Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Doom across all tested settings, with frame rates ranging from 66.7 FPS at 4K Ultra to 310.9 FPS at 1080p Low. The data shows this combination ranks 484th out of 1681 tested combos for this game, placing it in the upper third of systems. The RX 9070 XT’s 16 GB of VRAM and RDNA 4.0 architecture handle the id Tech engine with ease, while the i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom even at lower resolutions where CPU load becomes more significant.

Settings Recommendations

The sweet spot for this system is the High preset at 2560x1440, where the measured average of 152 FPS comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors while maintaining visual fidelity. Dropping to Medium at this resolution yields 173.8 FPS, a 14% improvement over High, but the visual trade-off is rarely worth it given that High already delivers buttery-smooth performance. For 4K displays, High is the only sensible choice at 79.1 FPS; the jump to Medium (94.9 FPS) is tempting, but Ultra at 66.7 FPS dips below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider the floor for fast-paced shooters. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 189.9 FPS, which is still far above what most 1080p monitors can display, making High (232.5 FPS) or Medium (271.7 FPS) redundant unless you own a 240Hz panel. The Low preset at 310.9 FPS is only relevant for competitive play at 1080p on 300Hz+ displays, but the visual degradation is severe. Given the data, the practical recommendation is High for all resolutions, with Medium as a fallback for 4K if you prioritize frame rate over eye candy.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the primary driver of Doom’s performance, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1660 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz that reflects real-world sustained performance. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Doom’s texture-heavy environments at any resolution. The 4096 shading units and 128 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s, translating directly into the high frame rates observed. The GPU’s 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is ample for this 2016 title, even at 4K Ultra, though the 66.7 FPS result at that setting suggests the card is nearing its limits with maximum settings. The RX 9070 XT’s 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39647, places it in the upper tier, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 575, scores nearly identically at 39703 with a 0.1% delta. This GPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this system until you push 4K Ultra, where the 16 GB VRAM capacity becomes less relevant than raw compute throughput.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average at 4K Ultra is 66.7 FPS, which is playable but below the 70 FPS threshold many gamers prefer. Dropping to High at 4K raises the average to 79.1 FPS, providing a more comfortable margin.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 310.9 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the data. This gives the maximum advantage on high-refresh-rate monitors, though High at 232.5 FPS is still well above what most 144Hz panels can display.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from Medium to Ultra?

A: At 1440p, the drop is from 173.8 FPS (Medium) to 120.7 FPS (Ultra), a 30% reduction. At 4K, the drop is more severe: 94.9 FPS to 66.7 FPS, a 30% reduction as well. The relative penalty is consistent across resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K, where frame rates scale significantly with settings (107.8 FPS Low to 66.7 FPS Ultra). At 1080p, the CPU becomes more relevant, as evidenced by the smaller gap between Medium (271.7 FPS) and High (232.5 FPS) compared to 4K.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM make a difference in Doom?

A: Doom was released in 2016 and does not require excessive VRAM, so the 16 GB capacity is not a limiting factor. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is more important, ensuring texture streaming keeps pace with the high frame rates.

Q: How does this system compare to others tested?

A: The combo ranks 484th out of 1681, placing it in the top 29% of all tested combinations. The CPU’s 84th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 82nd percentile ranking both contribute to this solid overall position.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 310.9 FPS, Medium reaches 271.7 FPS, High hits 232.5 FPS, and Ultra still manages 189.9 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 39% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but leaves even the lowest figure well above the 144Hz standard. At 2560x1440, the numbers drop predictably: Low at 199.3 FPS, Medium at 173.8 FPS, High at 152 FPS, and Ultra at 120.7 FPS. The 1440p results show a 39% reduction from Low to Ultra, matching the 1080p scaling pattern. At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to feel the load: Low averages 107.8 FPS, Medium 94.9 FPS, High 79.1 FPS, and Ultra 66.7 FPS. The 4K Low-to-Ultra drop is 38%, consistent with lower resolutions, but the absolute numbers mean that Ultra at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 70 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 4K costs 12.4 FPS, which is the largest absolute penalty of any single settings change in the dataset.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces frame rates by an average of 36% across all settings, with the exact figures being 35.9% for Low (310.9 to 199.3), 36.0% for Medium (271.7 to 173.8), 34.6% for High (232.5 to 152), and 36.4% for Ultra (189.9 to 120.7). This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count linearly, with no unexpected bottlenecks. Moving from 1440p to 4K imposes a larger penalty: Low drops by 45.9% (199.3 to 107.8), Medium by 45.4% (173.8 to 94.9), High by 48.0% (152 to 79.1), and Ultra by 44.7% (120.7 to 66.7). The steeper decline at 4K suggests the system is transitioning from a CPU-bound state at lower resolutions to a GPU-bound state at 4K, where the RX 9070 XT’s compute resources are stretched. The 1080p-to-4K total reduction ranges from 65.3% for Low (310.9 to 107.8) to 64.9% for Ultra (189.9 to 66.7), showing that the scaling is nearly resolution-independent in percentage terms. This behavior points to a balanced system where neither component is dramatically outmatched at any resolution, though the CPU’s role becomes more evident at 1080p where frame rates exceed 300 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF provides the foundation for this system’s high frame rates, particularly at 1080p where its 10 cores and 16 threads come into play. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.90 GHz and base clock of 3.70 GHz deliver strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 1016 and a passmark single-thread score of 3925. In Doom, which is known for being well-optimized across multiple threads, the 16 threads ensure that no single core becomes a bottleneck, even when frame rates exceed 300 FPS. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 27827 places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, scores 27829 with a 0% delta, indicating near-identical performance. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 310.9 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s maximum draw call throughput, and the CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The cinebench r23 multicore score of 23444 confirms the CPU’s strength in threaded workloads, though Doom’s engine benefits more from the high boost clock than from raw core count. At 4K, the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but the i5-12600KF still ensures that frame drops are minimal even in the most demanding scenes, with the 66.7 FPS Ultra result reflecting GPU limits rather than CPU stalls.