Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Doom with the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 shows a clear pattern of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 252.2 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 162.4 FPS, a reduction of roughly 36%. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 86.2 FPS, which is about 66% lower than the 1080p result. This scaling curve indicates that the RTX 5070 is the primary limiting component as resolution climbs, since the CPU has more headroom at lower resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens significantly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (338.9 FPS) to Ultra (206.1 FPS) is about 132.8 FPS. At 1440p, that spread narrows to 88.9 FPS (Low at 221.1, Ultra at 132.2). At 4K, the spread compresses further to 47.3 FPS (Low at 120.1, Ultra at 72.8). This compression at 4K is typical of GPU-bound scenarios where the rasterization workload dominates and setting changes have diminishing returns relative to raw resolution cost.

The data reveals that at 1080p, the i5-12600KF is likely keeping pace well with the GPU, as even Ultra settings clear the 200 FPS threshold. At 4K, however, the RTX 5070's 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth become the bottleneck, with all settings landing in the 72-120 FPS range. The scaling from Medium to High at 4K costs about 19.7 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 13.4 FPS. These step-downs are consistent with a GPU that has ample compute for this 2016 title but is working harder at 4K pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 105.9 FPS average, which is a strong balance. Dropping to Low at 4K gains only 14.2 FPS (120.1 vs 105.9) while sacrificing visual quality that the engine's lighting and texture work benefits from. At 2560x1440, High settings at 162.4 FPS provides a smooth high-refresh experience, and the 191.5 FPS Medium result shows there is headroom to enable higher details without dropping below 144 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the choice is less constrained. Ultra settings still produce 206.1 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most 1080p monitors. The 294.3 FPS Medium result is overkill for any standard display, and the 338.9 FPS Low figure is only relevant for extreme refresh rate panels. The data suggests that 1080p Ultra is the sensible pick, as it leaves the user with 206.1 FPS while maximizing the game's visual presentation.

For users prioritizing frame rate consistency over raw averages, the 4K High result of 86.2 FPS is still playable, but the 4K Ultra figure of 72.8 FPS edges closer to the point where fast-paced combat may feel less fluid. The 1440p High setting appears to be the sweet spot for this combo, offering 162.4 FPS which comfortably drives 144 Hz displays with room to spare. The scaling from Medium to High at 1440p costs 29.1 FPS, which is a reasonable trade for the visual uplift in a game like Doom where clarity during movement matters.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 319 out of 1681 tested combinations for Doom, placing it in the top 19% of all configurations in the database. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a current-generation GPU. The i5-12600KF itself holds an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27827. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i9-10900K with an average score of 27829 (0% delta), the Intel Core i5-12600K at 27851 (-0.1% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H at 27872 (-0.2% delta). This clustering indicates the 12600KF is essentially tied with the older i9-10900K in synthetic workload performance, despite having fewer cores.

The RTX 5070 sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41687. Its nearest rivals show an interesting mix: the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 41610 (0.2% delta), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 at 41897 (-0.5% delta), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 41441 (0.6% delta). The proximity of these scores suggests the RTX 5070's raw compute performance is comparable to the previous flagship RTX 3090 in synthetic tests, though the newer architecture brings other advantages not captured by average scores.

The combination's rank of 319 out of 1681 indicates that while this pairing is far from the top of the leaderboard, it outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations in Doom specifically. The game's 2016 release date means it is not particularly demanding by modern standards, so the ranking reflects the combo's ability to leverage its hardware efficiently rather than brute-force performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across presets. Low settings produce 338.9 FPS average, Medium drops to 294.3 FPS, High yields 252.2 FPS, and Ultra settles at 206.1 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 44.6 FPS, while Medium to High costs 42.1 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 46.1 FPS. These nearly uniform deltas indicate that each preset tier adds a similar workload at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are 221.1 FPS on Low, 191.5 FPS on Medium, 162.4 FPS on High, and 132.2 FPS on Ultra. The deltas here are 29.6 FPS (Low to Medium), 29.1 FPS (Medium to High), and 30.2 FPS (High to Ultra), again showing consistent step costs. The overall reduction from 1080p to 1440p across all presets averages around 30%, which aligns with the pixel count increase of 78% — the GPU is managing the higher resolution efficiently.

At 3840x2160, the results are 120.1 FPS on Low, 105.9 FPS on Medium, 86.2 FPS on High, and 72.8 FPS on Ultra. The deltas shrink to 14.2 FPS (Low to Medium), 19.7 FPS (Medium to High), and 13.4 FPS (High to Ultra). The smaller absolute differences at 4K reflect the GPU being more heavily loaded, where each setting change has less proportional impact on the final frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 brings 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock runs at 2325 MHz with a boost of 2512 MHz. The GPU has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The FP32 throughput is rated at 30.87 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 201.0 GPixel/s.

In Doom, the GPU is clearly the dominant factor at 4K resolution. The 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as Doom's textures and geometry do not approach the memory capacity even at Ultra settings. The 672.0 GB/s bandwidth proves adequate for the 4K workload, as evidenced by the 86.2 FPS High result. The RTX 5070's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs and its proximity to the RTX 3090 in average score suggest that this card has headroom for more demanding titles, but in Doom specifically, it is not being pushed to its compute limits.

The boost clock of 2512 MHz is relevant for a game like Doom that responds well to raw shader throughput. The 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 figure indicates the card can handle the Vulkan-based rendering workload with ease, which is confirmed by the high frame rates even at 4K. The 192 ROPs handle the pixel fill rate requirements efficiently, and the 201.0 GPixel/s pixel rate is more than enough for the game's effects.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF provides 10 cores and 16 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost of 4.90 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 of 1.25 MB give it strong memory latency characteristics for gaming. The CPU scores 23444 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 3309 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 27575.

In Doom, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p where frame rates exceed 300 FPS on lower presets. The 338.9 FPS Low result at 1080p suggests the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower resolutions, but the diminishing returns when moving from Low to Ultra (a 132.8 FPS drop) indicate that the GPU becomes the limiter as settings increase. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking and its near-tie with the i9-10900K in average score (27827 vs 27829) show that it is not holding back the RTX 5070 in this title.

The 10-core, 16-thread configuration is overkill for Doom, which is known to scale well with a handful of threads. The single-core performance, reflected in the 3309 Cinebench R23 single-core score and 3925 Passmark single-thread score, is what matters most for the game's main thread. The 4.90 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's primary thread has ample headroom, and the 20 MB L3 cache reduces memory stalls during rapid scene changes.

The CPU's proximity to the i5-12600K (delta -0.1%) in average benchmark score means the unlocked multiplier and thermal headroom of the 12600KF are not meaningfully changing the gaming outcome. The data shows this combo is well-balanced for Doom, with the CPU capable of supporting the GPU's output at every resolution and setting combination tested.