Doom

Doom is a fast-paced FPS that heavily rewards high frame rates, and the Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers an exceptionally strong performance profile across all tested resolutions. The data shows this combination is capable of pushing well beyond the 144Hz refresh rate threshold at 1440p and maintaining a highly playable experience at 4K, though the scaling curve reveals a predictable shift in system bottleneck as resolution increases. This combo ranks in the top 16.4% of all tested configurations for this game, placing it 607th out of 3712 combos, which underscores its capability as a high-end pairing for Doom.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but follows a clear and expected pattern, with the most significant performance cost occurring between 1440p and 4K. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 257 at 1920x1080 to 166 at 2560x1440, a 35.4% reduction, and then drops further to 90 at 3840x2160, which represents a 45.8% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at 4K indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER's rendering workload is scaling heavily with pixel count, making the GPU the primary limiting component at the highest resolution.

The scaling behavior at lower settings confirms that the GPU is the dominant constraint at 4K, while the CPU becomes more relevant at 1080p. At Low settings, the average FPS at 1080p is 349, which drops to 226 at 1440p and then to 123 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 35.2%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 45.6%, showing a very similar percentage decrease to the High preset. This consistency suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the frame rate does not plateau at 1080p, indicating headroom in the CPU.

The difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution further illustrates the GPU bottleneck. At 4K, the average FPS goes from 123 at Low to 74 at Ultra, a 39.8% reduction, while at 1080p, it goes from 349 at Low to 210 at Ultra, a 39.8% reduction. The nearly identical percentage drop at both resolutions indicates that the GPU's compute and memory throughput are the consistent limiting factors, regardless of the pixel count. The frame rate scaling suggests that for maximizing performance, the CPU is rarely the constraint, as even the most demanding 1080p scenario (Ultra at 210 FPS) is far from the CPU's theoretical limit based on the scaling pattern.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, providing a significant boost over High while maintaining a smooth and responsive feel. At 4K, Medium delivers an average of 107 FPS compared to 90 on High, an 18.9% improvement, with a minimum of 91 FPS ensuring consistent frame pacing. This makes Medium the optimal choice for 4K gaming, as it comfortably exceeds the 90 FPS threshold and provides a much larger margin over the 74 FPS average seen on Ultra.

For 1440p, the Ultra preset is the recommended choice, as the average of 136 FPS still provides a high-refresh-rate experience that is well above the 120 FPS standard for competitive play. The jump from High to Ultra costs 30 FPS (166 to 136), but the visual fidelity gains are likely worth it for a game like Doom, where the fast-paced action benefits from both frame rate and graphical detail. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 197 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but Ultra's 136 FPS remains fully playable and maximizes image quality.

At 1080p, all presets are playable, but the Low preset at 349 FPS is the clear choice for esports-level performance, especially for players with 360Hz monitors. The Ultra preset still delivers 210 FPS, which is more than sufficient for most displays, but the data shows that the GPU has enough headroom to push far beyond this. The Medium preset at 304 FPS is a strong middle ground, but for players seeking the absolute highest frame rates, Low is the way to go. The High preset at 257 FPS is arguably the best balance for most 240Hz monitors, as it offers a substantial frame rate with improved visual quality over Low.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF's 20 cores and 28 threads, combined with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, provide a substantial foundation for Doom's engine, which is known for its scalability across multiple threads. The benchmark results show that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this pairing, as the frame rates at 1080p on Low (349 FPS) are extremely high, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor even at lower resolutions. The CPU's single-core performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235, is strong enough to handle the game's main thread without issue.

The data indicates that the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates, and it does this effectively. The Passmark multithread score of 52425 and the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44167 show that the CPU has massive parallel processing power, which is beneficial for Doom's dynamic lighting and physics calculations. However, the fact that the frame rate drops by a consistent percentage when moving from 1080p to 4K across all settings suggests that the CPU is not the primary constraint, as the GPU's workload scales more aggressively with resolution.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache likely help with game asset streaming, but the benchmark results do not show any specific frame time issues that would indicate a CPU limitation. The CPU's performance percentile of 94 places it in the top 6% of all tested processors, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, is 0.2% behind in average score, showing that the i7-14700KF is a top-tier gaming CPU. In Doom specifically, the data suggests that any modern high-end CPU would perform similarly, and the i7-14700KF's capabilities are more than sufficient for the GPU to reach its full potential.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 607th out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 83.6th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong ranking, indicating that the pairing is well-suited for this game, but it is not at the very top, which is expected given the GPU's position in the market. The GPU itself has a percentile of 83 versus all GPUs, and the CPU has a percentile of 94 versus all CPUs, so the combined rank is slightly lower than the CPU's individual ranking, suggesting that the GPU is the more limiting component in this pairing.

The data shows that the combo's performance is highly consistent with the GPU's capabilities, as the frame rates achieved align closely with what the RTX 4070 SUPER's benchmark scores suggest. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 29995 and its average benchmark score of 43223 position it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, which has a score of 43667, a 1% difference. This indicates that the desktop RTX 4070 SUPER is a very strong performer, and the combo's ranking in Doom reflects this, as it outperforms many other combinations that may have more powerful CPUs but weaker GPUs.

Compared to other combos, this pairing is clearly aimed at high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and capable 4K gaming. The rank of 607 out of 3712 means that there are 606 combos that perform better, likely featuring higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 or RTX 4090. However, the data shows that this combo is in the top tier of performance, and the specific frame rates achieved are excellent for the GPU's class. The fact that the combo rank is not higher is primarily due to the GPU's position in the market, not any deficiency in the CPU, which is one of the fastest available.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, is the primary driver of performance in Doom, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling across resolutions. The GPU's 7168 shading units and 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power are well-suited for Doom's id Tech 6 engine, which utilizes a mix of rasterization and compute-based rendering. The benchmark results show that the GPU's performance is the main factor in the frame rate differences between presets, with the Ultra preset at 4K (74 FPS) being significantly lower than the Low preset (123 FPS), a 39.8% difference.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 1980 MHz and a boost of 2475 MHz, allow it to sustain high performance under load, and the data indicates that it is not thermally or power-limited in this game. The 220W TDP is well within the capabilities of the GPU's dual-slot cooler, and the 1x 16-pin power connector ensures adequate power delivery. The GPU's VRAM capacity of 12 GB is sufficient for Doom at 4K with Ultra settings, as the game does not require more than 12 GB of memory, and the high bandwidth ensures that texture streaming does not cause frame drops.

The GPU's performance percentile of 83 places it in the top 17% of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, are essentially tied with it in average score (0.1% difference). This shows that the RTX 4070 SUPER is a well-balanced GPU that offers excellent performance for its class. In Doom, the GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rate drops from 123 FPS at Low to 74 FPS at Ultra, indicating that the GPU's compute and memory resources are fully utilized. The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 110 in Passmark is indicative of its strong API support, and the game's Vulkan support is likely well-optimized for this architecture.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 349 at Low settings to 210 at Ultra settings. The Medium preset delivers 304 FPS with a minimum of 259 and a maximum of 350, while the High preset delivers 257 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 39.8% reduction in performance, which is the same percentage drop as at 4K, indicating that the GPU is consistently the limiting factor. The 1080p results are exceptionally high, with even the Ultra preset providing a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 226 at Low to 136 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 197 FPS with a minimum of 167 and a maximum of 227, while the High preset delivers 166 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at High settings is 35.4%, which is less than the drop from 1440p to 4K, but still significant. The 1440p results are ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming, with the Ultra preset still providing a smooth 136 FPS average that is well above the 120 FPS threshold for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 123 at Low to 74 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 and a maximum of 123, while the High preset delivers 90 FPS. The 4K results are playable, but the Ultra preset at 74 FPS is the only configuration that dips below the 90 FPS mark, which may be noticeable for some players. The Medium preset at 107 FPS is the recommended setting for 4K, as it provides a good balance between visual fidelity and frame rate, with a minimum of 91 FPS ensuring that frame pacing remains consistent. The Low preset at 123 FPS is the best choice for players who prioritize frame rate over visuals at 4K.