Doom

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a robust 1080p experience in Doom, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves an average of 170.6 FPS on High settings, dropping to 140.1 FPS on Ultra. The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM and RDNA 2.0 architecture are sufficient for this title, but the 47.9 FPS result at 4K Ultra indicates that the graphics card becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, despite the CPU's strong single-thread performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance percentile of this CPU-GPU combo in Doom?

A: This combo ranks 917 out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested pairings for this game.

Q: How does the i9-14900K compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i9-14900K scores 79,824 on average, which is 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79,245) and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (79,240). It trails the AMD EPYC 7413 by 0.3% (80,041).

Q: What is the VRAM capacity of the RX 6700 XT and its memory bandwidth?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Doom's textures at all tested settings.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts?

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K has 24 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra in this game?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Low is 231.1, while at 4K Ultra it is 47.9, representing a 383% increase in performance at the lower resolution.

Q: Does the GPU support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: Yes, the Radeon RX 6700 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), along with Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6, which are relevant for this FPS title's rendering paths.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with a game clock of 2424 MHz. Its 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs handle Doom's geometry and pixel fill rate efficiently. The 12 GB VRAM pool proves sufficient across all resolution and settings combinations tested, as the data shows no signs of VRAM capacity throttling—the average FPS scales predictably with resolution changes rather than experiencing sudden drops indicative of memory exhaustion.

The GPU's memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed, delivering 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. This bandwidth is critical for streaming textures in fast-paced environments. At 4K High, the combo produces 58.3 FPS, but dropping to Low settings at the same resolution yields 83.5 FPS—a 25.2 FPS improvement. This suggests that the GPU's raw compute power, rated at 13.21 TFLOPS FP32, is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, not memory capacity. The GPU's 77th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its proximity to the Radeon RX 6800 (0.7% delta) indicate it is a mid-to-upper tier part for this workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a steep performance curve as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 231.1 FPS on Low, 203.8 FPS on Medium, 170.6 FPS on High, and 140.1 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, these numbers drop to 151.2, 132.8, 111.8, and 87.8 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, the results fall further to 83.5, 72.1, 58.3, and 47.9 FPS.

The scaling pattern reveals a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 91 FPS (231.1 vs 140.1), which is proportionally smaller than the gap at 4K, where Low (83.5 FPS) is only 35.6 FPS ahead of Ultra (47.9 FPS). This indicates that at 1080p, the i9-14900K's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040) can feed the GPU adequately, but the GPU's fill rate limits it. At 4K, the GPU workload increases significantly, and the RX 6700 XT's 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 47.9 FPS floor at Ultra settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 917 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the middle of the distribution. This rank reflects a pairing of a top-tier CPU (97th percentile among all CPUs) with a mid-range GPU (77th percentile among all GPUs). The CPU's average benchmark score of 79,824 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7413 (80,041, -0.3% delta) and the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79,245, +0.7% delta), confirming the i9-14900K is a high-end processor. However, the GPU's average score of 33,721 is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33,294), making the graphics card the weaker link in this pairing.

The rank suggests that while the CPU has headroom, the GPU prevents the combo from reaching top-tier status. For context, the RX 6700 XT's nearest rival, the Radeon RX 6800, scores 33,493 (0.7% lower), so the GPU is competitive within its class. The 917th rank out of 1681 combos indicates that many pairings with faster GPUs outperform this setup, but the i9-14900K ensures the system is never CPU-limited in Doom, as evidenced by the high FPS at 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K features 24 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture includes 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core. In Doom, a game that benefits from high single-thread performance, the CPU's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040 and Geekbench single-core score of 3064 are the relevant metrics.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any tested resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 231.1 FPS, which is likely near the engine's frame rate ceiling given the CPU's capabilities. The PassMark single-thread score of 4697 and the 97th percentile ranking confirm that this processor is among the fastest for gaming workloads. The 125W TDP and 10 nm process node contribute to sustained boost clocks, which is essential for maintaining high FPS in Doom's intense combat scenes. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is clearly stressed, the CPU's 24 cores and 32 threads ensure that draw calls and physics updates are processed without introducing frame time spikes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all combinations:

1920x1080:

• Low: 231.1 FPS average
• Medium: 203.8 FPS average
• High: 170.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 140.1 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 151.2 FPS average
• Medium: 132.8 FPS average
• High: 111.8 FPS average
• Ultra: 87.8 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 83.5 FPS average
• Medium: 72.1 FPS average
• High: 58.3 FPS average
• Ultra: 47.9 FPS average

The step from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by roughly 35-40% across settings, while moving to 4K further halves the frame rates. The most significant relative drop occurs at Ultra settings, where 4K (47.9 FPS) is 65.8% slower than 1080p (140.1 FPS). This indicates that Ultra settings impose a heavy shading load that the RX 6700 XT's 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 throughput struggles to sustain at higher pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p and 1440p displays, Ultra settings are viable. At 1440p Ultra, the combo delivers 87.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1080p Ultra, the 140.1 FPS result provides a significant margin for high refresh rate monitors, though users with 144Hz displays may prefer High settings (170.6 FPS) for extra headroom.

For 4K resolution, the data suggests avoiding Ultra settings entirely. The 47.9 FPS average at 4K Ultra falls below the 60 FPS target, making High settings (58.3 FPS) a borderline choice. The best 4K experience in terms of frame rate is Low settings at 83.5 FPS, though this sacrifices visual fidelity. Medium settings at 4K (72.1 FPS) offer a balanced compromise, providing a playable frame rate while maintaining reasonable detail levels. Given that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, users should prioritize resolution over settings, as the jump from 1440p Ultra (87.8 FPS) to 4K Medium (72.1 FPS) still yields a playable result with higher resolution clarity.