Doom

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination delivers a playable but scaling-sensitive experience in Doom, with performance that hinges heavily on resolution and preset selection. The measured data shows a clear pattern: the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution climbs, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance keeps frame rates high at lower resolutions. This pairing sits in the 1381st position out of 1681 tested combos for this game, placing it in the lower half of the field, yet the actual frame rates are far from unplayable.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 103.3 at 1920x1080 to 66.2 at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 36%, and then plummets to 37.5 at 3840x2160, a further 43% drop. This pattern indicates that the RTX 2060’s 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates when pixel count quadruples.

The scaling behavior at Low settings is even more telling. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 175.5 FPS, which suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU with enough data. However, at 4K Low, the average drops to 60.2 FPS, a 65% reduction. This large delta between Low and Ultra at 4K (60.2 vs 37.5 FPS) shows that the GPU’s compute resources, specifically its 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, are the bottleneck. The CPU, with its 4 cores and 8 threads boosting to 4.30 GHz, is not the constraint at 4K; the data clearly implicates the graphics card’s raw pixel-pushing ability, which is rated at 80.64 GPixel/s.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 100 FPS across all presets. At 2560x1440, only Low and Medium settings break the 90 FPS mark, while 4K never reaches 60 FPS on any preset except Low.

Q: How does the i3-12100F perform in this game?

A: The i3-12100F has a single-thread benchmark score of 893 in 3dMark and 1681 in Cinebench R23, which are strong results. The CPU’s ability to maintain 175.5 FPS at 1080p Low indicates it is not the limiting factor in this title, as the GPU saturates before the processor does.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: No. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is only 37.5, which is below the typical 60 FPS target. Even at 4K Low, the average is 60.2 FPS, meaning the GPU is barely keeping up with the demands of the resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the drop from High (130.6 FPS) to Ultra (103.3 FPS) is 27.3 FPS, a 21% reduction. At 1440p, the difference is 18.3 FPS (84.5 to 66.2), and at 4K, it is 9.6 FPS (47.1 to 37.5). The gap narrows as resolution increases because the GPU becomes more saturated.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 2060’s rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. It is 1.7% slower than both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us about its overall standing?

A: The combo is ranked 1381 out of 1681 tested combinations for Doom. This places it in the bottom 18% of tested systems, though the measured frame rates show it is still capable of smooth gameplay at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the dominant performance driver in this configuration, and the measured FPS data shows its limits clearly. With a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, the GPU’s 1920 shading units are responsible for the majority of the rendering workload. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is the key constraint at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to produce excellent results, with average FPS ranging from 103.3 at Ultra to 175.5 at Low. The scaling between presets is nearly linear, suggesting the GPU is not starved for data. However, at 1440p, the Ultra preset drops to 66.2 FPS, and at 4K, the Ultra preset falls to 37.5 FPS. This degradation is directly tied to the memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate, as the 80.64 GPixel/s rating is simply too low for 4K Ultra workloads.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 16074 places it at the 58th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S, is just 0.5% faster. This indicates that the RTX 2060 is a mid-range part that performs admirably at 1080p but struggles when pushed beyond its designed envelope. The 12 nm Turing architecture, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, provides 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is adequate for this 2016 title but not for future-proofing at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of this combo’s capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the performance is consistently strong: Low settings yield 175.5 FPS, Medium 151.8 FPS, High 130.6 FPS, and Ultra 103.3 FPS. These numbers all exceed the 100 FPS threshold, making 1080p the sweet spot for this hardware.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but begin to show strain. Low settings produce 115.1 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium drops to 97.1 FPS and High to 84.5 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 66.2 FPS, which is playable but below the 100 FPS mark. The 1440p data reveals a 48.9 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, indicating that the GPU’s shading units are being taxed heavily by the higher pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 60.2 FPS, which is the only preset to reach the 60 FPS standard. Medium drops to 51.7 FPS, High to 47.1 FPS, and Ultra to 37.5 FPS. These numbers suggest that 4K gaming is only feasible with Low settings, and even then, the margin is thin. The data shows a 22.7 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K, which is proportionally smaller than at lower resolutions, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, plays a supporting role in this game’s performance. The CPU’s base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dMark single-thread score of 893 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681. These results are crucial for Doom, which relies heavily on per-core performance for game logic and draw call submission.

The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for maintaining high frame rates. In the 1080p Low test, the combo achieves 175.5 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck. However, the CPU’s 8 threads limit its multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912. This is sufficient for Doom, but it places the i3-12100F at the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, being just 0.1% faster in average score.

The CPU’s performance relative to its rivals is noteworthy. The Intel Core i7-7700K, a previous-generation flagship, is only 1.8% slower in average benchmark score, indicating that the i3-12100F punches above its weight class. The data shows that the CPU contribution to FPS diminishes as resolution increases, with the 1080p to 4K FPS drop being almost entirely attributable to the GPU. This is a classic example of a balanced budget build where the CPU provides enough headroom for the GPU to be the primary performance determinant.