Doom

# Doom: Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces exceptionally high frame rates in Doom, with the data showing the pairing ranks 113th out of 3712 tested combos for this title. The measured results span four quality presets across three resolutions, and the consistent pattern reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings while approaching CPU limitations only at 1080p with reduced graphical loads.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 410 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The same resolution with Medium settings reaches 387 FPS, while High settings produce 327 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for Doom?

A: The combo sits at rank 113 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3% of all recorded configurations for this game.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this setup?

A: The lowest measured average is 94 FPS, occurring at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings deliver 156 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 94 FPS average. This represents a 62 FPS difference between the two extremes.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM play a role at 4K in Doom?

A: The 24 GB GDDR6X memory provides ample capacity for 4K textures, and the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth supports the high frame rates observed. The data shows no VRAM-related bottlenecks at any measured resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Core i5-12600KF scores 27799 average in benchmarks, placing it within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-10900K (27872) and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27896), while slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (27712).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 113 out of 3712 total configurations puts it in the upper echelon of tested systems for Doom. This placement reflects the exceptional capabilities of both components working together. The RTX 4090, which holds the 88th percentile among all GPUs, provides the primary compute power for this title, while the Core i5-12600KF, positioned in the 79th percentile among CPUs, supplies sufficient processing headroom.

The ranking becomes more meaningful when examining the CPU's nearest rivals. The i5-12600KF's average benchmark score of 27799 is effectively tied with the Intel Core i9-10900K at 27872 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D at 27896 (-0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U at 27887 (-0.3% delta). It edges out the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE at 27712 (+0.3% delta). This clustering indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor differentiating performance in this title; instead, the RTX 4090's raw throughput drives the combo's high placement.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a similar story of tight competition at the top. The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60347 sits within 0.3% of the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140), trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896) by 2.5%, and leads the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657) by 2.9%. These small margins suggest that the specific GPU model matters less than the overall system balance for achieving high ranks in Doom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings substantial hardware resources to this title. Its AD102 chip, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, contains 76,300 million transistors across a 609 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The 24 GB GDDR6X memory pool, paired with a 384-bit bus, delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth.

These specifications translate directly into the measured frame rates. The 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate provide ample raw power for Doom's fast-paced rendering. The 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate ensures that the game's detailed environments load quickly at high resolutions. The 16384 shading units and 176 ROPs handle the geometry and pixel processing demands efficiently.

The GPU's benchmark results reinforce its position. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223, Geekbench OpenCL score of 255416, and Geekbench Vulkan score of 271631 all indicate strong API-level performance. The PassMark G3D score of 38194 and GPU compute score of 26613 demonstrate consistent throughput across different workload types. These figures align with the 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

In Doom specifically, the RTX 4090's capabilities manifest as high frame rates even at 4K. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Ultra settings at 3840x2160, where texture detail demands significant memory. The data shows no evidence of memory capacity constraints, as frame rates scale predictably with resolution changes.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the visual experience. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 136 FPS average with a recorded minimum of 115 FPS and maximum of 156 FPS. This represents the sweet spot for 4K gaming, offering a substantial improvement over Ultra's 94 FPS while maintaining smooth gameplay. The High preset at 115 FPS also remains viable, but the 21 FPS gap between High and Medium makes the latter more attractive for maintaining higher frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 211 FPS average, while Medium reaches 250 FPS and Low hits 287 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 173 FPS. For players with 144Hz or 165Hz displays, the High preset at 211 FPS provides enough headroom to avoid hitting refresh rate limits. The Medium preset at 250 FPS offers additional margin, but the visual fidelity reduction may not justify the 39 FPS gain over High.

For 1920x1080, the High preset's 327 FPS and Medium's 387 FPS both exceed the refresh rate capabilities of virtually all monitors. The Ultra preset at 267 FPS still provides excellent performance. Given that all presets at 1080p exceed 260 FPS, the choice comes down to visual preference rather than playability concerns. The Ultra preset at 267 FPS delivers the best image quality while still maintaining extremely high frame rates.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize Medium settings at 4K for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, while High settings provide the optimal experience at 1440p and 1080p. The minimum frame rates recorded for Medium settings at each resolution (115 FPS at 4K, 213 FPS at 1440p, 329 FPS at 1080p) confirm that this preset maintains consistent performance without significant dips.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 410 FPS average, Medium delivers 387 FPS with a range of 329 to 445 FPS, High reaches 327 FPS, and Ultra manages 267 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 143 FPS, indicating that graphical settings have a notable impact even at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the increased rendering load. Low settings deliver 287 FPS, Medium produces 250 FPS (ranging from 213 to 288 FPS), High achieves 211 FPS, and Ultra drops to 173 FPS. The 114 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is slightly smaller than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the impact of resolution becomes pronounced. Low settings yield 156 FPS, Medium delivers 136 FPS (with a range of 115 to 156 FPS), High reaches 115 FPS, and Ultra falls to 94 FPS. The 62 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU's rendering capacity is the primary constraint at this resolution.

The Medium preset's min-max ranges provide insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the range spans 116 FPS (329 to 445), at 1440p it spans 75 FPS (213 to 288), and at 4K it spans 41 FPS (115 to 156). This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame delivery as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, reducing the variability caused by CPU-side frame generation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture CPU, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate strong multi-threaded performance. Cinebench R23 multicore scores 23391, while single-core reaches 3302. Geekbench multicore shows 12137 and single-core 2157. The 3DMark tests reveal scaling: 7956 for 16 threads, 7952 for max threads, 6128 for 8 threads, 3806 for 4 threads, 1995 for 2 threads, and 1016 for single thread. This scaling pattern indicates efficient utilization of available cores.

PassMark results show specific workload characteristics. Integer math scores 87830, floating point math 67074, extended instructions 22003, and multithread 27575. Single-thread performance registers 3925, data compression 343231, and data encryption 18445. These numbers indicate balanced performance across different computational tasks relevant to game engine workloads.

In Doom, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows diminishing returns for CPU performance, with the GPU becoming increasingly dominant. However, at 1080p with Low settings, the 410 FPS average suggests the CPU can sustain very high frame delivery rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. The 10-core, 16-thread configuration provides sufficient parallelism for modern game engines while maintaining competitive single-thread performance for legacy code paths.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 reveals how the system balances between CPU and GPU limitations. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 410 FPS at 1080p to 287 FPS at 1440p (a 30% reduction), then to 156 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). This pattern shows the GPU becoming progressively more loaded as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the progression is 387 FPS at 1080p, 250 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 136 FPS at 4K (46% drop from 1440p). The High preset follows similarly: 327 FPS at 1080p, 211 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 115 FPS at 4K (45% drop). Ultra settings produce 267 FPS at 1080p, 173 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 94 FPS at 4K (46% drop).

The consistent 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 45-46% reduction from 1440p to 4K across all presets indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component throughout. The pixel count increase from 1080p to 1440p is approximately 78%, while from 1440p to 4K it is approximately 125%. The frame rate reductions are proportionally smaller than the pixel count increases, suggesting that the GPU has sufficient bandwidth and compute resources to partially absorb the additional rendering load.

The narrowing of the min-max range at higher resolutions, particularly for Medium settings, further confirms GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p, the range of 116 FPS indicates some CPU involvement in frame generation variability, while at 4K the 41 FPS range shows more stable frame delivery as the GPU's rendering time dominates. This pattern is typical for a system where the GPU's 450 W TDP and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth are taxed by increasing resolution, while the CPU's 125 W TDP and 16 threads remain underutilized.