Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT acting as the primary constraint. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 189.8 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset drops the average to 121.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 36%. The jump to 3840x2160 at Ultra produces 67.7 FPS, which is about 44% lower than the 1440p result. This steep decline from 1440p to 4K indicates that the graphics card is doing nearly all of the heavy lifting at higher pixel counts, while the Intel Core i7-14700K has ample headroom.

The trend holds across all settings. At High quality, the frame rate falls from 229.2 FPS at 1080p to 147.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 83.8 FPS at 4K. The Low preset shows the same shape: 315 FPS at 1080p, 202.6 FPS at 1440p, and 110.4 FPS at 4K. In every case, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is proportionally smaller than the 1440p-to-4K drop, which is expected because 4K requires four times the pixel throughput of 1080p. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to reach very high frame rates, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

An interesting observation is the delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap is 125.2 FPS (315 vs. 189.8), while at 4K, the gap narrows to 42.7 FPS (110.4 vs. 67.7). This compression at higher resolutions reinforces that the RX 9070 XT is saturated by pixel fill demands when running at 4K, leaving less room for settings to influence performance. Conversely, at 1080p, the GPU has spare capacity, so raising the preset from Low to Ultra costs more raw frames but still leaves the combo well above 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing a smooth 60 FPS baseline at 3840x2160, the data shows that even Ultra delivers 67.7 FPS, which clears that threshold. However, the margin is thin. Dropping to High at 4K yields 83.8 FPS, a 24% improvement over Ultra, while Medium offers 94.1 FPS and Low reaches 110.4 FPS. Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra is often subtle in fast-paced FPS titles, High appears to be the sweet spot for 4K: it provides a comfortable buffer above 60 FPS while retaining most of the graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the combo is exceptionally capable. Ultra still produces 121.7 FPS, which is well above the 100 FPS mark that many competitive players target. If the goal is maximum refresh rate utilization on a 144Hz monitor, Medium at 173.9 FPS or Low at 202.6 FPS would be more appropriate. High at 147.4 FPS is a strong middle ground, offering nearly 50 FPS more than Ultra while maintaining high-quality visuals.

For 1920x1080, every preset exceeds 180 FPS. Ultra yields 189.8 FPS, High 229.2 FPS, Medium 270.7 FPS, and Low 315 FPS. At this resolution, the recommendation depends on the display's refresh rate. For a 240Hz panel, High or Medium are the best choices because they deliver enough frames to saturate the display without sacrificing too much detail. Low is only necessary for extreme high-refresh scenarios, but the gains over Medium are modest (44.3 FPS). Overall, the data indicates that High is the most balanced preset across all three resolutions, with the caveat that 4K users may want to consider Medium for extra headroom.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, the combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT achieves a rank of 464 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the 72nd percentile of all systems, meaning roughly 28% of tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this title. The ranking reflects a strong but not top-tier pairing; the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for Doom's engine, but the GPU's position in the broader hierarchy (82nd percentile among all GPUs) caps the overall result.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 9070 XT's average benchmark score of 39647 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro 575 (39703, deltaPct -0.1) and the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile (39568, deltaPct 0.2). This clustering suggests that the RX 9070 XT is roughly on par with those professional and mobile parts in synthetic tests, but in actual Doom gameplay, the desktop-oriented architecture and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory provide a tangible advantage at high resolutions. The CPU side shows similar parity: the i7-14700K's average score of 70074 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, deltaPct -0.5) and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056, deltaPct -1.4). This means the processor is not leaving any meaningful performance on the table.

The combo rank of 464 suggests that while this system is above average, there are many configurations with more powerful GPUs (e.g., higher-tier RDNA 4 or competing NVIDIA cards) that push further ahead. The data does not list those specific combos, but the percentile gap implies that the RX 9070 XT is the limiting factor in this pairing for Doom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest raw performance. Low settings produce 315 FPS, which is the single fastest result in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 270.7 FPS, High at 229.2 FPS, and Ultra at 189.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 125.2 FPS, demonstrating that settings have a significant impact at this resolution. Even the slowest preset, Ultra, remains well above the 144Hz mark, making 1080p a resolution where the CPU and GPU both have excess capacity.

At 2560x1440, the numbers remain strong but begin to show GPU pressure. Low achieves 202.6 FPS, Medium 173.9 FPS, High 147.4 FPS, and Ultra 121.7 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 80.9 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to absorb more of the performance cost of higher settings. All presets still exceed 120 FPS, so 1440p is comfortably playable at any quality level.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low yields 110.4 FPS, Medium 94.1 FPS, High 83.8 FPS, and Ultra 67.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 42.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset barely clears 60 FPS. This is the only resolution where the combo drops below 100 FPS on any setting, and the data indicates that users targeting 4K should stick to High or Medium for a stable frame rate.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average is 315 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 270.7 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings.

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

A: Yes, but with a limited margin. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 67.7 FPS, which is above 60 FPS but leaves only a 7.7 FPS buffer. Dropping to High raises the average to 83.8 FPS for more headroom.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 70074, which is within 0.3% of the AMD EPYC 9115 (69887) and 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420). It trails the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 1.4%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 202.6 FPS while Ultra produces 121.7 FPS. The difference is 80.9 FPS, with Medium and High falling between at 173.9 FPS and 147.4 FPS, respectively.

Q: Does the 16 GB of VRAM on the RX 9070 XT matter for this game?

A: The FACT PACK does not include VRAM utilization data for Doom, but the 16 GB capacity is part of the GPU's specifications. The measured performance at 4K suggests the memory is sufficient, as the card sustains 67.7 FPS at Ultra without dropping below 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested systems in Doom?

A: It ranks 464th out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the upper 72nd percentile of all configurations for this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This is a high-core-count desktop processor built on the Raptor Lake architecture, and its benchmark scores reflect strong multi-threaded capabilities: it achieves 44534 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 18704 points in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Single-thread performance is equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6287 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2932.

In Doom, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The measured FPS at 1080p (e.g., 315 FPS on Low) indicates that the i7-14700K can handle the game's single-threaded demands without becoming a bottleneck. The 20-core configuration is overkill for a title from 2016, but it ensures that background tasks and any future engine updates will not cause frame drops. The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core also help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame times.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. If it were, we would expect the 4K results to show less variation between settings, as the GPU would be idle waiting for CPU data. Instead, the 4K Ultra result of 67.7 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 110.4 FPS demonstrates that the GPU's workload scales with resolution and settings, while the CPU has sufficient headroom to keep pace. The i7-14700K's 5.60 GHz boost clock provides the single-thread speed necessary for high-FPS scenarios, and its 28 threads ensure that even heavily threaded game code will not saturate the processor.