Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling, with the processor headroom becoming more apparent as resolution drops. At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 48.8 FPS, which rises to 62.1 FPS at High settings—a 27.3% improvement simply from lowering preset quality. Moving to 1440p, the same Ultra-to-High step yields 90.1 FPS versus 106.2 FPS, a 17.9% gain, while at 1080p the jump from Ultra (135.8 FPS) to High (168.9 FPS) represents a 24.4% increase. This non-uniform scaling suggests that at 4K, the GeForce RTX 4060's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface become the limiting factors, especially at Ultra where the gap between Medium (71.3 FPS) and High (62.1 FPS) is compressed.

The resolution scaling itself is steep. From 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops from 135.8 to 48.8, a 64.1% reduction. At Low settings, the same resolution step goes from 228.2 FPS down to 80.2 FPS, a 64.9% drop. This near-constant percentage decline across presets indicates that the GPU's raw throughput—measured at 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 with 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate—is the dominant constraint. The CPU's role is minimal here; the Core i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads, with a 6.00 GHz boost clock, never become the bottleneck in this title.

Interestingly, the gap between Medium and High at each resolution is smaller than between Low and Medium. At 1440p, Low delivers 147.2 FPS, Medium drops to 125.9 FPS (14.5% lower), and High further declines to 106.2 FPS (15.6% lower). At 1080p, the pattern holds: Low at 228.2 FPS, Medium at 196.7 FPS (13.8% lower), High at 168.9 FPS (14.1% lower). This suggests that the Medium-to-High transition adds visual features that cost proportionally more than the Low-to-Medium step, likely related to texture filtering and shadow resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 1080p as the sweet spot. At High settings, the combo achieves 168.9 FPS, which comfortably exceeds typical high-refresh displays. At 1440p High, it drops to 106.2 FPS—still playable, but with less headroom for frame-time spikes. 4K High at 62.1 FPS is borderline for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 23181 places it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, scores 23321, which is 0.6% higher. The Intel Arc B580 trails by 0.7% with a score of 23021, while the AMD Radeon 760M is 0.8% behind at 22999.

Q: Is the Core i9-14900K a bottleneck in this game?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark results—including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and single-core score of 7040—indicate massive headroom. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 228.2 FPS, and the fact that FPS scales consistently with resolution suggests the GPU is the limiting component throughout.

Q: How does the CPU rank against other processors?

A: The Core i9-14900K sits at the 97th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79824. Its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, scores 80041 (0.3% higher), while the Intel Core i9-14900KF is 0.7% lower at 79245. The Ultra 7 265KF and 265K both trail by 0.7% and 0.9% respectively.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 125.9. This represents a 14.5% reduction from Low (147.2 FPS) but a 15.6% improvement over High (106.2 FPS). It offers a balanced trade-off between visual quality and performance.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: It ranks 966th out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the 42.5th percentile overall. This mid-pack ranking reflects the RTX 4060's position as a mainstream GPU rather than a high-end part, despite the CPU's top-tier standing.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 966 out of 1681 places this pairing in the lower-middle portion of tested configurations. This position is primarily driven by the GPU's performance class rather than the CPU's capabilities. The RTX 4060, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, occupies the 66th percentile of all GPUs. In contrast, the CPU sits at the 97th percentile, creating a significant imbalance that shows in the frame rate data.

To contextualize this ranking, consider the GPU's nearest rivals. The AMD Radeon RX 6600M scores 0.6% higher on average, while the Intel Arc B580 is 0.7% lower. These small deltas mean that swapping the GPU for any of these alternatives would produce nearly identical rankings in the combo list. The CPU's nearest rivals—the EPYC 7413, 14900KF, Ultra 7 265KF, and Ultra 7 265K—all fall within a 1.2% band of each other, confirming that processor choice among top-tier parts has negligible impact on this game's performance.

The mid-pack ranking also aligns with the measured FPS data. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 48.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. Even at 1440p Ultra, the 90.1 FPS result is respectable but far from the top-tier configurations that would exceed 144 FPS at this resolution. The 1080p results, however, show the combo's potential: 228.2 FPS at Low and 168.9 FPS at High indicate that the pairing is well-suited for competitive play at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the High preset at 168.9 FPS offers the best combination of visual fidelity and performance. Ultra delivers 135.8 FPS, a 19.6% reduction, while Medium only improves to 196.7 FPS—a 16.5% gain over High. The visual difference between High and Ultra in Doom is often subtle, making High the recommended choice for maintaining high refresh rates without sacrificing image quality. Low settings at 228.2 FPS provide maximum competitive advantage but at a noticeable visual cost.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 125.9 FPS emerges as the optimal balance. High at 106.2 FPS is still playable, but the 18.5% gain from dropping to Medium is substantial. Ultra at 90.1 FPS dips below the 100 FPS comfort zone for many players. Low at 147.2 FPS is the only preset that exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, suggesting that players with high-refresh 1440p panels should consider Low for maximum smoothness.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. High settings at 62.1 FPS barely cross the 60 FPS threshold, while Medium at 71.3 FPS provides a more comfortable margin. Ultra at 48.8 FPS is not recommended for competitive play, and Low at 80.2 FPS—while the highest 4K result—still falls short of high-refresh territory. The data suggests that 4K gameplay with this combo requires accepting either Medium settings for playable frame rates or High for improved visuals at the edge of playability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results span a wide range across presets. Low settings produce 228.2 FPS average, Medium delivers 196.7 FPS, High achieves 168.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 135.8 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 40.5% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the cost of each quality tier.

Moving to 2560x1440, the figures scale downward consistently. Low yields 147.2 FPS, Medium reaches 125.9 FPS, High provides 106.2 FPS, and Ultra delivers 90.1 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra drop here is 38.8%, slightly less severe than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to feel the resolution pressure.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates compress into a narrower band. Low delivers 80.2 FPS, Medium achieves 71.3 FPS, High produces 62.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 48.8 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 39.2%, similar to the other resolutions, but the absolute values are noticeably lower. The 4K Ultra result at 48.8 FPS is the only measurement below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, making it the sole configuration that fails to maintain smooth gameplay by standard metrics.

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K at each preset is telling. At Low, the drop is from 228.2 to 80.2 FPS (64.9% reduction); at Medium, 196.7 to 71.3 FPS (63.8%); at High, 168.9 to 62.1 FPS (63.2%); and at Ultra, 135.8 to 48.8 FPS (64.1%). The consistency of these percentages—all within a 2-point range—confirms that the scaling behavior is uniform across presets and governed by the GPU's resolution-dependent workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K brings substantial compute resources to this pairing. Its 24 cores and 32 threads, built on the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process, provide a base clock of 3.20 GHz that can boost to 6.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB shared L3. This configuration achieves a 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 79824.

In Doom, the CPU's role is minimal due to the game's efficient multi-threading and the GPU-bound nature of the workload. The benchmark data supports this: the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and single-core score of 7040 indicate that the CPU can handle far more demanding workloads than this game presents. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the combo reaches 228.2 FPS without any indication of CPU limitation.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it in close competition with several rivals. The EPYC 7413 scores 0.3% higher on average, while the 14900KF, Ultra 7 265KF, and Ultra 7 265K all score within 0.9% lower. These tiny deltas—ranging from -0.3% to 0.9%—confirm that for gaming workloads like Doom, any of these processors would produce nearly identical results. The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory, along with PCIe Gen 5 connectivity, make it a versatile platform component, but the game's performance is ultimately dictated by the GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.