minimum of 50 FPS that could cause noticeable stutter in fast-paced scenes. High (50 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS) are below 60 FPS and should only be used on 30 Hz displays or with adaptive sync. For most players, 4K Low is the only playable option, while 4K Medium is a compromise for those who prioritize visual quality over frame rate consistency.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, with average FPS of 167 (1080p), 108 (1440p), and 59 (4K). The 4K Medium result is just 1 FPS below 60, but the minimum of 50 FPS suggests occasional dips. For the best overall experience, this system should be used at 1440p with High settings (91 FPS average), which combines high visual quality with frame rates well above 60. If 4K is a priority, the user must accept Low settings or the borderline Medium preset. The data does not support 4K Ultra as a playable configuration for this hardware.