Doom

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a commanding performance profile in Doom, scaling from highly playable 4K to exceptionally high refresh rates at 1080p. The data shows this combination is firmly positioned for high-fidelity gaming, with the measured frame rates revealing a clear hierarchy across resolutions and presets.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a substantial yet predictable drop in frame rates, indicating a shift in the system's primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 298.1 FPS, demonstrating the CPU's ability to feed the GPU at extreme rates. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings, the average falls to 195 FPS, a reduction of approximately 34.6%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average further declines to 101.3 FPS, showing a 48.1% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern suggests that while the RX 9070 is robust, the pixel throughput demands at 4K begin to strain the GPU, even at the lowest preset.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced when examining higher quality settings. At High settings, the frame rate cascades from 219.9 FPS at 1080p to 141.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 78.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at High is 64.4%, which is slightly steeper than the 66.0% drop observed at Low settings. This indicates that as visual complexity increases, the GPU becomes the limiting component more aggressively, with the CPU's role diminishing at higher resolutions.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story with a wider gap. The 1080p Ultra average is 178 FPS, which falls to 115.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 63.9 FPS at 4K. The cumulative reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 64.1%, nearly identical to the High preset. This consistency suggests that the RX 9070's rendering pipeline is the dominant constraint at 4K, regardless of whether the preset is High or Ultra. The data indicates that for 4K gaming, users should expect averages in the 60-100 FPS range depending on preset, while 1440p offers a sweet spot with averages between 115.6 and 195 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070's specifications directly correlate with the observed performance in Doom. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This substantial memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for the game's demands at 4K, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at that resolution. The GPU's clock behavior is notable: a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The wide gap between base and boost clocks indicates the card can aggressively scale its frequency under load, which contributes to the strong performance at 1080p where the GPU is not fully saturated.

The RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC, provides 3584 shading units and 128 ROPs. The pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are critical for Doom, a fast-paced FPS with heavy texture streaming. The benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 25381 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290, positioning it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. This percentile ranking aligns with the measured FPS data, which shows the card handling 4K Ultra at 63.9 FPS, a respectable figure for a demanding title.

The GPU's memory clock is listed as 2518 MHz, translating to 20.1 Gbps effective. This high-speed memory is essential for maintaining the 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, which in turn supports the high frame rates seen at 1440p and 1080p. The data suggests that the RX 9070 is not memory-limited in Doom, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution rather than showing sudden cliffs. The GPU's FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS provides ample compute for the game's Vulkan-based rendering engine, which is known for efficient multi-threading.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average is 298.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings, indicating the combo can far exceed typical 144Hz monitor refresh rates at this resolution.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming at playable frame rates?

A: Yes, the data shows 4K averages ranging from 63.9 FPS at Ultra settings to 101.3 FPS at Low settings, confirming that 4K is viable, though Ultra preset dips below the 70 FPS threshold for very high refresh rate displays.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-11600K. It trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4%.

Q: What is the difference in frame rate between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 219.9 FPS at 1080p to 141.4 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 78.5 FPS or approximately 35.7%.

Q: Which preset offers the largest performance gap between 1440p and 4K?

A: The Low preset shows the largest absolute drop, falling from 195 FPS at 1440p to 101.3 FPS at 4K, a difference of 93.7 FPS. In percentage terms, this is a 48.1% reduction.

Q: Is the GPU's performance consistent with its benchmark percentile?

A: The RX 9070 is in the 79th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 34780. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA A2, is 0.2% higher, while the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is 0.7% lower. The measured Doom frame rates are consistent with this high percentile ranking.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 4K displays, the High preset at 78.3 FPS represents the best balance, as it delivers a smooth experience above 75 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 63.9 FPS is playable but may feel less fluid on high refresh rate panels. The Medium preset at 91.8 FPS is a strong alternative if users prefer higher frame rates over maximum visual quality, offering a 17.2% improvement over High while still looking polished.

For 1440p, the data clearly favors the High preset at 141.4 FPS, which is well above the 120 FPS threshold for high refresh rate gaming. The Ultra preset at 115.6 FPS is also excellent, providing a 22.3% visual upgrade over High with only a 18.2% frame rate penalty. Users with 144Hz monitors should select High, while those with 120Hz panels can comfortably choose Ultra.

At 1080p, the system is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings. The Ultra preset at 178 FPS is the recommended choice for maximum visual quality, as it still exceeds 144Hz refresh rates. The High preset at 219.9 FPS is preferable for 240Hz displays, though the visual difference between High and Ultra may not justify the 19.1% frame rate loss. The Low and Medium presets at 298.1 FPS and 258.4 FPS respectively are only necessary for extreme refresh rate displays above 240Hz, where the higher frame rates become perceptible.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 542nd out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 32.2% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong pairing where neither component severely bottlenecks the other. The CPU's average benchmark score of 19850 places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 34780 places it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. The near-equal percentile rankings suggest a balanced system, though the CPU is slightly less powerful relative to its peers.

In the context of the measured frame rates, the combo's rank is justified by its ability to maintain high averages across all resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 298.1 FPS is particularly impressive, demonstrating that the CPU can deliver data fast enough to saturate the GPU's rendering capacity. However, the rank of 542 indicates there are 541 other combos that achieve higher performance, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs. The performance gap to the top-tier combos is driven by the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration, which, while capable, trails higher-core-count processors in multi-threaded workloads. The data shows this combo is an excellent mid-to-high-range choice for Doom, particularly for users targeting 1440p High or 4K Medium settings.