Doom

The Intel Core i3-12100F pairs a 4-core, 8-thread layout with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This is a modest CPU configuration by modern standards, yet the benchmark data from Doom shows it is not a bottleneck in this title. The processor’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 893, is the key driver here. Doom’s engine benefits heavily from high IPC and fast clock speeds rather than raw core counts, and the i3-12100F delivers that. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache provides sufficient headroom for the game’s data streams, while the 58 W TDP indicates a power-efficient part that still manages to keep up in a demanding FPS environment.

In the measured results, the combo achieves 350.8 FPS at 1080p Low, which is an exceptional figure that suggests the CPU is not limiting the frame rate at this setting. Even at 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 212.7 FPS, which remains far above the refresh rates of most displays. This indicates that the i3-12100F’s 4 cores are fully utilized without causing a bottleneck. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11912 and single-core score of 1681 further contextualize this: while multicore workloads would stress the chip, Doom’s threaded load is light enough that the 4-core/8-thread design is sufficient. The data shows that this CPU, despite its entry-level positioning, is a capable partner for high-refresh-rate gaming in this specific title, with no measurable performance cliff observed across the tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows reveal a clear hierarchy across presets, with the choice of settings depending on the target display refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, even the most demanding preset delivers an average of 212.7 FPS, which makes the Ultra preset the optimal choice for users with high-refresh monitors, as it provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing smoothness. The drop from Low to Ultra costs roughly 138 FPS, but the absolute floor remains above 200 FPS, so there is no practical reason to lower settings at this resolution. For 1440p, the Ultra preset averages 136 FPS, which is still excellent for most gaming monitors, but the High preset at 163.4 FPS offers a better balance if the display supports higher refresh rates. The Medium preset at 196.4 FPS is a strong middle ground, though the visual improvements from Ultra may be preferable for a single-player FPS experience.

At 4K, the landscape changes significantly. The Ultra preset drops to 74.4 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold but may feel less responsive for competitive play. The High preset at 87.8 FPS is the recommended starting point for 4K, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while retaining most visual quality. The Medium preset at 104.8 FPS is the best choice for users who prioritize higher frame rates over maximum detail, as it provides a substantial uplift over High with only a moderate visual penalty. The Low preset at 122.7 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the GPU is already the limiting factor, and the visual degradation is not worth the extra frames. Benchmark results indicate that the optimal experience at 4K is achieved with the High or Medium preset, depending on whether the user favors visual fidelity or frame rate headroom, with Ultra reserved for those who accept a lower but still playable average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K shows a predictable drop that highlights the GPU as the primary limiting component. At 1080p Ultra, the combo averages 212.7 FPS, which drops to 136 FPS at 1440p Ultra, a reduction of roughly 36%. Moving to 4K Ultra, the average falls to 74.4 FPS, another 45% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steep scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the workload at higher resolutions overwhelms the rendering capabilities of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER. The CPU’s role diminishes as resolution increases, and the data confirms that the i3-12100F is not the bottleneck in this title.

The scaling pattern across all presets is consistent. At Low settings, 1080p yields 350.8 FPS, which drops to 226.9 FPS at 1440p and 122.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are larger at lower settings, which indicates that the GPU’s fill-rate and memory bandwidth become more critical as the pixel count increases. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K, but the 80 ROPs and 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors. The data suggests that at 4K, the combination of increased pixel count and higher-quality textures saturates the GPU’s processing units, while the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, and the benchmark results confirm that the i3-12100F is not constraining performance at any resolution tested.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a combo rank of 292 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 17.4% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing for a CPU that sits near the entry-level tier. The rank reflects the GPU’s dominance in this title, as the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary driver of the combo’s performance. The CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking is lower, but it does not meaningfully drag down the overall result, as the game is not CPU-intensive.

Relative to other combos, this pairing outperforms the vast majority of systems, with only 291 combos achieving higher average FPS. The data shows that the combination of a budget CPU with a high-end GPU is a viable strategy for this title, as the CPU’s limitations are not exposed in Doom’s workload. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX with a deltaPct of -0.1%, have nearly identical average scores, which further demonstrates that the i3-12100F is not a differentiator in this game. The combo’s rank reflects the GPU’s capability, and it suggests that users with this configuration can expect performance that rivals far more expensive CPU pairings in this specific benchmark.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU features 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines, with a boost clock of 2475 MHz. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s, which are substantial figures for a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for the texture-heavy scenes in Doom.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its position. A 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 and a Passmark G3D score of 29995 place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42576. Its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA RTX A6000 with a deltaPct of -0.2%, underscore that the RTX 4070 SUPER is a high-end performer. In Doom, the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates, particularly at 4K where the average FPS scales directly with the GPU’s pixel throughput. The 74.4 FPS at 4K Ultra is a direct result of the GPU’s rendering capabilities, and the data shows that reducing settings to Low at 4K increases the average to 122.7 FPS, which is a 65% improvement. This demonstrates that the GPU has sufficient headroom to handle the game’s engine at high settings, but the 4K Ultra preset pushes it to its limits. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores are not directly relevant to Doom’s rasterization-focused workload, but they contribute to the overall compute capability, as evidenced by the Geekbench OpenCL score of 192684. The GPU’s role is clear: it is the performance ceiling for this combo, and its capabilities are fully utilized across all tested resolutions.