Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with 4K remaining playable at reduced settings. The data shows a classic pattern where the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs, but the system's overall rank indicates a balanced mid-range pairing that handles this fast-paced FPS well.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases, which is typical for a game like Doom that relies heavily on raw GPU throughput. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 203 FPS average, which drops to 149 FPS at High and 122 FPS at Ultra. This 1080p range shows that the RTX 4060 has substantial headroom, and the differences between settings are more about GPU load than CPU limitations.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages scale down predictably: 131 FPS at Low, 114 FPS at Medium, 97 FPS at High, and 79 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks from 81 FPS at 1080p to 52 FPS at 1440p, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of additional pixels. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min FPS of 97 and max of 132, which means the frame pacing remains stable even when the average dips.

At 3840x2160, the story changes dramatically. The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become limiting factors. High settings produce 52 FPS average, Medium drops to 62 FPS, Low reaches 71 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS. The interesting anomaly is that Medium outperforms High by 10 FPS, which suggests that the High preset may be enabling settings that disproportionately tax the memory subsystem or shading units. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings—from 149 FPS to 52 FPS—represents a 65% reduction, which is steeper than the raw pixel count increase would suggest, pointing to memory bandwidth saturation.

The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU. The CPU's 18 threads and 4.50 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4060 at lower resolutions, but the GPU's 272.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB frame buffer create a ceiling that no amount of CPU headroom can overcome. For 1440p gaming, this combo sits in a sweet spot where the GPU is utilized well without being overwhelmed, but for 4K, users will need to stick to Low or Medium presets to maintain playable frame rates above 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but with compromises. The data shows 71 FPS at 4K Low settings and 62 FPS at 4K Medium, which are playable. However, High settings drop to 52 FPS and Ultra falls to 43 FPS, so high-refresh 4K is not realistic with this pairing.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: The 2560x1440 resolution offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1440p High, the combo achieves 97 FPS average, and even Ultra settings maintain 79 FPS, which is smooth for a fast-paced FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM affect Doom?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient, as evidenced by the strong performance across all presets. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 43 FPS, which suggests the VRAM capacity or bandwidth is being exceeded, causing the GPU to struggle.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU at 1080p?

A: No. The 1080p Low preset hits 203 FPS, and even Ultra reaches 122 FPS. The CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads provide ample processing power to keep the GPU saturated at these frame rates.

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

A: The average FPS drops from 131 at Low to 79 at Ultra, a 40% reduction. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces significant GPU workload, but the system remains playable throughout.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare to High at 4K?

A: Medium achieves 62 FPS average, which is 10 FPS higher than High's 52 FPS. This is unusual and suggests that High enables specific effects that are disproportionately expensive on this GPU configuration.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. Its 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs provide the raw compute necessary for Doom's fast rendering. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz and boosts to 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is the defining characteristic for this game's performance scaling. At 1080p, the frame buffer is ample, allowing the GPU to reach 203 FPS at Low and 149 FPS at High. At 1440p, the memory bandwidth becomes more constrained, but the 114 FPS Medium result shows there is still headroom. The 4K results tell a different story—the 71 FPS at Low versus 43 FPS at Ultra indicates that the memory subsystem cannot keep up with the texture and geometry demands of higher presets. The 128-bit bus width is relatively narrow for a modern GPU, and this is reflected in the steep performance drop as resolution increases.

The RTX 4060's Passmark G3D score of 19545 places it in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (deltaPct 0.5). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the RTX 4060 sits at a performance level that is closely matched by several other cards. However, in Doom specifically, the GPU's performance is strong enough to deliver high frame rates at mainstream resolutions.

The GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are well-suited to Doom's id Tech engine, which favors raw rasterization throughput. The 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present, but Doom does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS, so the focus remains on traditional shading and texture work. The 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate helps maintain fill rates at high resolutions, but the memory bandwidth ultimately caps 4K performance.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1755 out of 2930 tested combos for Doom. This places it in the 60th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 40% of combinations perform better. Given that the RTX 4060 is positioned as an entry-level 40-series card with a 61st percentile GPU ranking, and the Core Ultra 5 125H is a mobile processor with a 79th percentile CPU ranking, the combo's overall position is slightly below what the individual component percentiles might suggest.

The rank of 1755 indicates that while the CPU is strong in general computing tasks, the GPU's mid-range status drags down the overall gaming performance relative to combos that pair higher-end GPUs with weaker CPUs. The data shows that this pairing is not optimized for 4K gaming, where many other combos excel, but it holds its own at 1080p and 1440p. In the context of all tested combos, this system is a solid mid-pack performer, suitable for mainstream gaming but not for competitive high-end benchmarks.

The fact that the combo rank (1755 of 2930) is worse than the GPU's individual percentile (61st) suggests that Doom's performance is more sensitive to GPU capabilities than CPU capabilities. Many combos with slower CPUs but faster GPUs will outrank this system in this specific game. Conversely, the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12804.5) does not translate into a proportional gaming advantage in Doom, which is primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a Meteor Lake mobile processor with 14 cores and 18 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosting up to 4.50 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide sufficient data locality for gaming workloads. The CPU's 28 W TDP is modest, but for a mobile chip, it delivers strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1647.5.

In Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 203 FPS, which is well above what most displays can show. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 122 FPS average indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 3399 and multi-thread score of 21100 suggest it has ample processing power for a game that is not heavily threaded.

The CPU's percentile rank of 79 among all CPUs is strong, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (deltaPct -0.1), Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct -0.3), and AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (deltaPct -0.3). These deltas are negligible, meaning the Ultra 5 125H performs within 0.5% of these established desktop processors in general benchmarks. However, the mobile form factor means sustained performance may differ from desktop counterparts, though the benchmark data does not distinguish this.

The CPU's architecture, Meteor Lake, with its 7 nm process from Intel, integrates Arc Xe-LPG 96EU graphics, but for this gaming test, the discrete RTX 4060 handles all rendering. The CPU's memory support for DDR5 and dual-channel configuration, with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, is sufficient to avoid starving the GPU. The PCIe Gen 5 interface provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, though the RTX 4060 uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 connection, which is not a limiting factor in Doom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 203 FPS, Medium achieves 177 FPS with a min of 150 and max of 203, High reaches 149 FPS, and Ultra drops to 122 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 81 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution. The Medium preset's min FPS of 150 indicates stable frame pacing, which is crucial for a fast-paced shooter.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show the GPU's limits. Low settings average 131 FPS, Medium averages 114 FPS with a min of 97 and max of 132, High averages 97 FPS, and Ultra averages 79 FPS. The Medium preset's min FPS of 97 is still above 60, ensuring a smooth experience. The difference between Low and Ultra narrows to 52 FPS, suggesting the GPU is becoming the primary constraint.

At 3840x2160, the results are mixed. Low settings average 71 FPS, Medium averages 62 FPS with a min of 53 and max of 71, High averages 52 FPS, and Ultra averages 43 FPS. The Medium preset's min FPS of 53 dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which could cause noticeable stutters in intense combat. The performance hierarchy is not linear—Medium beats High by 10 FPS—which indicates that the High preset enables specific effects that are disproportionately expensive on this GPU's memory configuration. For 4K gaming, users should stick to Low or Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates.

The measured data is consistent across resolutions, with no anomalies other than the 4K Medium vs. High discrepancy. The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 272 GB/s bandwidth are the defining factors at 4K, limiting the system to lower presets. At 1080p and 1440p, the combo is capable of high refresh rate gaming, making it a versatile choice for most Doom players.