Doom

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rate data for Doom with the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti shows a clear hierarchy across presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 238.9 FPS average, while Medium reaches 208.6 FPS, High drops to 175.5 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 142.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is substantial, with Ultra delivering 40% lower frame rates than Low. However, even the most demanding preset at this resolution remains well above the 100 FPS threshold, so the data indicates that Ultra is entirely playable at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 151.5 FPS, Medium 133 FPS, High 111.7 FPS, and Ultra 95 FPS. The step from High to Ultra represents a 15% performance loss, which is notable. At this resolution, High provides a balanced experience, keeping average frame rates above 110 FPS while retaining visual quality. Ultra's 95 FPS average remains playable but begins to approach the 90 FPS zone where frame pacing can become more noticeable in fast-paced FPS gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the settings hierarchy becomes critical. Low yields 80.8 FPS, Medium 72.8 FPS, High 61.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 49.9 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS standard, which is a significant consideration for a game like Doom that relies on rapid movement and precise aim. High at 61.9 FPS barely clears the 60 FPS line, while Medium at 72.8 FPS offers more headroom. The data suggests that for 4K play, Medium is the optimal preset, providing a 17% advantage over High while remaining above the 70 FPS mark. Low at 80.8 FPS is the only preset that clears 80 FPS at 4K, but the visual compromise may not justify the gain for most users.

The best experience per the measured rows depends on the target display. For 1080p and 1440p displays, Ultra is viable with frame rates of 142.9 and 95 FPS respectively. For 4K displays, Medium is the recommended preset, as it maintains 72.8 FPS while the Ultra preset's 49.9 FPS average falls below the threshold for smooth high-refresh gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1410 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed. These specifications directly influence the measured performance across resolutions.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is sufficient for Doom at all tested settings, as the game's texture requirements remain within this allocation even at 4K Ultra. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s proves adequate for the game's data streaming demands, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p and 4K. The GPU's 4864 shading units and 80 ROPs contribute to its pixel throughput of 133.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s.

The RTX 3060 Ti's FP32 compute of 16.20 TFLOPS handles the rendering workload efficiently. At 1080p, the GPU is not the primary bottleneck, as frame rates exceed 175 FPS on High settings. The GPU's performance becomes more apparent at 4K, where the average frame rate drops by 65% from 1080p High to 4K High (175.5 to 61.9 FPS). This scaling indicates that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting component at higher resolutions, particularly when the Ultra preset's additional effects are enabled.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, scores nearly identically at 25180 versus 25120 average benchmark points, a delta of -0.2%. This benchmark parity suggests the RTX 3060 Ti's performance in Doom should be representative of its class. The GPU's percentile rank of 69 versus all GPUs indicates it sits in the upper-midrange tier, which aligns with its observed capability of maintaining 60 FPS at 4K High but not at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.30 GHz with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, and its 12 MB shared L3 cache supports the processing demands of modern game engines. The CPU's Thread Director helps schedule workloads across its cores, which is relevant for a game like Doom that can utilize multiple threads.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 238.9 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently even at very high frame rates. The single-thread performance, measured at 893 points in 3DMark single-thread and 1681 in Cinebench R23 single-core, proves adequate for the game's main thread. The multi-thread capability, shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912, supports the game's background tasks without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's benchmark percentile of 72 versus all CPUs places it above the median. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores 13534 average benchmark points compared to the i3-12100F's 13516, a delta of -0.1%. This near-identical average benchmark score is remarkable given the Threadripper's vastly different core count, but it underscores that the i3-12100F's combination of high single-thread performance and adequate multi-thread capability serves gaming workloads well.

At 4K resolution, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The frame rate differences between 1080p and 4K at the same settings (e.g., High: 175.5 to 61.9 FPS) far exceed any CPU-related variance. The data indicates that the i3-12100F does not constrain performance in Doom at any tested setting, as frame rate scaling aligns with GPU load expectations.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gameplay with this combination?

A: Medium is the optimal 4K preset, delivering 72.8 FPS average. High achieves 61.9 FPS, while Ultra drops to 49.9 FPS, below the 60 FPS standard.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in overall benchmark performance?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F scores 13516 average benchmark points, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX at 13534 points. The i3-12100F also outperforms the Intel Core i7-1250U by 0.4%.

Q: Does the RTX 3060 Ti's 8 GB VRAM limit performance in Doom?

A: No. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for all tested settings, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution without indicating VRAM-related stutters or drops.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Ultra and Low at 1440p?

A: Ultra produces 95 FPS average while Low produces 151.5 FPS, representing a 37% reduction in frame rate when using the highest preset.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its closest rival?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti scores 25120 average benchmark points, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6700M at 25180 points. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600 by 0.5%.

Q: Is the i3-12100F capable of supporting high refresh rates in Doom?

A: Yes. The CPU supports frame rates up to 238.9 FPS at 1080p Low, and even at 1080p Ultra the system maintains 142.9 FPS, indicating no CPU bottleneck at these levels.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 175.5 FPS at 1080p to 111.7 FPS at 1440p, a 36% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the frame rate falls further to 61.9 FPS, another 45% reduction. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 65%.

This scaling behavior indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting component as resolution increases. The CPU's capability is demonstrated by the 1080p results, where frame rates exceed 140 FPS even at Ultra settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see plateauing frame rates across resolutions, but instead the frame rates decrease proportionally with pixel count.

The Low settings row shows the most extreme scaling: 238.9 FPS at 1080p, 151.5 FPS at 1440p, and 80.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is 47%, which is slightly steeper than the High settings drop of 45%. This suggests that at Low settings, the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth become more critical as the pixel workload increases without the benefit of reduced geometric detail.

The Medium settings follow a similar pattern: 208.6 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and 72.8 FPS at 4K. The Ultra settings show the largest absolute drop, from 142.9 FPS at 1080p to 95 FPS at 1440p and finally 49.9 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset's additional effects amplify the GPU load disproportionately at higher resolutions, resulting in the only preset that falls below 60 FPS at 4K.

The resolution scaling analysis confirms that the RTX 3060 Ti is the primary performance limiter at 1440p and 4K, while the i3-12100F provides sufficient headroom at 1080p. The 4K results, particularly at Ultra, indicate that users seeking consistently high frame rates at 4K would need to reduce settings to Medium or below, as the GPU's 16.20 TFLOPS compute and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain the Ultra preset's demands at this resolution.