Doom

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a performance curve in Doom that clearly illustrates where the graphical ceiling lies. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average frame rate at High settings drops from 218.5 FPS to 140.1 FPS, a substantial 78.4 frame difference. The scaling continues when stepping up to 3840x2160, where the High preset yields 78.2 FPS. This pattern—a halving of performance from 1080p to 4K—is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The data indicates the processor has ample headroom; the bottleneck shifts entirely to the Radeon RX 9070 as pixel count increases.

The resolution scaling also reveals how settings interact with the GPU load. At 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is dramatic: 295.2 FPS versus 176 FPS, a 119.2 FPS gap. This wide delta shows that even at lower resolutions, the GPU is doing significant work. However, at 4K, the same settings range produces a much narrower band, from 101.4 FPS on Low to 60.8 FPS on Ultra. The compression of these numbers at higher resolutions reinforces that the RX 9070’s compute units are the limiting factor, not the i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads. The 4K Ultra result of 60.8 FPS is the only measurement that dips near the lower bounds of playable, while everything else comfortably exceeds 100 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific combination of components holds a rank of 573 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the upper third of all tested systems, a position that reflects the strong synergy between the high-end CPU and the modern GPU. The percentile data for the individual components confirms their standing: the i9-14900K sits in the 97th percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 9070 lands in the 79th percentile among all GPUs.

The combo’s mid-tier rank relative to its component percentiles suggests that Doom’s workload does not fully utilize the CPU’s potential. The i9-14900K’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the AMD EPYC 7413, Intel Core i9-14900KF, Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, and Intel Core Ultra 7 265K—all score within a narrow band. The EPYC 7413 leads with an average score of 80041, just 0.3% ahead of the i9-14900K’s 79824. The Core i9-14900KF trails by 0.7% with a score of 79245, and the Core Ultra 7 265KF and 265K are effectively tied at 79240 and 79102 respectively. These tiny deltas indicate that CPU choice among top-tier parts has minimal impact on the final frame rates in this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and the Navi 48 chip, fabricated on a 4 nm process by TSMC. This GPU carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock is listed at 2518 MHz, which translates to 20.1 Gbps effective. These memory specifications are crucial for Doom’s texture-heavy environments, particularly at 4K resolution where the 16 GB frame buffer prevents any capacity-related stuttering.

Clock speeds for the RX 9070 are notable: a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The gap between base and boost is over a gigahertz, indicating aggressive thermal and power management. The GPU’s compute capabilities include 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster output units. The pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s directly influence how quickly the card can fill the screen at higher resolutions. The FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS provides the raw arithmetic throughput needed for the game’s lighting calculations.

In the context of Doom’s results, the RX 9070’s role is primarily defined by its rasterization throughput. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (60.8 FPS) aligns with the GPU’s 79th percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicating that while it is not a top-tier card, it delivers solid high-resolution performance. Its nearest rivals in the database—the NVIDIA A2, NVIDIA Quadro GV100, AMD Radeon HD 7970, and AMD Radeon PRO W6400—have average scores within 0.8% of the RX 9070’s 34780, but those are workstation and older parts that lack current driver optimizations for gaming workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 295.2 FPS, Medium reaches 260.1 FPS, and High produces 218.5 FPS. Even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains a fluid 176 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is almost entirely CPU-limited; the i9-14900K’s high single-thread performance—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040—keeps the frame pipeline fed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show GPU influence. Low settings yield 189.5 FPS, Medium drops to 166.5 FPS, and High settles at 140.1 FPS. The Ultra preset still manages 112.5 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 35% across the board, a typical figure for a GPU-bound scenario.

At 3840x2160, the resolution scaling becomes more pronounced. The Low preset produces 101.4 FPS, Medium falls to 92.7 FPS, and High drops to 78.2 FPS. The Ultra preset is the only one that approaches the lower limit of playability, averaging 60.8 FPS. This 4K Ultra result represents a 65.5% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 176 FPS. The data shows that for 4K gaming, players would need to dial back settings to High or lower to maintain frame rates above 75 FPS. The 1440p resolution appears to be the sweet spot for this combo, offering high refresh rates on High settings (140.1 FPS) while still utilizing the GPU’s full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this CPU-GPU combo for Doom?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 on High settings provides an average of 140.1 FPS, which balances visual quality and high refresh rates. At 4K, the High preset drops to 78.2 FPS, which is still playable but less optimal for high-refresh monitors.

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

A: The i9-14900K scores 79824 on average. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, scores 80041, which is 0.3% higher. The Intel Core i9-14900KF and Core Ultra 7 265KF both score around 79240, placing them 0.7% behind the i9-14900K.

Q: Does the RX 9070 have enough VRAM for 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, the card features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. The measured 4K results, ranging from 60.8 FPS on Ultra to 101.4 FPS on Low, show no evidence of memory capacity limiting performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 295.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 176 FPS. This represents a 119.2 FPS difference, showing that even at lower resolutions, the GPU settings have a significant impact on frame rates.

Q: How does the combo’s gaming rank compare to its component percentiles?

A: The combo ranks 573rd out of 1681 tested systems. The CPU sits in the 97th percentile, while the GPU is in the 79th percentile. The lower gaming rank relative to the CPU percentile indicates the game is not heavily CPU-dependent.

Q: What is the GPU’s boost clock and how does it affect performance?

A: The RX 9070 has a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The high boost clock contributes to the card’s ability to sustain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 4K High result of 78.2 FPS, though the exact clock speed during gameplay is not recorded in the data.