Doom

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable but heavily GPU-bound experience in Doom, with performance scaling that clearly favors lower resolutions and settings. The combo ranks in the 17th percentile of tested configurations, indicating that while the CPU has massive headroom, the graphics card limits overall frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 127.3 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which places it 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (score 15996) but 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (both scoring 16351).

Q: What is the CPU’s performance percentile relative to all processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70074. Its closest rival is the Intel Core i7-14700KF with a deltaPct of 0.

Q: What is the best frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 176.9 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 38.5 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the GPU support modern graphics APIs relevant to Doom?

A: Yes, the RTX 2060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. These APIs are fully compatible with the game’s requirements.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and what is its bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. This is sufficient for the game’s textures at the resolutions tested.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1383 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places it firmly in the lower half of configurations, but the data indicates the ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s position rather than the CPU’s capability. The i7-14700K is a top-tier processor, sitting in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 2060 only reaches the 58th percentile of all GPUs. The delta between these two components is stark: the CPU outperforms its nearest rival (the i7-14700KF) by a negligible 0%, while the GPU trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M by 1.7%.

Benchmark results for the CPU show exceptional multi-threaded strength, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44534 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 18896. This suggests the processor is far from being the bottleneck in this pairing. Conversely, the GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 14111 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 reflect a mid-range graphics solution. The combo’s rank is therefore predictable: a high-end CPU constrained by a mid-range GPU produces frame rates that are playable but far from the top tier. In the context of the 1681 tested combos, this pairing delivers results consistent with a GPU-centric limitation, where the i7-14700K’s potential remains largely untapped.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves 127.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops the average to 82.4 FPS, a reduction of approximately 35%. At 4K, the frame rate falls further to 45.8 FPS, representing a 64% drop from the 1080p result. This scaling is steep and indicates that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component, as the CPU has ample headroom to handle the workload at all resolutions.

The data also shows that settings adjustments have a diminishing impact at higher resolutions. At 1080p, lowering settings from Ultra to Low yields a substantial improvement from 102.7 FPS to 176.9 FPS, a 72% gain. At 4K, the same settings change only improves from 38.5 FPS to 60.3 FPS, a 57% gain. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that even reducing graphical load cannot fully compensate for the pixel count. The limiting factor shifts from the CPU at lower resolutions to the GPU’s raw throughput at higher ones, but the evidence points to the GPU being the primary constraint across all tested configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 176.9 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth. Medium settings yield 153.3 FPS, High settings 127.3 FPS, and Ultra settings 102.7 FPS. All four settings clusters exceed the 100 FPS mark, indicating that the RTX 2060 can handle the game’s demands at this resolution without significant compromise.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable but show a clear step down. Low settings average 113.5 FPS, Medium settings 96.3 FPS, High settings 82.4 FPS, and Ultra settings 70.2 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 43.3 FPS, which is a notable spread but still leaves the lowest setting comfortably above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more marginal. Low settings average 60.3 FPS, which is just above the playable threshold. Medium settings drop to 53 FPS, High settings to 45.8 FPS, and Ultra settings to 38.5 FPS. The data shows that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable at the lowest settings, and even then, it barely maintains a consistent 60 FPS average. The progression from 1080p to 4K highlights a GPU that is stretched to its limits at higher pixel counts.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the definitive performance limiter in this configuration. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, the GPU has enough memory capacity for Doom’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the 192-bit bus width and the 12 nm Turing architecture constrain its throughput at higher resolutions. The GPU’s base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1680 MHz are modest compared to the CPU’s capabilities, and the 160 W TDP reflects a mid-range power profile.

The benchmark results for the GPU underscore its position. The Passmark G3D score of 14111 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, while the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 is a modest result. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (0.5% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.8% slower), which confirms its mid-pack standing. In Doom specifically, the GPU’s role is to deliver frame rates that scale predictably with resolution, but it lacks the raw power to maintain high FPS at 4K.

The CPU, by contrast, is a 20-core, 28-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and its benchmark scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multi-core of 44534) indicate it is not a bottleneck. The measured FPS data confirms this, as the frame rates drop consistently with resolution increases, a classic sign of GPU limitation. The RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM is adequate for this game, but the 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and the GPU’s compute capabilities (6.451 TFLOPS FP32) are the decisive factors in the observed performance. This is a pairing where the GPU dictates the experience, and the CPU waits for more demanding workloads.