Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Doom shows a steep performance curve as resolution climbs, and the pattern clearly indicts the GPU as the primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 102.2 FPS, which drops to 68.5 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 38.3 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 62.5% performance loss from 1080p to 4K on Low settings — a massive hit that only makes sense if the rendering pipeline is saturated by the graphics card.

Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS falls from 76.1 to 49.6, a 34.8% reduction. The same resolution step at Ultra settings sees a drop from 64.4 to 41.2 FPS, a 36% loss. These are consistent, proportional declines that track almost perfectly with pixel count increases, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario. If the CPU were the constraint, resolution scaling would show diminishing FPS penalties as pixel count rises, because the same draw calls would be processed regardless of output size.

The 4K results are telling. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields just 20.3 FPS, and High settings only manage 26.8 FPS. Even dropping to Low at 4K produces only 38.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider playable. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 18 FPS (38.3 vs 20.3), while at 1080p that same gap is 37.8 FPS (102.2 vs 64.4). The compression of settings headroom at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is running out of throughput before the CPU becomes relevant.

The data suggests that this combination is best treated as a 1080p-oriented pairing. At 1440p, only Low settings break past 60 FPS, and at 4K, no preset reaches even 40 FPS. The scaling behavior indicates that the Radeon RX 580's 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are being overwhelmed by the increasing pixel fill requirements, while the Core i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads have ample headroom to feed frames.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this CPU and GPU combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently delivers playable frame rates. At 1080p, all four settings presets average between 64.4 FPS (Ultra) and 102.2 FPS (Low), while 1440p only exceeds 60 FPS on Low settings (68.5 FPS), and 4K never breaks 40 FPS.

Q: How much performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the gap is 37.8 FPS (102.2 Low vs 64.4 Ultra). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 27.3 FPS (68.5 Low vs 41.2 Ultra). At 4K, the gap shrinks further to 18 FPS (38.3 Low vs 20.3 Ultra). The shrinking delta indicates the GPU becomes more saturated as resolution increases.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Technically yes, but practically no. The best 4K result is 38.3 FPS on Low settings, and Ultra settings drop to a stutter-prone 20.3 FPS. These numbers fall well below smooth gameplay thresholds, and the GPU's 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth appear insufficient for 4K workloads in this title.

Q: How does the CPU's core configuration affect Doom's performance?

A: The Core i5-12600KF has 10 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. In this game, the CPU's influence is minimal at high resolutions, but at 1080p, the strong single-thread performance (3dmark single thread score of 1016) helps maintain high frame rates. The 20 MB shared L3 cache likely contributes to consistent frame pacing across all settings.

Q: What is the combo's standing among all tested systems for Doom?

A: This pairing ranks 1541 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 8.3% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's age and performance tier, as the CPU's synthetic benchmarks place it in the 84th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: Does the GPU's memory bandwidth bottleneck performance at 4K?

A: The data strongly suggests yes. The RX 580's 256-bit bus width and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth deliver 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate, but at 3840x2160 the sheer pixel throughput requirement outpaces the card's ability to fill the frame. The FPS drops from 38.3 (Low) to 20.3 (Ultra) at 4K reflect this bandwidth constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF brings substantial processing power to this pairing, and its specifications suggest it is not the limiting factor in Doom. With 10 cores and 16 threads, an architecture built on Alder Lake, and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, this CPU has more than enough compute capacity for a 2016-era FPS title. Its 3dmark max threads score of 7952 and single thread score of 1016 indicate balanced performance across both lightly and heavily threaded workloads.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12600KF achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23444 and a single core score of 3309. These figures place it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27827. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27829 (0% delta), while the Core i5-12600K scores 27851 (-0.1% delta). The near-identical scores to these competitors confirm that the CPU is performing at its expected tier.

Doom's engine is known for scaling well with multiple threads, but even so, the i5-12600KF's 16 threads are unlikely to be fully exercised at any resolution tested. The measured FPS data shows that performance degrades uniformly with resolution increases, which would not happen if the CPU were the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 102.2 FPS, but the GPU's passmark G3D score of 8813 (53rd percentile among GPUs) suggests the card is the weak link.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide fast access to frequently used game data. The 10 nm process node and 125 W TDP indicate a modern, efficient design that does not introduce thermal throttling concerns. The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 offers flexibility, though the game's performance is not memory-bandwidth sensitive based on the resolution scaling data.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark database places this combination at rank 1541 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom, a position that puts it in the bottom 8.3% of all systems. This ranking is harsh but accurate given the GPU's age. The RX 580 was released in 2017 and is now marked as end-of-life, while the i5-12600KF is a 2021 product still in active production. The pairing creates an asymmetry where the CPU is overqualified for the GPU's capabilities.

To contextualize the GPU's standing, the RX 580's average benchmark score is 13559, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, scores 13564 (0% delta), and the GTX 950 scores 13549 (0.1% delta). These rivals are all older or lower-tier cards, confirming that the RX 580 sits in the mid-to-low range of current GPU performance. The GPU's passmark G3D score of 8813 reinforces this assessment.

The CPU, by contrast, ranks in the 84th percentile with an average benchmark score of 27827. The nearest rivals include the Core i9-10900K (27829, 0% delta) and the Core i5-12600K (27851, -0.1% delta), both of which are high-end desktop parts. This means the combo rank of 1541 is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU, as the CPU would place much higher if paired with a more capable graphics card.

The measured FPS data supports this interpretation. At 1080p, the combo achieves 76.1 FPS on High settings, which is respectable for a game from 2016. But at 4K, the system falls to 26.8 FPS on High, which is below playable thresholds. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect more consistent performance across resolutions. Instead, the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth cap the system's potential.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the defining component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. Built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture and a 14 nm process, this GPU has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. Its boost clock of 1340 MHz and base clock of 1257 MHz feed a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s.

The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but increasingly strained at higher resolutions. The memory clock runs at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), and the card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. In synthetic benchmarks, the RX 580 scores 1005 in 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12, 45173 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 8813 in Passmark G3D.

The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559, places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13564, 0% delta) and GTX 950 (13549, 0.1% delta). These rivals are all much older cards, which indicates how far the RX 580 has fallen relative to modern GPUs. The card's FP32 performance of 6.175 TFLOPS is modest by current standards but was competitive at its 2017 launch.

In Doom specifically, the GPU's limitations emerge at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the card delivers 64.4 FPS on Ultra settings, which is playable. But at 1440p, Ultra drops to 41.2 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 20.3 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game's textures at any setting, so the bottleneck is raw compute and fill rate rather than memory capacity. The 32 ROPs and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete FPS data for Doom with this combo is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 102.2 FPS
• Medium: 88.4 FPS
• High: 76.1 FPS
• Ultra: 64.4 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 68.5 FPS
• Medium: 61.2 FPS
• High: 49.6 FPS
• Ultra: 41.2 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 38.3 FPS
• Medium: 31.9 FPS
• High: 26.8 FPS
• Ultra: 20.3 FPS

At 1080p, the system delivers playable performance across all settings, with even the most demanding preset averaging 64.4 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 13.8 FPS, from Medium to High costs 12.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 11.7 FPS. These are relatively uniform penalties, suggesting the GPU is scaling predictably with workload.

At 1440p, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS (68.5), and Medium dips to 61.2 FPS, which is borderline. High and Ultra fall to 49.6 and 41.2 FPS respectively, indicating that this resolution requires careful settings management. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 27.3 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than at 1080p (37.8 FPS), further confirming GPU saturation.

At 4K, no settings preset achieves playable frame rates. The best case is Low at 38.3 FPS, which is still below 40 FPS. The worst case is Ultra at 20.3 FPS, which is effectively a slideshow. The data indicates that this combo is not viable for 4K gaming in Doom, regardless of settings adjustments. The GPU's pixel rate and memory bandwidth are the hard ceilings here.