Doom

Doom’s 2016 engine remains a demanding showcase for high-refresh-rate displays, and the pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT produces a distinctive performance curve across the three primary resolutions. The measured data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at 4K, but transitions to a more balanced state where the CPU’s capabilities become increasingly relevant as resolution drops. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS scores, contextualizes the combo’s standing among thousands of tested configurations, and provides precise settings guidance based on the empirical rows.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates where the bottleneck shifts. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 231 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High, the score drops to 149 FPS, a decrease of 82 FPS. Stepping up to 3840x2160 High, the average falls to 81 FPS, another 68 FPS reduction. This pattern—a 35.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 45.6% drop from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at the higher resolutions, with the load scaling almost linearly with pixel count.

However, the Low settings row tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 314 FPS. At 1440p Low, it still manages 203 FPS, and at 4K Low, it holds at 110 FPS. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.4%, nearly identical to the High settings drop, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 45.8%, also very similar. This consistency across Low and High settings suggests that even at Low, the RX 9070 XT is still the primary limiter, though the absolute numbers show there is considerable headroom.

The Ultra preset reveals the steepest scaling curve. 1080p Ultra runs at 189 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 122 FPS, and 4K Ultra at 66 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is particularly telling: it is 45.9% slower than the 1440p Ultra result, and 65.1% slower than the 1080p Ultra result. This indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional effects (likely advanced lighting and shadow quality) place a disproportionate load on the GPU, making 4K Ultra the only configuration in this dataset where the average FPS drops below the 70 FPS threshold, suggesting a less fluid experience on high-refresh-rate displays.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU combination achieves a combo rank of 895 out of 3712 tested combinations for Doom. This places it in the top 24.1% of all combos tested for this title. Given the high performance ceiling of both components, this ranking is strong, but it is not at the very top, which implies that other combinations—likely featuring higher-tier GPUs or CPUs with different architectural balances—can produce higher average FPS in this specific game engine.

The CPU’s standalone benchmarks show it is no slouch. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus achieves a percentile of 96 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 93,785. Its nearest rivals in the general CPU benchmark suite are the Intel Xeon 6520P (deltaPct 0), the AMD EPYC 4564P (deltaPct -1.5), and the AMD EPYC 9175F (deltaPct -1.9). This indicates that in pure compute tasks, this CPU is statistically tied with a Xeon 6520P and slightly ahead of the EPYC parts, though those are server-class chips with different power and cost profiles.

The GPU’s standalone percentile is notably lower. The RX 9070 XT ranks in the 55th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13,543. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark suite are the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (deltaPct 0.1), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0.2), and NVIDIA P106-090 (deltaPct 0.5). This is a stark contrast to the CPU’s 96th percentile ranking. The data reveals that while the CPU is a top-tier performer, the GPU, despite its modern architecture, sits in the middle of the pack in synthetic benchmarks. This explains why the combo’s in-game rank is good but not elite: the CPU has more headroom than the GPU can utilize in Doom.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom to maintain a high refresh rate?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with High settings yields 149 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz displays. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 231 FPS, suitable for 240Hz monitors. 4K High is playable at 81 FPS but does not reach high-refresh territory.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has an average benchmark score of 93,785, which is essentially identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P (93,786, deltaPct 0). It is 1.5% faster than the AMD EPYC 4564P and 1.9% faster than the AMD EPYC 9175F.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor in Doom at 4K?

A: Yes. The FPS drops from 149 (1440p High) to 81 (4K High), a 45.6% reduction. This steep scaling with pixel count indicates the RX 9070 XT’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint at 4K, not the CPU.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 203 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 122 FPS. This represents a 39.9% performance loss when moving from Low to Ultra, which is a significant trade-off for higher visual fidelity.

Q: How does this combo’s in-game rank compare to its component benchmarks?

A: The combo ranks 895th out of 3712 combos (top 24.1%). The CPU alone is in the 96th percentile, but the GPU is only in the 55th percentile. The in-game rank is pulled down by the GPU’s relative performance level.

Q: Does the data include any minimum FPS values?

A: The dataset only includes minimum FPS values for the Medium preset at each resolution: 81 FPS at 4K, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 232 FPS at 1080p. These values are identical to the Low and High average scores, respectively, suggesting frame pacing is consistent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. The Low preset averages 314 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 273 FPS, with a minimum of 232 FPS and a maximum of 314 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 231 FPS. The Ultra preset brings the average down to 189 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 125 FPS, showing that the GPU has enough raw power to handle even the heaviest preset at this resolution without dropping below the 144 FPS mark.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains high but the scaling becomes steeper. Low settings produce 203 FPS. Medium settings average 177 FPS, with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 203 FPS. High settings average 149 FPS. Ultra settings average 122 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is now 81 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 150 is noteworthy, as it indicates the system can hold above the 144Hz refresh rate even during demanding scenes, but the Ultra preset’s 122 FPS average falls below that threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 110 FPS. Medium settings average 96 FPS, with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS. High settings average 81 FPS. Ultra settings average 66 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 81 is exactly equal to the High preset’s average, which suggests the Medium preset is the sweet spot for maintaining playable frame rates at 4K. The Ultra preset is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS, making it less suitable for smooth gameplay on standard 60Hz displays.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock is listed at 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective), with a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. The GPU has 4096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a mixed profile. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 7260, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is 65,879. However, its PassMark G3D score is 26,795, and its PassMark DirectX 11 score is only 292. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 55 is surprisingly low for a modern card, but the in-game FPS data shows it is still capable of high frame rates. The discrepancy likely stems from the synthetic benchmark suite’s weighting, which may not reflect the Vulkan API optimization that Doom is known for.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU’s memory bandwidth is sufficient to avoid stutters, as evidenced by the Medium preset minimum FPS values being relatively close to the averages. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 66 indicates the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-bound. The boost clock of 2970 MHz is aggressive, and the performance at 1080p Low (314 FPS) suggests the GPU can fully stretch its legs when pixel shader load is low, but it cannot maintain that pace as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are consistently strong across the board. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 44,253, and its single-core score is 2,439. In PassMark, it achieves a multithread score of 68,574 and a single-thread score of 5,068. The integer math score is 175,986, and the floating-point math score is 229,491. These scores indicate a processor that excels in both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads, which is typical for a high-end desktop part.

In the context of Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and process game logic. The FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low (314 FPS), the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the frame rate is still limited by the GPU’s pixel throughput. However, the transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent 35% drop regardless of settings, which suggests the CPU is capable of maintaining high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. The 24 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks, but Doom’s engine is not heavily multi-threaded, so the high single-core performance (5.50 GHz boost) is likely the more critical factor for maintaining the high average FPS observed at 1080p and 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. For players with a 1080p 144Hz or 240Hz monitor, the High preset (231 FPS) is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it exceeds both refresh rate targets. The Ultra preset (189 FPS) is also viable and provides the highest fidelity without dropping below 144 FPS, making it the recommended choice for those with 144Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (149 FPS) is the optimal choice for 144Hz monitors, as it sits just above the refresh rate threshold. The Medium preset (177 FPS) offers a higher frame rate but with reduced visual effects; it is recommended for players with 165Hz or 240Hz displays who prioritize smoothness over fidelity. The Ultra preset (122 FPS) is not recommended for 144Hz displays, as it falls below the refresh rate, but it remains a solid option for 120Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. The Medium preset (96 FPS) is the recommended setting, as it provides the best combination of visual quality and performance, with a minimum FPS of 81 that keeps the experience fluid on 60Hz and 75Hz displays. The High preset (81 FPS) is usable on 60Hz displays but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset (110 FPS) is the only way to approach high-refresh-rate gaming at 4K, but the visual compromises are significant. The Ultra preset (66 FPS) is only suitable for 60Hz displays, and even then, it is close to the minimum viable frame rate for a smooth experience, with the data showing it is the only configuration where the average dips below 70 FPS.