Doom

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers an exceptional Doom experience, with the data indicating that the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of fluidity and visual fidelity for most users. The combination ranks in the 60th position out of 1681 tested combos, placing it firmly in the top tier for this title, and the measured frame rates show headroom to prioritize visual quality over raw speed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data shows that the Ultra preset is the most demanding setting, yielding 165.8 FPS at 2560x1440 and 92 FPS at 3840x2160. While 92 FPS at 4K Ultra is playable, it leaves less margin for demanding scenes compared to other settings. The High preset, by contrast, delivers 200.8 FPS at 2560x1440 and 111.7 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a significant performance uplift of 35 FPS at 1440p and 19.7 FPS at 4K over Ultra. This makes High the recommended preset for a consistently smooth experience. For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset achieves 417.6 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the dataset, providing a substantial advantage for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with 368.8 FPS at 1080p and 242.8 FPS at 1440p, but the visual gains over Low are less critical than the performance gains of High over Medium. Benchmark results indicate that the High preset is the optimal choice for 1440p and 4K, as it combines high average frame rates with presumably better visual quality than Medium or Low.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this configuration for Doom, given the game’s demanding graphics. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory capacity is more than sufficient for the textures and effects in Doom, even at 4K resolution. The GPU’s architecture is Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a transistor count of 45,600 million. The core clocks are a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2617 MHz, which contribute to its high throughput. The GPU’s raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s. These specifications translate directly into the high frame rates observed. For instance, at 1920x1080 on Low settings, the GPU pushes 417.6 FPS, indicating that the graphics card is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 92 FPS, showing the GPU is heavily taxed by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 59188, with a percentile rank of 89 against all GPUs. Comparing to its nearest rivals, the RTX 5080 is 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580, but it is 1.9% behind the Intel Arc Pro A60 in average benchmark scores.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF provides a strong foundation for the RTX 5080, ensuring the GPU is not starved of data. This CPU has 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The processor is based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process, and features 25 MB of shared L3 cache. Its multi-threaded capabilities are demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979, while its single-core performance is shown by a Geekbench single-core score of 2526. In Doom, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic and physics, and the data suggests it performs this task without bottlenecking the GPU. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 417.6 FPS is so high that it may approach the limits of CPU draw-call throughput, but the CPU’s 20 threads help maintain stability. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 35355, with a percentile rank of 89 against all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400, has an average score of 35336, making the i7-12700KF just 0.1% faster. The Intel Core i9-12900HX is 0.2% slower, and the Intel Core i5-13600T is 0.3% slower. These benchmarks indicate that the i7-12700KF is a high-end processor that can keep pace with the RTX 5080 in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 60 out of 1681 tested combos in Doom. This places the pairing in the top 3.6% of all configurations tested, which is an outstanding result. The high ranking is primarily attributable to the RTX 5080’s immense graphical power, as the CPU’s performance is also above average but not the absolute top. The data shows that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming. At 1440p High, the system produces 200.8 FPS, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on many monitors. At 4K High, the 111.7 FPS average is suitable for 120 Hz displays. The ranking suggests that this combo is a top-tier choice for Doom, providing a premium experience that few other configurations can match. The GPU’s percentile rank of 89 and the CPU’s percentile rank of 89 indicate that both components are in the upper echelon of their respective categories, and their combination is synergistic for this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset is recommended for 4K, as it delivers an average of 111.7 FPS, which is significantly higher than the 92 FPS achieved on Ultra. This provides a smoother experience while still maintaining high visual quality.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 417.6 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves 258 FPS. This represents a performance increase of 159.6 FPS, or roughly 62% faster when using Low settings.

Q: Is the RTX 5080 the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests that the GPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p Low, as it produces 417.6 FPS. The CPU’s performance is likely the limiting factor at this resolution, given the extreme frame rates that exceed typical display refresh rates.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 60th out of 1681 tested configurations. This places it in the top 3.6% of all systems tested, indicating it is a high-performance pairing for Doom.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1440p and 4K on High settings?

A: On High settings, the system achieves 200.8 FPS at 2560x1440 and 111.7 FPS at 3840x2160. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 89.1 FPS, showing that the GPU’s workload increases substantially at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 417.6 FPS on Low, 368.8 FPS on Medium, 310.3 FPS on High, and 258 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 274.6 FPS on Low, 242.8 FPS on Medium, 200.8 FPS on High, and 165.8 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 149.4 FPS on Low, 132.6 FPS on Medium, 111.7 FPS on High, and 92 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a consistent scaling pattern. For example, at 1440p, the Ultra preset is 35 FPS slower than High, while at 4K, the difference between Ultra and High is 19.7 FPS. The data also shows that the Low preset is substantially faster than Medium, with a difference of 48.8 FPS at 1080p, 31.8 FPS at 1440p, and 16.8 FPS at 4K. This indicates that the most significant performance gains come from reducing settings from Medium to Low, rather than from High to Medium.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K illustrates the GPU’s workload and the system’s balance. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 310.3 FPS at 1080p to 200.8 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 109.5 FPS, and then to 111.7 FPS at 4K, a further reduction of 89.1 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, with the 4K frame rate being only 36% of the 1080p frame rate. This behavior is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count and shading requirements at higher resolutions tax the RTX 5080’s 16 GB of memory and its compute units. At Low settings, the scaling is similar but with higher absolute numbers: 417.6 FPS at 1080p, 274.6 FPS at 1440p, and 149.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low frame rate is 35.8% of the 1080p Low frame rate, indicating that the GPU is still the primary limiter. The data suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at all resolutions, as the frame rates scale smoothly with resolution rather than hitting a CPU-imposed ceiling. The gap between 1440p and 4K is larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p, which is expected given the exponential increase in pixel count. Overall, the system is well-balanced, with the RTX 5080 providing ample performance for high-resolution gaming, while the i7-12700KF ensures that the GPU is the limiting factor.