Doom

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Doom, with average frame rates that consistently exceed the refresh rates of most high-end monitors. The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but retains enough CPU headroom to push extreme frame rates at 1080p. The measured results indicate this combination ranks 171st out of 1681 tested combos for this title, placing it firmly in the top tier of configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited scaling curve. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the system produces 226.2 FPS, but dropping the resolution to 4K Ultra reduces that to 75.5 FPS—a 66.6% performance hit that clearly shows the GPU working progressively harder as pixel count increases. The scaling is not linear; moving from 1440p Ultra (146.6 FPS) to 4K Ultra (75.5 FPS) represents a 48.5% reduction, which aligns with the 2.25x pixel count increase between these resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Low settings yield 367.9 FPS versus 226.2 FPS on Ultra—a 141.7 FPS spread. At 4K, that same comparison shows 130.8 FPS on Low versus 75.5 FPS on Ultra, a tighter 55.3 FPS gap. This compression at 4K indicates that even the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's substantial compute resources become the limiting factor, whereas at 1080p the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads can still push frame rates into territory where GPU rasterization becomes the bottleneck.

The 1440p results represent the sweet spot for this pairing. High settings at 2560x1440 produce 176.9 FPS, which is 82.6% of the 1080p High result (275.6 FPS). The efficiency at this resolution suggests that the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to feed the render pipeline without the memory pressure seen at 4K, while the pixel throughput of 250.6 GPixel/s handles the increased workload gracefully.

CPU Role

The Core i5-12400F operates with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, providing the single-threaded performance necessary for Doom's engine. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and PassMark single-thread result of 3481 indicate strong per-core capability. The benchmark data shows this CPU sits at the 77th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221 that places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-8700K and 0.3% of the Intel Core i5-1335U.

The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate data locality for the game's geometry and texture streaming. In multithreaded workloads, the 6 cores and 12 threads achieve a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518, which is more than sufficient for Doom's thread utilization patterns. The CPU's boost clock of 4.40 GHz is the key factor here; at 1080p Low settings, the system reaches 367.9 FPS, which is only possible if the CPU can feed the GPU with draw calls at that rate.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is nearing its practical limit. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4779 and max-thread score of 5912 show that scaling beyond 8 threads yields diminishing returns, and Doom's engine typically leverages fewer threads. This is why the 1080p Low result of 367.9 FPS is so impressive—it represents near-optimal CPU utilization. At 1440p and above, the CPU's role becomes secondary, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate ratios between settings at those resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K gaming, the measured data clearly favors High settings over Ultra. The difference between 4K High (96.8 FPS) and 4K Ultra (75.5 FPS) is 21.3 FPS, which is substantial for maintaining smooth gameplay on high-refresh displays. Given that 4K Medium (112.7 FPS) and 4K High (96.8 FPS) are within 15.9 FPS of each other, High presents the best balance for visual fidelity without sacrificing responsiveness.

At 1440p, Ultra settings at 146.6 FPS are perfectly playable and represent the best visual experience available. The drop to High (176.9 FPS) buys an additional 30.3 FPS, which may matter for 165Hz displays, but the Ultra mode's 146.6 FPS already exceeds the 144Hz threshold common on many monitors. For esports-focused players at 1080p, Low settings deliver 367.9 FPS, which is 141.7 FPS higher than Ultra (226.2 FPS)—a significant advantage for competitive play where every millisecond counts.

The most balanced recommendation across all resolutions is High settings. At 1080p High, the system produces 275.6 FPS; at 1440p High, 176.9 FPS; and at 4K High, 96.8 FPS. This preset provides consistent performance that scales predictably with resolution and avoids the diminishing returns seen when pushing Ultra settings, which only yields a 49.4 FPS improvement over High at 1080p but costs 49.4 FPS at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but with caveats. The measured results show 4K High settings produce 96.8 FPS, which is smooth for most players. However, 4K Ultra drops to 75.5 FPS, which may be below the refresh rate of high-end 4K displays. For consistent 100+ FPS at 4K, Medium settings (112.7 FPS) are the safer choice.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: 1080p Low settings deliver the highest measured frame rate at 367.9 FPS. This is 47.0 FPS higher than 1080p Medium (320.9 FPS) and 141.7 FPS higher than 1080p Ultra (226.2 FPS). The frame time advantage at Low settings is substantial for fast-twitch gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU bottleneck manifest at 1080p?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 909, PassMark single-thread of 3481) becomes a limiting factor. The 4.40 GHz boost clock helps, but the frame rate ceiling appears to be around 367.9 FPS at Low settings, beyond which the GPU cannot be fully utilized.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER overkill for Doom?

A: Given that this GPU ranks in the 86th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 48704, it is clearly a high-end part. For Doom specifically, the 4K High result of 96.8 FPS shows it is not overkill for 4K gaming, but at 1080p the GPU's potential is constrained by the CPU, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling.

Q: What settings provide the best visual-to-performance ratio?

A: High settings across all resolutions offer the most consistent experience. The measured results show High is 33.6 FPS faster than Ultra at 1080p (275.6 vs 226.2), 30.3 FPS faster at 1440p (176.9 vs 146.6), and 21.3 FPS faster at 4K (96.8 vs 75.5). The visual penalty for dropping from Ultra to High is typically minimal in this title.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This pairing ranks 171st out of 1681 tested combos, placing it in the top 10.2% of all configurations. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA CMP 50HX, scores 0.7% higher on average, while the CPU's closest competitor, the Intel Core i7-8700K, is within 0.1% in average benchmark score.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured performance. With a boost clock of 2610 MHz and 8448 shading units, the GPU delivers 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Doom's texture-heavy environments at high resolutions. The 96 ROPs handle pixel output at a rate of 250.6 GPixel/s, and the 264 TMUs achieve a texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5569 and a PassMark G3D score of 31811 place it at the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its Vulkan score of 206035 and OpenCL score of 223091 indicate strong API-level performance that benefits Doom's Vulkan renderer. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (0.7% higher average score) and the Intel Arc A550M (2.1% lower average score), showing it sits in a competitive performance band.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU scaling predictably with settings. At 1440p, the transition from Low (242 FPS) to Ultra (146.6 FPS) represents a 39.4% reduction, while at 4K the same transition shows a 42.3% reduction (130.8 FPS to 75.5 FPS). The GPU's 16 GB VRAM capacity is ample for Doom, even at 4K Ultra, so memory pressure is not a limiting factor. The 285 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU requirement indicate this is a power-hungry part, but the performance per frame justifies the power draw.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 367.9 FPS, Medium reaches 320.9 FPS, High achieves 275.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 226.2 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 141.7 FPS spread, with each settings tier costing approximately 45-50 FPS on average.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the GPU taking on more work. Low yields 242 FPS, Medium produces 210.2 FPS, High hits 176.9 FPS, and Ultra manages 146.6 FPS. The 95.4 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is narrower than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming a more significant factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low settings deliver 130.8 FPS, Medium reaches 112.7 FPS, High produces 96.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 75.5 FPS. The 55.3 FPS spread at 4K is the tightest of all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution. The 4K results show that even Low settings (130.8 FPS) cannot match the 1080p Ultra result (226.2 FPS), highlighting the substantial cost of 4K rendering.

The complete dataset reveals a system that excels at high-refresh 1080p and 1440p gaming while remaining capable at 4K. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 44.10 TFLOPS of compute and 672.3 GB/s bandwidth, combined with the i5-12400F's 4.40 GHz boost clock, create a balanced platform where the GPU is the clear performance driver at resolutions above 1080p, and the CPU provides sufficient single-threaded throughput to avoid severe bottlenecks at lower resolutions.