Doom

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a dominant performance profile in Doom, with the data showing that the GPU becomes the clear performance ceiling only at 4K, while lower resolutions reveal the raw strength of the CPU. The measured results indicate a system that is exceptionally well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming and more than capable of pushing past 60 FPS at 4K, even on the most demanding preset. This combination ranks in the 69th percentile of all tested combos for this title, sitting at rank 521 out of 1681, which places it firmly in the upper tier of systems capable of running this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 301.1 FPS, a figure that is almost entirely CPU-bound. Moving up to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops the average to 195.7 FPS, a reduction of approximately 35%, and at 3840x2160, the average falls to 106.1 FPS. This steep decline as resolution increases indicates that the GPU is taking over as the limiting factor at higher pixel counts, while the i7-12700KF has ample headroom at 1080p.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced when examining the High preset. The 1080p result of 223.9 FPS drops to 143.5 FPS at 1440p, a 36% decrease, and then to 77.9 FPS at 4K, another 46% reduction. This progressive degradation shows that the RTX 3080's rendering workload is scaling directly with pixel count, whereas the CPU's contribution remains relatively constant. The frame rate differences between Low and Ultra presets at each resolution further confirm this: at 1080p, the gap between Low (301.1 FPS) and Ultra (179.9 FPS) is 121.2 FPS, but at 4K, the same preset gap narrows to just 45 FPS (106.1 vs 61.1). This compression of performance differences at higher resolutions is the classic signature of a system shifting from CPU-bound to GPU-bound.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest refresh rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers an extraordinary 301.1 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play. However, the data suggests that the Medium preset at 262.9 FPS is the sweet spot for 1080p, offering a substantial improvement in visual quality while still maintaining frame rates well above what any standard display can show. The jump from Low to Medium costs 38.2 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs another 39 FPS, making the incremental visual gains from Medium to High less efficient.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts to High settings, which produces 143.5 FPS. This is a 26.5 FPS improvement over the Ultra preset's 117.9 FPS, and the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically less impactful than the frame rate gap suggests. The 4K resolution presents a different challenge: High settings at 77.9 FPS are playable and smooth, while Ultra drops to 61.1 FPS, which is still technically playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 91.9 FPS is the optimal 4K balance, providing a nearly 30% performance uplift over High while maintaining most of the visual fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 12 cores and 20 threads operating at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, is more than sufficient for Doom's demands, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 301.1 FPS. The CPU's benchmark scores corroborate its strength: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091 indicate that both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads are handled with ease.

The processor's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide the low-latency memory access that game engines like Doom benefit from. The 3DMark scores further illustrate the CPU's capability, with a max-threads score of 9983 and a single-thread score of 1043. In the context of this game, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor above 1080p; the data shows that at 1440p and 4K, the performance differences between presets are driven almost entirely by GPU load. The i7-12700KF's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well ahead of the processing demands of this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i7-12700KF and RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 521 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the upper 69% of all systems. This is a strong result, though not at the absolute top tier, which is expected given that the RTX 3080 is from the previous generation. The GPU itself ranks in the 80th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787, while the CPU ranks in the 89th percentile with an average score of 35355.

Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals shows just how close the i7-12700KF is to modern chips: it sits within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-13800H and 0.1% of the Intel Core i5-14400, while being 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i9-12900HX. The GPU's nearest rival comparison is more varied, with the RTX 3080 coming in 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE but 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile. This suggests that while the individual components are competitive, the overall combo rank is influenced by how well they work together in this specific title, where the data shows a well-balanced system rather than one that excels in any single metric.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Doom?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 301.1, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K with the highest settings?

A: Yes, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 61.1 FPS, just barely above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the i7-12700KF compare to the Intel Core i9-12900HX in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355, which is 0.2% higher than the i9-12900HX's score of 35289.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 195.7 FPS while Ultra averages 117.9 FPS, a difference of 77.8 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 better or worse than the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 35787, which is 0.9% lower than the RX 7900 GRE's score of 36101.

Q: What is the best preset for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming?

A: The Medium preset at 262.9 FPS offers the best balance, providing higher visual quality than Low while still exceeding 240 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 301.1 at Low to 179.9 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 262.9 FPS, while High achieves 223.9 FPS. The progression shows a consistent 30-40 FPS drop per preset step, with the largest single step being 41 FPS from Low to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the same preset ladder yields 195.7 FPS at Low, 168.9 FPS at Medium, 143.5 FPS at High, and 117.9 FPS at Ultra. The step sizes are similar to 1080p, ranging from 25.4 FPS to 26.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is scaling predictably with the resolution increase.

At 3840x2160, the results are 106.1 FPS at Low, 91.9 FPS at Medium, 77.9 FPS at High, and 61.1 FPS at Ultra. The step sizes here are smaller, ranging from 14.2 FPS to 16.8 FPS, which reflects the GPU being pushed closer to its limits and the diminishing returns of lowering settings at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GA102 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process, contains 28,300 million transistors and operates at a boost clock of 1710 MHz. This configuration provides 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is sufficient to handle Doom's demanding scenes at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark performance is solid, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 and a Passmark G3D score of 25086. Its 80th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above the median but not at the top tier, which is consistent with its end-of-life production status. The VRAM capacity of 10 GB is adequate for this game, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at 4K Ultra, but the data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at this resolution. The 45.1M transistors per mm² density and 628 mm² die size contribute to its thermal and power characteristics, with a TDP of 320 W requiring robust cooling solutions. The 272 tensor cores and 68 RT cores provide additional compute resources that, while not directly utilized by this title's standard rendering path, contribute to the GPU's overall capability.