Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a performance profile in Doom that scales predictably with resolution, showing a clear transition from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K. The measured frame rates demonstrate that this combination is exceptionally capable of handling the game’s id Tech engine, which rewards both high clock speeds and substantial graphics throughput. The data shows a smooth degradation of performance as pixel count increases, with the most significant relative drop occurring between 1440p and 4K, indicating where the graphics card begins to become the primary limiting factor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions reveals a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling, though the margins vary by settings preset. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 178 at 1920x1080 to 115 at 2560x1440 — a 35% reduction — and then falls further to 62 at 3840x2160, which represents another 46% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steepening curve is characteristic of a system where the Radeon RX 7700’s rendering throughput becomes increasingly stressed as the pixel workload quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Low settings preset exhibits a similar pattern but with higher absolute numbers: 241 FPS at 1080p, 156 at 1440p, and 85 at 4K. The percentage drops between successive resolutions are 35% and 45% respectively, closely mirroring the High preset’s scaling behavior. This consistency suggests that the performance ceiling at lower resolutions is not artificially capped by the CPU, as the relative declines remain proportional to the pixel count increase rather than flattening out.

Medium settings show the most complete data set with min and max FPS recorded: 210 average at 1080p (min 179, max 242), 136 at 1440p (min 116, max 156), and 74 at 4K (min 63, max 85). The tight min-to-max ranges at each resolution indicate stable frame pacing, with the 4K spread of 22 FPS being proportionally similar to the 63 FPS spread at 1080p when normalized to average frame rate. This stability suggests that neither the CPU nor GPU is experiencing intermittent bottlenecks that would cause frame time spikes.

Ultra settings impose the heaviest load, yielding 145 FPS at 1080p, 94 at 1440p, and 51 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 46% — nearly identical ratios to the other presets. However, the absolute 4K figure of 51 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered ideal for smooth gameplay, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K stretch this combination to its limits, whereas all other settings and resolution pairings maintain playable averages above 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF brings a 10-core, 16-thread configuration based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. For Doom, a title from 2016 that was designed to scale well across multi-core processors, this CPU provides ample headroom. The benchmark data for the processor shows strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23391 and a single-core score of 3302, placing it in the 79th percentile among all CPUs tested.

The CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the 1080p results, where frame rates exceed 200 FPS on Low and Medium settings. At these lower resolutions, the GPU is not fully saturated, and the CPU’s ability to feed the rendering pipeline becomes more consequential. The single-thread performance, evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and Geekbench single-core score of 2157, ensures that the game’s main thread — which handles physics, AI, and scene management — does not become a bottleneck even at high frame rates.

Comparing this CPU to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the i5-12600KF posts an average benchmark score of 27799, which is within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-10900K (27872) and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27896). This parity in synthetic benchmarks translates to real-world consistency in Doom, where the measured FPS at 1080p High (178) demonstrates that the CPU can comfortably sustain high frame rates without limiting the GPU. The processor’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide sufficient fast storage for the game’s frequently accessed data structures.

The fact that the i5-12600KF is unlocked (multiplierUnlocked: true) and carries a 125 W TDP suggests that it has additional headroom for overclocking, though the measured results in this database reflect stock operation. At 4K, the CPU’s influence wanes, as the frame rates across all presets are lower and more consistent with GPU-bound behavior — the 62 FPS at High and 51 FPS at Ultra both indicate that the Radeon RX 7700’s pixel throughput is the decisive factor at this resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth — a substantial amount that proves beneficial for high-resolution textures in Doom. The GPU’s boost clock of 2459 MHz and game clock of 2041 MHz, combined with 2560 shading units and 96 ROPs, deliver a peak FP32 throughput of 25.18 TFLOPS.

The GPU’s role as the primary bottleneck at 4K is clearly demonstrated by the measured data. The transition from 1080p to 4K at High settings reduces performance by 65%, from 178 FPS to 62 FPS. This magnitude of decline directly correlates with the 4x increase in pixel count, confirming that the RX 7700’s rasterization and pixel shading capabilities are the limiting factors at 3840x2160. The GPU’s pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s provide theoretical ceilings that align with the observed 4K frame rates.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Doom’s graphics demands, even at Ultra settings and 4K resolution. This is evidenced by the fact that the 4K Ultra preset still achieves an average of 51 FPS without any indication of memory-related stuttering or texture thrashing, which would manifest as min FPS anomalies. The memory bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s also supports the smooth scaling from 1080p to 1440p, where the GPU’s compute resources rather than memory bandwidth become the constraint.

In the broader benchmark context, the RX 7700 scores 20974 in Passmark G3D and 2865 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 15852 places it within 1.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129) and 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014), indicating that this GPU competes in the upper-midrange segment. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design with two 8-pin power connectors suggest a power-hungry but manageable card, with the suggested 550 W PSU providing adequate margins.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing of Intel Core i5-12600KF and AMD Radeon RX 7700 achieves a rank of 1314 out of 2930 total combos. This places it in the 55th percentile of all tested systems, which is a solid result given that the database includes many high-end configurations with newer or more expensive components. The rank reflects the combination’s balanced performance: strong enough to excel at 1080p and 1440p gaming, yet not so powerful that it dominates the 4K landscape where more expensive GPUs would pull ahead.

The combo’s ranking is particularly noteworthy when considering the individual component percentiles — the CPU sits in the 79th percentile while the GPU sits in the 58th percentile. The resulting combo rank of 55th percentile (1314/2930) is closer to the GPU’s percentile than the CPU’s, which is expected for a game like Doom where the graphics card typically dominates performance at higher resolutions. This indicates that the pairing is well-balanced, with the CPU providing enough headroom to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions, while the GPU defines the performance ceiling at 4K.

Compared to other potential pairings in the database, this combo’s rank suggests that it outperforms roughly 55% of all tested systems in Doom. The fact that it achieves over 60 FPS at 4K High and over 140 FPS at 1080p Ultra places it in a performance tier that would satisfy most gamers, even those with high-refresh-rate monitors. The rank also implies that there are 1616 combinations that perform better, which likely include GPUs with higher absolute compute throughput or CPUs with more cores, but the practical difference in gaming experience may be minimal at standard monitor refresh rates.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 at High settings provides the best balance, delivering 115 FPS average. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining high visual fidelity. At 4K, the High preset drops to 62 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 62, which is playable. At 4K Medium, it rises to 74 FPS, while 4K Low yields 85 FPS. However, 4K Ultra drops to 51 FPS, which may feel less smooth.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27799, which is 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-10900K (27872) and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27896). It is 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (27712).

Q: What is the GPU’s performance relative to comparable cards?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 averages 15852 in benchmarks, which is 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129) and 1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014). It is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679).

Q: Does the combo prefer higher settings or higher resolution?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, even Ultra settings achieve 145 FPS, while at 4K, even Low settings only reach 85 FPS. This indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, so users should prioritize resolution over settings if they want visual clarity, or prioritize settings at lower resolutions for higher frame rates.

Q: Is the frame rate stable across all settings?

A: The Medium preset has recorded min and max FPS values at all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 179-242 (avg 210); at 1440p, it is 116-156 (avg 136); at 4K, it is 63-85 (avg 74). The consistent spread suggests stable frame pacing with no severe stuttering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 241 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium averages 210 FPS with a min of 179 and max of 242, while High averages 178 FPS and Ultra averages 145 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 96 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a 40% performance penalty compared to Low.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low averages 156 FPS, Medium averages 136 FPS (min 116, max 156), High averages 115 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 62 FPS, and the relative penalty for Ultra versus Low is 40%, consistent with the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. Low averages 85 FPS, Medium averages 74 FPS (min 63, max 85), High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 51 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 34 FPS, and the Ultra preset represents a 40% reduction from Low, maintaining the same relative penalty seen at other resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min and max data at all three resolutions. The min FPS values scale proportionally with the averages: 179 at 1080p, 116 at 1440p, and 63 at 4K. These min values are all above 60, indicating that even the worst-case frame times at 4K Medium remain playable, though barely.

Settings Recommendations

For users with a 1920x1080 monitor, any preset is viable, with even Ultra delivering 145 FPS. The data suggests that High or Ultra settings provide the best visual experience, as the frame rates far exceed display refresh rates. Low settings are unnecessary at this resolution, as the 241 FPS average provides no tangible benefit over 178 FPS High unless the user has a 240 Hz monitor and prioritizes competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the High preset stands out as the optimal choice, delivering 115 FPS while maintaining high visual fidelity. Ultra settings drop to 94 FPS, which is still smooth, but the 21 FPS reduction may not be worth the marginal visual improvement. Medium settings at 136 FPS offer a good middle ground for users who prefer higher frame rates over maximum detail.

For 3840x2160, the High preset at 62 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold while providing substantial visual quality. Medium at 74 FPS offers a safer margin for frame rate fluctuations, especially given the min FPS of 63 recorded at this setting. Ultra at 51 FPS falls below 60 and is best avoided for consistent gameplay, while Low at 85 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality for the modest frame rate gain over Medium.

The data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most consistent performance across all resolutions, with recorded min FPS values that never drop below 60. This makes it a reliable choice for users who prioritize stability over absolute visual fidelity, particularly at 4K where the min FPS of 63 provides a comfortable buffer against frame drops.