Doom

FAQ

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF has a launch MSRP of $384, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti has a launch MSRP of 279 USD.

Q: How does the Core i7-12700KF compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400?

A: The Core i7-12700KF's average benchmark score is 35355, which is 0.1% higher than the Core i5-14400's score of 35336. The data shows the two processors are effectively tied in overall performance.

Q: What is the GTX 1660 Ti's standing among all GPUs, and which rival is closest?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti sits in the 55th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 13925 is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871), but 0.7% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (14029).

Q: At what resolution and settings does this combo achieve its highest and lowest average FPS in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS is 152.4 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average FPS is 34.8 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Doom?

A: The combo ranks 1464 out of 1681 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database for this game.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth and how might it affect performance?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is paired with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, which the benchmark results suggest is sufficient for playable frame rates at 1080p but limiting at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture using the TU116 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It packs 6,600 million transistors into a 284 mm² die, with 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The GPU's base clock runs at 1500 MHz, boosting to 1770 MHz under load. Memory operates at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed across a 192-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes relevant when examining frame rate drops at higher resolutions.

In Doom, the GPU's role appears to be the dominant factor in performance scaling. Looking at the measured data, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low (152.4 FPS) and Ultra (90.6 FPS) is 61.8 FPS. At 3840x2160, that same Low-to-Ultra spread shrinks to just 15.1 FPS (49.9 vs 34.8). This compression suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even dropping to Low settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel-pushing demand. The 36.4 FPS at 4K High and 34.8 FPS at 4K Ultra indicate the card is operating near its practical ceiling.

The GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB VRAM capacity is worth noting. At 4K with High or Ultra textures, the memory subsystem could become a constraint, though the benchmark data shows the card still delivers playable (if not smooth) frame rates. The GPU's pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, which aligns with the observed performance. The card's FP32 throughput of 5.437 TFLOPS provides a baseline for compute-heavy scenes, though Doom's Vulkan-capable engine (the GPU supports Vulkan 1.4) can leverage the architecture efficiently.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S family, 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 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a desktop-class CPU with support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700.

In Doom, the CPU's influence is best understood by examining the 3DMark thread scaling data. The processor scores 1043 in single-thread, 2065 in 2-thread, 4011 in 4-thread, 7211 in 8-thread, 9282 in 16-thread, and 9983 in max-thread tests. This scaling pattern shows strong performance gains up to 8 threads, then diminishing returns — which is typical for a game like Doom that may not fully utilize 20 threads. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979 and single-core score of 4091 further confirm that the CPU has ample headroom for gaming workloads.

Given that the GPU ranks in the 55th percentile while the CPU sits in the 89th percentile among all processors, the data strongly suggests the GTX 1660 Ti is the bottleneck in this pairing. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Core i5-14400 (0.1% faster), Core i9-12900HX (0.2% slower), and Core i5-13600T (0.3% slower) — all have similar average scores, indicating the i7-12700KF is not an outlier in either direction. For Doom's engine, which was released in 2016 but scales well with modern hardware, the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads provide more than enough processing power to feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p. The real question is whether the GPU can keep up, which the measured FPS data answers clearly.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce 152.4 FPS, Medium drops to 131.3 FPS, High renders at 108.9 FPS, and Ultra still maintains 90.6 FPS. The step-down from Low to Medium is 21.1 FPS, from Medium to High is 22.4 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 18.3 FPS. This linear progression suggests the GPU is handling each quality tier without hitting a hard bottleneck.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but show more strain. Low settings hit exactly 100.0 FPS, Medium provides 83.0 FPS, High yields 69.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56.4 FPS. The gaps between settings are 17.0 FPS (Low to Medium), 13.8 FPS (Medium to High), and 12.8 FPS (High to Ultra). The diminishing returns as settings increase indicate the GPU is becoming the limiting factor, though all settings remain playable.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly. Low settings manage 49.9 FPS, Medium achieves 43.6 FPS, High produces 36.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 34.8 FPS. The differences compress to 6.3 FPS (Low to Medium), 7.2 FPS (Medium to High), and just 1.6 FPS (High to Ultra). This compression is telling: at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that changing settings has minimal impact on the final frame rate. The transition from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a drop from 90.6 to 34.8 FPS — a 55.8 FPS reduction that clearly illustrates the GPU's resolution ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks 1464 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the bottom 13% of all combinations in the database, which is a notable finding given the CPU's high percentile ranking. The CPU alone sits in the 89th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is in the 55th percentile — a significant mismatch that explains the overall ranking.

The data implies that the GPU is dragging down what would otherwise be a high-performing system. A combo rank of 1464 suggests that many combinations with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs outperform this pairing in Doom. The GPU's nearest rivals — the RX 570X (0.4% slower), Tesla K10 (0.7% faster), and RTX A2000 Mobile (0.8% slower) — all have similar average scores, yet the pairing's in-game rank is low because Doom is a GPU-bound title at most settings. The CPU's performance headroom is essentially wasted when paired with the GTX 1660 Ti's modest throughput.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings at 90.6 FPS provides a smooth, visually rich experience that takes full advantage of the GPU's capabilities without sacrificing frame rate. The jump from High (108.9 FPS) to Ultra (90.6 FPS) costs 18.3 FPS but likely delivers meaningful visual improvements in Doom's demon-infested environments.

At 2560x1440, High settings at 69.2 FPS offers the best balance of quality and smoothness. The step from High to Ultra costs 12.8 FPS (down to 56.4), which may be noticeable in fast-paced combat. Medium at 83.0 FPS is also viable for players prioritizing frame rate, but High represents the sweet spot where the GPU can maintain a stable experience.

At 3840x2160, no setting achieves 60 FPS. Low settings at 49.9 FPS is the only option that approaches playability, with Medium at 43.6 FPS and High at 36.4 FPS becoming progressively less smooth. Ultra at 34.8 FPS is marginal at best. For 4K play, the data suggests accepting Low settings or reducing resolution to 1440p, where the GPU can deliver a much better experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals clear insights about the limiting component. At Ultra settings, the progression is 90.6 FPS at 1080p, 56.4 FPS at 1440p, and 34.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 38.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The consistent percentage losses indicate a steady increase in GPU load that the GTX 1660 Ti cannot sustain.

At Low settings, the same progression shows 152.4 FPS at 1080p, 100.0 FPS at 1440p, and 49.9 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 34.4%, but the 1440p-to-4K drop jumps to 50.1%. This steeper decline at 4K with Low settings suggests that beyond just pixel count, the GPU's memory bandwidth (288.0 GB/s) and 6 GB VRAM capacity may be hitting a structural limit that even reduced settings cannot overcome.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. The i7-12700KF's single-thread score of 1043 and 8-thread score of 7211 are more than sufficient for Doom's engine. Instead, the GTX 1660 Ti's modest FP32 throughput of 5.437 TFLOPS and its 55th percentile standing among GPUs make it the clear bottleneck, especially as resolution increases. The compression of FPS differences between settings at 4K — where Low to Ultra spans only 15.1 FPS — confirms that the GPU is fully saturated and cannot leverage quality reductions to gain meaningful performance.