Doom

The pairing of Intel’s Core i7-14700KF with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a study in extremes: a 20-core, 28-thread Raptor Lake flagship-class CPU driving a 4 GB Pascal-era GPU. In Doom, the benchmark data reveals a system where the graphics card is the overwhelming bottleneck, yet the CPU’s headroom means that even modest setting tweaks yield outsized gains. The following analysis breaks down the measured frames per second, the GPU’s role, and the practical settings for this lopsided combo.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and immediately exposes the GTX 1050 Ti as the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 74 FPS, which falls to 49.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 24.4 FPS at 4K. That is a 67% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling is slightly less punishing on High, where 51.4 FPS at 1080p drops to 38.1 FPS at 1440p and 21.3 FPS at 4K, a 58.6% total decline. The trend is clear: the higher the resolution, the more the GPU’s 112.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 2.138 TFLOPS of FP32 performance struggle to fill frames.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is still GPU-bound, but the CPU’s massive headroom (the i7-14700KF posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557) prevents any CPU-side stutter from contaminating results. Moving to 4K, the average FPS at Ultra collapses to 16.2, which is nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 8.2 FPS (24.4 vs 16.2), suggesting that the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings yields diminishing returns. Conversely, at 1080p, the Low-to-Ultra gap is 32.6 FPS (74 vs 41.4), showing that settings have a much larger impact when the GPU is less overwhelmed.

The scaling pattern suggests that the GTX 1050 Ti’s 128-bit memory bus and 4 GB VRAM are the primary bottlenecks at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the Medium preset (41 FPS) is closer to High (38.1 FPS) than to Low (49.6 FPS), indicating that the GPU’s shading units, not just memory, are hitting their ceiling. For a 20-core CPU that sits in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, this game’s performance is entirely dictated by the GPU’s 30th percentile standing. The i7-14700KF is effectively idle in this scenario, waiting on the GTX 1050 Ti to finish its work.

GPU Role

The GTX 1050 Ti’s specifications paint a clear picture of its limitations. With a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost of 1392 MHz, the Pascal chip (GP107) is running at modest frequencies. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 112.1 GB/s, which is the key constraint at 4K. The card’s 768 shading units and 32 ROPs are responsible for the pixel fill rate of 44.54 GPixel/s, but the texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s is often the limiting factor in Doom’s demon-heavy environments.

The benchmark scores reflect this GPU’s low-end positioning. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 6340 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305, placing it in the 30th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the GeForce 930A (deltaPct 0) and the GeForce 940M (deltaPct 0.4), which are mobile and entry-level parts. This is not a card designed for 4K gaming, and the measured FPS confirms it: every 4K result falls below 25 FPS, with Ultra at 16.2 FPS.

The VRAM capacity is a critical factor. At 4K, Doom’s textures can exceed 4 GB, and the card’s memory bandwidth becomes a choke point. The data shows that dropping from High to Low at 4K only gains 3.1 FPS (21.3 to 24.4), suggesting that the card is not just bandwidth-limited but also shader-limited. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 2.138 TFLOPS is simply insufficient for the pixel shader workload at 2160p. The card’s 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate it was never intended for high-resolution gaming, and the benchmark results are consistent with that design intent.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured data, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1080p with the Medium or High preset. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 63.1 FPS, which is smooth for a single-player FPS. High yields 51.4 FPS, still playable but with a noticeable drop. The Low preset at 1080p hits 74 FPS, but the visual quality penalty is steep. For a game like Doom, where fast motion and dark environments are common, the extra visual fidelity of Medium over Low is worth the 10.9 FPS cost.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Low is the only viable preset, with 49.6 FPS. Medium (41 FPS) and High (38.1 FPS) are borderline, and Ultra (27.9 FPS) is too inconsistent for a competitive edge. The 4K results are uniformly poor; even Low at 24.4 FPS fails to reach the 30 FPS threshold for playability. Therefore, the recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this GPU. The sweet spot is 1080p Medium, which balances the 63.1 FPS average against the visual improvements over Low.

The Ultra preset is a trap for this hardware. At 1080p, it drops to 41.4 FPS, a 34.4% reduction from Medium. The data shows that Ultra’s additional effects tax the GPU’s 48 TMUs heavily, and the result is a frame rate that is too low for Doom’s fast-paced combat. Users should stick to Medium or High at 1080p, or Low at 1440p, to maintain a playable experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is usable. Low produces 74 FPS, the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 63.1 FPS, High at 51.4 FPS, and Ultra at 41.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 44.1% drop, indicating that the GPU has some headroom at 1080p but is still the primary constraint. The jump from Low to Medium costs 10.9 FPS, while Medium to High costs 11.7 FPS, a consistent linear decline.

At 2560x1440, the numbers compress. Low is 49.6 FPS, Medium is 41 FPS, High is 38.1 FPS, and Ultra is 27.9 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 21.7 FPS, smaller than at 1080p, showing that the GPU is nearing its limits. The difference between Medium and High is only 2.9 FPS, suggesting that the shader workload is becoming the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the results are tightly clustered: Low is 24.4 FPS, Medium is 22.5 FPS, High is 21.3 FPS, and Ultra is 16.2 FPS. The Low-to-High gap is just 3.1 FPS, and Ultra falls off a cliff, indicating that the card cannot handle the 4K pixel count regardless of settings.

The data shows a clear pattern: resolution is the dominant factor, not settings. At 1080p, the user has a choice of playable presets. At 1440p, only Low is comfortable. At 4K, no preset is playable. The i7-14700KF’s performance is irrelevant here, as the GPU is maxed out in every scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos for Doom, this pairing ranks 1677 out of 1681 combinations. That places it in the bottom 0.2% of all systems tested, which is consistent with the GPU’s lowly 30th percentile standing. The CPU’s high percentile (96th) does nothing to lift the combo’s rank because the game is GPU-bound. The rank reflects the real-world playability of the system: it is among the worst-performing configurations for this title.

The GPU’s nearest rivals (GeForce 930A, 940M, Radeon R7 240) all have similar average scores, with deltaPct values between 0 and 0.7. This confirms that the GTX 1050 Ti is grouped with entry-level and mobile parts, not desktop gaming cards. The CPU’s nearest rivals (i7-14700K, EPYC 9115, Ryzen 9 9950X) are all within 1.3% of each other, showing that the i7-14700KF is a top-tier processor. The mismatch is stark: a flagship-class CPU paired with a bottom-tier GPU results in a combo rank that is nearly last.

For context, the combo is 4 positions away from being the absolute worst (1681 of 1681). This suggests that any other GPU choice, even a modest one, would significantly improve the rank. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not the issue; the GTX 1050 Ti is simply too weak for Doom at any resolution above 1080p Medium. Users with this combo should prioritize a GPU upgrade above all else, as the data shows the CPU has ample headroom for far more powerful graphics cards.