Doom

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers a surprisingly robust experience in Doom, but the data reveals a clear bottleneck shift as resolution increases. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound, with frame rates soaring to 175.4 FPS on Low settings, indicating the GPU is not the limiting factor. Moving to 1440p, the frame rates remain highly playable, with the average FPS dropping to 114.1 on Low and 85.0 on High. However, the transition to 4K exposes the Radeon RX 6600's limits; the average FPS at 4K High falls to 46.1, a significant drop from the 85.0 FPS seen at 1440p High. This 45% reduction in performance when moving from 1440p to 4K strongly suggests that at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, whereas at lower resolutions, the CPU's strong single-threaded performance keeps the pipeline fed.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable scaling pattern, but the magnitude of the drop between 1440p and 4K is the key takeaway. At 1080p, the system achieves 127.7 FPS on High settings, which is more than double the 4K High result of 46.1 FPS. This indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is doing most of the heavy lifting, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is also telling: a jump from 175.4 FPS on Low to 108.2 FPS on Ultra shows a 38% performance penalty for maxing out settings, but even the Ultra preset remains well above the 60 FPS threshold.

When moving to 1440p, the scaling becomes more GPU-dependent. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 114.1 FPS versus 69.4 FPS, a 39% drop, which is similar to the 1080p percentage. However, the absolute numbers are lower, confirming that the GPU is starting to feel the load. The 4K results are where the RX 6600's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become evident. The frame rate at 4K Low is 65.0 FPS, which is the only playable 4K preset, while High and Ultra drop to 46.1 and 37.6 FPS respectively. This pattern suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at 4K, not the CPU's processing power.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this specific pairing of the Core i7-12700KF and Radeon RX 6600 lands at rank 1331 out of 1681 combos in Doom. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's mid-range positioning. While the CPU is a top-tier performer—ranking in the 89th percentile against all CPUs—the GPU only ranks in the 69th percentile against all GPUs. This imbalance means the combo's overall game ranking is dragged down by the graphics card.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing. The i7-12700KF's benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench multicore score of 13596 and a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979, are far above what Doom's engine requires. The nearest rivals to the CPU, including the Intel Core i5-14400 and Intel Core i9-12900HX, show negligible deltaPct values of 0.1 and 0.2 respectively, indicating that the CPU's performance is essentially at parity with these other high-end chips. This confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor for this combo's ranking in Doom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the High preset at 127.7 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a balance between visual fidelity and performance that far exceeds the 60 FPS standard. The Ultra preset at 108.2 FPS is also viable, but the 15% performance hit over High is not justified by the marginal visual gains in a fast-paced FPS.

For 1440p gaming, the Medium preset at 100.6 FPS is the recommended choice. It provides a smooth experience above 100 FPS while maintaining a higher level of detail than Low. The High preset at 85.0 FPS is still playable, but the drop to Medium yields a 15% improvement in frame rate, which is more beneficial for competitive play. At 4K, users are forced to compromise. The Low preset at 65.0 FPS is the only preset that maintains a playable frame rate, while Medium at 53.2 FPS and High at 46.1 FPS will result in noticeable stuttering. For 4K, the data suggests sticking with Low or reducing the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 4K in Doom?

A: No. The measured data shows that the highest 4K preset to break 60 FPS is Low at 65.0 FPS. Medium, High, and Ultra all fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra at just 37.6 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this hardware?

A: The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot. At 1440p High, the system achieves 85.0 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 100.6 FPS. This provides a high-refresh-rate experience without the performance sacrifice seen at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU performance affect the frame rates?

A: The CPU is not a limiting factor in this game. Its high benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark max threads score of 9983, ensure that it can feed the GPU efficiently. The frame rate drops at higher resolutions are due to GPU limitations, not CPU bottlenecks.

Q: Should I use the Ultra preset at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 108.2 FPS is playable and provides the highest visual quality. However, if you prioritize a higher frame rate for competitive play, the High preset at 127.7 FPS is a better option.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RX 6600 sufficient for Doom?

A: The data suggests that VRAM is not a primary issue at 1080p and 1440p, where the game runs well. At 4K, the low frame rates are more likely due to the GPU's overall compute power and memory bandwidth rather than a VRAM capacity shortfall.

Q: How does this combo compare to others in the database?

A: This combo ranks 1331 out of 1681 tested combinations in Doom. This places it in the lower quartile, primarily because the GPU's performance is below average relative to the CPU's high-end capabilities.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the defining component in this system's Doom performance. With a boost clock of 2491 MHz and a game clock of 2044 MHz, the GPU has a solid core frequency, but its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus limits its bandwidth to 224.0 GB/s. This is a critical factor in Doom, which is a fast-paced game with high texture throughput. The GPU's 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs are adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but they struggle to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 15096, placing it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, have deltaPct values of -0.2 and 0.5 respectively, indicating that the RX 6600 is closely matched with these other mid-range cards. The GPU's compute capabilities, with an FP32 performance of 8.928 TFLOPS, are sufficient for the game's Vulkan and DirectX 12 APIs, but the 4K results show that it is not a high-resolution powerhouse.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a high-end processor that significantly outperforms the demands of Doom. With 12 cores and 20 threads, it provides ample parallel processing power, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures excellent single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics. The CPU's 25 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, further improving frame pacing.

The CPU's benchmark scores are consistently strong, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2526 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3984. This processing power means that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in this combination. The data shows that the CPU's nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i5-14400 and Intel Core i7-13800H, have deltaPct values of 0.1 and -0.2, respectively, meaning they are essentially identical in overall performance. This confirms that the i7-12700KF is more than capable of supporting the RX 6600 and that any performance limitations in Doom are attributable to the graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all settings and resolutions. At 3840x2160, the system achieves 37.6 FPS on Ultra, 46.1 FPS on High, 53.2 FPS on Medium, and 65.0 FPS on Low. These numbers show a clear progression, with the Low preset being the only one to exceed 60 FPS. The gap between Ultra and Low at this resolution is 27.4 FPS, a 42% performance difference, which is significant.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are much more favorable. The Ultra preset delivers 69.4 FPS, which is playable, while High, Medium, and Low reach 85.0, 100.6, and 114.1 FPS respectively. The jump from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 44.7 FPS, a 39% drop, which is consistent with the scaling seen at 4K. At 1920x1080, the system is in its element. The Low preset achieves 175.4 FPS, Medium reaches 153.2 FPS, High hits 127.7 FPS, and Ultra still manages 108.2 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 67.2 FPS, a 38% penalty, but all presets are well above the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p the most versatile resolution for this hardware.