Doom

# Intel Core i7-14700K + Intel Arc B390: Doom Performance Analysis

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a playable but constrained experience in Doom, with performance heavily dictated by the integrated GPU's modest capabilities. Across the three tested resolutions, the combo ranks 2580th out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12th percentile of all system pairings for this title. The 20-core, 28-thread Raptor Lake CPU — which sits at the 94th percentile among all CPUs — is clearly not the bottleneck; instead, the Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 24 ROPs limit frame rates to sub-60 territory at higher settings. Benchmark results show a consistent pattern: the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU's 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost clocks cannot feed the display fast enough at 1440p or 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average is 107 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings the average drops to 93 FPS, at High it falls to 78 FPS, and at Ultra it reaches 64 FPS. These represent the only sub-4K results above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GT 710 (1443). This places the B390 at the 9th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the Core i7-14700K the limiting factor in this combo?

A: No. The CPU's average benchmark score of 69355 puts it at the 94th percentile, and it outperforms the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X by 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 9115 by 0.1% in aggregate benchmarks. In Doom, the FPS scaling across resolutions points to the GPU as the constraint, not the processor.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 69 FPS. At Medium it drops to 60 FPS exactly, at High it falls to 51 FPS, and at Ultra it averages just 41 FPS. For a locked 60 FPS experience, 1080p with Medium or High settings is the safer choice.

Q: What 4K performance can users expect?

A: The combo averages 37 FPS at Low, 33 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 28 and maximum of 37), 28 FPS at High, and 22 FPS at Ultra. None of these are playable for competitive FPS standards, and even Medium settings show frame pacing variance from 28 to 37 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i7-14700K scores 4472 in PassMark single-thread tests and 2160 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 9115, Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7940HX, and Ryzen 7 9700F — have aggregate scores within 0.9% of the i7, indicating near-parity in overall CPU capability.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process. Its role in Doom is defined by severe resource constraints: the GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and just 24 raster output units. The 12 ray tracing cores are present but irrelevant for this 2016 title. Memory bandwidth is "System Dependent" and shared with the CPU, which means the GPU relies on the same DDR4/DDR5 pool as the processor — a configuration that inherently limits fill-rate-heavy workloads like Doom's fast-paced rendering.

The clock behavior is telling: a 300 MHz base clock with a 2500 MHz boost clock gives the GPU a theoretical pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. In practice, however, the measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (64 FPS) versus 1080p Low (107 FPS) shows a 40% performance swing purely from settings changes, which points to the GPU's fill-rate limits being hit as texture and shading complexity increases. The 80 W TDP and IGP slot width mean this is thermally constrained as well — there are no power connectors, and the GPU shares the CPU's cooling envelope.

The B390's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, contextualizes its Doom performance. It sits just 1.3% above the GeForce GT 520MX, a GPU from 2011, which explains why Doom — a title from 2016 — runs at playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) are adequate for light loads, but the 24 ROPs become the primary bottleneck when pushing higher pixel counts.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the GPU as the limiting component. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 78 FPS at 1920x1080 to 51 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 35% reduction), then further to 28 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 45% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is not linear — the 4K resolution has four times the pixels of 1080p, yet the FPS does not drop to one-quarter (which would be ~20 FPS). Instead, the 28 FPS result suggests the GPU is partially stalled by other factors, likely memory bandwidth limits from the shared system memory.

At Low settings, the pattern holds: 107 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p (a 36% drop), and 37 FPS at 4K (a 46% drop from 1440p). The consistent ~35-46% reduction per resolution step indicates that the GPU's compute and ROP throughput are being saturated. The CPU, by contrast, shows no such strain — the i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads with a 5.60 GHz boost clock can easily feed frames to the GPU at 1080p, but the GPU cannot render enough frames to keep the CPU busy at higher resolutions.

Medium settings show the most interesting scaling: 93 FPS at 1080p (minimum 79, maximum 107), 60 FPS at 1440p (minimum 51, maximum 69), and 33 FPS at 4K (minimum 28, maximum 37). The frame time variance increases with resolution — at 4K, the range of 28-37 FPS means a 32% swing, which can cause perceptible stutter. This suggests that the system's shared memory architecture creates unpredictable latency spikes when the GPU competes with the CPU for bandwidth.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2580 out of 2930 tested combinations places it in the bottom 12% of all system pairings for Doom. This is a poor result for a CPU that individually ranks at the 94th percentile; the i7-14700K's aggregate benchmark score of 69355 is virtually identical to its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288, 0.1% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, 0.7% higher), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996, 0.9% higher). These deltas are negligible, meaning the CPU is not dragging the combo down.

The GPU, however, ranks at the 9th percentile, and its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA entries from over a decade ago: the GT 520MX (1463 score, 1.3% lower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% lower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% lower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% lower). The Arc B390 is marginally faster than these, but they all belong to the same performance tier — entry-level GPUs from the early 2010s. Placing a 94th-percentile CPU with a 9th-percentile GPU creates a massive imbalance, and the combo rank reflects this: the GPU limits the system to frame rates that are 30-50% below what the CPU could support with a discrete graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its only consistently playable results. Low settings produce an average of 107 FPS, which is smooth for fast-paced Doom gameplay. Medium settings average 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107, giving a tight frame time distribution. High settings drop to 78 FPS, still above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra settings average 64 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, performance becomes marginal. Low settings average 69 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. Medium settings average exactly 60 FPS, with a range of 51-69 FPS — the minimum dipping below 60 means occasional stutter. High settings average 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard. Ultra settings average 41 FPS, making fast-paced combat feel sluggish.

At 3840x2160, the combo is not viable for smooth gameplay. Low settings average 37 FPS, Medium averages 33 FPS (with a range of 28-37), High averages 28 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (28) and the maximum (37) show a wide variance that would be distracting in a game requiring quick reflexes. The 4K results are all below the 30 FPS threshold except for Low, and even that is borderline.

Settings Recommendations

The data suggests that 1920x1080 with Medium settings is the sweet spot for this combo. The 93 FPS average with a 79 FPS minimum provides smooth gameplay with better visual fidelity than Low, while still maintaining a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target. The 107 FPS at Low is technically faster, but the visual downgrade from Medium to Low is not worth the 13% FPS gain, especially since Medium's minimum of 79 FPS is already well above playable.

For users who prioritize visual quality over raw frame rates, 1080p High at 78 FPS is a reasonable choice. The drop from Medium to High costs 15 FPS on average, but the improved texture quality and shading effects are noticeable in Doom's dark environments. Ultra at 64 FPS is only recommended for players who accept occasional dips below 60 FPS in intense firefights, as the average is just barely above the threshold.

At 1440p, Low settings (69 FPS) are the only option that keeps the average above 60 FPS. Medium settings at exactly 60 FPS are risky because the minimum of 51 FPS means the game will stutter during heavy action. Users with 1440p displays should either accept 69 FPS at Low or drop to 1080p for a better experience. The 4K resolution should be avoided entirely — even Low settings at 37 FPS are not suitable for a fast-paced FPS, and the frame time variance at Medium (28-37 FPS) would cause noticeable judder.

The core takeaway: this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with Medium or High settings. The CPU has massive headroom for future GPU upgrades, but with the Arc B390, users should prioritize resolution and settings that keep the average FPS above 60 and the minimum above 50.