Doom

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers exceptional performance in Doom, a title that scales impressively across resolutions. The measured data indicates this combination ranks 409th out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the top 11% of all system configurations for this game. This pairing leverages the CPU’s 24 cores and 32 threads alongside the GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 8448 shading units to produce frame rates that remain highly playable even at 4K. The following analysis breaks down how this specific hardware combination behaves across different settings and resolutions, providing actionable guidance for optimizing your experience.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 371 FPS, but this falls to 240 FPS at 1440p and further to 130 FPS at 4K. This represents a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as pixel count rises. The trend is consistent across all settings, though the magnitude varies.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is steeper: 223 FPS at 1080p drops to 144 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 78 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). This steeper curve at higher settings suggests that the GPU's compute resources—specifically its 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 throughput—are being fully utilized when visual effects are maxed out. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 672.3 GB/s memory bandwidth also plays a role, as higher settings increase texture and geometry data transfer demands.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the i9-14900K's 6.00 GHz boost clock and high single-core performance are sufficient to feed the GPU adequately, resulting in frame rates that approach the limits of what the GPU can render. However, the gap between Low (371 FPS) and Ultra (223 FPS) at 1080p is 148 FPS, indicating that even at this resolution, the GPU is the primary constraint. At 4K, the gap narrows to 52 FPS (130 vs 78), confirming that the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the dominant factor.

Interestingly, the Medium settings row shows a min FPS of 96 at 4K and 275 at 1080p, with max FPS of 130 and 372 respectively. This suggests that Medium presets provide a stable frame pacing experience, with the min FPS values indicating less variance than the average would suggest. The 130 FPS max at 4K Medium aligns exactly with the 4K Low average, implying that Medium settings at 4K are not significantly more demanding than Low in the most favorable scenes.

For high-refresh monitors, the 1440p results are particularly relevant. At High settings, 177 FPS average easily exceeds 144 Hz displays, while Ultra at 144 FPS remains playable. At 1080p, even Ultra settings deliver 223 FPS, comfortably supporting 240 Hz panels. The 4K performance, while lower, still provides a smooth experience on 60-120 Hz displays, with High settings achieving 96 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show that Ultra settings at 4K produce 78 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Dropping to High settings at 4K yields 96 FPS, a 23% improvement that likely corresponds to a meaningful reduction in graphical effects like shadows and reflections. Given that High settings maintain a 96 FPS average at 4K, this represents the best balance for 4K gaming on this hardware.

At 1440p, the choice is less critical. Ultra delivers 144 FPS, which is perfect for 144 Hz monitors. If you have a 165 Hz or 240 Hz display, High settings at 177 FPS or Medium at 209 FPS provide additional headroom. The data shows that Medium settings at 1440p produce 209 FPS average with a min of 178 FPS, suggesting that this preset offers the most consistent frame delivery for competitive play.

For 1080p, Ultra at 223 FPS is the recommended starting point. This provides excellent visual quality while still exceeding 200 FPS. If you have a 360 Hz monitor, Medium at 323 FPS or Low at 371 FPS are viable options, though the visual downgrade may not be worth the extra frames for most players. The 148 FPS difference between Ultra and Low at 1080p indicates that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution, making Ultra the obvious choice.

The data also reveals an interesting anomaly: at 4K, the Medium preset's max FPS (130) matches the Low preset's average FPS (130). This suggests that Medium settings at 4K are not bottlenecked by the GPU in all scenes, allowing some frames to reach the same performance as Low. This implies that the CPU can still contribute to performance at 4K, particularly in scenes with lower geometric complexity.

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings strategy is to prioritize High presets at 4K, Ultra at 1440p, and Ultra at 1080p. These choices maximize visual fidelity while maintaining frame rates that exceed typical display refresh rates. For esports-focused players at 1080p, Medium settings offer a significant FPS boost (323 vs 223) with minimal visual impact in fast-paced gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 78, which is playable. For a smoother experience, High settings at 4K yield 96 FPS, and Medium settings deliver 113 FPS. All of these exceed the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: At 1080p, even Ultra settings achieve 223 FPS, while Medium reaches 323 FPS and Low hits 371 FPS. These frame rates are suitable for high-refresh competitive monitors. At 1440p, Medium provides 209 FPS, which is also viable for competitive play.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 16 GB VRAM affect performance?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6X memory with 672.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture data is not a limiting factor at any resolution. The GPU's 8448 shading units and 264 texture mapping units handle the rendering workload, as evidenced by the consistent scaling from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Is the i9-14900K holding back the GPU in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 371 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not a bottleneck. The 24-core, 32-thread processor with a 6.00 GHz boost clock provides ample single-thread performance. The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions.

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

A: The measured average is 144 FPS. This is sufficient for 144 Hz displays but may not fully saturate higher refresh rates. For 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors, High (177 FPS) or Medium (209 FPS) settings are recommended.

Q: How does the system rank compared to other configurations in Doom?

A: This combo ranks 409th out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 11% of all systems. This indicates that the i9-14900K + RTX 4070 Ti SUPER pairing is well above average for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 371 FPS, while Medium settings yield 323 FPS with a min of 275 and max of 372. High settings achieve 273 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 223 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent performance cost: each step up in quality reduces the average by roughly 50 FPS, except for the High-to-Ultra transition which costs 50 FPS as well.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings average 240 FPS, Medium averages 209 FPS with a min of 178 and max of 240, High averages 177 FPS, and Ultra averages 144 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is a 35% reduction (371 to 240), while at Ultra settings it is a 35% reduction (223 to 144). This uniform scaling indicates that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity are being exercised proportionally.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes more demanding. Low settings average 130 FPS, Medium averages 113 FPS with a min of 96 and max of 130, High averages 96 FPS, and Ultra averages 78 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings is 46% (144 to 78), while at Low settings it is 46% (240 to 130). This consistent scaling across all settings suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are the limiting factors at 4K.

The Medium settings rows provide the only min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the min of 275 and max of 372 show a variance of 97 FPS, indicating that frame rates can fluctuate significantly in demanding scenes. At 1440p, the min of 178 and max of 240 show a variance of 62 FPS. At 4K, the min of 96 and max of 130 show a variance of 34 FPS. This decreasing variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated, reducing frame time spikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the primary performance driver in this configuration. Its AD103 chip, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, contains 45,900 million transistors across a 379 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2340 MHz and boosts to 2610 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with the 256-bit memory bus, produce a bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s.

The GPU's 8448 shading units are responsible for the raw compute throughput, delivering 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 264 texture mapping units and 96 ROPs handle texturing and pixel output, with a texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s. These specifications explain the scaling observed in the measured FPS data: at 1080p, the GPU has enough throughput to render 371 FPS at Low settings, but this drops to 223 FPS at Ultra due to increased shading and texture work.

The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than sufficient for Doom at any resolution. The game's textures and geometry data fit comfortably within this capacity, meaning there is no VRAM-related stuttering or asset swapping. The 672.3 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming keeps pace with the GPU's rendering speed, as evidenced by the stable min FPS values at Medium settings.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 31811 in Passmark G3D and 5569 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. It ranks in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 31087. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA TITAN RTX (deltaPct -1.9%) and the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (deltaPct -1.4%), indicating that the 4070 Ti SUPER performs within a narrow band of these high-end cards despite being a different generation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K provides the computational foundation for this system, though its role in Doom is secondary to the GPU. With 24 cores and 32 threads, this processor offers substantial multi-threaded capability, but Doom's engine primarily relies on single-thread performance for game logic and draw call submission. The CPU's 6.00 GHz boost clock is critical in this regard, ensuring that frame rates at 1080p are not artificially limited.

The CPU's benchmark results highlight its strengths: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and a single-core score of 2262.5. The Geekbench multi-core score of 21697 and single-core score of 2655 further confirm its capabilities. In Passmark tests, the CPU achieves 58674 in multi-thread and 4697 in single-thread, with a physics score of 3140. These scores indicate that the CPU is unlikely to bottleneck the GPU in most scenarios.

The i9-14900K's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide low-latency access to frequently used data. The CPU's 10 nm process node and Raptor Lake architecture allow for high clock speeds, which are essential for maintaining consistent frame delivery in Doom. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, enabling fast system memory access.

In the database, the i9-14900K ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-14900KF (deltaPct -0.3%) and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (deltaPct 1.7%). This tight grouping indicates that the i9-14900K is among the fastest consumer processors available, though the differences between these top CPUs are minimal.

The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 371 FPS, which is likely near the engine's frame rate ceiling. The CPU's single-thread performance ensures that even at these high frame rates, the game logic and rendering commands are processed without delay. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, but the i9-14900K's headroom ensures no CPU-induced stutters or frame pacing issues occur. The 125W TDP and unlocked multiplier allow for overclocking, though the stock configuration already provides ample performance for this game.