Doom

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 860 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 23.2% of all configurations benchmarked. This is a strong result for a 2016-era FPS title, indicating that the combination of a 13th-gen Intel processor and a 40-series Ada Lovelace GPU is well-suited to the game’s Vulkan-based rendering engine.

The combo’s percentile positioning is noteworthy. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 81st percentile among all graphics cards. The combination of two above-average components yields a composite result that is greater than either part’s individual standing, suggesting that Doom benefits from balanced hardware rather than a single dominant component. The data shows a system that can handle the game’s demanding scenarios without a clear bottleneck emerging at standard resolutions.

Relative to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i7-13700K’s average benchmark score of 46881 places it nearly level with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, which scores 46971 (a delta of -0.2%). Similarly, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 scores 47022 (-0.3%), while the Intel Xeon w3-2535 and AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX both score 46653 (0.5% delta). These sub-1% differences indicate that the i7-13700K is squarely in the pack for raw compute, but its 16 cores and 24 threads provide the headroom needed for Doom’s multithreaded workload processing.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070’s average benchmark score of 37648 is remarkably close to the NVIDIA Tesla P4’s 37628 (0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56’s 37507 (0.4% delta). The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, a -1.3% delta, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails at 37157 (1.3% delta). These tight margins suggest that the desktop RTX 4070 performs similarly to these rivals in synthetic benchmarks, but measured FPS in Doom reveals the real-world advantage of its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth.

FAQ

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

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo delivers 177 FPS average, with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS. This resolution strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as 4K at Ultra drops to 66 FPS average.

Q: How does the CPU’s core count affect performance in Doom?

A: The i7-13700K has 16 cores and 24 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Benchmark results indicate strong multithreaded capability (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 30745), which helps maintain smooth frame pacing in Doom’s heavily threaded scenes, particularly at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more prominent.

Q: Is the RTX 4070’s VRAM sufficient for Doom at 4K?

A: Yes, the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 192-bit bus and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth handles 4K well. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo averages 81 FPS, and even at Ultra it maintains 66 FPS, showing no VRAM-related stuttering or texture pop-in in the measured data.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 314 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 189 FPS. This 125 FPS difference (39.8% reduction) demonstrates that Doom’s Ultra preset places significant load on the GPU, but the RTX 4070 still maintains well above 144 Hz refresh rates.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest rivals in terms of FPS?

A: The measured FPS data shows no direct rival comparisons, but the CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, has an average benchmark score just 0.2% higher. For the GPU, the NVIDIA Tesla P4 is 0.1% ahead in average score. These margins translate to negligible FPS differences in real gaming.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the combo averages 96 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS. Even at High settings, it maintains 81 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings at 4K drop to 66 FPS, still playable but with less headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo achieves 273 FPS average, which increases to 177 FPS at 2560x1440 and drops to 96 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 179 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings, indicating a 65.6% reduction in frame rate as pixel count increases.

The scaling factor between resolutions is not linear. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings reduces FPS by 96 FPS (35.2% drop), while moving from 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by another 81 FPS (45.8% drop). This disproportionate decline suggests that the RTX 4070 becomes the limiting component at higher resolutions, as its 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are increasingly taxed by the larger render target.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The combo delivers 314 FPS at 1080p, 203 FPS at 1440p, and 110 FPS at 4K. This 204 FPS total drop (65.0%) from 1080p to 4K indicates that even at minimal visual settings, the GPU’s rasterization capabilities are the primary constraint. The CPU’s 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom at 1080p, as evidenced by the 314 FPS ceiling, but cannot compensate for the GPU’s workload at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p, the combo averages 189 FPS, dropping to 122 FPS at 1440p and 66 FPS at 4K. The 123 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K (65.1% reduction) demonstrates that Ultra preset’s additional graphical effects, such as enhanced shadows and post-processing, disproportionately impact the GPU. The data indicates that the RTX 4070’s 184 texture mapping units and 64 render output units are the limiting factors at Ultra settings, particularly at 4K where the 66 FPS average approaches the lower bound of smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 273 FPS average, which is only 41 FPS less than Low (314 FPS) but 84 FPS more than Ultra (189 FPS). The Medium preset at 1080p offers a 17.7% frame rate reduction from Low while providing substantially better visual fidelity, making it the optimal choice for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield 177 FPS average, which is 26 FPS less than Low (203 FPS) but 55 FPS more than Ultra (122 FPS). This 177 FPS result comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, allowing for smooth gameplay on high-refresh 1440p displays. The minimum FPS of 150 at this setting ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain above the 144 FPS threshold, providing a consistent experience without dips.

At 3840x2160, Medium settings produce 96 FPS average, which is 14 FPS less than Low (110 FPS) but 30 FPS more than Ultra (66 FPS). The 4K Medium result is particularly notable because it maintains a minimum of 81 FPS, ensuring that the experience stays fluid even during intense combat sequences. High settings at 4K deliver 81 FPS average, which is playable but offers less headroom for frame rate fluctuations.

For users prioritizing maximum performance, Low settings at 1440p (203 FPS) or 1080p (314 FPS) are recommended. However, given that Medium settings at 4K still achieve 96 FPS average, the data suggests that Medium is the best overall preset for this combo, offering a 45.5% performance improvement over Ultra at 4K while maintaining high visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 314 FPS average, Medium settings achieve 273 FPS with a minimum of 232 FPS and a maximum of 314 FPS, High settings reach 231 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 189 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 125 FPS, representing a 39.8% reduction in performance when enabling the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain substantial. Low settings yield 203 FPS average, Medium settings achieve 177 FPS with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 204 FPS, High settings reach 150 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 122 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 81 FPS (39.9% reduction), showing consistent scaling relative to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more constrained. Low settings produce 110 FPS average, Medium settings achieve 96 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS, High settings reach 81 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 66 FPS. The total reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K is 44 FPS (40.0% reduction), maintaining the same proportional scaling observed at lower resolutions.

The minimum FPS data points, available only for Medium settings, show consistent frame pacing. At 1080p, the minimum of 232 FPS represents a 15.0% drop from the average of 273 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum of 150 FPS is a 15.3% drop from the 177 FPS average. At 4K, the minimum of 81 FPS is a 15.6% drop from the 96 FPS average. This consistent variance across resolutions indicates that the combo maintains stable performance without significant frame time spikes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process node. Its 16 cores are split between performance and efficiency cores, though the fact pack does not specify the exact configuration. The base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz provide substantial single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2116 and Geekbench single-core score of 2529.

In Doom, the CPU’s multithreaded capabilities are critical for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions. The measured data shows 314 FPS at 1080p Low settings, which is well above the GPU’s rendering limits. This indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game logic updates to sustain maximum frame rates, with the 24 threads handling the game’s physics, AI, and entity management efficiently.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache, provides fast access to frequently used data. In a fast-paced FPS like Doom, where entity positions and game state change rapidly, this cache configuration helps reduce memory latency and improves frame throughput. The PassMark multithread score of 45887 and floating-point math score of 114867 further corroborate the CPU’s ability to process the game’s computational load.

The i7-13700K’s average benchmark score of 46881 places it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, just 0.2% below the AMD Ryzen 9 5900’s 46971. This near-parity in synthetic benchmarks translates to comparable gaming performance, though the i7-13700K’s higher boost clock of 5.40 GHz may provide an edge in latency-sensitive scenarios. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give users flexibility in system configuration, though the fact pack does not specify memory bandwidth figures.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC’s 5 nm process node, with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. The GPU features 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. Its base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz enable a peak FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS, while the pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s determine its rasterization throughput.

In Doom, the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 4K resolution, as evidenced by the 66 FPS result at Ultra settings with no VRAM-related degradation in the measured data. The memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) allows for rapid texture streaming, which is particularly important in Doom’s fast-paced environments.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 37648 places it at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, just 0.1% ahead at 37628. The RTX 4070’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and PassMark G3D score of 26927 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant for Doom’s Vulkan API support. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 174152 further demonstrates the GPU’s compute capabilities under low-level APIs.

At 4K Ultra settings, the RTX 4070 delivers 66 FPS, which is the lowest measured result in the pack. This performance level suggests that the GPU’s 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors at this resolution and preset. The 184 TMUs handle texture filtering efficiently, but the 64 ROPs constrain pixel fill rate, particularly with the additional overdraw and post-processing effects enabled by the Ultra preset.

The RTX 4070’s 5 nm process node and 200 W TDP provide excellent efficiency, as the GPU can sustain high clock speeds without thermal throttling in the measured scenarios. The 16-pin power connector and 550 W suggested PSU specification ensure stable power delivery, though the fact pack does not provide power consumption data for the combo as a whole. The GPU’s end-of-life production status indicates that this card is being phased out, but its performance in Doom remains strong relative to contemporary alternatives.