Doom

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Doom reveals a dramatic scaling curve as resolution climbs. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 446.1 FPS, but that drops to 290.3 FPS at 1440p and further to 156 FPS at 4K. This represents a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, though the absolute deltas vary.

For High settings, the transition from 1080p (329.5 FPS) to 1440p (209.8 FPS) is a 36% drop, while moving from 1440p to 4K (117.9 FPS) costs another 44%. The Ultra preset shows the steepest relative decline: 266.1 FPS at 1080p, 173.3 FPS at 1440p, and 93.5 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K reduction at Ultra is 65%, mirroring the Low preset's percentage drop but from a lower absolute starting point.

These scaling patterns indicate that at 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-limited. The fact that Low settings (446.1 FPS) outperform Medium (390 FPS) by 14% at 1080p, while the gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 17% (156 vs 133.8 FPS), suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, yet the frame rates still fall well below the 1080p results, confirming that pixel throughput—not memory capacity—is the limiting factor at 4K.

The data implies that for competitive play at high refresh rates, 1080p or 1440p are the sweet spots, while 4K is viable for immersive single-player sessions at High settings (117.9 FPS) or Medium (133.8 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K dips below 100 FPS, which may be noticeable on high-refresh displays.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings formidable specifications to Doom: 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and base clock of 2235 MHz drive a peak FP32 throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Doom's 2016-era engine.

The GPU's pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s explain why 4K performance remains strong. At 4K Ultra, the combo still produces 93.5 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present but largely unused in Doom, as the game does not employ ray tracing or DLSS features—meaning the raw rasterization performance is what matters here.

Comparing the RTX 4090 to its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database, it trails the NVIDIA Tesla T4 by 0.4% in average score (66,473 vs 66,733), while leading the Tesla P40 by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 by 0.9%. These deltas are negligible, indicating that the RTX 4090's gaming performance is broadly in line with professional-grade accelerators in synthetic tests, though its real-world gaming advantage is far more pronounced.

The GPU's 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs underscores its top-tier status. In Doom specifically, the RTX 4090's headroom is evident: even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate exceeds 90 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is not fully saturated. The limiting factor at 4K is more likely the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, given the game's age and its reliance on single-threaded performance.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 2.10 GHz boosts to 5.40 GHz, providing strong single-thread performance that is critical for Doom's engine. The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for the game's physics and AI calculations.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-14700F achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35,443 and a single-core score of 5,003. Its Geekbench multi-core score of 16,571 and single-core score of 2,711 place it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The PassMark multi-thread score of 41,765 and single-thread score of 4,261 further confirm its balanced performance profile.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, which scores 54,450 on average (0.6% higher), and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D at 54,681 (1.1% higher). The Intel Xeon Phi 7290 trails by 1.2%, and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%. These small deltas suggest the i7-14700F is competitive with top-tier desktop and server processors, though the Ryzen 9 series holds a slight edge in multi-threaded workloads.

In Doom, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p where frame rates exceed 400 FPS on Low settings. The 5.40 GHz boost clock allows the CPU to maintain high instruction throughput, but the game's engine likely caps effective performance around 450 FPS due to single-thread dependencies. At 4K, the CPU's impact diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, evidenced by the smaller FPS gaps between settings presets at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 19th out of 1,681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 1.1% of all configurations, which is exceptional given the breadth of hardware combinations in the database. The ranking reflects the synergy between a high-clock CPU and a flagship GPU, both of which excel in Doom's demanding scenarios.

The 19th position suggests that while this combo is near the top, there are 18 other configurations that achieve higher average frame rates in Doom. These likely include CPUs with even higher single-thread performance or GPUs with better rasterization efficiency for this specific title. However, the gap between this combo and the top-ranked ones is likely small, given the RTX 4090's dominance and the i7-14700F's strong single-core capabilities.

The combo's performance is consistent across resolutions, with no significant anomalies in the measured data. The rank of 19 out of 1,681 is a strong indicator that this configuration is well-balanced for Doom, avoiding the pitfalls of CPU or GPU bottlenecks that plague less optimized pairings. For users seeking a high-refresh-rate experience at any resolution, this combo delivers within the top percentile of all tested systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo produces the following average FPS: Low settings hit 446.1 FPS, Medium delivers 390 FPS, High reaches 329.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 266.1 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 40% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but expected given the increased graphical fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 290.3 FPS, Medium at 253.6 FPS, High at 209.8 FPS, and Ultra at 173.3 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 40% as well, maintaining a consistent relative scaling. The absolute FPS values remain high enough for smooth gameplay even at Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are: Low at 156 FPS, Medium at 133.8 FPS, High at 117.9 FPS, and Ultra at 93.5 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 40% again, showing that the game's settings scaling is uniform across resolutions. Notably, even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate exceeds 90 FPS, which is excellent for a 2016 title.

The data reveals that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K in percentage terms. For example, at High settings, 1080p-to-1440p drops by 36%, while 1440p-to-4K drops by 44%. This suggests diminishing returns as resolution increases, with the GPU's pixel throughput becoming the dominant factor at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 446.1, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 93.5 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the i7-14700F compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The i7-14700F scores 54,097 on average, which is 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 1.1% below the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, while leading the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% and the AMD EPYC 7313P by 1.7%.

Q: What settings preset provides the best balance of FPS and visual quality at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 209.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 173.3 FPS. High offers a 21% FPS advantage over Ultra with only a modest reduction in visual fidelity.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K in Doom?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at 4K, as FPS drops significantly from 1440p to 4K across all settings, while the CPU's high single-core performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Doom?

A: This combo ranks 19th out of 1,681 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.1% of all systems tested in the database.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 446.1 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play on high-refresh monitors. However, if visual quality is a concern, the Medium preset at 1080p still achieves 390 FPS, providing a 13% FPS reduction for noticeably better graphics.

At 1440p, the High preset (209.8 FPS) offers the best experience for most users, as it balances visual fidelity with frame rates well above 144 Hz. The Ultra preset (173.3 FPS) is also viable for 144 Hz displays, but the 21% FPS penalty may not justify the marginal visual improvement in a fast-paced game like Doom.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset (133.8 FPS) is the recommended choice, as it stays above 120 FPS while providing good visual quality. The High preset (117.9 FPS) is acceptable for 120 Hz displays, while Ultra (93.5 FPS) is best reserved for 60-90 Hz monitors or for users who prioritize maximum graphical fidelity over frame rate.

Overall, the data indicates that the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, with the Medium preset serving as a strong fallback for 4K users who want to maximize refresh rates. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with 60 Hz displays at 4K or those who prefer cinematic quality over competitive responsiveness.