Doom

# Doom with Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The benchmark data for this combination reveals a system that is thoroughly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows signs of CPU headroom being stretched at 1080p. With the Intel Core i7-13700K offering 16 cores and 24 threads boosting to 5.40 GHz, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti packing 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the measured FPS across resolutions tells a story of a pairing that scales predictably with workload. The combo ranks 963rd out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the upper quartile of all tested configurations for this 2016 FPS title.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a dramatic FPS drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 230 at 1920x1080 to 149 at 2560x1440, then to 81 at 3840x2160. That represents a 35% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and another 46% drop from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative reduction from 1080p to 4K is 65%, which aligns closely with the pixel count increase of 4.5x, suggesting the GPU is the dominant constraint at every step.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern shifts. The 1080p result of 312 FPS drops to 202 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction), and then to 109 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). Interestingly, the percentage drops are nearly identical between Low and High settings, which implies that even when graphical load is minimized, the GPU remains the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see the 1080p Low result plateau or show diminishing returns compared to higher resolutions.

The Medium settings row provides additional insight, with minimum FPS values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 231 FPS while the average is 272 FPS, yielding a spread of 41 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 150 FPS versus a 176 FPS average, a spread of 26 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 81 FPS against a 95 FPS average, a spread of 14 FPS. This narrowing variance at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the constraint — as resolution increases, frame time consistency improves because the GPU is consistently saturated rather than intermittently waiting on other components.

The 4K Ultra setting produces 66 FPS average, which is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset. The gap between 4K High (81 FPS) and 4K Ultra (66 FPS) represents an 18.5% performance penalty for the highest quality preset, suggesting that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 144 FPS in Doom?

A: The data shows that 1440p High achieves 149 FPS average, which is the only resolution and setting combination that crosses the 144 Hz threshold while remaining above 100 FPS. At 1080p, all settings including Ultra (188 FPS) exceed 144 FPS, while at 4K, even Low settings only reach 109 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from High to Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the drop from High (230 FPS) to Ultra (188 FPS) is 42 FPS, or 18.3%. At 1440p, the drop is 27 FPS (from 149 to 122), representing 18.1%. At 4K, the drop is 15 FPS (from 81 to 66), which is 18.5%. The consistency of this percentage across resolutions indicates that Ultra adds a fixed proportional overhead rather than a resolution-dependent cost.

Q: Does the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: The measured data does not indicate any VRAM-related stuttering or capacity issues. The 4K Medium preset reports a minimum FPS of 81, which is identical to the 4K High average of 81 FPS, suggesting that memory allocation is not causing frame drops. The 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth appears sufficient for this game's demands at 3840x2160.

Q: Is this combo CPU-bound at 1080p?

A: The evidence is mixed. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 312 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output. However, the fact that 1080p Ultra (188 FPS) is lower than 1440p Low (202 FPS) indicates that graphical settings, not resolution alone, determine the bottleneck. The i7-13700K's 5.40 GHz boost clock and 30 MB shared L3 cache appear sufficient to avoid being the primary constraint.

Q: How does the combo's ranking compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 963rd out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the 74th percentile. This is a strong showing, though not elite — the top quarter of configurations achieve higher average FPS in Doom. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 83rd percentile ranking suggest the combination performs slightly below what the component percentiles might predict.

Q: What is the frame pacing like at 4K Medium?

A: The 4K Medium preset reports a minimum FPS of 81 and maximum of 110, with an average of 95 FPS. The 29 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates noticeable variance, though the minimum is still above 60 FPS, making this playable on standard 60 Hz displays.

GPU Role

The RTX 3080 Ti is the clear performance driver in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operating at 19 Gbps effective delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth across a 384-bit bus, which is substantial for a 2016 title. The GA102 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process, contains 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² die, and its 10,240 shading units provide 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The boost clock of 1665 MHz is modest compared to newer architectures, but the raw throughput is clearly sufficient for Doom's engine.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83 places it above most tested graphics cards, though its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (0.8% higher average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (2% lower average score). These comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks, not game-specific results, so the actual FPS differences in Doom may vary. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26896 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant since Doom supports Vulkan and OpenGL 4.6.

The memory configuration deserves attention. With 12 GB of VRAM, the RTX 3080 Ti has ample capacity for Doom's textures at 4K Ultra, and the 384-bit bus width ensures that memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (66 FPS) suggests that the bottleneck is raw shading throughput rather than memory access, as the texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s are being fully utilized. The GPU's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but irrelevant for this non-ray-traced title, meaning the 34.10 TFLOPS of traditional FP32 compute is what drives the results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce 312 FPS average, Medium drops to 272 FPS (with a minimum of 231 and maximum of 313), High achieves 230 FPS, and Ultra falls to 188 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 124 FPS, or 39.7%, which is substantial but not unusual for a game that scales well with graphical fidelity. The Medium preset's maximum of 313 FPS nearly matches the Low average of 312 FPS, indicating that at 1080p, the system has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates even with moderate graphical demands.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low settings deliver 202 FPS, Medium averages 176 FPS (minimum 150, maximum 202), High records 149 FPS, and Ultra produces 122 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 39.6% reduction, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling. This consistency suggests that the settings presets impose a fixed relative cost regardless of resolution, which is characteristic of a well-optimized game engine.

At 3840x2160, the results become more constrained. Low settings achieve 109 FPS, Medium averages 95 FPS (minimum 81, maximum 110), High drops to 81 FPS, and Ultra falls to 66 FPS. The Medium preset's maximum of 110 FPS matches the Low average of 109 FPS, mirroring the pattern seen at 1080p where Medium can occasionally match Low in peak performance. The 4K results show that even the lowest settings cannot maintain 120 FPS, making high-refresh-rate 4K gaming impossible with this combination.

The overall data reveals that the system's performance envelope spans from 66 FPS (4K Ultra) to 312 FPS (1080p Low), a range of 246 FPS that demonstrates both the GPU's capability at lower resolutions and its limitations at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 963rd out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom, which places it in the top 26% of all configurations. This is a respectable position, though the ranking might seem modest given the individual component percentiles — the CPU ranks in the 89th percentile and the GPU in the 83rd percentile. The discrepancy suggests that Doom's engine is not particularly demanding on either component, allowing many lower-tier combinations to achieve similar frame rates.

The ranking implies that the pairing is well-matched for this game, but not exceptional. The i7-13700K's nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (0.2% lower average score), AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (0.3% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (0.5% higher), and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (0.5% higher) — all perform within 1% of each other in synthetic benchmarks. This tight grouping indicates that CPU choice has minimal impact on Doom's performance, reinforcing the notion that the GPU is the primary driver of the combo's ranking.

The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (0.8% higher), NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (1.2% lower), NVIDIA Tesla M40 (1.7% lower), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (2% higher). These are professional or older workstation cards, which suggests that the RTX 3080 Ti's gaming-specific optimizations may not be fully captured by the synthetic scores. In Doom specifically, the 12 GB VRAM and high bandwidth likely contribute more to real-world performance than the synthetic benchmarks indicate.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 230 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates while providing superior visuals to Medium. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low at 312 FPS is the clear choice for competitive play, though the visual compromise is significant. The Medium preset at 272 FPS (minimum 231) provides a middle ground that still exceeds 240 Hz thresholds, making it viable for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 1440p, the High preset at 149 FPS is the optimal choice for 144 Hz monitors, delivering exactly the right performance headroom. The Medium preset at 176 FPS (minimum 150) offers even more headroom and is recommended for displays with refresh rates above 144 Hz, while Ultra at 122 FPS is acceptable for 120 Hz displays but misses the 144 Hz mark. Low at 202 FPS is excessive for most displays and sacrifices too much visual quality for the marginal FPS gain.

At 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset at 95 FPS (minimum 81) is the best choice for 60 Hz displays, providing sufficient headroom above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining moderate visual quality. High at 81 FPS is also viable for 60 Hz displays and offers better visuals, though the lower headroom means occasional dips could approach the refresh rate limit. Ultra at 66 FPS is only recommended for those who prioritize visuals over frame rate consistency, as the minimum FPS is not recorded but the average suggests potential drops below 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K plays a supporting role in this combination, providing enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings. With 16 cores and 24 threads, the CPU has substantial multi-threading capability, and its 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-threaded performance. The 30 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample on-die storage for game data, while the 10 nm process node and Raptor Lake architecture deliver efficient instruction execution.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks are impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 30745, Geekbench multicore reaches 19429, and PassMark multithread hits 45887. The single-threaded scores are equally strong, with Cinebench R23 singlecore at 2116 and Geekbench singlecore at 2529. These results place the CPU in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46881. Its nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375, AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX, and Intel Xeon w3-2535 — are all within 0.5% of the i7-13700K's average score, indicating that this performance tier is highly competitive.

In Doom specifically, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the system reaches 312 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock and 24 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU's output at lower resolutions. The fact that 1440p Low (202 FPS) is higher than 1080p Ultra (188 FPS) further indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any tested configuration — the GPU's workload determines the final FPS. The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give system builders flexibility, though the measured results do not distinguish between memory types.