Doom

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB produces a playable experience in Doom across most settings, though the data reveals a clear ceiling at higher resolutions. The benchmark results indicate a system that is well-suited for 1080p and capable at 1440p, but one that struggles to maintain fluid frame rates at 4K, particularly with demanding presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a consistent hierarchy across all three resolutions: Low delivers the highest average FPS, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra trailing significantly. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 133.2 FPS, while Medium drops to 120.4 FPS, and High reaches 102.8 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, falls to 83.2 FPS, a substantial reduction that suggests the 4 GB VRAM buffer is stressed by the higher texture and shading requirements.

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset at 1080p appears to be the optimal choice. The 102.8 FPS average remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the jump from Medium to High costs only about 17.6 FPS, which is a reasonable trade for improved image quality. At 2560x1440, the High preset still maintains a respectable 66.2 FPS average, but the Medium preset at 78.1 FPS offers a safer margin above refresh rate dips. The data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for 1440p, as it provides a comfortable cushion over the Ultra setting’s 55.1 FPS, which approaches the edge of playability.

At 3840x2160, no preset delivers a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset averages 45 FPS, Medium 40.5 FPS, High 33.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27.3 FPS. Given these figures, the Low preset is the only viable option for 4K, but even that is below the ideal 60 FPS target. The analysis indicates that users should prioritize 1080p with High settings for the best experience, or 1440p with Medium if higher resolution is desired.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the central component in this combo, and its specifications directly explain the performance pattern. The GPU features a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1740 MHz, with 2048 shading units and 32 ROPs. The memory configuration is a critical factor: 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s. This is a modest amount of VRAM for modern titles, and Doom’s Ultra preset appears to exceed what this buffer can efficiently handle.

The data shows that the gap between Medium and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 37.2 FPS (120.4 vs 83.2), at 1440p it is 23.0 FPS (78.1 vs 55.1), and at 4K it narrows to 13.2 FPS (40.5 vs 27.3). This pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, and the VRAM capacity becomes the limiting factor when Ultra settings are enabled. At 4K, the GPU’s raw compute power (7.127 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient regardless of settings, so the relative penalty from Ultra is smaller in absolute terms.

The GPU’s 8 nm process node and 8,700 million transistors indicate an Ampere architecture design that is efficient for its class. The pixel rate of 55.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 111.4 GTexel/s are modest figures, and they align with the observed frame rates. The 90 W TDP also suggests this is a low-power part, which may contribute to thermal throttling under sustained load, though the benchmark data does not directly measure this.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 102.8 at 1080p to 66.2 at 1440p, a reduction of 36.6 FPS, and then to 33.8 at 4K, another 32.4 FPS drop. This is a roughly 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which indicates a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, an Intel Core i3-12100F with 4 cores and 8 threads, has a boost clock of 4.30 GHz and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912, which is sufficient for this game at these frame rates.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low, the drop is from 133.2 to 86.0 to 45.0 FPS. At Medium, it goes from 120.4 to 78.1 to 40.5 FPS. At Ultra, it drops from 83.2 to 55.1 to 27.3 FPS. The fact that even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU. The RTX 3050’s memory bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s is likely insufficient for 4K textures, and the 4 GB capacity forces the renderer to rely on slower fallbacks or reduced detail.

The data also shows that the relative performance gap between Low and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra is 37.5% slower than Low (83.2 vs 133.2). At 4K, Ultra is 39.3% slower (27.3 vs 45.0). This indicates that as resolution increases, the pixel fill rate becomes the dominant constraint, diminishing the impact of settings changes that primarily affect shading complexity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank in Doom is 1521 out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 10% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the hardware’s overall capability across the full range of resolutions and settings. The CPU itself has a percentile rank of 72 versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516, which is competitive with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, delta -0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462, delta 0.4%). However, the GPU’s percentile rank is 50 versus all GPUs, with no average benchmark score listed, indicating it is an average performer.

The combination of a mid-range CPU and a low-end GPU results in a system that is heavily GPU-limited in this title. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430, delta 0.6%) and the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280, delta 1.8%), which are all within 2% of the i3-12100F’s average score. This suggests that CPU choice is not the differentiator here; the RTX 3050’s 4 GB VRAM and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are the factors that hold the combo back.

The rank of 1521 out of 1681 indicates that most other combinations deliver higher frame rates in Doom. This is expected given the GPU’s modest specs, but the data shows that the combo still provides a playable experience at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings. The system is not designed for 4K gaming, and pushing it to that resolution results in sub-30 FPS averages on Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset delivers an average of 102.8 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium offers 120.4 FPS and Low reaches 133.2 FPS, but High provides a better visual experience with only a modest FPS penalty.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p in Doom?

A: Yes, the Medium preset averages 78.1 FPS, and High averages 66.2 FPS. Both are playable, though Ultra drops to 55.1 FPS, which may feel less smooth on high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Why is the 4K performance so poor?

A: The RTX 3050’s 4 GB VRAM and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K textures. Even the Low preset only averages 45 FPS, indicating the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems in the database?

A: It ranks 1521 out of 1681 combos, placing it in the lower percentile. The CPU is competitive with rivals like the Intel Core i7-7700K, but the GPU’s limited memory capacity drags down the overall ranking.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 83.2 FPS, which is playable, but the drop from High is 19.6 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra falls to 55.1 FPS, and at 4K it drops to 27.3 FPS, making it unsuitable for those resolutions.

Q: What does the data say about the CPU versus GPU balance?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 13516 is within 2% of its nearest rivals, while the GPU has a 50th percentile rank. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly shows the GPU is the limiting component in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low preset achieves 133.2 FPS, Medium 120.4 FPS, High 102.8 FPS, and Ultra 83.2 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 50.0 FPS, indicating that settings have a significant impact at this resolution. The High preset offers a balanced point, with a 20.6 FPS reduction from Medium but a 19.6 FPS improvement over Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop to 86.0 FPS for Low, 78.1 FPS for Medium, 66.2 FPS for High, and 55.1 FPS for Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 30.9 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p. This suggests that the GPU is beginning to struggle with the increased pixel count, and the settings-based gains are diminishing. The Medium preset at 78.1 FPS is the most consistent option for 60+ FPS gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the performance is markedly lower: Low averages 45.0 FPS, Medium 40.5 FPS, High 33.8 FPS, and Ultra 27.3 FPS. The maximum difference between settings is only 17.7 FPS, which confirms that the GPU is saturated regardless of preset. Even the Low preset fails to reach 60 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical with this hardware. The data shows a clear degradation curve, with the most severe drop occurring between 1440p and 4K for every settings level.