Doom

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 presents a stark contrast in capabilities. The data for Doom shows a system where the CPU is vastly overqualified for the graphical workload, leaving the GPU as the definitive bottleneck across all tested resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS to show exactly where this combination stands and what it means for a builder considering this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component clearly. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 91.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 56.4 FPS, a 38% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 35 FPS, which is 38% lower than 1440p and 62% lower than 1080p. This scaling pattern is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The GTX 1650 is being pushed harder as pixel count rises, while the i9-14900K is barely breaking a sweat.

The gap between settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 91.1 FPS down to 52.7 FPS. At 4K, that spread is 35 FPS down to 16.5 FPS. The absolute delta shrinks because the GPU is already saturated, but the percentage loss is similar. The data indicates that resolution scaling is entirely dictated by the graphics card’s 4 GB memory and 128-bit bus, not by CPU throughput. The i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 6.00 GHz boost clock are irrelevant to this scaling curve; they are not the constraint.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650’s specifications explain its performance ceiling. It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. That is a modest amount for a 2019-era card, and Doom’s texture demands at 4K Ultra clearly exceed it. The 16.5 FPS result at 4K Ultra is the tell: the card is choking on memory bandwidth and fill rate, not on shader work. Its 896 shading units and 32 ROPs are simply overwhelmed at that setting.

Clock speeds are 1485 MHz base and 1665 MHz boost. Those are respectable for the architecture, but they don’t compensate for the 2.984 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. The card’s percentile rank against all GPUs is 43, meaning it sits below the median. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100, both within 0.5% of its average score. That places it in a specific performance tier: entry-level for modern titles, adequate for older ones. In Doom, that means playable at 1080p, marginal at 1440p, and only for screenshots at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 1642 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. That is the 2.3rd percentile, which is near the bottom of the database. This is not a reflection of the CPU — the i9-14900K is in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. It is entirely the GPU dragging the overall score down. The data shows a system that is imbalanced to an extreme degree.

For context, the CPU’s nearest rivals are the AMD EPYC 7413, Intel Core i9-14900KF, and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, all within 0.9% of its average benchmark score. The GPU’s nearest rivals are similarly close. None of that matters for this combo’s rank. The 39 combos below this one are likely pairing the GTX 1650 with even weaker processors, but the practical takeaway is that this rank is a warning against such pairings. If you are building with a GTX 1650, the i9-14900K is wasted money.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but not well. The best 4K result is 35 FPS at Low settings. At Medium it drops to 27.3 FPS, at High to 26.2 FPS, and at Ultra to 16.5 FPS. None of these are comfortable for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The i9-14900K has 24 cores and a 6.00 GHz boost clock, while the GTX 1650 has 4 GB VRAM and a 128-bit bus. The FPS scaling across resolutions tracks with GPU load, not CPU load.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p?

A: Low settings give the highest average FPS at 91.1. Medium gives 78.4 FPS, High gives 70.8 FPS, and Ultra gives 52.7 FPS. For a 60 FPS target, Medium or High are viable; for high refresh, Low is required.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1650’s average benchmark score is 8713. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is 0.4% faster, the AMD Radeon 550X is 0.4% faster, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 is 0.5% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 is 0.5% slower. They are all statistically similar.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra result of 16.5 FPS usable?

A: No. That is below the threshold for a playable frame rate in an action game. It indicates the 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are exhausted at that preset.

Q: Does the i9-14900K help this combo’s rank?

A: No. The combo ranks 1642 out of 1681, which is in the bottom 2.3%. The CPU’s high percentile rank does not offset the GPU’s low percentile rank in this game’s results.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings is playable. Low settings produce 91.1 FPS average. Medium settings yield 78.4 FPS. High settings give 70.8 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 52.7 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 12.7 FPS loss, from Medium to High is a 7.6 FPS loss, and from High to Ultra is an 18.1 FPS loss. The Ultra preset is the hardest hit, likely due to texture and shadow quality exceeding the 4 GB frame buffer.

At 2560x1440, the results are more constrained. Low settings average 56.4 FPS. Medium settings average 49.9 FPS. High settings average 45 FPS. Ultra settings average 33.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 22.9 FPS, which is a 40% loss. The 1440p results show the card struggling to maintain 60 FPS even at Low, making this resolution a compromise for a 60 Hz monitor.

At 3840x2160, the results fall below playable thresholds. Low settings average 35 FPS. Medium settings average 27.3 FPS. High settings average 26.2 FPS. Ultra settings average 16.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 7.7 FPS, between Medium and High is only 1.1 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 9.7 FPS. The card’s memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s is the clear limiting factor here, as the resolution and settings combination overwhelms the 4 GB VRAM.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It has 36 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are exceptional: 49872 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7040 in single-core. It ranks in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. In this Doom test, none of that horsepower is utilized.

The game’s FPS results do not change based on CPU settings because the GTX 1650 is the hard limit. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most relevant, the FPS is 91.1 — a number that is constrained by the GPU’s 2.984 TFLOPS, not by the CPU’s 24 cores. The i9-14900K could drive a much faster GPU in this game, but with the GTX 1650, it idles.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, like the AMD EPYC 7413 and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, all have similar average scores within 0.9%. That confirms the i9-14900K is top-tier, but its pairing with a GPU that sits in the 43rd percentile creates a mismatch. For Doom specifically, the CPU contributes nothing to the measured FPS. It is a wasted resource in this configuration. A builder would see identical frame rates with a far less powerful processor, as long as the GTX 1650 remains the bottleneck.