Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a dominant 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, but the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck at 4K. The data indicates that the Ultra preset is the optimal choice for high-refresh monitors, while the High preset is better suited for 4K displays, offering a playable 76 FPS average while maintaining superior visual fidelity over the faster Low preset.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy in performance scaling across the four available presets. At 1920x1080, the Ultra settings produce an average of 178 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate gaming panel. However, the Medium preset delivers a substantial jump to 258 FPS, representing a 45% improvement over Ultra while still maintaining the game's core visual enhancements. For competitive play where maximum framerates are paramount, the Low preset achieves 296 FPS, which is 66% higher than Ultra. The High preset sits between these extremes at 218 FPS, offering a balanced middle ground.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges. Ultra settings produce 115 FPS, which is still highly playable, but Medium jumps to 167 FPS, a 45% increase. The High preset delivers 141 FPS, and Low reaches 192 FPS. Given that 1440p displays commonly support refresh rates of 144Hz or higher, the Medium preset is the recommended choice here, as its 167 FPS average comfortably exceeds typical monitor refresh rates while providing better visual quality than Low or High.

The 4K results (3840x2160) tell a different story. Ultra settings drop to just 62 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for some VRR displays but still playable. The High preset at 76 FPS is the most sensible option for 4K, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while retaining most of the visual quality. Medium yields 90 FPS, but the visual difference between High and Medium is generally less noticeable than the performance gap. Low settings at 104 FPS are only marginally faster than Medium's 90 FPS, making the visual sacrifice not worthwhile for the modest gain.

The verdict is clear: for 1080p and 1440p, the Medium preset offers the best balance of image quality and performance, delivering framerates that fully exploit high-refresh displays. For 4K, the High preset is the optimal choice, as it provides the highest fidelity while maintaining a robust average framerate. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users who prioritize image quality above all else and are satisfied with framerates in the 60-115 FPS range.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the primary performance driver in this configuration, and its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory subsystem is more than adequate for Doom at all tested resolutions and settings. The GPU's 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs are the key architectural components that determine its rasterization throughput, which is critical for a fast-paced FPS like Doom.

The clock speeds of the RX 9070 are noteworthy. The base clock is 1330 MHz, but the game clock is rated at 2070 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2520 MHz. The substantial difference between the base and game clocks indicates that the GPU is designed to operate at high frequencies under sustained load, which is characteristic of modern RDNA 4.0 architecture. This is reflected in the measured performance, where the GPU consistently delivers high framerates across all settings.

The GPU's compute capabilities include an FP32 throughput of 36.13 TFLOPS, which is substantial for handling the complex lighting and particle effects in Doom. The 56 ray tracing cores are present, but the measured data does not indicate that ray tracing is a significant factor in these results, as the game's performance scales predictably with resolution and settings rather than showing any anomalous drops that would suggest RT overhead.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 69 against all GPUs indicates it is a mid-to-high-tier performer, but the benchmark results show it excels in this specific title. The nearest rivals comparison shows that the RX 9070's average benchmark score of 23877 is within 1.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170) and 0.8% of the AMD Radeon RX 6800S (24063), but the actual in-game performance demonstrates that the RX 9070 is particularly well-suited for Doom's engine.

The bottleneck analysis is straightforward: at 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is not fully saturated, allowing the CPU to push framerates to very high levels. However, at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as evidenced by the framerate scaling that closely tracks the resolution's pixel count increase. The RX 9070's 16 GB VRAM is never a constraint in these tests, as even at 4K Ultra, the game does not appear to exceed the available memory.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plays a supporting role in this configuration, but its capabilities ensure that it never becomes a bottleneck at lower resolutions. This processor features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The high boost clock is particularly important for gaming, as Doom's engine benefits from strong single-thread performance.

The CPU's benchmark results confirm its strength. In Cinebench R23, it scores 51731 in multi-core and 7303 in single-core, demonstrating excellent performance in both parallel and single-threaded workloads. The single-core score of 7303 is especially relevant for gaming, as many game engines, including Doom's id Tech 6, rely heavily on a few well-optimized threads. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache also helps reduce memory latency, which can positively impact frame pacing.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 96 against all CPUs places it in the top 4% of processors, and its nearest rivals show it is essentially tied with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which has an average score of 83807 compared to the 290K Plus's 84003, a negligible 0.2% difference. This indicates that the 290K Plus is a top-tier processor that does not hold back the RX 9070 in this game.

The measured framerates at 1080p Low (296 FPS) and 1440p Low (192 FPS) suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to maintain these high framerates. The fact that the framerate scales nearly linearly with resolution from 1080p to 1440p indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at these settings. Even at 4K Low (104 FPS), the CPU is likely still providing sufficient performance, as the framerate drop is more consistent with GPU workload scaling.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for feeding the GPU, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures that the RX 9070's PCIe 5.0 x16 connection is fully utilized. Overall, the CPU's role is to provide a stable foundation that allows the GPU to perform at its maximum potential, and the data shows it succeeds admirably.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 840th out of 2930 tested combinations in Doom. This places the combo in the 71st percentile of all tested systems, which is a strong result given that the database includes a wide range of hardware configurations.

This ranking is notable because the GPU's individual percentile (69) is lower than the CPU's (96), suggesting that the combo's overall performance is slightly dragged down by the GPU. However, the actual in-game results show that this pairing is well-balanced for Doom, as the CPU has enough headroom to allow the GPU to be the primary performance determinant without causing any CPU-related frame drops.

The ranking of 840 out of 2930 means that there are 839 combinations that perform better in this specific game. These higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs, such as higher-tier Radeon or GeForce models, which would push framerates higher at 4K Ultra settings. However, the data shows that this combo's performance at 1080p and 1440p is exceptional, with framerates exceeding 178 FPS even at Ultra settings.

The combo's ranking is also influenced by the fact that Doom is a well-optimized title that scales efficiently across a wide range of hardware. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a mid-to-high-tier GPU is a sensible pairing that delivers excellent performance without any obvious bottlenecks. The data suggests that users seeking higher rankings would need to upgrade the GPU, but the current configuration provides a smooth and highly responsive gaming experience.

Resolution Scaling

The framerate scaling across resolutions provides clear insight into the system's bottleneck characteristics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average framerate drops from 218 FPS to 141 FPS, a decrease of 35%. This closely tracks the pixel count increase from approximately 2.07 million pixels to 3.69 million pixels, which is a 78% increase. The fact that the framerate does not drop proportionally to the pixel count indicates that the CPU is still capable of providing enough frames at 1440p, and the GPU is beginning to become more of a limiting factor.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at High settings shows a more pronounced drop, from 141 FPS to 76 FPS, a 46% reduction. The pixel count increases from 3.69 million to 8.29 million, a 125% increase. This non-linear scaling is a clear indicator that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, as it cannot render the 4K frame buffer as efficiently as the 1440p buffer.

At Ultra settings, the same pattern is even more evident. The framerate drops from 178 FPS at 1080p to 115 FPS at 1440p (35% decrease) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (46% decrease from 1440p). The consistent 35-46% framerate reductions between resolution tiers, despite much larger pixel count increases, suggest that the CPU is providing diminishing returns at lower resolutions and that the GPU's rendering capabilities are the dominant constraint at higher resolutions.

The Low settings show the most interesting scaling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 296 FPS, which drops to 192 FPS at 1440p (35% decrease) and then to 104 FPS at 4K (46% decrease from 1440p). The fact that even at Low settings, the 4K framerate is only 35% of the 1080p framerate (104 vs 296) indicates that the GPU is still the limiting factor, as a CPU-limited scenario would show much less framerate variation across resolutions.

The data conclusively shows that the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is sufficiently powerful to drive the RX 9070 at all tested settings, and the GPU is the component that determines the final framerate at 4K. This is a healthy system balance, as the CPU has enough headroom to prevent any potential stuttering or frame-time inconsistencies.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 76 FPS, which is the sweet spot. The Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS, while Medium and Low offer 90 FPS and 104 FPS respectively. High provides the best visual quality while maintaining a framerate comfortably above 60 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p at high refresh rates?

A: Yes. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset achieves 167 FPS, and the High preset delivers 141 FPS. Both are well above the 144Hz refresh rate common on many 1440p monitors. The Ultra preset still manages 115 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at 1080p, as the framerate at Low settings (296 FPS) is high but still scales down with resolution increases. The CPU's 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock ensure it is not the limiting factor.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 840th out of 2930 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the 71st percentile. This is a strong result, though higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and does it cause any issues in Doom?

A: The RX 9070 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for Doom, as the game does not appear to exceed the available VRAM at any tested resolution or setting.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth the performance cost?

A: At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 178 FPS, which is still excellent. However, the Medium preset at 258 FPS offers a 45% performance improvement with minimal visual difference in fast-paced gameplay. At 4K, the Ultra preset's 62 FPS is below the ideal range, making High the better choice.