Doom

# Doom Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 5 125H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H mobile processor paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 desktop-class GPU produces exceptional frame rates across all tested configurations in Doom, with the 1080p Medium setting delivering the most balanced experience at 275 FPS average while maintaining a minimum of 234 FPS. The data reveals that this pairing ranks in the 79th percentile for the CPU and 88th percentile for the GPU among all tested components, placing it in the upper tier of the 2,930 tested combos for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Doom shows that the Medium preset provides the most compelling balance between visual fidelity and raw performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 275 FPS average with a minimum of 234 FPS, which represents a 13% reduction from the Low preset's 316 FPS but offers substantially better visual quality. The High preset at 1080p delivers 232 FPS, which is still exceptionally smooth, but the 43 FPS gap between Medium and High suggests diminishing returns when pushing beyond Medium settings.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out with 178 FPS average and a minimum of 151 FPS. This configuration maintains frame rates well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors, making it the optimal choice for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution. The Low preset reaches 204 FPS, but the visual compromise is unnecessary when Medium still delivers 178 FPS. Ultra at 1440p drops to 123 FPS, which remains playable but sacrifices the headroom that competitive players might want.

For 4K gaming, the situation changes notably. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 produces 96 FPS average with a minimum of 82 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that consistently stays above 80 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 81 FPS, while Ultra falls to 67 FPS. Given that the minimum FPS data is only provided for Medium settings, this preset appears to offer the most predictable performance at 4K. The recommendation across all resolutions is clear: Medium delivers the best experience per the measured rows, balancing frame rate stability with visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this CPU-GPU pairing in Doom is 614 out of 2,930 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the substantial performance capability of the RTX 4090, which sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, paired with the Core Ultra 5 125H, which ranks in the 79th percentile among all CPUs. The combination's percentile ranking is particularly noteworthy because the CPU is a mobile part with a 28 W TDP, yet it still contributes to a top-quintile gaming result.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its contribution to this ranking. The Intel Core i5-12600K scores 27,578 in average benchmark performance, which is 0.3% higher than the Core Ultra 5 125H's 27,507 average. Similarly, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 scores 27,535, just 0.1% ahead. These remarkably small deltas indicate that the mobile Ultra 5 125H performs essentially on par with desktop processors in the same performance tier, despite its mobile form factor and lower power envelope. The AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G trails by 0.5% with a score of 27,382.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a different picture. The Intel Arc Pro A60 matches the RTX 4090's average benchmark score almost exactly with a 0% delta, scoring 60,326 versus 60,347. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61,896, which is 2.5% higher, while the AMD Radeon PRO V710 trails by 2.9% at 58,657. These comparisons suggest that the RTX 4090's raw compute benchmarks are competitive with professional workstation cards, though the gaming-specific performance in Doom is what matters most for this analysis.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 316 at 1080p with Low settings. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 275 FPS, while High reaches 232 FPS and Ultra drops to 190 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset averages 67 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. However, the Medium preset at 4K averages 96 FPS, providing more comfortable headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 60,347. The Intel Arc Pro A60 matches it at 60,326 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M is 2.5% higher at 61,896 and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 is 2.9% lower at 58,657.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile ranking?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H sits in the 79th percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 27,507. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800, scores 27,535, representing a 0.1% delta.

Q: Does the Medium preset provide consistent minimum frame rates?

A: Yes, the Medium preset is the only setting with reported minimum FPS data. At 1080p it maintains 234 minimum, at 1440p it holds 151 minimum, and at 4K it stays above 82 minimum.

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

A: This pairing ranks 614th out of 2,930 total tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data reveals a consistent performance hierarchy across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 316 FPS average, Medium reaches 275 FPS with a 234 FPS minimum and 316 FPS maximum, High delivers 232 FPS, and Ultra produces 190 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40% performance reduction, yet even the lowest 1080p setting remains far above any display refresh rate currently available.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 204 FPS, Medium reaches 178 FPS with 151 minimum and 205 maximum, High delivers 150 FPS, and Ultra drops to 123 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p maintains a minimum above 150 FPS, which is critical for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 28 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 27 FPS, showing a relatively linear scaling across settings.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low averages 111 FPS, Medium achieves 96 FPS with 82 minimum and 111 maximum, High delivers 81 FPS, and Ultra falls to 67 FPS. The 4K results demonstrate that even the most demanding resolution remains playable at all settings, though the Ultra preset's 67 FPS average leaves less margin for complex scenes. The Medium preset at 4K provides the best combination of visual quality and performance stability, with its 82 FPS minimum ensuring consistent frame delivery.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about this system's bottleneck characteristics. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 275 at 1080p to 178 at 1440p (a 35% reduction) and then to 96 at 4K (a 65% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4090 is the primary performance driver, as frame rates scale closely with pixel count rather than remaining flat due to CPU limitation.

Examining the Low preset scaling provides additional clarity. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 316 FPS, which drops to 204 at 1440p (35% reduction) and 111 at 4K (65% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage reductions across settings suggests that the GPU is handling the rendering workload efficiently at all quality levels. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions rather than continuing to scale downward.

The High preset shows a similar pattern: 232 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 4K is 65% for High, matching the Medium and Low scaling exactly. This uniform scaling across all settings strongly indicates that the RTX 4090's rendering throughput is the limiting component at every resolution. The Core Ultra 5 125H, despite being a mobile processor, provides sufficient CPU performance to feed the GPU at all tested configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H features 14 cores and 18 threads, operating at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz. This Meteor Lake architecture CPU has a 28 W TDP, which is notably low for a processor delivering this level of gaming performance. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate data throughput for modern game engines like the one powering Doom.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its capability in both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12,804.5 and single-core score of 1,647.5 show balanced performance across both metrics. The PassMark multi-thread score of 21,100 and single-thread score of 3,399 indicate that this processor can handle the demands of high-FPS gaming without becoming a bottleneck, as evidenced by the measured frame rates reaching 316 FPS at 1080p.

The 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs places the Ultra 5 125H in the upper tier of processors. Its nearest rival comparisons show it performing within 0.3% of desktop processors like the Core i5-12600K and Ryzen 7 5800, despite being a mobile part. This close performance parity explains why the gaming results remain consistently high across all settings — the CPU provides enough processing headroom to keep up with the RTX 4090's massive rendering capability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 represents the pinnacle of the GeForce 40-series, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. With 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operations pipelines, the RTX 4090 possesses overwhelming raw compute capability, rated at 82.58 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

The GPU's clock speeds of 2,235 MHz base and 2,520 MHz boost, combined with its massive memory subsystem, explain the exceptional frame rates observed in Doom. The 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position near the top of the performance hierarchy. However, the nearest rival comparisons show that in average benchmark scores, the RTX 4090 is closely matched by professional workstation cards like the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, though these comparisons do not reflect gaming-specific performance.

The RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Doom at any resolution and setting combination tested. The fact that even the most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) achieves 67 FPS demonstrates that memory capacity or bandwidth is never a limiting factor in this title. The GPU's transistor count of 76,300 million on a 609 mm² die size represents the largest consumer GPU currently available, and the measured performance in Doom validates this massive silicon investment with consistently high frame rates across all tested scenarios.