Doom

Doom, released on May 12, 2016, remains a demanding title for older hardware, and the pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K with the AMD Radeon RX 580 creates a stark illustration of GPU-bound performance. The benchmark data for this combination shows a system where the CPU has immense headroom, while the GPU, a Polaris 20 part from 2017, is the definitive limiting factor across all resolutions and settings. The results indicate a playable experience at 1080p, but the frame rates collapse as resolution increases, highlighting the age of the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and predictable degradation as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 62.3 FPS at 1080p to 39.2 FPS at 1440p, and finally to a largely unplayable 22.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and an additional 43% decrease from 1440p to 4K. This pattern is consistent across all quality presets, indicating that the scaling is tied directly to pixel count and the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth limitations.

The relationship between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution reveals the GPU's struggle. At 4K, the difference between Low (35 FPS) and Ultra (22.5 FPS) is a 12.5 FPS gap, which is proportionally smaller than the 38.7 FPS gap observed at 1080p between Low (101 FPS) and Ultra (62.3 FPS). This compression of performance at higher resolutions is a classic sign of a GPU that has hit its absolute ceiling. The data suggests that the Radeon RX 580, with its 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, is saturated by the sheer volume of data required to render at 4K, making the quality settings less impactful than the resolution itself.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings shows a drop from 88.6 FPS to 58.2 FPS, a 30.4 FPS reduction. The subsequent jump to 4K Medium results in a 30 FPS average, a further 28.2 FPS drop. This linearity in degradation points to a component that is consistently overworked, with the Intel Core i9-14900K's high performance not being able to compensate for the GPU's lack of raw throughput. The results indicate that for this specific combo, 1080p is the only resolution that provides a consistent, fluid experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. In the broader CPU landscape, it sits in the 97th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 79824. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7413, which is a mere 0.3% behind, and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, which trails by 0.7%.

Despite this overwhelming CPU capability, the measured FPS in Doom are entirely constrained by the GPU. The data shows no scenario where the CPU could be considered a bottleneck; even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 101 FPS, the i9-14900K is barely being utilized. The game's engine, which is well-optimized for multi-threading, is simply not asking for more than a fraction of the CPU's potential. The high single-thread performance of 4697 in Passmark's single-thread test is irrelevant here because the RX 580 cannot generate frames fast enough to require that level of processing.

This pairing demonstrates a fundamental mismatch in performance tiers. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory are features that would benefit a high-end GPU, but they are left largely idle. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU's role in this specific configuration is to ensure that frame pacing remains consistent and that there are no CPU-related hitches, but it does not contribute to higher frame rates. The CPU is effectively waiting on the GPU for every frame.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Doom, this specific pairing of CPU and GPU ranks at 1571 out of 1681 total combos. This places it in the bottom 6% of all tested configurations, a low ranking that is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's age and performance class. The combo's rank is a direct reflection of the Radeon RX 580's standing in the GPU hierarchy, where it holds a 53rd percentile position against all other GPUs.

This low rank is not a surprise given the data. The RX 580's average benchmark score of 13559 places it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0% delta) and the GeForce GTX 950 (0.1% delta). While the CPU is a top-tier component that sits in the 97th percentile, its performance is irrelevant to the combo's overall ranking in a GPU-bound game like Doom. The ranking clearly shows that the limiting factor is the graphics card, and no amount of CPU power can boost this combination to a higher percentile.

The delta between this combo's rank and the top of the chart is immense, highlighting the performance gap between a modern flagship CPU paired with a mid-range GPU from 2017 and more balanced configurations. The data suggests that for a game like Doom, the bottleneck is so severe that the CPU's potential is entirely wasted, resulting in a combo ranking that is far lower than the sum of its parts would suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the performance envelope for this combo. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 101 FPS, Medium yields 88.6 FPS, High yields 74 FPS, and Ultra yields 62.3 FPS. These numbers show a playable experience at all presets, with even the highest quality settings maintaining a frame rate above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 68.7 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium falls to 58.2 FPS, and High drops to 50.2 FPS. Ultra settings at this resolution produce an average of 39.2 FPS, which begins to feel less fluid for a fast-paced FPS. The data shows a clear step down in playability, with only the Low preset managing to stay above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the RX 580 is clearly out of its depth. Low settings average 35 FPS, Medium averages 30 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 22.5 FPS. None of these results are playable for a competitive or even casual gaming experience. The data shows a linear and steep decline from 1080p to 4K, with the gap between the lowest and highest quality settings narrowing as the resolution increases, confirming that the GPU is the sole limiting factor in this configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a 14 nm Polaris 20 chip with 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. It operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its benchmark scores are modest, with a Passmark G3D score of 8813 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005.

The GPU's role in this game is to render the fast-paced, demon-filled environments of Doom. The data shows that the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is sufficient for 1080p gaming at high settings, but its pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are insufficient for higher resolutions. The 8 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor in this title, as even at 4K Ultra, the frame rate is more constrained by the core's shading and memory bandwidth than by capacity.

The GPU's end-of-life production status and its age relative to the CPU are evident in the results. It ranks in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, placing it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 and GTX 950. The data indicates that for Doom, the RX 580 is a capable 1080p card, but its performance ceiling is quickly reached, and it cannot scale to higher resolutions without delivering a sub-30 FPS experience. The GPU is the definitive bottleneck, and its modest specifications are the primary reason for this combo's low overall ranking.