Doom

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for this Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination in Doom show a clear progression as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 129 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High, the average drops to 81.8 FPS, a reduction of roughly 36%. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls further to 46.9 FPS, which is about 64% below the 1080p result. This steep decline indicates the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The scaling pattern across all settings is consistent. With Low settings, the combo goes from 175.8 FPS at 1080p to 114.7 FPS at 1440p, then to 59.9 FPS at 4K. Medium settings show 154.7 FPS at 1080p, 99.7 FPS at 1440p, and 54.7 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce 105.1 FPS at 1080p, 66.5 FPS at 1440p, and 35.4 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1440p to 4K is larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p in every preset, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU still has headroom to push higher frame rates, but at 4K, the RTX 2060's compute and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 70.7 FPS, while at 4K the same gap shrinks to 24.5 FPS. This compression of the settings range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU's workload dominates the performance equation.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combo, the measured rows provide a clear picture of which preset offers the best balance. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver 129 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Ultra at 1080p yields 105.1 FPS, still very playable, but the 23.9 FPS cost of moving from High to Ultra may not justify the visual gain depending on the user's preference. Medium at 1080p hits 154.7 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but High provides a better visual quality per frame rate trade-off.

At 2560x1440, High settings produce 81.8 FPS, which is comfortable for most monitors. Ultra at 1440p drops to 66.5 FPS, still playable but approaching the lower end of what many users consider smooth. Medium at 1440p reaches 99.7 FPS, offering a solid margin above 60 FPS. For 1440p, Medium or High are the sensible choices; Ultra is acceptable if the user prioritizes image quality over frame rate consistency.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. High settings yield only 46.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. Low settings at 4K hit 59.9 FPS, just barely missing that target. Medium at 4K produces 54.7 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the worst case at 35.4 FPS. For 4K, the data indicates that Low or Medium are the only viable options for maintaining near-60 FPS performance, with High and Ultra being reserved for users who accept lower fluidity.

The best overall experience appears to be High at 1080p or Medium at 1440p, depending on the display resolution. Both provide frame rates comfortably above 60 FPS while retaining reasonable visual fidelity. At 4K, users must compromise heavily on settings to approach playable frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake generation. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU's benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 29241, while the single-core test scores 4128. In Geekbench, it achieves 13892 multicore and 2561 single-core. These numbers place the processor in the 89th percentile among all CPUs tested in the database.

In Doom, the CPU's role is evident from the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 175.8 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all rows. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to saturate its output at lower resolutions. The 3DMark scores further illustrate this: the processor achieves 9276 in the 16-thread test and 9979 in the max-thread test, showing robust multi-core capability that helps maintain consistent frame pacing.

The nearest rival comparisons for the CPU show a tight cluster. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 is 0.3% faster in average benchmark score, while the Intel Core i7-13700T is 0.6% slower. The Intel Core i5-14500HX is 0.7% faster, and the Intel Core i7-13800H is 0.8% slower. These minuscule deltas indicate that the i7-12700K sits squarely in a competitive band, with no single rival offering a meaningful advantage in raw compute. For Doom specifically, the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient, as the game's frame rates at 1080p are likely constrained by the GPU rather than the processor.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700K with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 holds a combo rank of 1369 out of 1681 total combos. This places it in the lower portion of the overall distribution, which is expected given that the RTX 2060 is an older, mid-range GPU. The rank reflects the combined performance of both components, and the CPU's high percentile (89th) is offset by the GPU's more modest 58th percentile ranking.

The combo rank of 1369 out of 1681 means that roughly 81% of tested combinations perform better in Doom. This is not a criticism of the CPU, which is clearly capable, but rather a reflection of the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and settings. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: at 1080p, the combo performs admirably, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 35.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

When compared to other combos that might pair the same CPU with a stronger GPU, this configuration would likely rank higher, but the data only shows this specific pairing. The rank serves as a reference point for users who have or are considering this exact combination. For those targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming, this rank is less concerning, as the measured frame rates at those resolutions are generally playable.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is based on the TU106 chip using the Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process. It features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU has 30 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores, which support features like DLSS, though Doom itself does not heavily rely on these. The memory configuration is 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's clock speeds are a base of 1365 MHz and a boost of 1680 MHz. Its pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 6.451 TFLOPS. These specifications place the RTX 2060 in the 58th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals show a tight grouping: the AMD Radeon RX 7600S is 0.5% faster, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M is 1.7% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is 1.8% slower.

In Doom, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM may become a limiting factor at 4K with High or Ultra settings, though the measured FPS does not explicitly indicate a memory capacity issue. The bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the gap between Low (59.9 FPS) and High (46.9 FPS) suggests that the shading units and memory bandwidth are stretched. The GPU's compute score in Passmark is 5488, which is modest, and the DirectX 12 score of 53 in Passmark indicates that the card handles modern APIs adequately but not exceptionally.

For this game, the RTX 2060 is the bottleneck when pushing beyond 1080p. The data shows that at 1440p Ultra, the FPS drops to 66.5, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 35.4. These numbers are consistent with a GPU that has solid 1080p performance but struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher pixel counts. Users with this GPU should target 1080p for the best experience or accept lower settings at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo in Doom?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 175.8, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 35.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination offers the best balance of performance and visual quality?

A: High settings at 1920x1080 deliver 129 FPS, while Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 99.7 FPS. Both are well above 60 FPS and offer reasonable visual fidelity.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the CPU's strong single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128) allows frame rates up to 175.8 FPS on Low settings, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor beyond that point.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 16074. The AMD Radeon RX 7600S is 0.5% faster, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 are both 1.7% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is 1.8% faster.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in the database?

A: This combo ranks 1369 out of 1681 total tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the lower portion of the distribution due to the GPU's mid-range performance.