Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.70 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, and it features a 20 MB shared L3 cache alongside 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark results place it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 27,827. This places it effectively in a dead heat with the Intel Core i9-10900K, which scores 27,829, and the Intel Core i5-12600K, which scores 27,851 (a -0.1% delta). It also trades blows with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (27,872, -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-13700H (27,716, +0.4%). In the context of Doom, a game that is not particularly demanding on multi-threaded workloads, this processor's single-thread strength is more relevant. Its 3DMark single-thread score is 1,016, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 3,309, indicating robust per-core performance that allows the GPU to remain the primary bottleneck in most scenarios. The processor's 10 cores provide ample headroom for background tasks and modern game engines, but the data suggests that in this title, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, especially at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring the Navi 23 chip with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 1968 MHz, a boost clock of 2589 MHz, and a game clock of 2359 MHz. The card is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its computational throughput includes 10.60 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s. The GPU holds a 71st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27,985. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27,956, +0.1%), the AMD Radeon R9 M395X (27,883, +0.4%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (28,238, -0.9%). In Doom, the GPU's role is central; the measured frame rates show a clear dependency on the graphics settings, which directly influence the rendering load. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the textures and geometry at the tested settings, even at 4K Ultra, where the card still manages a playable average frame rate. The GPU's performance scaling with settings suggests that it is the component that dictates the frame rate ceiling in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combination produces an average of 140.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 93.7 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls further to 49.6 FPS, which is a 65% drop from the 1080p figure. This aggressive scaling indicates that the rendering pipeline is heavily dependent on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, both of which are taxed more severely at higher pixel counts. The CPU's performance headroom is evident in the 1080p Low setting, which yields 192.1 FPS—suggesting that the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond what the GPU can render at higher resolutions. The transition from 1440p to 4K at the same settings shows a steeper relative decline than the 1080p to 1440p step, which is typical for a GPU with a 128-bit memory interface. The limiting component shifts decisively to the GPU as resolution climbs, with the CPU's contribution becoming increasingly negligible at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides average FPS figures for four settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are 192.1 FPS on Low, 166.8 FPS on Medium, 140.3 FPS on High, and 114.3 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 77.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution and that settings are a direct lever on performance. At 2560x1440, the averages are 122.9 FPS on Low, 109.5 FPS on Medium, 93.7 FPS on High, and 77.2 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 45.7 FPS, showing that the GPU is beginning to saturate. At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 66.6 FPS on Low, 56.9 FPS on Medium, 49.6 FPS on High, and 40.5 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 26.1 FPS, a further compression that confirms the GPU is the primary constraint. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 40.5 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS figure in the entire set, while every other configuration at 1440p and below exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. The 1080p Low result of 192.1 FPS is the highest recorded, and the 1440p Low result of 122.9 FPS is higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 114.3 FPS, illustrating that resolution and settings trade off in a predictable manner.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is ranked 1209 out of 1681 tested combos in the database for Doom, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning; the CPU is a high-performing part, but the GPU's 71st percentile standing among all GPUs drags the overall combo ranking down relative to pairings with faster graphics cards. The benchmark results indicate that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it consistently delivers high frame rates across all settings. At 4K, the combo is only viable at Low and Medium settings, with Ultra settings falling below the 60 FPS mark. The ranking implies that while the CPU is capable of supporting a more powerful GPU, the RX 6600 XT limits the system's overall capability in this title. The data suggests that for users targeting 4K gaming, a more powerful GPU would be necessary to move the combo into a higher percentile, whereas the current pairing is optimized for high-refresh-rate 1080p or solid 1440p performance. The gap between the combo's rank and the individual component percentiles underscores the GPU-bound nature of the workload.