Doom

Doom’s 2016 release remains a demanding benchmark for modern hardware, and the data for the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT reveals a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions and presets. With a combo rank of 1396 out of 3712 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the upper-middle tier of the database, offering a smooth experience at high refresh rates for 1080p and 1440p gaming, while 4K performance requires more careful settings selection. The measured frames per second (FPS) data shows a clear hierarchy where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU’s strong multi-threaded capabilities keep performance consistent at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combination suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate across all three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 230 FPS, which is only 34 FPS lower than the Low preset’s 264 FPS but provides substantially better visual quality. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p results in a 36 FPS drop to 194 FPS, indicating that the High preset begins to introduce a more significant performance penalty for marginal visual gains. For players with 144Hz or 165Hz monitors, the Medium preset’s 230 FPS at 1080p provides ample headroom above the refresh rate, ensuring consistent frame delivery without hitting the ceiling of the display’s capabilities.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again emerges as the optimal choice, producing an average of 149 FPS. This is a 22 FPS improvement over the High preset’s 126 FPS, and it remains well above the 100 FPS threshold that most competitive FPS players consider necessary for fluid gameplay. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 171 FPS, but the visual degradation from dropping to Low settings is often more noticeable at this resolution, where fine details become more apparent on larger displays. The Ultra preset, at 103 FPS, is still playable but sits close to the edge of what many consider smooth, and the 46 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra suggests that the visual enhancements are not worth the performance cost.

For 3840x2160, the data tells a different story. Here, the Medium preset delivers 81 FPS, which is the only preset that maintains a playable frame rate above 60 FPS. The High preset drops to 68 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering on displays with variable refresh rates, while Ultra falls to 56 FPS, dipping below the 60 FPS threshold that most gamers consider the minimum for a smooth experience. The Low preset at 4K reaches 93 FPS, but the visual compromise is severe, and the 25 FPS difference between Low and Medium suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for 4K gaming on this hardware. Overall, the Medium preset provides the most consistent experience across all resolutions, making it the recommended starting point for this configuration.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT achieves a combo rank of 1396 out of 3712 tested configurations in Doom, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all tested combos. This ranking indicates that while the pairing is capable, it is not at the top tier of performance, which is expected given the mid-range positioning of the RX 7700 XT. The CPU, however, is a strong performer in its own right, with an average benchmark score of 35287 and a percentile ranking of 84 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 84% of tested processors. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo, and the overall rank is likely held back by the GPU’s performance in this particular game.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 22549 places it in the 67th percentile against all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile at a 0.5% higher score, the RTX 4060 Mobile at 0.8% lower, the RTX 2080 at 1.5% lower, and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 at 1.7% higher. These close margins indicate that the RX 7700 XT is performance-wise in a tight cluster with these cards, and in Doom specifically, the measured FPS figures suggest that it performs admirably for its class. The combo’s rank of 1396 out of 3712 means that it sits ahead of more than 2300 other combinations, which is a solid result for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU.

The delta percentages from the CPU’s nearest rivals are all negative, ranging from -0.1% against the Intel Core i5-13600T to -0.4% against the Intel Core 5 213PE, indicating that the i7-12700K is essentially on par with these processors, with differences that are negligible in real-world gaming. This suggests that the choice of CPU among these rivals would not significantly impact Doom’s performance, and the GPU becomes the dominant factor in determining the final FPS. The data implies that if a user were to upgrade the GPU while keeping the i7-12700K, the combo rank would improve substantially, as the CPU has ample headroom to support a more powerful graphics card.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. The GPU’s clocks are notable: a base clock of 1435 MHz, a game clock of 2171 MHz, and a boost clock of 2544 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 3456 shading units, 216 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units, give the card a theoretical FP32 performance of 35.17 TFLOPS. In Doom, these specifications translate into the measured FPS figures, where the GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient to handle the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p without issue, but at 4K, the 12 GB VRAM and 432 GB/s bandwidth become more taxed.

The data shows that the RX 7700 XT’s performance in Doom is heavily dependent on the resolution and settings preset, which is typical for a mid-range GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the card achieves 264 FPS, but this drops to 159 FPS at Ultra, a 40% reduction that demonstrates the GPU’s sensitivity to shader complexity and texture quality. At 4K, the gap widens further, with Low settings producing 93 FPS and Ultra dropping to 56 FPS, a 40% reduction as well, but the absolute numbers are lower due to the increased pixel count. The GPU’s boost clock of 2544 MHz is likely the reason why the card can maintain playable frame rates at 1440p High settings (126 FPS), as the high clock speed compensates for the relatively modest memory bandwidth for its class.

The GPU’s nearest rivals, which include the RTX 5060 Mobile, RTX 4060 Mobile, RTX 2080, and RX 5700, all have average benchmark scores within 1.7% of the RX 7700 XT, but the measured FPS in Doom shows that the card holds its own against these competitors. The 12 GB VRAM is a key advantage, as it allows the card to handle high-resolution textures without stuttering, which is evident in the 4K Medium preset delivering 81 FPS. The GPU’s pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s are also strong indicators of its ability to fill frames quickly, which is reflected in the high FPS numbers at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 264 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this combo. The Medium preset drops to 230 FPS, with a minimum of 196 FPS and a maximum of 265 FPS, indicating that frame times are relatively consistent. High settings produce 194 FPS, while Ultra drops to 159 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 105 FPS, showing that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the CPU’s high single-thread performance (a Geekbench single-core score of 2308) is more than capable of feeding the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the FPS figures scale down proportionally. Low settings yield 171 FPS, Medium drops to 149 FPS (with a minimum of 127 and maximum of 171), High produces 126 FPS, and Ultra falls to 103 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 68 FPS, which is less than the 105 FPS difference at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck as the pixel count increases. The Medium preset’s minimum of 127 FPS is still well above 60 FPS, indicating that the combo can maintain smooth gameplay even during intense scenes.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 93 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS (with a minimum of 69 and maximum of 93), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 37 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference across the three resolutions, but the percentage drop is similar at around 40%. The Medium preset’s minimum of 69 FPS is above 60 FPS, making it the only preset at 4K that can guarantee a smooth experience without relying on adaptive sync technologies. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming with Ultra settings is not viable on this combination, as the 56 FPS average would result in noticeable stuttering on most displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice at 2560x1440, delivering an average of 149 FPS with a minimum of 127 FPS. This provides a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining better visual quality than Low settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but only with Medium settings or lower. The Medium preset averages 81 FPS at 3840x2160, which is playable, while High drops to 68 FPS and Ultra falls to 56 FPS, making those presets less desirable for a consistent experience.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rivals in Doom?

A: The RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score is 22549, which is 0.5% lower than the RTX 5060 Mobile, 0.8% higher than the RTX 4060 Mobile, 1.5% higher than the RTX 2080, and 1.7% lower than the RX 5700. These small deltas suggest near-parity performance among these cards.

Q: Is the i7-12700K a bottleneck for the RX 7700 XT in Doom?

A: The data suggests no. The CPU has a percentile ranking of 84 against all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 35287, which is significantly higher than the GPU’s 67th percentile ranking. The CPU’s nearest rivals all have average scores within 0.4% of the i7-12700K, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 264 FPS while Ultra averages 159 FPS, a difference of 105 FPS. This shows that the GPU’s performance is heavily impacted by the visual quality settings.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1396 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the upper third of all tested combos. This is a solid result given the GPU’s mid-range positioning, and the ranking suggests that the CPU provides ample performance headroom.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12th Gen Alder Lake processor with 12 cores and 20 threads, featuring a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 25 MB shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5, as well as a Geekbench multi-core score of 15790 and single-core score of 2308. These scores indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, which is crucial for Doom’s engine that can utilize multiple cores for physics and AI calculations.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 264 FPS, which is only possible if the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game state updates. The i7-12700K’s 3DMark scores, including 9276 with 16 threads and 9979 with max threads, show that it has substantial parallel processing power. The CPU’s 20 threads allow it to handle background tasks while gaming, ensuring that frame times remain consistent, as evidenced by the Medium preset’s maximum FPS of 265 at 1080p, which is nearly identical to the Low preset’s average.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, including the i5-13600T and i7-12700KF, have average benchmark scores within 0.4% of the i7-12700K, indicating that the CPU is well-matched with its peers. However, the i7-12700K’s 5.00 GHz boost clock is a key advantage in games that are sensitive to single-thread performance, and its 84th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms that it is a high-end processor. The data suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo, and if a user were to upgrade the GPU, the i7-12700K would continue to provide strong performance without needing an immediate upgrade.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear trend as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 230 at 1080p to 149 at 1440p, a 35% reduction, and then to 81 at 4K, a further 46% reduction. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels being rendered doubles approximately every step up in resolution. The fact that the FPS does not halve exactly (230 to 149 is a 1.54x drop, not 2x) suggests that the CPU is still contributing some performance headroom at 1440p, but by 4K, the GPU is almost entirely the limiting factor.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar: 264 FPS at 1080p drops to 171 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 93 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset shows a slightly different pattern, with 159 FPS at 1080p, 103 FPS at 1440p (a 35% reduction), and 56 FPS at 4K (a 46% reduction), but the absolute numbers are lower due to the increased shader complexity.

The data implies that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve high refresh rates even at Ultra settings. At 4K, the user must compromise on settings to maintain playable frame rates, and the Medium preset’s 81 FPS is the only option that provides a consistent experience above 60 FPS. The resolution scaling also reveals that the i7-12700K’s performance is sufficient to prevent CPU bottlenecks at all tested resolutions, as the FPS drops are proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation.