Doom

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a highly playable experience in Doom, though the data reveals a clear division of labor between the two components depending on resolution. At 1080p, the system achieves frame rates well above display refresh rates, but as resolution climbs to 4K, performance drops sharply, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The measured results show a 12-core, 20-thread CPU that is never the bottleneck in this title, while the 6 GB Turing-based GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher pixel counts. This analysis breaks down the exact measured FPS across resolutions and settings, interprets the scaling behavior, and contextualizes the combo’s rank against the broader database.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates show a dramatic and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is a textbook sign of GPU-bound performance. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 175 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same settings, the average drops to 113 FPS—a 35% reduction. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 61 FPS, which is another 46% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern of halving performance with each successive resolution tier suggests the RTX 2060’s rendering pipeline is saturated at higher pixel counts, while the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames.

The scaling is even more pronounced at higher quality presets. With Ultra settings, the 1080p average is 105 FPS, which drops to 68 FPS at 1440p (a 35% decrease) and then to 37 FPS at 4K (a 46% decrease from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings strongly implies that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU’s processing power. The RTX 2060’s 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 192-bit bus width are the specifications most likely to explain this scaling behavior, as higher resolutions demand exponentially more data throughput.

The fact that the 1080p Low setting achieves 175 FPS while the 4K Ultra setting manages only 37 FPS highlights a 4.7x performance spread. This wide gap indicates that Doom’s engine is highly scalable, but the RTX 2060 simply cannot sustain high frame rates when pixel count quadruples. The CPU’s role appears minimal in this scaling, as the i7-12700KF’s benchmark scores—such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28838 and a single-core score of 4071—suggest it has far more computational capacity than Doom requires at any resolution. The data implies that users seeking higher 4K performance would need to reduce settings dramatically, as the Low preset at 4K (61 FPS) is the only way to approach playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 175 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 152 FPS at 1080p Medium, showing that even at higher quality presets, the system exceeds 150 FPS at this resolution.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but with significant compromises. At 3840x2160, the system averages 61 FPS on Low settings, 53 FPS on Medium, 45 FPS on High, and 37 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset approaches 60 FPS, while higher presets fall below that threshold.

Q: How much of a performance difference does the CPU make in this game?

A: The benchmark data shows that the i7-12700KF is not a limiting factor at any resolution. The FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to resolution scaling, not CPU workload. The CPU’s 3DMark max-threads score of 9983 and single-thread score of 1043 indicate robust performance that Doom does not fully utilize.

Q: What is the best resolution-to-settings ratio for a 60+ FPS experience?

A: For a guaranteed 60 FPS floor, 2560x1440 with High settings delivers 83 FPS on average. At 4K, only the Low preset (61 FPS) clears 60 FPS, while Medium (53 FPS) and High (45 FPS) fall short. At 1080p, all presets exceed 100 FPS, with Ultra at 105 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060’s VRAM capacity affect Doom’s performance?

A: The 6 GB GDDR6 memory is sufficient for all tested settings at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable frame rates. At 4K, the performance drops suggest that memory capacity or bandwidth may be strained, though the data does not isolate VRAM usage directly.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested configurations?

A: The combo is ranked 2934 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects the RTX 2060’s mid-range status, as the CPU is in the 85th percentile of all CPUs while the GPU is in the 58th percentile.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 129 FPS, which is only 23 FPS lower than Low (175 FPS) but provides substantially better visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1080p still achieves 105 FPS, making it a viable choice for users with 100 Hz displays. However, the jump from High to Ultra costs 24 FPS, which may not justify the visual gains for competitive players.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the sweet spot, delivering 83 FPS. This is 30 FPS higher than Ultra (68 FPS) and only 16 FPS lower than Medium (99 FPS). The Medium preset’s minimum FPS of 84 matches the High average, suggesting that High offers better consistency without a significant penalty. For users with 144 Hz monitors at 1440p, the Low preset (113 FPS) is the only option that approaches that refresh rate, though it sacrifices most graphical effects.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations are more constrained. The Low preset (61 FPS) is the only setting that achieves a playable average above 60 FPS, while Medium (53 FPS) and High (45 FPS) offer diminishing returns. The Ultra preset (37 FPS) is not recommended for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that 4K users should either accept Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p, where High settings provide a much better visual experience at 83 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured averages is as follows. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 175 FPS on Low, 152 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 130 FPS and maximum of 175 FPS), 129 FPS on High, and 105 FPS on Ultra. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 70 FPS, which demonstrates that Doom’s settings have a substantial impact on performance even when the CPU is not a bottleneck.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 113 FPS on Low, 99 FPS on Medium (minimum 84, maximum 113), 83 FPS on High, and 68 FPS on Ultra. The minimum FPS for Medium at 1440p is 84, which is actually equal to the High average, indicating that Medium provides a consistent experience with occasional dips. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 45 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop significantly: 61 FPS on Low, 53 FPS on Medium (minimum 45, maximum 61), 45 FPS on High, and 37 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset’s minimum of 45 FPS is notably lower than its average, suggesting that 4K gameplay can experience stutters during intense scenes. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 24 FPS, which is the smallest absolute gap across all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor regardless of settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 plays the dominant role in determining Doom’s frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU’s Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. Its boost clock of 1680 MHz and base clock of 1365 MHz are the primary clock specifications that influence raw throughput. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS provides a baseline for its computational capacity, which the measured FPS data suggests is sufficient for 1080p gaming but strained at 4K.

The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus yields 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is likely the key constraint at 4K, where the engine must load larger textures and frame buffers. The measured FPS drop from 61 FPS at 4K Low to 37 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that texture quality and shadow resolution are heavily dependent on memory throughput. The GPU’s 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate and 201.6 GTexel/s texture rate further explain why higher resolutions cause exponential performance losses.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (within 0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% higher). This positioning confirms that the RTX 2060 is a mid-range card that excels at 1080p and handles 1440p adequately, but its 4K performance is limited by its memory subsystem and raw compute power.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is, by all measured metrics, a high-end processor that vastly exceeds Doom’s requirements. With 12 cores and 20 threads, a base clock of 3.60 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, this Alder Lake-S chip delivers exceptional multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 scores of 28838 (multi-core) and 4071 (single-core) place it firmly in the top tier of desktop CPUs, and its 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 indicates strong per-core performance that benefits lightly threaded games like Doom.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy—80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 25 MB shared L3—provides ample low-latency storage for game data. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are standard for this class, and the CPU’s support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory allows flexible system configurations. In the benchmark database, the i7-12700KF ranks in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35365. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13700T (0.1% lower), Intel Core i5-13600T (0.2% higher), and Intel Core i7-12700K (0.2% higher), all of which are within a fraction of a percent in average score.

In Doom specifically, the CPU’s influence is minimal. The fact that FPS scales almost entirely with resolution and settings—rather than with CPU-bound scenarios—indicates that the 12700KF is never the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 175 FPS, which is far below the CPU’s maximum capability. Even at 1080p Ultra (105 FPS), the CPU has significant headroom, as evidenced by its ability to maintain high frame rates without dipping. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU efficiently, and the data shows it does so without becoming a bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is ranked 2934 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 79th percentile of configurations in the database. This rank is notably lower than the CPU’s individual percentile (85th) and the GPU’s individual percentile (58th), which suggests that the overall performance is constrained by the GPU. The combo’s rank implies that while the CPU is capable of supporting much faster GPUs, the RTX 2060 limits the system to mid-range performance in this game.

The rank of 2934 means that 778 tested combos perform worse, while 2933 perform better. This places the system in a crowded middle tier where many configurations with similar or slightly better GPUs achieve higher frame rates. The data indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield significant improvements, as the CPU has ample headroom. Conversely, upgrading the CPU while keeping the RTX 2060 would likely result in negligible gains, since the GPU is already the performance ceiling.

The combo’s rank is consistent with its measured FPS across all resolutions. At 1080p, the system’s best average of 175 FPS is competitive with many high-end setups, but at 4K, the 61 FPS maximum is below what more powerful GPUs can achieve. The rank reflects this duality: the system excels at lower resolutions where the CPU’s strength shines, but falls behind at higher resolutions where the GPU’s limitations become apparent. In the context of the database, this combo represents a balanced mid-range build that is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being a stretch goal that requires significant settings reductions.