Doom

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers exceptional performance in the 2016 FPS classic Doom, with measured frame rates that consistently exceed the refresh rates of most high-end monitors. The data shows that this combination ranks 144th out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.6% of all configurations. Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset yields average frame rates above 83 FPS, making it the most demanding but still highly playable option. However, for the best experience per the measured rows, the High preset emerges as the optimal choice, as it provides a significant performance uplift over Ultra while maintaining a substantial visual quality advantage over Medium and Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 286.1 FPS, which is 53.2 FPS higher than Ultra’s 232.9 FPS and 46.4 FPS lower than Medium’s 332.5 FPS. This suggests that High strikes the best balance between image quality and raw performance at the most common gaming resolution. The gap between High and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions, but High remains the superior choice: at 2560x1440, High achieves 182.1 FPS versus Ultra’s 147.4 FPS, a difference of 34.7 FPS. At 3840x2160, High produces 96.7 FPS, while Ultra drops to 83.1 FPS.

Given that the RTX 5070 Ti has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 256-bit bus, the visual differences between High and Ultra are likely less impactful than the frame rate penalty suggests. The data implies that Ultra settings are not optimized for this specific hardware combination, as the performance cost is disproportionately high relative to the expected quality gain. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, High is the recommended preset. For those prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, Ultra remains viable at 1440p and 4K, but the 1080p Ultra result of 232.9 FPS is still well above any standard 144Hz display’s capability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB203 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC, containing 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s, which is crucial for handling the high-resolution textures and effects in Doom. The GPU’s base clock runs at 2295 MHz, boosting to 2452 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications translate into a measured pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s.

The GPU’s performance in this game is notable for its consistency. The benchmark results show that the RTX 5070 Ti achieves 32974 in Passmark G3D, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 52086 is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which scores 52085 with a deltaPct of 0.0%. This near-exact parity suggests that the RTX 5070 Ti’s architectural advantages do not translate into a meaningful lead over its predecessor in aggregate benchmarks, but in Doom specifically, the measured frame rates indicate strong utilization of its compute capabilities. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 43.94 TFLOPS and its 8960 shading units are clearly sufficient to drive the game’s id Tech 6 engine to very high frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling across resolutions reveals where the bottleneck lies. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the High preset drops from 286.1 FPS to 182.1 FPS, a decrease of 36.4%. From 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, it falls further to 96.7 FPS, another 46.9% reduction. This pattern is consistent across all settings: Low goes from 384.2 to 247.6 to 134.1 FPS, Medium from 332.5 to 213.9 to 118.0 FPS, and Ultra from 232.9 to 147.4 to 83.1 FPS.

The magnitude of these drops indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. At 1080p, the Core i9-14900K’s 24 cores and 32 threads are able to feed the GPU adequately, but the data shows that even at 1080p, the GPU is not fully saturated—the jump from Medium to Low at 1080p yields 51.7 FPS, suggesting headroom. The 4K results are particularly telling: the GPU’s 16 GB memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to maintain playable frame rates, but the performance scaling closely tracks the pixel count increase. This behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the CPU’s role diminishes and the graphics card’s raw throughput determines the outcome.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 144 out of 1681 tested combinations places it in the 91.4th percentile of all configurations tested. This is a strong showing, but the data suggests that the CPU is slightly overqualified for this task. The Core i9-14900K’s average benchmark score of 79824 places it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 5070 Ti’s 52086 average score puts it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. This discrepancy implies that the GPU is the more limiting factor in this pairing.

Relative to other tested combos, this configuration’s rank is likely influenced more by the GPU’s performance tier than the CPU’s. The nearest CPU rivals—the AMD EPYC 7413 at 80041 (deltaPct -0.3%), Intel Core i9-14900KF at 79245 (deltaPct 0.7%), and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF at 79240 (deltaPct 0.7%)—all score within 1% of the i9-14900K. This indicates that swapping to any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results in Doom. Similarly, the GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 4080, is a statistical tie at 52085 (deltaPct 0.0%), meaning this combo’s in-game performance is representative of what one would expect from a top-tier GPU paired with a flagship CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel’s 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy consists of 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. In Doom, which is primarily a GPU-bound title, the CPU’s role is to ensure that frame times remain consistent and that the GPU is never starved of data.

The benchmark data confirms that the i9-14900K is more than adequate for this task. Its single-threaded performance is exceptional—Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040 and Geekbench single-core score of 3064—which matters for Doom’s main thread. The multi-core scores are equally impressive, with Cinebench R23 multi-core at 49872 and Passmark multi-thread at 58674. The CPU’s 97th percentile ranking versus all CPUs indicates that there is no processing bottleneck in this game. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 384.2 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s maximum frame rate cap or the point where CPU limitations would start to emerge, but given the CPU’s capabilities, this is an unlikely constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low 384.2 FPS, Medium 332.5 FPS, High 286.1 FPS, and Ultra 232.9 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 151.3 FPS, representing a 39.4% performance penalty for the highest settings. The 1080p results are all comfortably above 200 FPS, making this resolution ideal for 240Hz displays with High or Ultra settings.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 247.6 FPS, Medium 213.9 FPS, High 182.1 FPS, and Ultra 147.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 100.2 FPS, which is a 40.5% reduction. These numbers indicate that 1440p with High settings is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it stays above 180 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 134.1 FPS, Medium 118.0 FPS, High 96.7 FPS, and Ultra 83.1 FPS. The 4K data shows that even the most demanding preset remains playable, with Ultra staying above 60 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 51.0 FPS, a 38.0% penalty, which is consistent with the scaling observed at other resolutions. The fact that Low at 4K (134.1 FPS) is only slightly higher than Ultra at 1440p (147.4 FPS) suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth is being stressed at 4K, but the overall experience remains fluid.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved with this combo?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 384.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: The combo ranks 144th out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.6% of all configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU’s 97th percentile ranking outperforms the GPU’s 87th percentile ranking, and frame rates scale predictably with resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High achieves 182.1 FPS while Ultra achieves 147.4 FPS, a difference of 34.7 FPS in favor of High settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming with Ultra settings?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves 83.1 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti’s average benchmark score of 52086 is essentially identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080’s 52085, with a deltaPct of 0.0%.