Doom

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT sits at rank 936 out of 1681 tested combinations in Doom. That places this combo in the middle of the pack, which is a curious result given the hardware involved. The CPU holds a 72nd percentile ranking among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 77th percentile. The data shows a pairing of two solidly above-average components landing in a surprisingly median position. This suggests that Doom's engine may not scale perfectly with this specific mix of 4 cores and a high-end GPU, or that the benchmark database contains many combos with stronger CPU muscle.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 6700 XT brings substantial graphics firepower to this pairing. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is generous for a 2016 title. Clock speeds are high: the base clock runs at 2321 MHz, the game clock at 2424 MHz, and the boost reaches 2581 MHz. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs drive a pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s. In raw compute, the card offers 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The data shows this GPU is nearly tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which scores 33493 against the 6700 XT's 33721 average — a delta of only 0.7%. More striking is the comparison to much older cards: the Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 both score within 1% of this GPU in the aggregate benchmark database, despite being generations old. That suggests the 6700 XT's benchmark profile is broad, but in Doom specifically, the measured FPS results indicate the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. The card's DirectX 12 score is a modest 77 on Passmark, while its DirectX 11 score is 173, hinting that the game's API choice could influence how much of the GPU's power is actually utilized.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve, but with some telling deviations. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 172 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 111.5 FPS — a 35% reduction. Stepping up to 4K High brings it down to 61.5 FPS, another 45% drop from 1440p. Those are steep declines, but they follow a predictable pattern of increasing pixel load.

What stands out is the Low settings slope. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 231 FPS. At 1440p Low, it falls to 146.6 FPS. At 4K Low, it reaches 79 FPS. The percentage drops are similar to High settings, which indicates the GPU is still the dominant factor even with reduced graphical complexity. However, the gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (a 36% drop) versus the same gap at High settings (a 35% drop) shows remarkable consistency.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 48.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that most players target. The 4K High result of 61.5 FPS is barely above that line. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck — the 12 GB of VRAM and the 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are stretched thin by the pixel count. At 1080p, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads might start to matter more, especially since the game was released in 2016 when dual-core CPUs were still common.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to High as the optimal preset for this combo. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 172, which is comfortably above any refresh rate most monitors offer. At 1440p High, the average drops to 111.5 FPS, still excellent for fast-paced FPS play. Even at 4K High, the combo produces 61.5 FPS, which is playable.

The Ultra preset is punishing by comparison. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS falls to 137.8 — a 20% drop from High. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 92.2, and at 4K Ultra, it bottoms out at 48.9. The incremental visual gains from Ultra over High are rarely worth a 20-30% performance hit, particularly in a game like Doom where fluid motion matters more than minor texture refinements.

Medium settings offer a middle ground but with diminishing returns. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 202.5 FPS, which is only 17% higher than High. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 30.5 FPS, but the visual difference is usually noticeable. Low settings push the frame rate to 231 FPS at 1080p and 146.6 FPS at 1440p, but the visual degradation is severe. High is the sweet spot: it preserves image quality while keeping frame rates well above 60 FPS at all tested resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but only at High or lower settings. The measured 4K High average is 61.5 FPS, while 4K Medium produces 68.4 FPS and 4K Low reaches 79 FPS. 4K Ultra falls to 48.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard.

Q: How does the CPU rank against its nearest competitors?

A: The Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516. It trails the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX by 0.1%, leads the Intel Core i7-1250U by 0.4%, and is 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10105. It also beats the Intel Core i7-7700K by 1.8%.

Q: What is the biggest FPS jump between settings at a given resolution?

A: At 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium is 28.5 FPS (231 to 202.5), while the jump from Ultra to High is 34.2 FPS (137.8 to 172). The largest absolute gap at 4K is between Ultra and Low, which is 30.1 FPS (48.9 to 79).

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests not. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 231 FPS, which is so high that the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads likely become the constraint. The GPU's 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 power is more than enough for 1080p, but the 3.30 GHz base clock of the CPU with 4 cores is the limiting factor.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rival in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RX 6700 XT scores 33721 on average, which is 0.7% higher than the RX 6800's 33493. It is also 1% higher than the Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480, and 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5000.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in this game?

A: The combo ranks 936 out of 1681 tested combinations in Doom. That places it in the 55.7th percentile of all combos, which is below where the individual component percentiles (72nd for CPU, 77th for GPU) would suggest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.30 GHz with a boost up to 4.30 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a modest configuration for a modern CPU, especially when paired with a GPU that can push well over 200 FPS at 1080p.

Benchmark data shows the CPU's multithreaded performance is respectable but not exceptional. It scores 11912 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1681 in single-core. The Passmark multithread score is 14015, with a single-thread score of 3444. The CPU's average benchmark score of 13516 puts it in the 72nd percentile, and it nearly matches the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which scores 13534 — a delta of only -0.1%. That is extraordinary for a 4-core chip against a workstation-class processor, but the Threadripper's advantage lies in much higher core counts, which Doom may not utilize.

In Doom, the CPU's role becomes apparent when looking at the FPS ceiling. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 231 FPS, but the GPU is capable of much more. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads create a ceiling that prevents higher frame rates. The single-core performance is strong — a Geekbench single-core score of 2224 — which helps in a game that relies on a main thread. However, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4051 versus the 4-thread score of 2859 shows that scaling beyond 4 threads is minimal, which is typical for this game's engine.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 231 FPS. Medium settings drop to 202.5 FPS, a 12.3% reduction. High settings yield 172 FPS, which is 15.1% below Medium. Ultra settings bring the average down to 137.8 FPS, a 19.9% drop from High. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 93.2 FPS, which is a 40.3% reduction.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low settings average 146.6 FPS, which is 36.5% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings hit 129.7 FPS, a 11.5% drop from Low. High settings produce 111.5 FPS, which is 14.0% below Medium. Ultra settings fall to 92.2 FPS, a 17.3% drop from High. The total spread at 1440p is 54.4 FPS from Low to Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more demanding. Low settings average 79 FPS, which is 46.1% lower than the 1440p Low result. Medium settings reach 68.4 FPS, an 13.4% drop from Low. High settings produce 61.5 FPS, a 10.1% decline from Medium. Ultra settings bring the average down to 48.9 FPS, a 20.5% drop from High. The full range at 4K is 30.1 FPS, representing a 38.1% reduction from Low to Ultra.

The data shows that the most efficient scaling occurs between Medium and High at 1440p, where the difference is 18.2 FPS. The steepest single-step penalty is from High to Ultra at 1080p, costing 34.2 FPS. The combo remains playable at 4K only on Low and Medium settings, while High is borderline at 61.5 FPS and Ultra falls below the 60 FPS line.