Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern for this combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 146.6 FPS, which drops to 97.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 50.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K when using the Low preset. The steep decline indicates that the graphics card is the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Under the High preset, the scaling follows a similar trajectory: 107.6 FPS at 1080p falls to 72.1 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop) and then to 39.6 FPS at 4K (a 63% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different quality settings strongly suggests that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's rendering throughput rather than CPU limitations. The GTX 1660 SUPER, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, simply cannot maintain high frame rates as the pixel workload quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling penalty. At 1080p, the combo manages 90.1 FPS, but this falls to 60.7 FPS at 1440p and collapses to 28.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, indicating that the combination of maximum quality settings and 4K resolution overwhelms the GPU's 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power. The data suggests that users targeting 4K should expect sub-60 FPS performance across all settings, with only the Low preset approaching playable territory at 50.6 FPS.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 SUPER's specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Doom. Based on the Turing architecture built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, this GPU features 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. Its base clock of 1530 MHz boosts to 1785 MHz, providing the compute throughput that drives the measured results. The 6 GB memory capacity proves sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the combination of higher resolution textures and larger frame buffers begins to strain the available VRAM, contributing to the sharp FPS drops observed in the 4K Ultra row (28.5 FPS).

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its position. Its PassMark G3D score of 12699 places it at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14286. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (average score 14314, deltaPct -0.2), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, -0.2), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (14352, -0.5), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, -0.7). These extremely tight deltas indicate that the GTX 1660 SUPER sits at a performance parity point with several integrated and entry-level discrete solutions, which explains why it struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions in a demanding title like Doom.

The GPU's 125 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a modest power draw component, and its 1x 8-pin power connector with a 300 W suggested PSU indicates it was designed for mainstream systems. The pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s are the raw throughput metrics that determine how quickly the GPU can fill pixels and apply textures, directly impacting the measured FPS at each resolution and settings combination.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF provides substantial computational headroom that prevents it from bottlenecking the GPU in Doom. With 20 cores and 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, this processor offers far more parallel processing capability than a game from 2016 typically requires. Its 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core ensure that frequently accessed game data can be stored close to the processing cores, reducing memory latency that could otherwise impact frame times.

The CPU's benchmark results confirm its high-end positioning. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and single-core score of 6290 demonstrate exceptional both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The Geekbench multi-core score of 19287 and single-core score of 2972 further reinforce this. The PassMark single-thread score of 4480 and multi-thread score of 52425 show that the processor maintains strong performance across different workload types. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104, places it at the top tier of desktop processors.

The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database are the Intel Core i7-14700K (average score 70074, deltaPct 0), AMD EPYC 9115 (69887, 0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, -0.4), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056, -1.3). The near-zero deltaPct values among these processors indicate that the 14700KF performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. For Doom specifically, this means the CPU is never the limiting factor; even at 1080p Low where the GPU produces 146.6 FPS, the processor has ample headroom to feed frames to the graphics card without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, combined with PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, ensures that the platform can deliver data to the GPU quickly. The 125 W TDP, matching the GPU's TDP, suggests a balanced power profile for the overall system.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset emerges as the most balanced choice for this combination. At 1080p, Medium delivers 131.7 FPS, which is only 10% lower than Low (146.6 FPS) but provides noticeably better visual quality. At 1440p, Medium maintains 80.8 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while High drops to 72.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 60.7 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a 33% improvement over High at the same resolution, making it the sweet spot for users with 1440p displays.

For 1080p gaming, High settings at 107.6 FPS provide an excellent experience, with the frame rate well above display refresh rates for most monitors. Ultra at 1080p still achieves 90.1 FPS, which is playable, but the 17 FPS penalty over High may not justify the visual gains in a fast-paced FPS where frame rate consistency matters. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; Low is the only option approaching playability at 50.6 FPS, while Medium, High, and Ultra deliver 45.8, 39.6, and 28.5 FPS respectively. Users with 4K displays should strongly consider lowering resolution or accepting reduced quality settings.

The data indicates that Medium settings provide the most consistent experience across all three resolutions. The scaling from 1080p (131.7 FPS) to 1440p (80.8 FPS) to 4K (45.8 FPS) shows a predictable degradation curve, whereas High and Ultra show steeper drops at 4K. For users prioritizing frame rate stability in competitive play, Low at 1080p (146.6 FPS) offers maximum performance, but Medium strikes the optimal balance between visual fidelity and playability for the majority of gaming scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 1480 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 12% of all configurations tested. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's top-tier status (96th percentile among all CPUs), but it directly reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning (55th percentile among all GPUs). The data suggests that in Doom, which is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, the processor's immense power cannot compensate for the graphics card's limitations.

The ranking disparity between the CPU and GPU components highlights a significant imbalance in this pairing. The 14700KF, with its average benchmark score of 70104 and nearest rivals all within 1.3% of its performance, represents one of the fastest consumer processors available. Meanwhile, the GTX 1660 SUPER, with its average benchmark score of 14286 and nearest rivals within 0.7% of its performance, sits at the entry-level tier of discrete GPUs. This combination creates a system where the CPU is vastly overqualified for the GPU's capabilities, resulting in a bottleneck that prevents the processor from ever being fully utilized in Doom.

For context, the combo's rank of 1480 out of 1681 means that 201 other tested combinations performed worse. Given the GPU's 55th percentile ranking, the fact that this combo still outperforms a significant number of alternatives suggests that the CPU's strong single-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290, PassMark single-thread score of 4480) provides some benefit in maintaining minimum frame rates, even if average FPS is ultimately GPU-limited.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured dataset for Doom with this hardware combination provides a comprehensive view of performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 146.6 FPS, Medium reaches 131.7 FPS, High delivers 107.6 FPS, and Ultra produces 90.1 FPS. These results show a consistent degradation as quality increases, with a 39% difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the same settings produce 97.7 FPS (Low), 80.8 FPS (Medium), 72.1 FPS (High), and 60.7 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 38% at this resolution, indicating that the GPU is becoming more saturated. The 60.7 FPS Ultra result at 1440p is notable as it represents the exact threshold for smooth gameplay, suggesting that users can achieve playable frame rates at maximum quality on 1440p displays.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly: Low produces 50.6 FPS, Medium 45.8 FPS, High 39.6 FPS, and Ultra only 28.5 FPS. The Ultra result is particularly poor, representing a 68% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. Across all resolutions, the scaling from Low to Ultra follows a predictable pattern, but the 4K results show that this GPU simply lacks the raw compute power (5.027 TFLOPS FP32) and memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s) to handle Doom at maximum quality on 4K displays. The data clearly indicates that this combination is best suited for 1080p gaming at High or Ultra settings, with 1440p Medium/High being a viable alternative for users willing to compromise on quality.