Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 delivers a highly playable experience in Doom across most resolutions, but the data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate headroom. At 1920x1080, the combo sustains an average of 94.5 FPS on Ultra, which is well above the smoothness threshold, while dropping to High yields 117.9 FPS and Medium produces 136.1 FPS. The Low preset reaches 158.1 FPS, indicating that the processor is far from being a bottleneck at this resolution. Moving to 2560x1440, the Ultra preset still manages 61.5 FPS, and High improves to 74.6 FPS, making either viable for competitive play. At 3840x2160, however, the GPU becomes the limiting factor: Ultra averages only 32 FPS, High reaches 41.1 FPS, and even Low tops out at 55 FPS. For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 is the recommended sweet spot, as it provides a substantial frame rate cushion over Ultra without the visual degradation of Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the High preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, High produces 117.9 FPS, which is 23.4 FPS higher than Ultra’s 94.5 FPS, yet still retains significant graphical detail. At 2560x1440, High delivers 74.6 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for fluid gameplay, whereas Ultra dips to 61.5 FPS, leaving little headroom for demanding scenes. For 3840x2160, High averages 41.1 FPS, which is not ideal for fast-paced action, but it is 9.1 FPS better than Ultra’s 32 FPS; users prioritizing smoothness at this resolution should consider the Low preset at 55 FPS, though this sacrifices most visual enhancements.

The Medium preset serves as a middle ground, yielding 136.1 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 48.1 FPS at 4K. While Medium offers a noticeable boost over High at 1080p—18.2 FPS—the gains at 1440p are more modest at 12.4 FPS, and at 4K the difference shrinks to 7 FPS. Given that Doom is a fast-paced FPS where frame consistency matters more than subtle texture upgrades, the High preset is recommended for 1080p and 1440p, as it provides the best compromise between image quality and performance. For 4K, the Low preset is the only option that approaches playability, but users with 60 Hz displays will still experience drops below that threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Doom, this pairing ranks 1424 out of 1681 combos, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. This ranking reflects the GPU’s age and mid-range standing, as the GTX 1070 sits at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-12600KF is far more capable, ranking at the 84th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity in their respective percentiles explains why the combo’s overall rank is dragged down by the graphics card; the processor is clearly not the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The CPU’s benchmark scores corroborate this interpretation. In Cinebench R23, the i5-12600KF scores 23444 points in multi-core and 3309 in single-core, placing it in the top tier of desktop processors. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K with an average score of 27829 (a delta of 0%), the i5-12600K at 27851 (-0.1%), and the Core Ultra 5 125H at 27872 (-0.2%). These near-identical scores indicate that the i5-12600KF is competitive with high-end chips from previous generations. Conversely, the GTX 1070’s nearest rivals are much older or lower-tier parts, such as the Quadro K4200 (delta 0.7%), GTX 880M (-1.3%), and GTX 1650 SUPER (-1.4%), confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP104 chip, featuring 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Its base clock of 1506 MHz boosts to 1683 MHz, and the 8 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 2002 MHz with an effective data rate of 8 Gbps over a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s, with an FP32 throughput of 6.463 TFLOPS. For Doom, which is a well-optimized title, these figures are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results show the GPU’s limits.

The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is adequate for Doom’s textures at all presets, as the game’s requirements are modest by modern standards. However, the memory bandwidth becomes a constraint at higher resolutions, where the 256.3 GB/s must feed more pixels. This is evident in the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS, which is a 62.2% drop from the 1080p Ultra score of 94.5 FPS. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 51% places it exactly in the middle of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 12331 is only 0.7% higher than the Quadro K4200, indicating that it is a mid-range part by current standards. The data suggests that the GTX 1070 is best utilized at 1080p and 1440p, where its compute and memory resources are sufficient to maintain high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates span from 94.5 FPS on Ultra to 158.1 FPS on Low, with Medium at 136.1 FPS and High at 117.9 FPS. The scaling between presets is near-linear, with each step down from Ultra providing roughly 20-40 FPS gains. This indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor, as even the lowest preset cannot push the frame rate beyond 158.1 FPS, which is likely a GPU or engine cap. For competitive play, the Low preset offers the highest frame rate, but the High preset provides a 23.4 FPS improvement over Ultra while maintaining better image quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop significantly: Ultra yields 61.5 FPS, High 74.6 FPS, Medium 87 FPS, and Low 99.8 FPS. The relative performance gap between presets narrows compared to 1080p, with High being 13.1 FPS faster than Ultra and Low being 25.2 FPS faster than High. This resolution is still highly playable, with even the Ultra preset exceeding 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles: Ultra averages 32 FPS, High 41.1 FPS, Medium 48.1 FPS, and Low 55 FPS. None of these settings reach 60 FPS, and the delta between Low and Ultra is only 23 FPS, showing that the GPU is fully saturated.

The data reveals that the GTX 1070’s performance in Doom scales predictably with resolution and settings. At 1080p, the combo is capable of high-refresh-rate gaming on High settings, with headroom for 144 Hz displays only on Low. At 1440p, High settings are the best choice for a 60 Hz display, while 4K is only viable on Low for users who prioritize frame rate over visuals. The lack of minimum FPS data prevents analysis of frame time consistency, but the average scores suggest a stable experience at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1920x1080 gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 yields 117.9 FPS, which is 23.4 FPS higher than Ultra’s 94.5 FPS. This provides a significant frame rate improvement while retaining most visual quality, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this system handle 2560x1440 at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 61.5 FPS, while High reaches 74.6 FPS. Both settings exceed the 60 FPS threshold, allowing for a playable experience at this resolution with High or Ultra.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The i5-12600KF ranks at the 84th percentile among CPUs with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23444, while the GTX 1070 ranks at the 51st percentile among GPUs. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the i9-10900K with a delta of 0%, showing it is not holding back performance.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 3840x2160 on Low settings?

A: At 3840x2160 on Low, the combo averages 55 FPS. This is the highest frame rate achievable at 4K, as even Medium drops to 48.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 32 FPS, making Low the only viable preset for near-playable performance.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12331, which is 0.7% higher than the Quadro K4200 (12241), 1.3% higher than the GTX 880M (12490), and 1.4% higher than the GTX 1650 SUPER (12504). This indicates it is closely matched with these mid-range parts.

Q: Does the 8 GB of VRAM limit performance in Doom?

A: No, the 8 GB GDDR5 memory is sufficient for Doom’s textures across all presets. The performance drops at higher resolutions are primarily due to memory bandwidth (256.3 GB/s) and the GPU’s compute throughput, not VRAM capacity.