Doom

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti pairing delivers a robust experience in Doom, with performance scaling predictably across resolutions and presets. The data indicates that the "High" preset offers the most balanced experience, providing a significant visual uplift over Medium while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS at both 1440p and 1080p. While Ultra is playable, the measurable drop in average FPS makes High the recommended choice for consistent smoothness, especially at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show a clear hierarchy across presets. At 1920x1080, the "High" preset achieves 141.3 FPS, which is 26.5% faster than "Ultra" (114.8 FPS) but only 14.1% slower than "Low" (189.8 FPS). This makes High the sweet spot for 1080p, as it delivers a buttery-smooth experience with most visual features enabled. For 2560x1440, "High" produces 93.3 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a 20.1% improvement over "Ultra" (77.7 FPS). The 1440p High preset is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it keeps the action fluid without sacrificing the graphical fidelity that makes Doom's combat readable.

At 3840x2160, the situation tightens. "High" yields 51.6 FPS, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target but still playable. The "Medium" preset at 4K produces exactly 60.0 FPS, making it the only preset at this resolution that hits the 60 FPS mark. Given that the difference between Medium and High is often visually subtle in fast-paced shooters, the data suggests that 4K users should select "Medium" to maintain a locked 60 FPS experience. "Ultra" is not recommended at any resolution, as it drops to 39.1 FPS at 4K, which will feel noticeably stuttery during intense firefights.

GPU Role

The RTX 3060 Ti's specifications directly explain the observed performance. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is the primary reason why the game scales so predictably from Low to Ultra, as Doom's texture streaming benefits from high bandwidth. The core clocks, with a base of 1410 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz, allow the card to maintain consistent throughput across different scenes, which is reflected in the stable average FPS numbers.

The GPU's 4864 shading units and 80 ROPs provide ample raw compute for the game's Vulkan-rendered geometry. The 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput is more than sufficient for Doom's fast-paced action, but the data shows that the card's performance ceiling is reached at 4K Ultra, where the 39.1 FPS result indicates the GPU is fully saturated. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the 189.8 FPS result suggests the CPU is still keeping pace, demonstrating that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting factor only at higher resolutions and presets. The GPU's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU are reasonable for this class of performance, and the dual-slot design should fit in most standard ATX cases.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the RTX 3060 Ti ranks at 1194 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the 71st percentile of all tested systems, which is respectable given the hardware's mid-range positioning. The rank indicates that while this combo is not a top-tier performer, it outperforms a significant majority of other system pairings tested in this game. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking (vs. all CPUs) and the GPU's 69th percentile ranking (vs. all GPUs) suggest that the combo is well-balanced, with neither component dragging the other down significantly.

When comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400's performance is remarkably tight. It is just 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K in average benchmark scores. However, it trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4%. This indicates that the i5-12400 is effectively in a dead heat with these predecessors and contemporaries, meaning the GPU is likely doing most of the heavy lifting in Doom's frame rate output. The RTX 3060 Ti shows a similar pattern, with its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, just 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 6600 and Radeon 890M are 0.5% behind.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 189.8 FPS, Medium reaches 164.4 FPS, High hits 141.3 FPS, and Ultra produces 114.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 75 FPS, representing a 39.5% reduction in performance when maxing out settings. This shows that even with the lowest settings, the system is not CPU-bound, as the frame rates are exceptionally high.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are consistent. Low delivers 124 FPS, Medium achieves 108.4 FPS, High produces 93.3 FPS, and Ultra yields 77.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 65.8 FPS, which is a 34.7% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is beginning to become the limiting factor, as the increased pixel count demands more from the rasterization pipeline. At 4K, the numbers compress further: Low hits 68.9 FPS, Medium reaches exactly 60 FPS, High produces 51.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 39.1 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low and Medium presets are viable for a smooth experience, while High and Ultra will require adaptive sync to mask the lower frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is instructive for understanding system bottlenecks. At the High preset, the system produces 141.3 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 93.3 FPS at 1440p (a 34% reduction) and further to 51.6 FPS at 4K (a 63.5% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is nearly linear with pixel count, suggesting that the RTX 3060 Ti is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is adequate for Doom's textures, as the game does not require excessive memory even at 4K, but the raw shading throughput is what constrains performance.

At the Low preset, the scaling is more pronounced. The system achieves 189.8 FPS at 1080p, 124 FPS at 1440p (a 34.7% drop), and 68.9 FPS at 4K (a 63.7% drop from 1080p). The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical between Low and High presets indicates that the CPU is not becoming a bottleneck even at low settings. If the i5-12400 were limiting performance, we would expect to see a smaller percentage drop when lowering resolution, as the GPU would have more headroom. Instead, the consistent scaling confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor in all scenarios, and the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 3060 Ti at any resolution.

The 4K Medium result of exactly 60 FPS is a notable data point. This suggests that the GPU hits a hardware limit at this setting, and any further increases in graphical load (such as moving to High) push it over the edge. This is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario where the card's 16.20 TFLOPS of compute is the ceiling. For users with 4K displays, the data suggests that staying at Medium is the only way to maintain a consistent 60 FPS without lowering resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 93.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target and only 20.1% slower than Ultra (77.7 FPS). This provides the best balance of visual quality and smoothness for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Can this system handle 4K at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings. The measured data shows exactly 60.0 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. High settings drop to 51.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 39.1 FPS, both of which are below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Doom?

A: The GPU is the limiting component across all tested settings. This is evidenced by the consistent percentage drops in FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K, regardless of whether Low or High settings are used. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep the RTX 3060 Ti fed.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has an average benchmark score of 25120, which is just 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (25180). It is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (25235) and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon 890M (25246).

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 189.8 FPS, while Ultra produces 114.8 FPS. This represents a 75 FPS difference, meaning Ultra is 39.5% slower than Low at this resolution.

Q: Is the i5-12400 competitive with older Intel CPUs?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771). It trails the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894) by 0.2%, indicating near-parity performance with these previous-generation parts.