Doom

# Doom Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 5 125H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile

The measured data for Doom with this mobile combo reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with the RTX 4060 Mobile acting as the primary performance driver while the Core Ultra 5 125H provides sufficient headroom at lower resolutions. The combo ranks 2270 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all tested systems, though the game's 2016 release date and the hardware's modern architecture suggest the bottleneck shifts depending on the resolution and preset selected.

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

The data shows a clear and consistent pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 203 at 1920x1080 to 131 at 2560x1440 — a reduction of 72 frames — and then further to 71 at 3840x2160, representing a 65% loss from 1080p to 4K. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is being pushed substantially harder at higher resolutions, while the CPU's role diminishes as pixel count grows.

At Medium settings, the scaling follows a similar trajectory: 177 FPS at 1080p, 114 at 1440p, and 62 at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 63 frames is proportionally larger than the 1440p-to-4K drop of 52 frames, suggesting that the transition from 1080p to 1440p introduces a more significant GPU load increase relative to the hardware's capabilities. The High preset shows 149 FPS at 1080p, 97 at 1440p, and 52 at 4K — the 4K figure being the lowest of any High setting across all resolutions, reinforcing that 4K is where this combo struggles most.

Ultra settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling: 122 FPS at 1080p, 79 at 1440p, and just 43 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the single lowest measured value across the entire dataset, and the 79 FPS at 1440p Ultra drops below the 60 FPS threshold only at 4K. The pattern across all presets indicates that the RTX 4060 Mobile's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly limiting as resolution climbs, with the 128-bit memory bus likely contributing to the steep drop-offs at 3840x2160.

The resolution scaling data implies that at 1080p, the system may be partially CPU-bound or at least balanced, given that even Ultra settings maintain 122 FPS. However, the consistent ~40-50% FPS reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K across all settings suggests the GPU becomes the unequivocal bottleneck at 4K, with the CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads providing ample processing power that goes underutilized as pixel workload dominates.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H packs 14 cores and 18 threads, a configuration that combines performance and efficiency cores in a Meteor Lake architecture. With a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost up to 4.50 GHz, this mobile processor offers substantial single-thread performance — evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1647.5 — which is directly relevant to Doom's engine that relies heavily on a few primary threads for game logic and rendering commands.

The CPU's multi-threaded capability, shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12804.5, provides robust headroom for background tasks and the game's auxiliary threads, but Doom's core rendering path benefits more from the 4.50 GHz boost clock than from the sheer core count. The Passmark single-thread score of 3399 and multi-thread score of 21100 place this CPU at the 79th percentile among all processors, indicating it sits comfortably above average for gaming workloads.

At 1080p Low settings, the 203 FPS average suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output, but the fact that Ultra settings at 1080p still deliver 122 FPS — a 40% reduction from Low — implies the GPU is already becoming the limiting factor even at this resolution. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps maintain consistent frame delivery, though the measured data doesn't include frame time variance to confirm this. Compared to nearest rivals, the Core Ultra 5 125H's average benchmark score of 27507 sits within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 5355G and within 0.3% of both the Intel Core i5-12600K and AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, meaning its raw processing power is competitive with desktop parts from a few generations back.

The CPU's 28 W TDP classifies it as a low-power mobile part, yet its performance in Doom at 1080p — where CPU load is highest relative to GPU — shows no obvious deficiency. The 7 nm process node and Intel BGA 2049 socket are architectural details, but the practical takeaway is that this processor does not appear to bottleneck the RTX 4060 Mobile at any resolution or setting in the measured data, as even the most demanding 4K Ultra scenario only drops to 43 FPS, which is far below what the CPU could theoretically feed.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process, is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which becomes a critical constraint at 4K resolutions where texture data and frame buffers demand more memory throughput. The GPU's 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 90.72 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 181.4 GTexel/s, figures that explain the measurable performance differences across settings.

The boost clock of 1890 MHz, combined with 11.61 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, gives this GPU a Passmark G3D score of 17469, placing it at the 67th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show tight competition: the RTX 2080 scores 22895 (0.7% higher), the Intel Arc B580 scores 23021 (1.3% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and RTX 5060 Mobile score 22549 and 22435 respectively (0.8% and 1.3% lower). This clustering indicates the RTX 4060 Mobile sits in a well-contested performance tier where small architectural differences matter.

In Doom specifically, the GPU's VRAM capacity appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p across all settings, as evidenced by playable frame rates, but the 4K results tell a different story. At 4K Ultra, the 43 FPS average suggests the GPU is starved for memory bandwidth, while the 52 FPS at 4K High and 62 FPS at 4K Medium show incremental improvements as texture quality and shadow details are reduced. The 4K Low result of 71 FPS — the only 4K setting above 60 FPS — indicates that reducing the game's memory footprint allows the GPU to operate more efficiently, but the 128-bit memory bus remains a fundamental limitation.

The GPU's 115 W TDP, while modest for a discrete mobile part, appears well-matched to the CPU's 28 W TDP in terms of thermal and power delivery within a laptop chassis. The measured data shows no evidence of thermal throttling or power limiting, as the FPS figures scale consistently with settings changes, suggesting the GPU sustains its boost clock during Doom gameplay. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 89420 and Vulkan score of 89569 further corroborate the GPU's balanced compute and graphics performance, though these synthetic benchmarks don't directly translate to Doom's specific engine demands.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This particular combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2270 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 61st percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking is notably lower than the individual component percentiles — the CPU at 79th and GPU at 67th — which suggests that Doom's specific engine characteristics or the mobile platform's thermal constraints prevent this combo from achieving the sum of its parts' potential.

The rank implies that approximately 1442 tested combinations outperform this setup in Doom, while 2270 fall below it. Given that the GPU's nearest rivals include desktop-class parts like the RTX 2080 and Arc B580, the mobile 4060's performance relative to its own tier is competitive, but the combo's overall ranking is dragged down by the CPU's lower standing compared to desktop alternatives. The deltaPct values for the CPU's rivals range from -0.1% to +0.5%, indicating the Core Ultra 5 125H is essentially tied with several desktop CPUs from the Ryzen 5000 and Intel 12th-gen families, yet those rivals likely pair with more powerful GPUs in other tested combos.

The rank suggests that for Doom specifically, this combo delivers solid but not exceptional performance, with the 1080p results being the most competitive (122-203 FPS depending on settings) and 4K results being marginal (43-71 FPS). The gap between this combo's ranking and its component percentiles highlights how game-specific optimization and system-level integration matter — a mobile CPU with strong synthetic benchmarks may not translate its advantages to older games like Doom, which was released in 2016 and may not fully utilize modern multi-core architectures or the latest GPU features.

Compared to the RTX 4060 Mobile's nearest GPU rivals, the combo ranking would likely shift if paired with a higher-end CPU, but the data shows that this specific pairing sits in a crowded mid-field where many combinations achieve similar frame rates. The 3712 total combos tested provide context that this is not an outlier configuration but rather a representative mid-range mobile gaming platform.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS data across all twelve resolution-settings combinations reveals distinct tiers of playability. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers playable frame rates: Low at 203 FPS, Medium at 177 FPS, High at 149 FPS, and Ultra at 122 FPS. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Low preset's 203 FPS exceeds the 165 Hz refresh rate common on gaming laptops, while Medium's 177 FPS and High's 149 FPS also clear 144 Hz thresholds. Ultra at 122 FPS remains above 120 Hz, making 1080p the only resolution where all settings are viable for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the picture becomes more selective. Low at 131 FPS and Medium at 114 FPS both exceed 100 FPS, providing good experiences on 144 Hz displays, while High at 97 FPS approaches the 100 FPS mark and Ultra at 79 FPS remains playable but below the 100 FPS comfort zone. The 1440p Medium preset, with its 114 FPS average and 97 FPS minimum, offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this resolution, as the min FPS staying above 90 ensures minimal stutter during intense scenes.

At 3840x2160, only Low at 71 FPS exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium at 62 FPS barely clears the 60 FPS threshold and High at 52 FPS and Ultra at 43 FPS fall short. For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only reliable choice, though the Medium preset's 62 FPS average with a 53 FPS minimum could be acceptable for slower-paced sections. Given Doom's fast-paced action, the 4K Medium settings risk dropping below 60 FPS during combat, making Low the safer recommendation for 4K.

The optimal experience across the entire dataset is 1080p Ultra at 122 FPS, which delivers the full visual feature set while maintaining high frame rates. For users with 1440p displays, Medium at 114 FPS provides the best compromise, preserving most visual enhancements while staying well above 60 FPS. The data suggests that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, with 4K reserved for users who prioritize resolution over smoothness and are willing to accept the Low preset's visual compromises.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080: Low averages 203 FPS with no min/max recorded. Medium averages 177 FPS with a minimum of 150 FPS and maximum of 203 FPS. High averages 149 FPS with no min/max recorded. Ultra averages 122 FPS with no min/max recorded.

2560x1440: Low averages 131 FPS with no min/max recorded. Medium averages 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS. High averages 97 FPS with no min/max recorded. Ultra averages 79 FPS with no min/max recorded.

3840x2160: Low averages 71 FPS with no min/max recorded. Medium averages 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 71 FPS. High averages 52 FPS with no min/max recorded. Ultra averages 43 FPS with no min/max recorded.

The Medium presets are the only settings where min and max FPS values were captured, providing insight into frame consistency. At 1080p Medium, the 150-203 FPS range indicates a 53 FPS spread, suggesting some scenes push the GPU harder. At 1440p Medium, the 97-132 FPS range shows a 35 FPS spread, tighter than 1080p. At 4K Medium, the 53-71 FPS range spans 18 FPS, the narrowest of the three, implying that at higher resolutions the GPU's consistent bottleneck reduces frame time variance even as average FPS drops.

Across all resolutions, the Low-to-Ultra FPS delta at 1080p is 81 FPS (203 to 122), at 1440p it's 52 FPS (131 to 79), and at 4K it's 28 FPS (71 to 43). This narrowing delta at higher resolutions reinforces that the GPU becomes increasingly saturated, leaving less performance headroom for settings changes to extract additional FPS.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS at 4K in Doom?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 71. Medium settings average 62 FPS but dip to a 53 FPS minimum, so 60 FPS is not guaranteed during demanding scenes. High and Ultra average 52 FPS and 43 FPS respectively, falling below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz display?

A: At 1920x1080, the High preset at 149 FPS is the best choice for 144 Hz, as it exceeds the refresh rate while offering better visuals than Medium at 177 FPS or Low at 203 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low at 131 FPS and Medium at 114 FPS exceed 100 FPS, so Medium is recommended for 144 Hz displays at that resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Mobile compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile's Passmark G3D score of 17469 is 0.7% lower than the RTX 2080's 22895, 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B580's 23021, 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT's 22549, and 1.3% higher than the RTX 5060 Mobile's 22435. These small deltas indicate near-parity with these competing GPUs.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: The data suggests no significant CPU bottleneck. Even at 1080p Low with 203 FPS, the system maintains high frame rates, and the CPU's 14 cores and 18 threads with a 4.50 GHz boost clock appear sufficient. The GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, where all settings produce lower FPS regardless of CPU headroom.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all measured data?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 53 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. No other preset had a recorded minimum FPS, but the 53 FPS value indicates that 4K Medium can drop below the 60 FPS target during intensive scenes.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in Doom?

A: This combo ranks 2270 out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of all systems. This rank is lower than the CPU's 79th percentile and GPU's 67th percentile individually, indicating that the combination underperforms relative to its component capabilities in this specific game.