Doom

Doom, in its 2016 incarnation, is a title that rewards high refresh rates, and the pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers that in spades. The measured data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet retains enough CPU headroom to push frame rates past 360 FPS at 1080p on Low settings. This combination is not just about crossing the finish line; it is about doing so with a significant margin over the majority of tested configurations, ranking 461st out of 3712 total combos in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is the defining characteristic of this combo's behavior in Doom. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the system produces an average of 221 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same preset reduces that to 143 FPS, a 35% decrease. The most significant scaling occurs when jumping to 2160p, where the average falls to 78 FPS, another 45% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline as resolution increases points directly to the GPU as the primary limiting factor, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that the RTX 4070 Ti, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, is being tasked with rendering an ever-increasing number of pixels.

This scaling pattern is classic for a high-end CPU paired with a strong, but not flagship, GPU. At 1080p, the workload is light enough that the graphics card can flex its muscles, but the arithmetic shows the frame rate is still being throttled by the render pipeline. The 12700KF's 12 cores and 20 threads, capable of a 5.00 GHz boost clock, are never the bottleneck here. The transition from 1080p High (271 FPS) to 1440p High (175 FPS) is a 35% reduction, and the subsequent drop to 4K High (95 FPS) is another 46% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across the High preset suggests a purely resolution-driven load increase, with no sudden CPU-related stall.

The data indicates that for a 4K experience, the user is entirely at the mercy of the GPU's pixel-pushing capabilities. The Ultra preset at 2160p yields 78 FPS, which is playable, but the gap between Low (129 FPS) and Ultra (78 FPS) at this resolution shows a 40% performance penalty for maxing out graphical fidelity. At 1080p, the same settings spread only costs 40% of the frame rate (368 FPS down to 221 FPS), but the absolute numbers are so high that the relative loss is less impactful. The system is clearly optimized for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming, where it can maintain averages above 143 FPS on the most demanding preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread Alder Lake processor based on a 10 nm process. Its architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provides the kind of single-threaded and multi-threaded muscle that a game like Doom, which is known for its efficient engine, can leverage. In synthetic benchmarks, the chip scores 4071 points in Cinebench R23 single-core and 28838 in multi-core, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs tested. This confirms it is a top-tier part for gaming, where single-core performance is often the deciding factor.

However, the measured game data suggests that the CPU's role in this specific pairing is to stay out of the way. At 1080p Low, the system hits 368 FPS, a figure that is likely approaching the engine's or the system's practical ceiling, but the CPU has the headroom to handle it. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and the max-thread score of 9983 indicate a processor that can handle heavy background loads without compromising game performance. The 20 threads are overkill for Doom's core engine, but they ensure that any OS overhead or streaming tasks will not cause frame time spikes.

The comparison to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database shows that the 12700KF is in a tightly contested bracket. It is 0.1% slower than the Intel Core i7-13700T and 0.2% faster than the i7-12700K, its direct sibling. This suggests that in a CPU-bound scenario, the differences would be imperceptible. In this Doom configuration, the CPU is never the limiting factor. The evidence is in the scaling: if the CPU were a bottleneck, we would see a plateau in FPS at lower resolutions as the GPU finishes its work faster than the CPU can feed it. No such plateau exists, as the frame rate continues to climb from 221 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 368 FPS at 1080p Low. This combo is an example of a balanced pairing where the CPU is future-proofed for more demanding titles, while the GPU is the active workhorse in this one.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this combo can achieve in Doom?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 368, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti's performance compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: In the GPU benchmarks, the RTX 4070 Ti scores 44795 on average, which is 0.8% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile and 1.3% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT, but 1.6% higher than the NVIDIA RTX A6000.

Q: Is the Core i7-12700KF a bottleneck for the RTX 4070 Ti in this game?

A: No. The data shows consistent scaling with resolution and settings, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p, the CPU provides enough headroom to reach 368 FPS on Low settings, showing no sign of a CPU-imposed ceiling.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 238 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 143 FPS. This represents a 40% reduction in frame rate for the highest visual quality settings.

Q: How does this system's overall ranking in Doom compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 461st out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 12.4% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The data shows a minimum FPS of 96 and a maximum FPS of 369. The minimum was recorded at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, and the maximum was recorded at 1920x1080 with Medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand database of tested hardware combinations for Doom, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti secures the 461st position out of 3712 total combos. This places it in the top 12.4% of all systems, a strong showing that underscores the balance of this configuration. The rank is a composite measure of its performance across all tested resolutions and settings, indicating that it is not just a one-trick pony at a single resolution, but a consistently strong performer across the board.

This ranking is more impressive when considering the hardware's individual percentiles. The CPU sits in the 85th percentile of all processors, and the GPU is in the 84th percentile of all graphics cards. The fact that the combo's in-game rank is higher than either component's individual percentile suggests that the pairing is particularly synergistic for Doom's engine. The game appears to favor the combination of the 12700KF's high single-core clock speed with the 4070 Ti's substantial raw throughput. In contrast, a system with a weaker CPU might drag the GPU's performance down, but here, the CPU's 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures it is always ready to issue draw calls.

The ranking also implies that there are 3300 other combinations that, on average, perform worse. This reflects the raw power of the 4070 Ti, which has a FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s. When compared to its nearest GPU rivals, the 4070 Ti is only 0.8% behind the RTX 5090 Mobile and 1.3% behind the Radeon Pro 5500 XT in average benchmark score. This indicates that it is a top-tier performer, and its 84th percentile ranking is a slight underestimation of its gaming prowess in this title. The combo's rank of 461 is a direct result of the GPU's capability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K, where it still averages 95 FPS on High settings.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear choice, delivering 368 FPS. However, this is a niche scenario for competitive play on high-refresh monitors. For a balanced experience that maximizes visual fidelity while maintaining a high refresh rate, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 is the sweet spot. It produces an average of 208 FPS with a minimum of 176 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in intense firefights. This settings combination offers a 46% performance increase over the High preset at the same resolution, while the visual difference between Medium and High is often negligible in fast-paced action.

At 4K, the data suggests that the High preset is the best choice for a quality experience, averaging 95 FPS. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 drops to 78 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices a significant amount of smoothness for marginal graphical gains. The Medium preset at 4K offers 112 FPS, which is a good alternative if the user prefers higher frame rates over absolute visual fidelity. The measured minimum FPS of 96 at 4K Medium indicates that the system can hold a stable frame rate above the 90 FPS threshold, making it a very viable option for 4K gaming. The data clearly shows that the Ultra preset is the most demanding, and its 78 FPS average at 4K represents the lowest performance tier in the measured data.

The recommendation is to avoid the Ultra preset at 4K unless a 60-75 Hz monitor is in use. For 1440p, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point, as it provides a substantial performance buffer over High, ensuring that any demanding in-game scenes will not cause the frame rate to dip below the refresh rate of a typical 144Hz monitor. The 12700KF has the processing power to handle these settings without issue, as evidenced by the lack of a CPU bottleneck. Ultimately, the best experience per the measured data is a balance of the 1440p Medium preset, which combines the high resolution with a frame rate that far exceeds the needs of most displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data is a direct breakdown of the measured average FPS for each resolution and settings preset combination.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: 129 FPS average
• Medium: 112 FPS average, with a minimum of 96 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS
• High: 95 FPS average
• Ultra: 78 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: 238 FPS average
• Medium: 208 FPS average, with a minimum of 176 FPS and a maximum of 239 FPS
• High: 175 FPS average
• Ultra: 143 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: 368 FPS average
• Medium: 321 FPS average, with a minimum of 273 FPS and a maximum of 369 FPS
• High: 271 FPS average
• Ultra: 221 FPS average

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the gap between High and Ultra is smaller than the gap between Medium and High. For example, at 1440p, the difference between Medium (208 FPS) and High (175 FPS) is 33 FPS, while the difference between High (175 FPS) and Ultra (143 FPS) is 32 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces additional effects that are disproportionately expensive. The minimum FPS values for the Medium preset show that the system is well within its limits, with the 4K minimum of 96 FPS being the only one below 100. The 1080p Medium preset's maximum of 369 FPS is the highest recorded value in the entire dataset, highlighting the system's peak capability when the resolution is not a constraint. This table of data confirms the analysis: the system is a high-refresh-rate champion at 1440p and a very capable 4K performer.