Doom

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in Doom?

A: No. The data shows the combo delivers very high frame rates at every resolution tested, from 250 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 88 FPS at 4K Ultra. The i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a 2.50 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost, provide enough throughput to keep the RTX 5080 well-fed in this title, which is not heavily multithreaded.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080 scores 56,083 on average in benchmarks, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, scores 57,367, which is 2.2% higher. Conversely, the AMD Radeon 8060S (55,757) is 0.6% slower, and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698) is 0.7% slower.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 198 FPS at 2560x1440 on High. This is a strong result, placing the experience well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on many monitors. Dropping to Medium raises the average to 235 FPS, while Low hits 269 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Doom at 4K?

A: Yes. The game runs at 4K Ultra with an average of 88 FPS and 4K High at 107 FPS. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, is more than adequate for this 2016 title, even at maximum settings.

Q: How does the i5-12400’s CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-12400’s average benchmark score is 18,683, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. It is essentially tied with the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697, -0.1% delta) and Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730, -0.3% delta). The Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519) is 0.9% slower, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18,811) is 0.7% faster.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best balance of quality and performance at 4K?

A: Medium is the sweet spot. It averages 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay. High averages 107 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium provides a larger margin above typical 60 FPS V-sync targets. Ultra drops to 88 FPS, which is acceptable but closer to the lower bound of high-refresh comfort.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S family, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It operates at a 2.50 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.40 GHz. In Doom, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The data suggests this processor is more than sufficient: the measured frame rates scale cleanly with resolution and settings, indicating the bottleneck shifts to the GPU as resolution increases.

At 1080p Low, the combo hits 363 FPS, which is a CPU-heavy scenario. The i5-12400’s single-thread performance, reflected in a 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,257, handles this well. In multithreaded workloads, the CPU scores 15,989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,890 in 3DMark max threads, but Doom’s engine does not stress all 12 threads equally. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache is adequate for the game’s data footprint.

Comparing to CPU rivals, the i5-12400’s average benchmark score of 18,683 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697, -0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730, -0.3%). This parity means that in CPU-limited scenarios, the i5-12400 will perform on par with those processors, though the EPYC 7643 is a server-class chip with far more cores. The Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519) is 0.9% slower, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18,811) is 0.7% faster. These are marginal differences, so in practice, the i5-12400 is not a differentiator in Doom’s frame rates; the GPU dominates the outcome.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 make it a practical choice, but the benchmark results show no memory-bandwidth limitation in this game. The data indicates that at 4K Ultra, the combo still averages 88 FPS, which is a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the 363 FPS figure suggests the CPU can push well beyond typical monitor refresh rates, so it will not hold back the RTX 5080 in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing. It features 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2,617 MHz. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for high-resolution textures. The GPU’s 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 879.3 GTexel/s texture rate ensure it can handle Doom’s demands without breaking a sweat.

The RTX 5080’s average benchmark score is 56,083, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, is 2.2% faster (57,367), while the AMD Radeon 8060S is 0.6% slower (55,757) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% slower (55,698). These deltas are small, meaning the RTX 5080 sits in a tight performance band with its closest competitors, but it still ranks high overall.

In Doom, the GPU’s role is amplified at higher resolutions. The measured FPS drops from 363 FPS at 1080p Low to 146 FPS at 4K Low, reflecting the increased pixel workload. At 4K Ultra, the average is 88 FPS, which is a 76% reduction from 1080p Low. This scaling shows that the RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid memory bottlenecks, as the frame rate declines are consistent with pixel-count increases rather than sudden drops from VRAM overflow.

The GPU’s 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores are not heavily utilized in Doom, given its 2016 release, but the architecture’s raw rasterization power carries the load. The data shows that at 1440p Ultra, the combo still averages 162 FPS, indicating that the RTX 5080 has ample headroom for high-refresh 1440p gaming. At 1080p, all settings exceed 250 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making the GPU the clear performance driver in this system.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 211th out of 3,712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the top 5.7% of all configurations tested, which is an exceptional result. The high rank is primarily driven by the RTX 5080’s strong performance, as the CPU is only in the 72nd percentile of all processors. The combo’s ranking suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for this game, with no significant bottleneck from either component.

In the context of the full test database, the 211th rank out of 3,712 combos means that only 210 configurations deliver higher average frame rates in Doom. These would likely be systems with even higher-end GPUs or CPUs with higher single-thread performance. However, the i5-12400’s 72nd percentile CPU score indicates it is not a weak link; it sits above the median, and its 3DMark single-thread score of 910 is respectable for gaming.

The rank also reflects the game’s age. Doom is a 2016 title, so modern GPUs like the RTX 5080 can push frame rates to extremes. The combo’s 4K Ultra average of 88 FPS is a strong result, but it is not the highest possible, as some combos with faster CPUs or GPUs may achieve higher scores. Still, the data shows that this pairing outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, making it a high-performance configuration for this specific game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings average 363 FPS, Medium averages 345 FPS with a minimum of 294 FPS and a maximum of 397 FPS, High averages 306 FPS, and Ultra averages 250 FPS. These numbers are all well above 240 FPS, meaning a 240 Hz monitor would be fully utilized at any setting. The gap between Low and Ultra is 113 FPS, or 31%, showing that the RTX 5080 has enough headroom to absorb the extra graphical load without dropping below playable levels.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a steeper drop as settings increase. Low averages 269 FPS, Medium averages 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS, High averages 198 FPS, and Ultra averages 162 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra costs 107 FPS, or 40%, which is a larger relative penalty than at 1080p due to the increased pixel count. The Medium preset’s minimum of 199 FPS is still comfortably above 144 Hz, making it a solid choice for high-refresh 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly but remain playable. Low averages 146 FPS, Medium averages 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 146 FPS, High averages 107 FPS, and Ultra averages 88 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 58 FPS, or 40%, consistent with the 1440p scaling. The Ultra preset’s 88 FPS is above 60 FPS, but it is close to the 90 FPS threshold that some gamers consider the minimum for smooth motion. The Medium preset’s 127 FPS average with a 108 FPS minimum provides a safer margin for 4K gaming.

The data reveals that the Medium preset at every resolution offers the most consistent frame pacing, as it is the only setting with recorded minimum and maximum values. At 1080p, Medium’s minimum of 294 FPS is 96% of its average, indicating minimal stutter. At 1440p, Medium’s minimum of 199 FPS is 85% of its average, and at 4K, it is 85% as well. This consistency makes Medium the most reliable preset for maintaining high frame rates without sudden drops.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the best choice. It averages 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS standard and provides enough headroom for VRR displays. High averages 107 FPS, which is also playable, but its lack of recorded minimum values suggests it may have more variance. Ultra drops to 88 FPS, which is borderline for high-refresh 4K monitors, so Medium is the safer bet for a smooth experience.

At 1440p, the High preset offers an excellent balance. It averages 198 FPS, which is above 144 Hz, and the visual quality improvement over Medium is noticeable. Medium also performs well at 235 FPS, but High’s 198 FPS average is still high enough to saturate most 1440p high-refresh displays. For gamers with 240 Hz monitors, Low at 269 FPS is the only preset that fully utilizes the refresh rate, but the graphical compromise may not be worth it.

At 1080p, all presets exceed 250 FPS, so the choice depends on the monitor’s refresh rate. For a 360 Hz display, Low at 363 FPS is the only option that reaches that threshold. Medium at 345 FPS is nearly as fast and offers better visuals, making it a strong compromise. For 240 Hz monitors, High at 306 FPS provides excellent quality with no risk of dropping below the refresh rate. Ultra at 250 FPS is also viable for 240 Hz displays, and its higher visual fidelity makes it the recommended preset for those users.

The data indicates that the Medium preset is the most consistent across all resolutions, as it is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values. This consistency translates to predictable performance, which is valuable for competitive play. For the best overall experience, Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and High or Ultra at 1080p are the recommended settings based on the measured frame rates.