Doom

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a smooth and highly capable experience in Doom, with benchmark results showing a clear performance hierarchy that scales predictably with resolution and graphics settings. The data indicates this combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming, remains very playable at 1440p, and can still handle 4K with adjusted settings. Across all tested configurations, the frame rates position this combo in the 57.5th percentile (rank 1686 out of 2930 tested combos) for this title, suggesting a balanced pairing that leans slightly toward CPU strength in lower-resolution scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent and substantial drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, which is typical for a system where the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 211 FPS, but this falls to 137 FPS at 1440p and 74 FPS at 4K, representing a 35% reduction when moving to 1440p and a further 46% reduction when moving to 4K. This steep decline indicates that while the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, the Radeon RX 9060's rendering capabilities are progressively saturated as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern across all settings shows that the performance penalty for each resolution step is relatively consistent. For example, at High settings, the average FPS drops from 155 at 1080p to 101 at 1440p (a 35% decrease) and then to 54 at 4K (a 47% decrease from 1440p). This consistent proportional drop suggests that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck in these higher-resolution scenarios, as the workload scales directly with the number of pixels rendered. The fact that the 1080p to 1440p drop and the 1440p to 4K drop are nearly identical in percentage terms further reinforces that the RX 9060's memory bandwidth and shading throughput are the key constraints.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (211 FPS) and Ultra (127 FPS) is 84 FPS, or approximately 40%. At 4K, this gap shrinks to 29 FPS (74 FPS vs 45 FPS), or approximately 39%. This indicates that at 4K, the additional GPU work required for Ultra settings is more heavily impacted by the overall rendering load, whereas at 1080p the GPU has enough spare capacity to handle the increased graphical complexity with a relatively smaller percentage loss. The data suggests that for 4K gaming, users will need to trade off visual fidelity for frame rate, as the GPU simply cannot maintain high FPS at the highest settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain high frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo delivers over 127 FPS on all settings, with Low and Medium settings exceeding 184 FPS. At 2560x1440, frame rates range from 82 FPS (Ultra) to 137 FPS (Low), which is still smooth for most displays. The 3840x2160 resolution is the most demanding, with only Low settings exceeding 60 FPS at 74 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697) and 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i7-1355U (18730). It is 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519) and 0.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811).

Q: What is the GPU's relative standing among all tested graphics cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves an average benchmark score of 16014, placing it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 16129, which is 0.7% higher, while the AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862, which is 1% lower.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo delivers an average of 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS. This provides a consistent experience well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at 4K, where GPU load is highest. At 1080p, the CPU has more headroom, as evidenced by the high frame rates (211 FPS at Low), but the GPU still manages to scale performance effectively. The combo's rank in this game (1686 out of 2930) suggests a balanced pairing.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Ultra to Low settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, dropping from Ultra (45 FPS) to Low (74 FPS) yields a 64% increase in average frame rate. This is the largest relative gain among all resolutions, indicating that settings adjustments are most impactful at the highest pixel counts.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, provides the graphical horsepower for this Doom configuration. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the GPU delivers 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is a critical factor for texture streaming and high-resolution rendering. The GPU's clock speeds are notably high, with a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, allowing it to dynamically scale performance based on thermal and power headroom.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial, with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s, which directly translate to the frame rates observed in the measured data. The FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS indicates strong raw compute throughput, while the FP16 performance is identical at 21.43 TFLOPS (1:1), which is beneficial for games that leverage half-precision arithmetic. The GPU also features 28 ray tracing cores, though Doom's older engine may not fully utilize these.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its overall performance. Its passmark G3D score of 17631 and average benchmark score of 16014 place it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, meaning it outperforms a majority of graphics cards but is not at the top tier. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 88183 further illustrate its DirectX 12 and compute capabilities. The GPU's closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, has an average score of 16129, which is only 0.7% higher, indicating that the RX 9060 is essentially performance-equivalent to that popular card in synthetic benchmarks.

In the context of Doom, the GPU's role is evident in the resolution scaling data. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, as the average FPS drops to 45, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM, while sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all settings, may be a constraint at 4K Ultra if the game needs to load high-resolution textures, though the measured data shows the game still runs, just at lower frame rates. The 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this title, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale consistently with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1686 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations. This rank corresponds to the 57.5th percentile, meaning that 57.5% of tested combos perform worse in this specific game. This is a solid result, indicating that the pairing is well-matched for this title, but it also shows that a significant number of other configurations deliver higher frame rates.

The rank is influenced by both components. The CPU, with its average benchmark score of 18683, sits in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, which is higher than the GPU's 59th percentile. This suggests that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU in this pairing, and at lower resolutions where the CPU has more influence, the combo may perform relatively better. Conversely, at 4K where the GPU is the limiting factor, the combo's rank may be dragged down by the GPU's mid-range performance.

The nearest rival combos in terms of overall benchmark scores provide context for this rank. The CPU rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7643 and Intel Core i7-1355U, have average scores within 0.3% of the i5-12400, indicating that swapping the CPU for a similar-performing alternative would yield nearly identical results in Doom. On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the closest rival, with a score just 0.7% higher, meaning that a combo with that GPU would likely rank marginally better. The fact that the RX 9060's rivals include older cards like the AMD Radeon R9 370X (score 15862, 1% lower) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (score 15679, 2.1% lower) highlights that the GPU is competitive with a wide range of products.

The combo's rank of 1686 suggests that while this configuration is capable of running Doom well, there is headroom for improvement. Users with more powerful GPUs or CPUs would see higher ranks, but for a mainstream mid-range setup, this result is commendable. The data shows that the combo is not at the top of the charts, but it is comfortably above the median, providing a reliable baseline for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400, part of the Alder Lake-S generation, plays a crucial role in ensuring the GPU is fed with enough data to maintain high frame rates. This CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has a 65W TDP and is built on Intel's 10 nm process node. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 18 MB L3 cache, which helps reduce memory latency and improve overall responsiveness.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 15989 in multi-core and 2257 in single-core, while in Geekbench it scores 8564 in multi-core and 1848 in single-core. The 3DMark tests show scaling from 910 in single-thread to 5890 in max threads, indicating that the CPU efficiently utilizes its 12 threads. The PassMark multithread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 further confirm its balanced performance profile.

In the context of Doom, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw call submission, which can become a bottleneck at very high frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 211 FPS, which is a high frame rate that could potentially strain the CPU. However, the i5-12400's strong single-thread performance (evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and PassMark single-thread score of 3456) ensures that it can keep up with the GPU's output. The fact that the frame rate scales consistently with resolution and settings suggests that the CPU is not the primary limiting factor at any tested configuration.

The CPU's percentile rank of 72nd among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18683, places it above the GPU's 59th percentile. This means that the CPU has more relative headroom than the GPU, which is why the combo performs better at lower resolutions where the CPU has a larger influence on overall frame rate. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697, -0.1% delta) and Intel Core i7-1355U (18730, -0.3% delta), have nearly identical average scores, indicating that this CPU is well-positioned in the market. The Intel Core i3-14100F, with a score of 18519 (0.9% lower), is a slightly weaker alternative.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 211, which is ideal for 240Hz esports monitors. Medium settings yield an average of 184 FPS, with a minimum of 156 and a maximum of 212. High settings drop to an average of 155 FPS, while Ultra settings produce an average of 127 FPS. All of these values are well above the 60 FPS threshold, and even the lowest minimum (156 FPS at Medium) ensures a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows a clear step down. Low settings average 137 FPS, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. Medium settings average 119 FPS, with a minimum of 101 and a maximum of 137. High settings average 101 FPS, while Ultra settings fall to 82 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, as all settings except Ultra maintain frame rates above 100 FPS. The minimum FPS of 101 at Medium settings shows that frame pacing is consistent, with no significant drops.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 74 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. Medium settings average 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74. High settings drop to an average of 54 FPS, while Ultra settings produce an average of 45 FPS. These results show that 4K gaming is only viable on Low or Medium settings, and even then, the frame rate is close to or below the 60 FPS target. The minimum FPS of 55 at Medium settings indicates that there may be occasional dips below 60 FPS, which could affect gameplay smoothness.

The data also shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: the difference between Low and Medium settings is relatively small (e.g., 27 FPS at 1080p, 18 FPS at 1440p, and 9 FPS at 4K), while the difference between Medium and High is also modest. The largest gap is typically between High and Ultra, where the additional graphical features (such as higher-quality shadows and textures) have a significant impact on performance. For example, at 1080p, the gap between High (155 FPS) and Ultra (127 FPS) is 28 FPS, while at 4K, the gap between High (54 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS) is 9 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is recommended for the best visual experience, as it still delivers an average of 127 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for 120Hz displays. If aiming for the absolute highest frame rates, the Medium preset (184 FPS) or Low preset (211 FPS) are excellent choices, particularly for competitive play where every frame matters.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (101 FPS) offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as it maintains triple-digit frame rates while providing more detailed graphics than Medium (119 FPS). The Ultra preset (82 FPS) is still playable and may be preferred for single-player experiences where visual quality is paramount, but the 82 FPS average is close to the 60 FPS threshold, so there is less headroom for demanding scenes. For users with 144Hz monitors, the Medium preset (119 FPS) is the safest choice, as it provides a comfortable margin above the refresh rate.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset (65 FPS) is the recommended choice, as it is the highest settings level that maintains an average frame rate above 60 FPS. The minimum FPS of 55 at Medium settings indicates that there may be occasional dips below 60 FPS, but the overall experience should still be smooth. The Low preset (74 FPS) provides a larger safety margin and is recommended for users who prioritize consistent frame rates over visual quality. The High (54 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS) presets are not recommended for 4K, as they fall below the 60 FPS target and may result in noticeable stuttering during intense action sequences.

In summary, the data suggests that the ideal experience with this combo is at 1440p with Medium or High settings, where the performance is consistently smooth and the visual quality is high. For 1080p, Ultra settings are viable, while for 4K, users must accept Medium or Low settings to achieve playable frame rates. The combo's rank of 1686 out of 2930 indicates that it is a capable mid-range setup, but for 4K gaming at high settings, a more powerful GPU would be required.