Doom

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers exceptional frame rates in Doom, positioning this combination in the 61st spot out of 1681 tested combos. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance keeps 1080p frame rates remarkably high.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The combination achieves an average of 253.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, indicating the game runs well above typical high-refresh-rate monitor capabilities.

Q: How much faster is 1080p Low compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces 410.5 FPS, which is 157 FPS higher than the Ultra preset’s 253.5 FPS, a substantial gap of roughly 62%.

Q: What CPU benchmark score does the i5-12600KF achieve in Cinebench R23 multicore?

A: The processor scores 23444 points in Cinebench R23 multicore, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs tested.

Q: Does the RTX 5080 have enough VRAM for Doom at 4K?

A: With 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and a 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU’s memory subsystem is more than adequate for Doom, as evidenced by the 112.9 FPS average at 4K High settings.

Q: How does the i5-12600KF compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-12600KF scores 27827 on average, which is virtually identical to the Intel Core i9-10900K’s 27829, a delta of 0%.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The RTX 5080 sits in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications clearly drive the high frame rates observed in Doom. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for feeding the 10752 shading units at high resolutions.

The GPU’s raw compute capabilities include 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, alongside 336 tensor cores and 84 RT cores. For a game like Doom, which relies heavily on raw rasterization, the 112 ROPs and 336 TMUs handle pixel and texture throughput efficiently, delivering a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. In benchmark terms, the GPU scores 36565 in Passmark G3D and 8637 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs.

The data shows that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s is a key asset. When moving from 1080p to 4K, the frame rate drops are consistent with a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck, but the sheer headroom provided by the 16 GB VRAM pool and the high bandwidth prevent any catastrophic performance collapse. The RTX 5080’s nearest rivals in average benchmark score, such as the Intel Arc A570M at 58239 and the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326, are not comparable in gaming performance, as the RTX 5080 leads with a 1.6% advantage over the Arc A570M and trails the Arc Pro A60 by 1.9% in synthetic tests, though in actual Doom gameplay the 50-series card’s architecture proves superior.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a clear scaling pattern that indicates where the bottleneck lies. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system produces 311.3 FPS, which drops to 206.1 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 33.8% reduction) and further to 112.9 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 63.7% reduction from 1080p). This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions and the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Looking at the Low preset, the pattern intensifies. The 1080p Low result of 410.5 FPS falls to 276.3 FPS at 1440p and 150.8 FPS at 4K. The fact that the 4K Low result (150.8 FPS) is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result (253.5 FPS) demonstrates that resolution has a larger impact on performance than graphical complexity in this configuration. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution is consistent: at 1080p, the difference is 157 FPS; at 1440p, it is 108.4 FPS; at 4K, it is 59 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU’s shading workload, not the CPU, is the primary constraint.

The data suggests that for competitive play at 1080p, the system can push beyond 400 FPS with Low settings, while at 4K Ultra, the 91.8 FPS average remains playable on high-refresh displays. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a more pronounced drop than from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading units are being fully utilized at the higher resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-12600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 61st out of 1681 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the top 3.6% of all configurations. This high ranking is a function of both components being well-matched for this game’s engine, which rewards both strong single-thread CPU performance and massive GPU throughput.

The ranking is particularly impressive given that the CPU is not a top-tier flagship part. The i5-12600KF with 10 cores and 16 threads is a mid-range offering from the Alder Lake generation, yet it achieves an 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The GPU, however, is a high-end part in the 89th percentile, and its influence on the combo ranking is evident. The combination outperforms many setups with more expensive CPUs because Doom’s optimization favors the GPU, and the i5-12600KF’s single-core score of 3309 in Cinebench R23 is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5080 at most settings.

When compared to other combos, the 61st position out of 1681 suggests that the majority of higher-ranked configurations likely use even more powerful GPUs or CPUs with higher peak clock speeds. However, the data shows that this pairing delivers a balanced experience where neither component is severely underutilized. The 4K Ultra result of 91.8 FPS is a strong indicator that this combo can handle demanding scenarios, and the 1080p Low result of 410.5 FPS shows the ceiling of what the CPU can feed the GPU before frame rates become absurdly high.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF serves as the supporting pillar in this configuration, providing enough processing power to keep the RTX 5080 fed with data. With 10 cores and 16 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture, the processor runs at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boosts up to 4.90 GHz. This boost clock is critical for gaming, as Doom’s engine typically relies on a few high-frequency threads rather than massive multi-core scaling.

The CPU’s benchmark results reinforce its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 3309 in single-core and 23444 in multicore, while in 3DMark, the 2-thread score is 1995, the 4-thread score is 3806, and the 8-thread score is 6128. The single-thread score of 1016 in 3DMark and 3925 in Passmark single-thread indicate strong per-core performance. The L3 cache of 20 MB shared ensures that frequently accessed data stays close to the cores, reducing latency in game logic.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores include the Intel Core i9-10900K with an average score of 27829 (a 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K at 27851 (a -0.1% delta), showing that the KF variant performs virtually identically to its non-F counterpart. The i7-13700H scores 27716, which is 0.4% lower. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the i5-12600KF does not hold back the RTX 5080 in Doom. The data confirms that at 1080p, where CPU load is highest relative to GPU load, the processor still manages to push frame rates above 400 FPS, indicating no significant bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 410.5 FPS on Low, 370.4 FPS on Medium, 311.3 FPS on High, and 253.5 FPS on Ultra. The progression shows a 38.2% drop from Low to Ultra, which is expected given the increased shading complexity.

At 2560x1440, the results are 276.3 FPS on Low, 239.4 FPS on Medium, 206.1 FPS on High, and 167.9 FPS on Ultra. The relative drop from Low to Ultra is 39.2%, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling, confirming that the GPU’s workload scales consistently with settings at this resolution. The 1440p Ultra result of 167.9 FPS remains well above typical 144Hz refresh rates, making this an ideal resolution for high-refresh gaming.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are 150.8 FPS on Low, 132.6 FPS on Medium, 112.9 FPS on High, and 91.8 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra gap here is 39.1%, again consistent with lower resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 91.8 FPS is the lowest recorded, but still comfortably playable on a 60Hz display and approaching the threshold for 90Hz panels. The data shows a clear linear relationship between settings and performance at each resolution, with no anomalous dips or spikes, indicating stable performance across the board. The largest absolute drop between any two adjacent data points is from 1080p Low to 1080p Medium, a 40.1 FPS difference, while the smallest is from 4K High to 4K Ultra, a 21.1 FPS difference, suggesting that the Ultra preset adds progressively more overhead at higher resolutions.