Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a decisive performance statement in Doom: across every resolution tested, from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, and across every settings preset from Low to Ultra, the average frame rate never falls below 66.9 FPS. This places the combination firmly above the 60 FPS playability threshold in all scenarios, with the data indicating that the most demanding configuration—4K Ultra—still maintains a comfortable cushion over the playability line. The measured results show a system that is not merely capable of running the game, but one that consistently exceeds expectations, making it a strong candidate for high-refresh-rate displays at lower resolutions and for maximum visual fidelity at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination reveals a consistent and predictable scaling pattern across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the frame rates are exceptionally high, starting at 316.2 FPS on Low settings. Moving up the quality ladder, Medium settings deliver 274.1 FPS, High settings produce 229 FPS, and the most demanding Ultra preset still achieves a substantial 190.6 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the RTX 4070 is rarely the limiting factor; the frame rates are so elevated that they approach the refresh rate limits of most monitors, suggesting the CPU’s single-thread performance is playing a more significant role in pushing these figures.

At 2560x1440, the resolution often considered the sweet spot for high-performance gaming, the data shows a similar but slightly moderated trend. Low settings yield 206.1 FPS, Medium settings drop to 177 FPS, and High settings maintain a strong 148 FPS. The Ultra preset, which typically introduces the heaviest graphical loads, still produces an average of 124.4 FPS. The percentage drops between settings at 1440p are smaller than those observed at 1080p, hinting that the GPU is beginning to take on more of the rendering burden, though the overall headroom remains vast.

Moving to 3840x2160 (4K), the impact of increased pixel count becomes evident. The average FPS on Low settings is 109.7, which is a significant reduction from the 206.1 FPS seen at 1440p Low. Medium settings at 4K produce 99 FPS, while High settings yield 82.4 FPS. The Ultra preset, which represents the peak of graphical demand, still manages to stay above the 60 FPS threshold with an average of 66.9 FPS. This scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a roughly 40-50% reduction in frame rate across all presets, which is a typical consequence of the GPU’s pixel throughput limitations at higher resolutions.

The data lacks minimum and maximum FPS values, so the analysis relies solely on averages. However, the consistency of the scaling across all twelve data points suggests a stable performance profile without dramatic frame time spikes.

Best Settings per Resolution

The objective for the "best settings" is to identify the most demanding preset that still maintains an average FPS at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold. Based on the measured data, the answer is unequivocal at every resolution.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the clear choice. It delivers an average of 190.6 FPS, which is not only well above the 60 FPS threshold but also high enough to take advantage of high-refresh-rate monitors. There is no reason to lower settings at this resolution, as even the most demanding configuration leaves enormous performance on the table.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset again stands as the best option. The measured average of 124.4 FPS provides a smooth and highly responsive experience, comfortably exceeding the playability threshold. The gap between Ultra and the next lower preset (High at 148 FPS) is only about 16%, but the visual fidelity gains from Ultra are generally worth the slight performance trade-off, given that the frame rate remains exceptionally high.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset remains the best settings choice, albeit with a narrower margin. The average FPS of 66.9 is only 6.9 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. While this is technically playable, it leaves less headroom for demanding scenes or background processes. For players who prioritize a more stable frame rate over absolute visual quality, High settings at 82.4 FPS would offer a safer buffer, but strictly by the rule of "most demanding preset at or above 60 FPS," Ultra is the answer. The data shows that this combination can handle 4K Ultra, but it is operating closer to the edge of its performance envelope at that setting.

CPU and GPU Roles

Dissecting the performance scaling between resolutions and presets reveals how the CPU and GPU share the workload in Doom. The game is an older title, originally released in 2016, and its engine is known to be well-optimized but not infinitely scalable to modern multi-core processors. The Intel Core i5-12600KF, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, provides substantial headroom for the game’s threading model.

The evidence for CPU involvement is strongest at 1080p. At this resolution, the GPU has less pixel work to do, so frame rates soar to 316.2 FPS on Low settings. Such high frame rates are often bounded by the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls and process game logic. The fact that the FPS drops from 316.2 at Low to 190.6 at Ultra at 1080p—a 40% reduction—shows that while the GPU is doing more work, the CPU is still keeping up without becoming a hard bottleneck. The i5-12600KF’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3302, ensures that it can feed the RTX 4070 efficiently even at these high frame rates.

As resolution increases to 1440p and then to 4K, the GPU’s role becomes more dominant. The frame rate drop from 1080p Ultra (190.6 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (124.4 FPS) is a 35% decrease, and then from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (66.9 FPS) is another 46% decrease. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070, with its 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth, is working harder to fill the increasing number of pixels. The CPU’s influence wanes relatively, as the time to render a frame becomes longer than the time to prepare it.

Comparatively, the scaling between presets within a resolution is more uniform. At 4K, moving from Low (109.7 FPS) to Ultra (66.9 FPS) is a 39% reduction, which is a pure GPU workload increase. At 1080p, the same preset change results in a 40% reduction, but the absolute frame rates are so high that the CPU's role is more critical in hitting those 300+ FPS figures. The data implies that for this game, the i5-12600KF is more than sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4070 at 1440p and above, and it is only at 1080p with the lowest presets that the CPU's single-thread speed becomes a potentially limiting factor in pushing past 300 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: Can this PC run Doom at 4K resolution?*

A: Yes. The measured data shows that at 3840x2160, the combination achieves an average of 66.9 FPS on Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. All other settings (High, Medium, Low) also exceed 60 FPS.

Q: What is the highest settings preset that maintains 60 FPS at 2560x1440?

A: The Ultra preset is the most demanding setting that stays above 60 FPS. The measured average frame rate at 2560x1440 Ultra is 124.4 FPS, providing a significant margin above the threshold.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 190.6 FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra to 66.9 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra. This is a reduction of approximately 65% in average FPS, highlighting the substantial increase in GPU workload at 4K.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for Doom at 1080p?*

A: At 1080p Low settings, the average FPS reaches 316.2, which is likely CPU-bound. The data shows that the Intel Core i5-12600KF provides enough single-thread performance to support such high frame rates, but the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as settings increase to Ultra.

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

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce an average of 148 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 124.4 FPS. The difference is 23.6 FPS, indicating that Ultra is more demanding but still yields a very smooth experience.

Q: Does this combination support high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p?

A: Yes. All settings at 1920x1080 exceed 190 FPS, with the lowest preset hitting 316.2 FPS. This means the system can easily drive a 144Hz or even 240Hz monitor in Doom.

The Verdict

The benchmark data answers the question definitively: yes, this PC can run Doom with exceptional performance. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous. At 1920x1080, all four settings presets are playable, with the best being Ultra at an average of 190.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, all presets are also playable, with Ultra again being the best choice at 124.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system continues to clear the 60 FPS bar on all presets, and the best settings are Ultra at 66.9 FPS.

The only caveat in the data is the margin at 4K Ultra. While 66.9 FPS is technically playable, it is the closest this combination gets to the 60 FPS threshold. For gamers who prefer a larger safety margin against frame rate dips, High settings at 4K offer 82.4 FPS, which is a more comfortable experience. However, based strictly on the average FPS data, the system passes the playability test at every resolution and setting combination tested. This is a high-performance pairing that can handle the game’s maximum visual settings without compromise at 1080p and 1440p, and it can still deliver a playable 4K experience.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations for Doom, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 holds a rank of 822 out of 3712 tested combos. This places it in the top 22% of all systems tested for this game. The percentile positioning reflects its strong performance, especially considering the game’s age and its tendency to favor high clock speeds over extreme core counts. The rank is a relative measure of its overall FPS capability across the testing suite, and a position in the top quarter of all combos indicates that this system delivers a performance level that is superior to the vast majority of tested configurations. The data suggests that this is a well-balanced setup for Doom, with the GPU’s high raw performance and the CPU’s strong single-threaded capabilities working in concert to achieve these results.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Examining the nearest rivals for both components provides context on what other hardware would behave similarly. For the Intel Core i5-12600KF, the closest matching CPUs in terms of average benchmark score are the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (with a delta of -0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (delta of -0.3%), and the Intel Core i9-10900K (delta of -0.3%). The AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE is also close, with a delta of +0.3%. This means that a system built with any of these CPUs would exhibit nearly identical CPU-bound performance in Doom, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU is more influential. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with its large 3D V-Cache, is a particularly interesting alternative, as it often excels in gaming workloads, and the data confirms its average score is essentially on par with the i5-12600KF.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, the nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (delta of +0.1%), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (delta of +0.4%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (delta of -1.3%), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (delta of +1.3%). In practical terms, a desktop system using an RTX 4080 Mobile (which is a laptop chip) would not be a direct comparison, but the score indicates similar raw processing power. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is an older, high-end card that, despite its age, keeps pace with the RTX 4070 in this particular aggregate benchmark. This suggests that in Doom, which is not the most graphics-intensive modern title, the RTX 4070’s performance is matched by these alternatives, meaning users with those GPUs would see similar frame rates in this game, assuming the CPU is not a bottleneck. The data shows that the RTX 4070’s performance in this game is not unique; several other GPUs can deliver comparable results.