Doom

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an extreme pairing for a 2016 title like Doom, and the measured data confirms that this combination is thoroughly overkill for every preset and resolution tested. The benchmark results show a system that never dips below 94 FPS average at any setting, with performance scaling predictably as resolution and visual fidelity increase.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the RTX 4090 is clearly the dominant factor, with the CPU providing ample headroom. The Low preset delivers an average of 365 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. Moving to Medium, the average drops to 348 FPS, with a minimum of 296 FPS and a maximum of 401 FPS. High settings yield 327 FPS average, while the Ultra preset, which is the most demanding configuration at this resolution, still produces a substantial 267 FPS average. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is roughly 98 FPS, indicating that even the heaviest settings cannot meaningfully challenge this hardware combination.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the performance remains exceptionally high but begins to show the influence of increased pixel count. The Low preset averages 287 FPS, while Medium produces 250 FPS with a minimum of 213 FPS and a maximum of 288 FPS. High settings deliver 211 FPS average, and Ultra still achieves a robust 173 FPS average. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is approximately 114 FPS, which is a larger gap than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is starting to work harder as the resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, or 4K, the RTX 4090 finally encounters a workload that requires more of its resources, yet the results remain far above the playable threshold of 60 FPS. The Low preset averages 156 FPS, Medium averages 136 FPS with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS, and High delivers 115 FPS average. The Ultra preset, the most demanding configuration in the entire test suite, still maintains an average of 94 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 62 FPS, which is the smallest relative gap across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution.

Best Settings per Resolution

For each resolution, the data identifies the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS average, and in this case, every single preset at every resolution clears that threshold with significant margin.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 267 FPS. This is more than four times the playable threshold, meaning users can enable every visual option without any concern for frame rate drops. The minimum FPS was not recorded for this preset, but the average alone demonstrates that this is the optimal configuration.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset again stands as the best setting, with an average of 173 FPS. This is nearly three times the playable threshold, and the system has so much headroom that even the most demanding settings leave ample performance for future driver updates or background tasks.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset remains the recommended choice, averaging 94 FPS. This is the only resolution where the frame rate drops below 100 FPS average, but 94 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS, providing a smooth experience with all settings maxed out. The data shows that this combination can handle 4K Ultra without compromise.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Doom at 4K with all settings maxed out?

A: Yes, the measured data shows that at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, the system achieves an average of 94 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this system can achieve?

A: The highest recorded average is 365 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. The maximum FPS recorded in any test is 401 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 perform at 1440p compared to 4K?

A: At 2560x1440 with the Ultra preset, the average is 173 FPS, while at 3840x2160 with the same preset, the average drops to 94 FPS. This represents a 79 FPS decrease, showing that the GPU workload increases significantly at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data does not show any bottlenecking. At 1080p, where CPU load is typically highest relative to GPU, the system still achieves 267 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tests?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 115 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with the Medium preset. The next lowest minimum is 213 FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate drops below 60 FPS?

A: No. Every preset at every resolution tested maintains an average FPS above 94, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i5-12400F, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with an average score of 19047 and a delta of 0%, the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 with a delta of -0.1%, and the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982 with a delta of 0.3%. These CPUs are all within a fraction of a percent in terms of average score, meaning that swapping the i5-12400F for any of these would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Doom, assuming the GPU remains the same.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has nearest rivals including the Intel Arc Pro A60 with an average score of 60326 and a delta of 0%, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60140 with a delta of 0.3%, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61896 with a delta of -2.5%. These GPUs are all very close in average benchmark score, but the delta percentages indicate that the RTX 4090 is slightly faster than the Intel Arc Pro A60 and the Radeon Pro Vega 48, while being slightly slower than the Radeon Pro W6600M. In practice, any of these alternatives would likely deliver comparable performance in Doom, though the exact frame rates would depend on driver optimizations and other factors.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear pattern in how the CPU and GPU contribute to performance across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are extremely high across all presets, with the difference between Low and Ultra being 98 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is not fully utilized at this resolution, and the CPU is capable of feeding it frames at a very high rate. The fact that the RTX 4090 is producing 365 FPS on Low settings indicates that the i5-12400F is not a limiting factor at 1080p.

As the resolution increases to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop across all presets, but the relative gap between Low and Ultra widens to 114 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is becoming more involved in the rendering process, but the CPU still has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates. At 3840x2160, the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 62 FPS, which is the smallest difference across all resolutions. This is a strong indicator that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, as the increased pixel count demands more from the RTX 4090's compute and memory resources.

The scaling between resolutions further illustrates this division of labor. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 267 at 1080p to 173 at 1440p, a 94 FPS decrease, and then to 94 at 4K, another 79 FPS decrease. These are substantial drops that align with the increase in pixel count, confirming that the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. Conversely, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 78 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is 131 FPS, which is a larger proportional drop, indicating that the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU workload increases.

The Verdict

This system can absolutely run Doom, and it does so with exceptional headroom at every resolution and preset combination tested. The verdict by resolution confirms that all settings are playable at all resolutions, with the best settings being Ultra at each one. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 267 FPS average, which is more than four times the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 173 FPS, nearly three times the threshold. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 94 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS.

The data shows that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, while the i5-12400F provides more than enough processing power to avoid bottlenecking at lower resolutions. This pairing is effectively future-proof for Doom, as even the most demanding settings at 4K leave significant performance in reserve. The only scenario where a user might want to dial back settings is if they are targeting extremely high refresh rates at 4K, as the 94 FPS average on Ultra is below the 120 FPS or 144 FPS that some high-end monitors support. However, for standard 60 Hz displays, this system is more than sufficient, and for 144 Hz or higher at 1080p or 1440p, it exceeds expectations.