Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Doom with the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT show a predictable but telling curve as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo averages 147 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops that to 95 FPS, a 35% reduction. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls further to 51 FPS, which is roughly 46% below the 1440p result and 65% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline across each resolution step is characteristic of a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

The pattern holds across every preset tier. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 200 at 1080p to 129 at 1440p to 70 at 4K. That is a 35.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 45.7% drop to 4K. The Medium preset shows the same shape: 174 FPS at 1080p, 113 at 1440p, and 61 at 4K. Even Ultra, the most demanding setting, scales similarly—120 FPS at 1080p, 78 at 1440p, and 42 at 4K.

What this tells the analyst is that the frame rate is heavily tied to the resolution buffer. The RX 6650 XT, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus and 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth, starts to run out of headroom as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution also widens with resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (200 FPS) and Ultra (120 FPS) is 80 FPS. At 1440p, that gap is 51 FPS (129 vs 78). At 4K, it narrows to 28 FPS (70 vs 42). This compression suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings yields diminishing returns; the memory subsystem and shader throughput are the limiting factors, not the quality presets.

For a game like Doom, which is known for its fast pacing, the 4K results are playable but not ideal for competitive play. The 51 FPS average at High is above the 30 FPS console-like floor but below the 60 FPS target most PC gamers expect. The 70 FPS at Low is smoother, but the visual compromise is significant. At 1440p, the system hits a sweet spot: 95 FPS at High is well within high-refresh territory, and even Ultra manages 78 FPS. At 1080p, the system is clearly CPU-limited at the top end, with Low hitting 200 FPS—likely a cap or a point where the i5-12400's six cores become the constraint.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It packs 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 46.7 million per square millimeter. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2055 MHz, a game clock of 2410 MHz, and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. Memory runs at 2190 MHz, effectively 17.5 Gbps, over a 128-bit bus, yielding 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The 8 GB frame buffer is GDDR6.

The shading hardware includes 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. There are also 32 ray accelerators (RT cores), though Doom from 2016 does not use ray tracing. Pixel rate is 168.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 337.3 GTexel/s. The GPU delivers 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 21.59 TFLOPS of FP16 (at 2:1 ratio). Power draw is rated at 176 W TDP, requiring a single 8-pin power connector and a suggested 450 W PSU. The card is dual-slot, uses PCIe 4.0 x8, and outputs via 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

In the context of Doom's measured results, the GPU's raw throughput is what drives the 1080p and 1440p numbers. At 1080p High, 147 FPS is well within the card's capability, and the jump to 200 FPS at Low shows the card can push far beyond that when the load is light. The 4K results, however, expose the memory bandwidth and ROP limitations. With only 280.3 GB/s, the card cannot feed the shaders fast enough at 3840x2160, and the 8 GB buffer is not the issue here—Doom is not a VRAM-heavy title—but the bus width and bandwidth are.

Benchmark scores for the GPU place it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 19,765. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla K40m (average score 19,885, 0.6% higher), the AMD FirePro W7000 (19,905, 0.7% higher), and the AMD FirePro D300 (19,637, 0.7% lower), as well as the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19,602, 0.8% lower). These are older workstation cards, which suggests the RX 6650 XT is competitive with much older high-end silicon in synthetic tests, but in gaming, its modern architecture and driver support give it an edge that the raw scores do not fully capture. In Doom specifically, the Vulkan API support (version 1.4) helps the card perform well, as the engine is known to scale efficiently on RDNA hardware.

The card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and OpenGL 4.6 are also relevant, but Doom's primary rendering path benefits most from Vulkan. The 32 ray accelerators are unused in this title, so the 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 is the theoretical ceiling. The measured 4K Ultra average of 42 FPS indicates the card is hitting that ceiling hard.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake family, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The 65 W TDP is modest for a desktop chip, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700. The L3 cache is 18 MB shared, with 1.25 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core. Memory support includes both DDR4 and DDR5, dual-channel. The CPU has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes (CPU only), and integrated graphics are UHD Graphics 730, though they are not relevant for this discrete GPU setup.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 scores 9,10 in 3DMark single-thread and 5,873 in 16-thread. Cinebench R23 yields 2,257 single-core and 15,989 multi-core. Geekbench shows 1,848 single and 8,564 multi. Passmark multithread is 18,747, with single-thread at 3,456. The CPU sits at the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18,683. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 (average 18,697, 0.1% higher), the Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730, 0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18,811, 0.7% higher), and the Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519, 0.9% lower). These deltas are tiny, meaning the i5-12400 is in a tightly contested performance band.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most visible at 1080p Low, where the average hits 200 FPS. That number is likely a hard cap or a point where the 6 cores cannot push more frames, even though the GPU has headroom. The 4.40 GHz boost clock and 18 MB L3 help with the game's single-threaded engine loops, but Doom is not heavily threaded. The 12 threads are more than enough; the limiting factor is likely the per-core IPC and clock speed, which are solid for the price bracket.

The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 2,257 indicate strong per-core performance, which is what matters for Doom's main thread. The passmark single-thread score of 3,456 confirms this. The multi-thread scores are less relevant here—Doom does not scale well beyond a few cores. The fact that 1080p Low (200 FPS) is not significantly higher than 1080p High (147 FPS) suggests that at Low, the CPU is the bottleneck, while at High, the GPU takes over. The 120 FPS at 1080p Ultra further supports this: the GPU is the constraint once settings rise.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU is not the limiting factor; the GPU is. The i5-12400's six cores are sufficient to keep up with the RX 6650 XT's frame output at those resolutions, as evidenced by the smooth scaling from 95 to 51 FPS across the resolution steps. No stutter or min-FPS anomalies are reported in the data, which points to consistent CPU frame pacing.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the best experience depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 147 FPS, which is excellent for a 144 Hz display. The Ultra preset drops to 120 FPS, still very playable, but the visual difference between High and Ultra in Doom is minor relative to the 27 FPS loss. The Medium preset at 174 FPS is overkill for most monitors, and Low at 200 FPS is only useful for extreme competitive play where every frame matters. For most users at 1080p, High is the recommended preset: it balances image quality and framerate, staying well above 60 FPS and even above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 95 FPS, which is ideal for a 1440p 144 Hz monitor—slightly below the refresh rate but smooth enough. The Ultra preset at 78 FPS is also viable, especially on a 60-75 Hz display, and offers the best visual fidelity. Medium at 113 FPS is a good middle ground if the user prefers higher framerates over shadows and textures. Low at 129 FPS is not necessary unless the user is chasing 120+ FPS with reduced detail. The measured min FPS for Medium at 1440p is 96, with a max of 129, indicating stable frame delivery. The recommendation is High for most, Ultra for visual purists, and Medium for those with 120 Hz monitors.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. High averages 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Medium averages 61 FPS, with a min of 52 and max of 70, making it the only preset that consistently hits 60 FPS at 4K. Low averages 70 FPS, but the visual downgrade is steep. Ultra averages 42 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast action. For 4K, the Medium preset is the best balance: it stays above 60 FPS on average and has a minimum of 52, which is acceptable for a single-player shooter. If the user has a VRR display, High at 51 FPS might be tolerable, but Medium is the safer choice.

Overall, the data supports High at 1080p and 1440p, and Medium at 4K, as the settings that maximize the playable experience without sacrificing too much visual quality. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1440p or lower, as the 4K Ultra result dips below 45 FPS, which is too low for the game's fast pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT ranks 2,418th out of 3,712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 35th percentile of all systems tested. This is a mid-pack ranking, which is expected given the GPU's position in the market (65th percentile) and the CPU's (72nd percentile). The combo rank is lower than the individual component percentiles, suggesting that the pairing is not fully optimized for this specific game—likely due to the GPU being the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as discussed.

In the context of the benchmark database, a rank of 2,418 out of 3,712 means there are many faster combos, but also many slower ones. The system is capable of running Doom at high framerates at 1080p and 1440p, but it is not a top-tier performer. The fact that the CPU is in the top 28% and the GPU in the top 35% of their respective categories, yet the combo falls to the 35th percentile, indicates that the GPU is holding the system back in this title. A more powerful GPU—or a lower resolution—would push the combo higher.

The delta between the CPU's nearest rivals (all within 1% of its average score) and the GPU's nearest rivals (all within 1% of its average score) shows that this combo is in a tightly packed performance zone. There is no single dominant component; the pairing is balanced but not exceptional. For Doom specifically, the 4K results are the weak point, pulling the overall ranking down. If the user plays at 1080p or 1440p, the experience is far better than the rank suggests.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings for this combo?

A: The measured average is 147 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: Does this system hit 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only with Medium settings (61 FPS average, min 52, max 70) or Low settings (70 FPS average). High averages 51 FPS, and Ultra averages 42 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18,683, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697) and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519).

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT has 280.3 GB/s of bandwidth over a 128-bit bus, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at 1440p, as frame rates drop significantly from 1080p (147 FPS High) to 1440p (95 FPS High), while the CPU has headroom to push more frames at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 2,418th out of 3,712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the lower-middle of the distribution.