Doom

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER ranks 3168th out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. That places this configuration in the bottom fifteenth percentile of all systems tested, a low position that reflects the hardware's age and mid-range positioning rather than any fundamental flaw in the pairing. The data shows a system that can run the game, but one that sits far from the top of the leaderboard in a title that has been out since 2016.

Benchmark results indicate this combo is not competitive with modern high-end rigs, but it also avoids the very bottom of the rankings. The rank of 3168 means there are roughly 544 tested combos that perform worse, which is a meaningful buffer. For a 1080p gamer, this is a workable setup; for anyone expecting 4K Ultra performance, the data paints a very different picture. The combination of a 4-core CPU and a GPU from the GeForce 16-series is a conservative pairing, and the rankings reflect that conservatism—it is a system built for smooth 1080p play, not for pushing resolution boundaries.

GPU Role

The GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture using the TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process by TSMC. It carries 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock runs at 1530 MHz with a boost clock of 1785 MHz, while the memory operates at an effective speed of 14 Gbps. These are the core specifications that dictate how this card handles Doom's rendering loads.

In Doom, the GPU's role is dominant across most settings, and the measured FPS data confirms this. At 1080p Low, the card produces 148 avg FPS, which drops to 89 avg FPS at 1080p Ultra—a spread that shows the GPU scaling with graphical load. The card's 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs handle the game's id Tech engine efficiently, but the 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is a hard ceiling. At 4K, that ceiling becomes obvious: the GPU manages only 31 avg FPS at Ultra settings, which is playable but far from smooth by modern standards.

The GTX 1660 SUPER's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 53rd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 12986. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (deltaPct 0.4), the AMD Radeon RX 580 (deltaPct 0.4), and the AMD Radeon 740M (deltaPct 0.9). These deltas are tight, showing that the 1660 SUPER sits in a crowded performance band. In Doom specifically, the GPU's 6 GB VRAM is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the memory capacity and bandwidth become limiting factors, particularly at higher settings where texture detail demands more from the frame buffer.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system in Doom?

A: The data shows 1080p High delivers 109 avg FPS, which is a strong balance of visual quality and smoothness. For higher refresh rates, 1080p Low hits 148 avg FPS, but 1440p Medium at 83 avg FPS is the most demanding setting that stays above 60 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K in Doom?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 4K Low, the system produces 52 avg FPS, which is playable. At 4K Medium, it drops to 45 avg FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 31 avg FPS. The GPU is the primary limiter at this resolution, as evidenced by the steep drop from Low to Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, which puts it at the 68th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core 3 N355, scores 13492 with a deltaPct of 0, indicating virtually identical performance. The Intel Core i5-9500 is only 0.3% faster, while the Intel Core 5 120UL is 0.7% slower.

Q: What is the GPU's performance headroom relative to its immediate competitors?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER's average benchmark score of 12986 places it within a tight cluster. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile is 0.4% faster, the AMD Radeon RX 580 is 0.4% faster, and the AMD Radeon 740M is 0.9% slower. The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 is 0.7% slower, showing the 1660 SUPER holds its own against both newer and older parts.

Q: Does the game favor the CPU or GPU in this pairing?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU is the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 148 avg FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 52 avg FPS—a 65% reduction. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth cap performance as resolution increases.

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming?

A: The data strongly favors 1080p. At 1080p Ultra, the system maintains 89 avg FPS, while at 1440p Ultra it drops to 58 avg FPS. For 1440p, Medium settings at 83 avg FPS are the practical ceiling, making 1080p the resolution where this combo can comfortably run high and ultra settings without dipping below 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo in Doom spans three resolutions and four quality presets, providing a complete picture of performance scaling.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 148 avg FPS, Medium settings hit 129 avg FPS with a minimum of 110 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS, High settings reach 109 avg FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 89 avg FPS. The minimum FPS data at Medium (110) shows the system rarely stutters, even when the average is well above 100 FPS. This resolution is clearly the sweet spot for the GTX 1660 SUPER and Core i3-12100F.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low settings yield 96 avg FPS, Medium settings produce 83 avg FPS with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 96 FPS, High settings fall to 70 avg FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 58 avg FPS. The minimum at Medium (71 FPS) indicates that even at 1440p, the system can hold above 60 FPS in demanding scenes, but Ultra settings push the average below that threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened. Low settings manage 52 avg FPS, Medium settings hit 45 avg FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS and a maximum of 52 FPS, High settings drop to 38 avg FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 31 avg FPS. The minimum at Medium (38 FPS) shows that 4K gameplay will involve noticeable frame pacing issues, making this resolution viable only for Low or Medium settings and only if the player tolerates sub-60 FPS performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component clearly. At High settings, performance falls from 109 avg FPS at 1080p to 70 avg FPS at 1440p, then to 38 avg FPS at 4K. That is a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a scaling curve that points squarely at the GPU as the bottleneck.

The pattern repeats across all settings. At Low, the drop is from 148 avg FPS at 1080p to 96 avg FPS at 1440p to 52 avg FPS at 4K. At Medium, the numbers go from 129 avg FPS to 83 avg FPS to 45 avg FPS. At Ultra, the decline is from 89 avg FPS to 58 avg FPS to 31 avg FPS. In every case, the 4K figure is roughly one-third to one-half of the 1080p figure, a ratio consistent with a GPU that is running out of pixel throughput and memory bandwidth.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. The Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, has ample headroom at 1080p—the fact that 1080p Low hits 148 avg FPS shows the CPU can feed frames quickly. As resolution increases, the GPU takes longer to render each frame, which gives the CPU even more time to prepare the next one. The limiting factor is the GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 5.027 TFLOPS of compute, which simply cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and it has a 12 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's TDP is 58 W, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode. These specifications place it as a budget-friendly desktop part, and its benchmark scores confirm it punches above its weight in single-threaded workloads.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i3-12100F scores 893 in 3DMark single-thread, 1932 in Geekbench single-core, and 1674 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Multi-threaded results are equally solid: 4026 in 3DMark 8-thread, 7252 in Geekbench multi-core, and 11860 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. The CPU's average benchmark score of 13494 places it at the 68th percentile of all CPUs, which is strong for a part in this price tier.

For Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The game is well-optimized and does not require massive core counts, so the i3-12100F's 4 cores are adequate. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 148 avg FPS, which is near the practical limit for this GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would see lower FPS at 1080p Low, but the numbers indicate the GPU is the limiting factor even at the lowest settings. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Intel Core 3 N355 (deltaPct 0), Intel Core i5-9500 (deltaPct 0.3), and Intel Core 5 120UL (deltaPct -0.7)—all perform within a 1% band, showing that the i3-12100F is a competitive part for its segment. In Doom, that translates to a system that never feels CPU-bound at 1080p, but which cannot overcome the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.