Doom

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with performance scaling predictably as resolution increases. The data shows that this combination is firmly in the upper half of all tested system configurations for this title, ranking 2001 out of 3712 combos. Across the measured settings, the system demonstrates that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck only at 4K, while at lower resolutions the balance shifts toward the CPU's four cores.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, the High preset is the only viable option, averaging 59 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution provides a comfortable margin with an average of 70 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS, making it the recommended choice for those with 60Hz 4K displays who want headroom above the target. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, the High preset achieves an average of 108 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the Medium preset offers a superior balance with an average of 128 FPS, a minimum of 109 FPS, and a maximum of 148 FPS, ensuring consistent frame times without the visual sacrifices of Low. The Ultra preset at 1440p still delivers a respectable 89 FPS average, but the 19 FPS gain from switching to High suggests that the visual difference between High and Ultra is not worth the performance cost for competitive play.

At 1080p, the Low preset reaches an average of 228 FPS, which maximizes the potential of 144Hz or 240Hz displays. The Medium preset is nearly as fast at 198 FPS with a minimum of 168 FPS, making it the best overall choice for players who want high frame rates without dropping to the lowest graphical fidelity. The High preset at 167 FPS remains excellent, while Ultra at 137 FPS is still playable but shows the largest relative drop from High, indicating diminishing returns on visual quality.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz are backed by 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. This configuration produces a pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s, which directly influence how quickly the card can fill frames with Doom's fast-paced environments and particle effects.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Doom at all measured settings, as the game's 2016 release date predates the heavy VRAM demands of modern titles. The memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s proves adequate even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 48, indicating that the GPU's compute throughput rather than memory capacity is the limiting factor at that extreme resolution. The FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS gives the card enough raw compute to handle the game's lighting and shadow calculations at 1440p with ease.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2302 places it at the 61st percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scores nearly identically at 17666 with a deltaPct of -0.2, while the AMD Radeon 780M trails by just 0.3 percent. This clustering suggests that Doom's performance is more dependent on driver optimization and specific workload characteristics than on raw benchmark averages, as the RTX 4060 consistently delivers high frame rates across all settings and resolutions in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-bound progression at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 167 at 1080p to 108 at 1440p, a reduction of 59 FPS, then further down to 59 at 4K, halving the 1440p figure. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4060's compute resources are progressively saturated as pixel count increases, with the 4K resolution demanding 4 times the pixel throughput of 1080p.

At Low settings, the scaling is steeper in absolute terms but similar in proportion: 228 FPS at 1080p falls to 147 at 1440p and then to 80 at 4K. The fact that Low settings at 4K (80 FPS) outperform Ultra settings at 1440p (89 FPS) by only 9 FPS shows that resolution has a more significant impact on performance than graphical preset at these extremes.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data with min and max FPS values, showing that the frame time consistency scales with resolution. At 1080p, the range from 168 to 228 FPS represents a 60 FPS spread, while at 1440p the range tightens to 109-148 FPS, a 39 FPS spread. At 4K, the range narrows further to 59-80 FPS, a 21 FPS spread. This compression indicates that as the GPU becomes more saturated, frame times become more uniform, reducing the likelihood of stutter but also capping the maximum achievable frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4060 delivers exceptional performance across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 228 FPS, while Medium achieves 198 FPS with a minimum of 168 FPS and maximum of 228 FPS. High settings average 167 FPS, and Ultra drops to 137 FPS. The 91 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution demonstrates that the GPU has ample headroom even at maximum graphical fidelity, making the CPU's 4-core configuration the more likely limiter at the highest frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU's workload. Low settings average 147 FPS, Medium hits 128 FPS with a 109-148 FPS range, High reaches 108 FPS, and Ultra manages 89 FPS. The 58 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to become the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Ultra settings average just 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. High settings average 59 FPS, right at the edge of playability. Medium settings provide the best balance with an average of 70 FPS and a minimum of 59 FPS, while Low settings reach 80 FPS. The 32 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution regardless of the preset chosen.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K with a consistent 60 FPS?

A: Only with the Medium preset, which averages 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS. The High preset averages exactly 59 FPS, while Ultra drops to 48 FPS, so Medium is the only setting that reliably stays near the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming on this hardware?

A: The Medium preset offers the best combination of performance and quality, averaging 128 FPS with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS. This provides a significant margin above 60 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 137 FPS versus 167 FPS on High, a 30 FPS loss. At 1440p, the difference is 19 FPS (89 vs 108), and at 4K, the difference is 11 FPS (48 vs 59). The relative cost of Ultra increases as resolution decreases.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 4060 sufficient for Doom?

A: Yes, the 8 GB GDDR6 memory is adequate at all measured settings and resolutions. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is sufficient for this title, as performance declines at 4K are driven by compute throughput rather than memory capacity.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 17639 in average benchmark score, placing it at the 61st percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon HD 7790, scores 17666 with a deltaPct of -0.2, meaning the difference is negligible in synthetic tests. The AMD Radeon 780M trails by 0.3 percent.

Q: At what resolution does the CPU become the bottleneck in this system?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are more likely the limiting factor, as the GPU delivers 228 FPS on Low settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with all presets falling below 80 FPS regardless of CPU headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, running at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boosting up to 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core are modest by modern standards, but Doom's engine benefits from the strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1932.

The CPU's multithreaded capabilities are solid but not exceptional for a desktop processor. It scores 11860 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4981 in Cinebench R20 multicore, with a PassMark multithread score of 14015. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4051 is nearly identical to the 8-thread score of 4026, confirming that the 4-core design with hyperthreading saturates quickly under heavy load. This is reflected in Doom at 1080p, where the CPU's single-thread strength allows high frame rates but the limited core count prevents scaling beyond 228 FPS on Low settings.

The processor sits at the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core 3 N355 at 13492 (0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-9500 at 13452 (0.3% delta). These close scores indicate that the i3-12100F performs on par with older 6-core parts, leveraging its higher clock speeds to compensate for fewer physical cores. In Doom, where the game's engine scales well with single-core performance, this trade-off proves beneficial, as the system achieves over 100 FPS at 1440p High settings without the CPU becoming a bottleneck.