Doom

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a robust 1080p experience in Doom, with the data indicating a system that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces an average of 143.5 FPS, while the same settings at 4K drop to 49.6 FPS, illustrating the classic scaling curve of a mid-range graphics card paired with a high-end processor. The benchmark results show that the RX 7600, which sits in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, becomes the primary constraint as resolution increases, while the i7-12700K's strong multi-threaded performance ensures that frame pacing remains consistent across all tested configurations.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in Doom?*

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 191.5 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 143.5 FPS when settings are raised to High at the same resolution.

Q: How does the RX 7600's performance compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RX 7600 has an average benchmark score of 20258, which places it 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 460. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile by 1.3% and the Intel Arc B570 by 1.5%.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested system configurations for this game?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 1150th out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the lower portion of the database, reflecting the GPU's mid-range positioning.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The average frame rate drops to 40.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, a significant reduction from the 73.4 FPS seen at 1440p Ultra, suggesting the RX 7600's 8 GB memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth are saturated at this load.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate scales from 123.1 FPS on Low settings down to 73.4 FPS on Ultra. This represents a performance delta of approximately 40% between the lowest and highest quality presets.

Q: What are the specifications of the RX 7600's memory subsystem?

A: The RX 7600 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock is listed as 2250 MHz with an effective data rate of 18 Gbps.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the defining component in this system's gaming performance, and its specifications explain the observed scaling in Doom. Built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 6 nm process, the GPU operates at a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz. This configuration delivers an FP32 throughput of 21.75 TFLOPS, which is substantial for a card with a 128-bit memory interface. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory, running at an effective 18 Gbps, provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth—a figure that proves adequate for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K resolutions.

The benchmark scores reflect the GPU's tier. With a PassMark G3D score of 16634 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 90825, the RX 7600 performs within a narrow band of its immediate rivals. The data shows it is 0.6% faster than the RX 7600 XT in average benchmark score, though it falls 1.5% behind the Intel Arc B570. This tight grouping suggests that in Doom, a game optimized for a wide range of hardware, the RX 7600's performance is consistent with its market position. The GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are well-suited for the id Tech engine, which responds favorably to raw fill-rate and shader throughput rather than specialized ray tracing hardware.

The 4K results are particularly telling. At 4K High, the system averages 49.6 FPS, which drops to 40.5 FPS at Ultra. These figures indicate that the RX 7600's memory bandwidth and 8 GB capacity are stressed at this resolution, causing the frame rate to fall below the 60 FPS threshold that is standard for smooth gameplay. Conversely, at 1080p, the same High preset yields 143.5 FPS, showing that the GPU has ample headroom when the pixel count is reduced by 75%. The performance delta between 1080p and 4K High is approximately 65%, highlighting the GPU's role as the primary bottleneck in higher-resolution scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across three resolutions provides a clear picture of how this combo scales with pixel count and settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 191.5 FPS on Low, 171.8 FPS on Medium, 143.5 FPS on High, and 114.4 FPS on Ultra. These figures show a moderate performance penalty as settings increase, with a 40% drop from Low to Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the averages become 123.1 FPS (Low), 111.1 FPS (Medium), 94.7 FPS (High), and 73.4 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from 1080p to 1440p represents an average reduction of approximately 35% across all settings, which aligns closely with the increase in pixel count from 2.07 million to 3.69 million.

The transition to 3840x2160 reveals the system's limitations. At 4K, the averages are 70.3 FPS (Low), 58.7 FPS (Medium), 49.6 FPS (High), and 40.5 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1440p to 4K is far more pronounced, with an average reduction of roughly 48% across settings. This steeper decline suggests that the RX 7600's memory subsystem is unable to keep pace with the 8.3 million pixels at 4K, even at Low settings where the frame rate barely exceeds 70 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 42%, similar to the 1080p gap, but the absolute values are much lower, indicating a hard ceiling imposed by the GPU.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p and 1440p, the i7-12700K has sufficient single-thread performance to feed the GPU, allowing the RX 7600 to reach high frame rates. However, at 4K, the GPU's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB capacity become the constraining factors. The fact that the 4K Low preset (70.3 FPS) is slower than the 1440p Ultra preset (73.4 FPS) underscores that the bottleneck is purely memory bandwidth and capacity, not raw compute power. For users targeting 60 FPS, this combo is viable at 1440p High (94.7 FPS) but falls short at 4K High (49.6 FPS).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1150 out of 1681 tested configurations places it in the 68th percentile of all systems in the database for Doom. This is a below-average position, driven primarily by the RX 7600's mid-range standing rather than the CPU. The i7-12700K, which sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, is a top-tier processor that does not limit the system in this game. The GPU, however, ranks in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, and when paired with a high-end CPU, the overall system performance is capped by the graphics card.

Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals provides context for its role. The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802) and 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940). It is 0.6% faster than the Intel Core i7-13700T (35468) and 0.8% faster than the Intel Core i7-13800H (35416). These marginal differences of less than 1% indicate that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in Doom's performance; any of these processors would yield nearly identical frame rates when paired with the RX 7600.

The GPU's nearest rivals tell a similar story. With an average score of 20258, the RX 7600 is nearly identical in performance to the RX 7600 XT (20146, +0.6%) and RX 460 (20088, +0.8%). It lags the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) by 1.3% and the Arc B570 (20556) by 1.5%. These narrow deltas suggest that the RX 7600 is positioned in a highly competitive segment where no single card has a decisive advantage. In Doom, this translates to consistent frame rates across similar GPUs, but the combo's rank is ultimately constrained by the GPU's tier rather than any specific architectural advantage.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 25 MB shared L3 cache. These specifications make it a formidable gaming CPU, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241 and single-core score of 4128. In Doom, which is a well-threaded engine, the CPU's 20 threads provide ample headroom to ensure that frame rates are not CPU-limited, even at 1080p where the GPU is producing over 140 FPS.

The CPU's benchmark results show it is competitive with its nearest rivals. Its Geekbench multicore score of 13892 and PassMark multithread score of 34404 are strong, but the deltaPct values against rivals are all within 0.8%, confirming that the i7-12700K does not stand out as either a significant advantage or disadvantage in this system. The CPU's 3DMark scores—particularly the 16-thread score of 9276 and max-threads score of 9979—indicate that it can sustain high throughput across all cores, which is relevant for Doom's dynamic lighting and physics calculations.

The data suggests that the CPU's role is to provide a stable platform for the GPU to operate at its full potential. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 191.5 FPS, which is likely near the upper limit of what the RX 7600 can produce. The fact that the frame rate does not plateau at lower resolutions indicates that the i7-12700K is not a bottleneck. Even at 4K, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1043) ensures that draw calls and game logic are processed without introducing frame time spikes. For this game, the i7-12700K is a capable partner for the RX 7600, but its performance class is far above what Doom requires, meaning the GPU dictates the overall experience.