Doom

The pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti in Doom produces a heavily GPU-bound experience, where the 4 GB Pascal card consistently limits frame rates far below what the 20-core Raptor Lake processor can deliver. This combination ranks 3652nd out of 3712 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom percentile of system configurations. The data shows a classic bottleneck scenario: a modern, high-end CPU paired with an entry-level GPU from 2016, resulting in playable but modest performance at 1080p and a steep decline at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 3652 out of 3712 tested configurations places it within the bottom 2% of all system pairings for Doom. This low standing is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The stark contrast between these two percentiles highlights the massive imbalance in this pairing. The GPU's average benchmark score of 4193 places it in the company of the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (0.6% higher) and the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (1% lower), while the CPU's average score of 69355 places it within 0.1% of the AMD EPYC 9115 and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X.

In practical terms for Doom, this rank means the system lands in the lowest tier of performance. The measured FPS data confirms that even at the most favorable settings (1080p Low), the combo only achieves 74 FPS on average, which is respectable but far from the high-refresh-rate territory that the CPU alone could support. When compared to other combos in the database, the i7-14700K's immense processing power—evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and single-core score of 2160—is almost entirely wasted in this game, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor at every resolution tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a Pascal-architecture GPU built on a 14 nm process, featuring 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. Its memory configuration consists of 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 112.1 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1291 MHz with a boost clock of 1392 MHz, and its memory runs at an effective 7 Gbps. These specifications place it firmly in the entry-level category of its era, with a passmark G3D score of 6340 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305.

For Doom, the GPU's role is decisive in determining overall performance. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's limitations are the primary constraint at all resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 45 FPS on average, which drops to 29 FPS at 1440p Ultra and 16 FPS at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 4 GB VRAM capacity, while sufficient for Doom's textures at lower settings, becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions and detail levels. The boost clock of 1392 MHz is modest by modern standards, and the 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth limits texture throughput in demanding scenes.

The GPU's 25th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (0.6% higher) and the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (1.1% lower), underscores its position as a legacy component. Its Vulkan score of 10001 and OpenCL score of 18129 in Geekbench tests suggest it can handle modern APIs, but its raw compute power—2.138 TFLOPS FP32—is insufficient for smooth high-resolution gaming in a fast-paced FPS like Doom.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a textbook case of GPU-bound performance degradation. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 55 at 1080p to 35 at 1440p, a 36% reduction, and then to 19 at 4K, a 65% reduction from 1080p. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance does not scale with resolution in a way that would cause such steep drops.

At Low settings, the trend is similar but with slightly higher absolute values: 74 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 4K. The delta between Low and High settings narrows as resolution increases, suggesting that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that settings adjustments have diminishing returns. The Medium settings row shows the same pattern, with 65 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p, and 23 FPS at 4K, and the minimum FPS values (55 at 1080p, 36 at 1440p, 19 at 4K) confirm that frame pacing remains consistent even under load.

This scaling behavior strongly suggests that the i7-14700K, with its 5.60 GHz boost clock and 20 cores, has virtually no influence on the FPS results. The CPU's Cinebench R15 single-core score of 313.5 and multi-core score of 5035 indicate ample headroom for Doom's engine, which is known to be well-optimized for multi-threaded CPUs. The data shows that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the sole determinants of performance, and the 44.54 GPixel/s pixel rate and 66.82 GTexel/s texture rate are simply too low for 4K rendering in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and frame rate preference. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 74 FPS on average, which provides a smooth and responsive experience for fast-paced combat. The Medium preset offers a more balanced tradeoff at 65 FPS, with only a 12% performance cost for improved visual fidelity. The High preset drops to 55 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing may become noticeable in intense firefights. The Ultra preset, at 45 FPS, is the least recommended for 1080p, as the visual gains over High are marginal in Doom's fast action.

At 1440p, the Low preset is the only setting that maintains playable frame rates, delivering 48 FPS on average. The Medium preset at 42 FPS is borderline, and the High preset at 35 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS fall below the 30 FPS threshold that most players consider acceptable for a first-person shooter. At 4K, none of the settings achieve playable performance: Low delivers 26 FPS, Medium 23 FPS, High 19 FPS, and Ultra 16 FPS. The data indicates that the best experience is achieved at 1080p with Medium or Low settings, where the combo can maintain frame rates above 60 FPS.

The measured rows show that the Medium preset at 1080p, with an average of 65 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS, offers the best combination of visual quality and smoothness for this hardware pairing. Players prioritizing frame rate above all else should select Low settings, which provide a 15% performance uplift over Medium and a 61% uplift over Ultra at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K?

A: No, not at playable frame rates. The measured data shows that even at Low settings, the combo only achieves 26 FPS on average at 3840x2160, with the Ultra preset dropping to 16 FPS. All 4K settings fall below the 30 FPS threshold typically considered the minimum for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this system?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering 65 FPS on average with a minimum of 55 FPS. For players who prioritize frame rate, the Low preset achieves 74 FPS on average. At higher resolutions, only Low settings provide marginally playable results at 1440p (48 FPS).

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has an average benchmark score of 4193, placing it 0.6% below the AMD Radeon R5 M330 and 1% above the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M. It sits 1.1% below the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M and 1.8% below the AMD Radeon Vega 3 in the benchmark database.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data clearly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks at the 94th percentile with an average benchmark score of 69355, while the GPU ranks at the 25th percentile with an average score of 4193. The FPS scaling with resolution—dropping from 55 FPS at 1080p High to 19 FPS at 4K High—confirms that the GPU's performance ceiling is the primary constraint.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at different settings?

A: The measured minimum FPS values for the Medium preset show consistent frame pacing, with a minimum of 55 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. These minimums closely track the averages, indicating stable performance without severe stuttering, though the absolute frame rates are low at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the CPU's single-threaded performance affect Doom?

A: The i7-14700K's single-core scores (313.5 in Cinebench R15, 2160 in Cinebench R23) are more than sufficient for Doom's engine, which is well-optimized for multi-threading. However, the measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation, as the performance scales consistently with GPU load rather than CPU capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture using a 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are impressive across the board: Cinebench R23 multi-core at 33440.5, Geekbench multi-core at 20767, and Passmark multi-thread at 52392. The CPU's percentile ranking of 94 places it among the top performers in the database, with its nearest rivals including the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% lower).

In Doom, the CPU's role is almost entirely supportive, as the game's performance is dictated by the GPU's capabilities. The measured FPS data shows that even at the lowest resolution and settings (1080p Low), the combo achieves 74 FPS, which is a fraction of what the CPU alone could sustain in this engine. The CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock and high single-core performance (2160 in Cinebench R23) ensure that frame times are never CPU-bound, but this headroom is wasted due to the GPU bottleneck.

The CPU's multi-threading capabilities, evidenced by its 28 threads and 33440.5 Cinebench R23 multi-core score, are also largely underutilized. Doom's engine can leverage multiple cores, but the GTX 1050 Ti's 768 shading units and 2.138 TFLOPS FP32 throughput simply cannot generate frames fast enough to stress the CPU. The data shows that the CPU's 94th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 69355 place it in a completely different performance tier than the GPU, creating a systemic imbalance that no in-game setting can rectify. For this pairing, the i7-14700K serves as a future-proofing investment, but in Doom specifically, its contribution to the measured FPS is negligible.