Doom

# Doom: Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 — Benchmark Analysis

The combination of Intel's Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1650 produces a sharply GPU-limited experience in Doom (2016), with the measured frame rates revealing that the graphics card's 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth constrain performance at every resolution above 1080p. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads, boosted to 5.40 GHz, are effectively never the bottleneck in this title, as evidenced by the FPS scaling pattern that follows the GPU's compute and memory limits rather than any processor ceiling. The data indicates a system that delivers playable frame rates at 1080p with medium-to-low settings, but falls below the 30 FPS threshold at 4K across all presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 demonstrates classic GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 92 FPS, which drops to 59 FPS at 1440p and 32 FPS at 4K — a reduction of 35.9% from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 45.8% from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline is consistent with a graphics card operating at its memory bandwidth ceiling, as the GTX 1650's 128.1 GB/s bandwidth must service a quadrupling of pixel count when moving from 1080p to 4K.

The High preset tells the same story with slightly different magnitudes: 68 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, and 24 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.3%, and from 1440p to 4K is 45.5%. Interestingly, the percentage declines are nearly identical across Low and High presets, which suggests that the limiting factor is resolution-dependent memory throughput rather than shader or texture processing. The GTX 1650's 2.984 TFLOPS FP32 compute is sufficient for this title, but the 128-bit memory bus and 4 GB GDDR5 capacity become the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

The Medium preset shows the same scaling: 80 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which likely increases texture quality and shadow resolution, produces 55 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K — the lowest measured values across all configurations. The fact that Ultra at 4K drops below 20 FPS while Low at 4K manages 32 FPS indicates that the VRAM capacity is being exhausted at higher presets, forcing additional memory traffic that the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data allows for clear preset guidance based on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 68 FPS, which provides smooth gameplay for this fast-paced FPS. The Medium preset at 80 FPS is also viable, and the Low preset at 92 FPS offers headroom for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 55 FPS is playable but represents a 19.1% drop from High, suggesting that the visual gains from Ultra do not justify the performance cost on this GPU.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 59 FPS, which is the only setting that stays above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 52 FPS is acceptable for most players, while High at 44 FPS begins to show noticeable frame pacing issues. Ultra at 36 FPS is borderline and likely feels sluggish in combat situations. For 1440p, the recommendation is Low or Medium, depending on whether visual fidelity or frame rate consistency takes priority.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets reach 30 FPS. Low at 32 FPS is technically above the cinematic threshold but still below the 60 FPS target for smooth FPS play. Medium at 28 FPS, High at 24 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS are all below playable thresholds for this genre. The data shows that 4K is not a realistic option for this combination in Doom, regardless of settings. Users targeting 4K would need to accept sub-30 FPS performance or reduce resolution scaling.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650's specifications directly explain the measured performance envelope. The GPU has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s bandwidth. The base clock of 1485 MHz boosts to 1665 MHz, and the chip contains 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are reasonable for 1080p but insufficient for 4K pixel throughput.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and PassMark G3D score of 7880 place this GPU in the 40th percentile of all graphics cards. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (0.3% higher), Intel UHD Graphics 750 (0.4% higher), and AMD Radeon R7 350 (0.6% higher), with the Intel Arc A310 being 1% faster. This positioning confirms that the GTX 1650 is an entry-level part that struggles with modern titles at higher resolutions.

The VRAM capacity of 4 GB is a particular concern for Doom at higher settings. The Ultra preset at 4K produces 19 FPS, which is 40.6% lower than the Low preset's 32 FPS at the same resolution. This gap likely reflects texture data exceeding the 4 GB frame buffer, causing the GPU to page to system memory over the PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 33042 and OpenCL score of 29629 indicate that the card's compute capabilities are adequate for this DirectX 12 title, but memory bandwidth remains the critical constraint.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 60 FPS in any configuration?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the measured average FPS is 92, and at Medium it is 80. The High preset at 1080p achieves 68 FPS. However, at 2560x1440, only the Low preset reaches 59 FPS, which is just below 60, and no 4K setting exceeds 32 FPS.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset perform so much worse than Low at the same resolution?

A: The data shows a consistent gap between Ultra and Low across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra is 55 FPS versus Low's 92 FPS (40.2% lower); at 1440p, 36 FPS versus 59 FPS (39.0% lower); at 4K, 19 FPS versus 32 FPS (40.6% lower). This consistent percentage difference indicates that Ultra settings increase the GPU's memory access demands, which the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth cannot fully satisfy.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700F holding back the GTX 1650 in Doom?

A: No. The benchmark data shows GPU-bound behavior, with FPS dropping by similar percentages as resolution increases. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, provide far more processing capability than this title requires. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, has an average score only 0.6% higher, but the game's performance is limited by the GPU's memory bandwidth.

Q: What is the best setting for 1080p gaming with this system?

A: The High preset at 68 FPS provides a good balance between visual quality and performance. The Medium preset at 80 FPS offers smoother frame delivery with a 17.6% improvement over High, while the Low preset at 92 FPS is ideal for competitive play where frame rate is paramount. Ultra at 55 FPS is not recommended given the 23.7% drop from High.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest competitors in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1650's PassMark G3D score of 7880 places it in the 40th percentile. The Intel Arc A310 scores 7550 (1% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 8850M scores 7447 (0.3% lower), the Intel UHD Graphics 750 scores 7441 (0.4% lower), and the AMD Radeon R7 350 scores 7425 (0.6% lower). These small differences in synthetic scores do not translate to meaningful differences in Doom's actual frame rates.

Q: Can this system achieve 4K gaming in Doom?

A: The data shows that 4K performance is below 30 FPS on all presets. The Low preset achieves 32 FPS, which is marginally above 30 but still below the 60 FPS target for smooth FPS gameplay. The Medium preset at 28 FPS, High at 24 FPS, and Ultra at 19 FPS confirm that 4K is not viable for this combination in Doom.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 3585 out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the bottom 3.4% of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the GPU's limited capability rather than any CPU deficiency, as the processor is among the top 9% of all CPUs (91st percentile). The GPU's 40th percentile ranking, however, drags the overall combo down significantly.

The rank disparity between the CPU (91st percentile) and GPU (40th percentile) creates an unbalanced system for this title. The data indicates that the i7-14700F is capable of supporting far more powerful graphics cards, but the GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth prevent the system from utilizing the CPU's full potential in Doom. Users would see substantial FPS improvements by pairing the CPU with a higher-tier GPU, as the processor's 20 cores and 28 threads are not being exercised to their limits at any resolution tested.

The low rank also reflects the age and market positioning of the GTX 1650, which is end-of-life with a 12 nm process node and Turing architecture. Its nearest GPU rivals include integrated graphics solutions like the Intel UHD Graphics 750, indicating that the discrete GPU's performance is only marginally better than some integrated options. This confirms how far integrated graphics have progressed, but it also highlights the GTX 1650's obsolescence for modern gaming at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F brings substantial processing power to this combination, with 20 cores and 28 threads arranged in a hybrid architecture. The base clock of 2.10 GHz boosts to 5.40 GHz, and the processor features 33 MB of shared L3 cache with 2 MB L2 per core. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 35122 and single-core score of 4958 demonstrate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, placing the CPU in the 91st percentile of all processors.

However, in Doom, the CPU's role is minimal. The measured FPS values across all resolutions and settings show no evidence of CPU bottlenecking. The consistent percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K are characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario, where the graphics card cannot render frames fast enough to stress the CPU. The PassMark multithread score of 41317 and single-thread score of 4257 confirm that the processor has ample headroom for this title.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6505P (0.2% faster), Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (0.3% slower), AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (0.6% slower), and AMD EPYC 7313P (0.8% slower). These differences are negligible for gaming purposes, as even the slowest of these processors would deliver identical FPS in Doom when paired with the GTX 1650. The CPU's 65 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory indicate that it is designed for mainstream desktop use, but its capabilities far exceed what this GPU can utilize in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance. Low settings produce 92 FPS, Medium 80 FPS (with minimum 68 and maximum 92), High 68 FPS, and Ultra 55 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 40.2%, reflecting the increased GPU workload from higher quality textures and effects. The Medium preset's minimum of 68 FPS indicates that frame pacing remains consistent, with no severe dips below the average.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. Low settings achieve 59 FPS, Medium 52 FPS (minimum 44, maximum 60), High 44 FPS, and Ultra 36 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread is 39.0%, nearly identical to 1080p, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor regardless of resolution. The Medium preset's maximum of 60 FPS shows that the system occasionally hits the 60 FPS mark, but the average remains below it.

At 3840x2160, the system operates below playable thresholds. Low settings produce 32 FPS, Medium 28 FPS (minimum 24, maximum 32), High 24 FPS, and Ultra 19 FPS. The Low to Ultra spread is 40.6%, consistent with the other resolutions. The Medium preset's minimum of 24 FPS and maximum of 32 FPS show significant frame time variance, which would result in noticeable stuttering during gameplay.

The complete dataset reveals a consistent pattern: the GTX 1650 provides approximately 2.9x more FPS at 1080p compared to 4K across all settings, with the exact ratios being 2.88x for Low (92/32), 2.86x for Medium (80/28), 2.83x for High (68/24), and 2.89x for Ultra (55/19). This consistency across presets reinforces that resolution-dependent memory bandwidth, not shader complexity, is the primary bottleneck in this configuration.