Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Doom with the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 shows a clear progression as resolution increases. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 266 FPS, which drops to 172.5 FPS at 1440p and further to 92.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings tiers. At High settings, the frame rate falls from 325.3 FPS at 1080p to 210.5 FPS at 1440p, then to 114.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops between resolutions are steep: moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 35% of performance, while stepping up to 4K from 1440p costs another 46%. This nonlinear scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the story is similar but with higher absolute numbers. The combo hits 447.6 FPS at 1080p, 288.5 FPS at 1440p, and 154.4 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases: at 1080p, the difference is 181.6 FPS (447.6 vs 266), while at 4K, the difference shrinks to 61.6 FPS (154.4 vs 92.8). This narrowing suggests that at 4K, the GPU's raw throughput limits performance more than the settings configuration.

The fact that even at 4K Ultra the combo maintains nearly 93 FPS — well above 60 FPS — indicates that the RTX 4090 has substantial headroom in this title. Doom's Vulkan-based engine scales efficiently, and the data shows that the 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to keep frame rates high even at the most demanding settings. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory never becomes a bottleneck at any resolution tested.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing of Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves rank 24 out of 1,681 tested combos. This places it in the top 1.4% of all configurations, a position that reflects both the CPU's strong multi-core performance and the GPU's top-tier rasterization capabilities.

The ranking is particularly impressive given the age of the game. Doom launched in May 2016, and modern hardware significantly overshoots its requirements. The combo's high rank is a function of the RTX 4090's raw power — its 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units allow it to process the game's geometry and lighting with minimal effort. The i9-14900K's contribution is less pronounced in this title, as Doom's engine does not heavily utilize more than a few threads.

Relative to other high-end configurations, this combo sits in the upper echelon. The data shows that the GPU alone ranks in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks in the 97th percentile among all CPUs. When combined, their synergy in Doom produces frame rates that only a handful of other tested pairings can match. The nearest CPU rivals in terms of average benchmark score — the AMD EPYC 7413 at -0.3%, the Intel Core i9-14900KF at +0.7%, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF at +0.7% — all fall within a narrow band, suggesting that CPU choice has minimal impact on this game's performance at these extreme hardware levels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance in this Doom configuration. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Doom's texture streaming at any resolution. The GPU's 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs deliver the kind of fill rate that keeps the 2016-era engine fully saturated.

Clock speeds are also a factor. The GPU's base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz are high for a flagship card, and the 5 nm process from TSMC allows these clocks to be sustained under load. The 76,300 million transistors packed into a 609 mm² die run at a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the card can push 447.6 FPS at 1080p Low — the pixel and texture pipelines are not the bottleneck.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its in-game performance. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 and Passmark G3D score of 38,194 place it well above most cards. The nearest GPU rivals in the database — the NVIDIA Tesla T4 at -0.4%, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 at -0.9%, and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at -1.3% — are all workstation cards that do not match the 4090's gaming-oriented design. The 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the key differentiator; this raw compute translates directly into the high frame rates observed in Doom's Vulkan renderer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 4K, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce 154.4 FPS, Medium produces 133.4 FPS, High produces 114.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 92.8 FPS. The incremental cost of each settings tier is roughly 20 FPS per step, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (19.2 FPS). All 4K results remain comfortably above 60 FPS, meaning even the most demanding settings deliver a smooth experience on a 60 Hz display, and Ultra is playable on high-refresh 4K panels.

At 1440p, the performance scales upward substantially. Low hits 288.5 FPS, Medium 254.1 FPS, High 210.5 FPS, and Ultra 172.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 116 FPS, which is a 40% reduction. This resolution is where the RTX 4090 truly shines — all settings exceed 170 FPS, making 1440p with a 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitor the sweet spot for this combo in Doom.

At 1080p, the frame rates reach levels that exceed most displays' refresh rates. Low produces 447.6 FPS, Medium 388.8 FPS, High 325.3 FPS, and Ultra 266 FPS. Even at Ultra, the combo delivers more frames per second than any mainstream monitor can display. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a larger role — the i9-14900K's 6.00 GHz boost clock on its performance cores helps keep the frame pipeline fed, preventing the GPU from idling between frames.

The overall pattern is that this combo never drops below 92.8 FPS in any tested configuration. For a game like Doom, which rewards high frame rates for fast-paced combat, this means the hardware is effectively overkill for 1080p and 1440p, while providing excellent 4K performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K's role in this configuration is to ensure the RTX 4090 never waits for data. With 24 cores and 32 threads, the CPU provides massive parallel processing capability, though Doom's engine primarily uses a handful of threads. The 3.20 GHz base clock and 6.00 GHz boost clock on the performance cores give the CPU excellent single-threaded response, which is what matters most for game logic and draw call submission.

The CPU's benchmark results show its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49,872 and a single-core score of 7,040. The Geekbench multi-core score of 20,370 and single-core of 3,064 further confirm that this processor is at the top of its class. In Passmark, the multi-thread score of 58,674 and single-thread score of 4,697 demonstrate that both all-core and single-core workloads are handled with ease.

The 36 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming. Doom's engine benefits from having frequently accessed game data close to the cores, and the large cache reduces memory latency. The CPU's dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 gives builders flexibility, though the data does not specify which memory type was used in the test. The ECC memory support is a bonus for professional workloads but irrelevant for gaming.

In the context of this combo, the i9-14900K's value is in enabling the high frame rates at 1080p. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but at 1080p, the CPU's 32 threads and high boost clock ensure that even Low settings at 447.6 FPS do not expose a CPU bottleneck. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it will not hold back the RTX 4090 in any scenario.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for maximum frame rate?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 447.6 FPS, which is the highest measured result. For a balance of visual quality and speed, 1440p High delivers 210.5 FPS, while 4K Ultra still maintains 92.8 FPS.

Q: How does the i9-14900K compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The i9-14900K has an average benchmark score of 79,824, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7413 (80,041), 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79,245), and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (79,102).

Q: Does the RTX 4090 have enough VRAM for Doom at 4K?

A: With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, the RTX 4090 has ample VRAM for Doom at any resolution. The game's 2016 release date means its texture requirements are modest, and the card never approaches memory capacity limits.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 4K, Low settings produce 154.4 FPS while Ultra produces 92.8 FPS, a difference of 61.6 FPS. This means Ultra costs roughly 40% of the frame rate compared to Low.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 24th out of 1,681 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, placing it in the top 1.4% of all configurations in the database.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for Doom's performance?

A: The data shows the GPU is the primary factor. At 4K, frame rates drop significantly from 1080p, indicating GPU-bound performance. The CPU's high single-core score (7,040 in Cinebench R23) ensures it does not bottleneck, but the RTX 4090's compute power determines the final frame rate.