Doom

Doom’s 2016 engine is famously scalable, but the measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile reveals a configuration that shifts its bottleneck character dramatically as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the combo delivers high refresh rates that suggest the CPU is doing heavy lifting, but by 4K, the frame rate collapses into sub-60 territory, pointing squarely at the GPU as the limiting factor. The dataset shows a clear, predictable scaling pattern, yet the margins between settings presets at each resolution tell a nuanced story about where this mobile duo’s true strengths lie.

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

The most striking observation in the data is the precipitous drop in average FPS when moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 123 FPS at 1080p to 80 FPS at 1440p, and then to 43 FPS at 4K. That represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings. Such a steep decline is a classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario; the RTX 5050 Mobile’s shading units and memory bandwidth are simply overwhelmed by the four-fold increase in pixel count.

Low settings tell a similar story, though with a higher absolute floor. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 167 FPS, which drops to 108 FPS at 1440p and then to 59 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is notable because it barely crosses the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that even at the lowest graphical fidelity, the GPU is still the primary constraint. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 108 FPS absolute drop, which is a 65% reduction—identical to the High preset’s percentage loss. This consistency across presets strongly implies that resolution, not settings, is the dominant variable affecting performance at these extremes.

The Ultra preset data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 101 FPS, but this falls to 65 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 35 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, and the scaling curve is steep and unrelenting. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the frame rate to plateau or become erratic at lower resolutions; instead, the data shows a smooth, predictable degradation that tracks almost perfectly with pixel count. This suggests that the Core Ultra 5 125H, with its 14 cores and 18 threads, has enough headroom at 1080p to feed the GPU, but the RTX 5050 Mobile’s 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus become the bottleneck as resolution rises.

Interestingly, the Medium settings at 4K show a min FPS of 43 and a max of 59, with an average of 51. This is the only 4K row with min/max data, and it brackets the average tightly, suggesting that frame pacing is consistent even under load. The fact that 4K Medium averages 51 FPS, while 4K High averages 43 FPS, indicates that the GPU has a modest amount of headroom when texture quality and shading complexity are reduced. However, the gap between Medium and High at 4K is only 8 FPS, which is smaller than the 14 FPS gap between Low and Medium at the same resolution. This non-linear scaling hints that certain settings, likely those affecting memory bandwidth or pixel fill rate, have a disproportionate impact at high resolutions.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a Meteor Lake mobile processor with 14 cores and 18 threads, a base clock of 3.60 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27507. The nearest rival data shows it is essentially neck-and-neck with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (deltaPct -0.1%), the Intel Core i5-12600K (deltaPct -0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (deltaPct -0.3%), while edging out the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G by 0.5%. This places the CPU in strong company for gaming workloads, but Doom’s performance data suggests that its role is secondary to the GPU in this pairing.

At 1080p, the CPU’s capability becomes evident. The jump from 123 FPS at High to 167 FPS at Low is a 44 FPS swing, which is a substantial gain that cannot be attributed to the GPU alone. In a GPU-bound scenario, lowering settings would yield only marginal gains; the fact that Low settings nearly double the frame rate from 4K Ultra (35 FPS) to 1080p Low (167 FPS) indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a high rate when the GPU is not saturated. The single-core and multi-core performance, as evidenced by Cinebench R23 scores of 1647.5 and 12804.5 respectively, provides the necessary throughput for this 2016 title, which is known to be well-optimized for multi-threaded CPUs.

However, the CPU’s influence wanes at higher resolutions. The data shows that the delta between settings presets shrinks as resolution increases. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 66 FPS (167 vs 101). At 1440p, that gap narrows to 43 FPS (108 vs 65). At 4K, it shrinks further to 24 FPS (59 vs 35). This compression of the settings gap is a direct indicator that the GPU is becoming the limiting component, as the CPU is no longer able to compensate for the increased pixel workload by simply reducing graphical fidelity. The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient for Doom’s level streaming and physics calculations, but these resources are not exercised to their limit when the GPU is struggling to output frames at 4K.

The nearest rival data for the CPU is instructive here. The Core Ultra 5 125H’s average score of 27507 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27535), which is a desktop-class processor. This suggests that in a desktop context, the CPU would not be a bottleneck for Doom at any resolution. But in a mobile pairing with the RTX 5050 Mobile, the CPU’s performance is effectively masked by the GPU’s limitations at 4K. The data implies that if this CPU were paired with a more powerful GPU, the 1080p frame rates could be even higher, but the current measured results show a balanced system at 1080p that becomes progressively GPU-limited at higher resolutions.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It has a base clock of 1020 MHz and a boost clock of 1500 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus providing 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s percentile rank is 83, with an average benchmark score of 43268, placing it near the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (deltaPct 0%), the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (deltaPct -0.1%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (deltaPct 0.1%), while trailing the RTX 4090 Mobile by 0.9%. This positioning suggests that the RTX 5050 Mobile is a solid mid-range mobile GPU, but Doom’s 4K results expose its limits.

The 4K Ultra average of 35 FPS is the clearest evidence of GPU saturation. With a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s, the GPU is theoretically capable of handling 4K, but the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are likely the culprits in the frame rate collapse. Doom’s textures at Ultra settings can consume significant memory bandwidth, and the 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, while respectable for a mobile part, is insufficient for 4K Ultra. The 4K Medium result of 51 FPS, with a min of 43 and max of 59, shows that reducing texture quality and shadow complexity alleviates some pressure, but the GPU still cannot maintain 60 FPS.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 7.680 TFLOPS (1:1) are modest figures for a modern GPU, and Doom’s compute-heavy effects, such as the id Tech 6 engine’s advanced lighting, are likely to be more demanding at higher resolutions. The data shows that the gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 14 FPS (94 vs 80), which is larger than the 8 FPS gap at 4K (51 vs 43). This suggests that at 1440p, the GPU has enough headroom to benefit from lower settings, but at 4K, even the lower settings cannot overcome the raw pixel throughput limitation.

The 1080p results are where the GPU shines, but they also reveal its ceiling. At 1080p High, the GPU achieves 123 FPS, and at Low it reaches 167 FPS. These numbers are impressive for a mobile GPU, but they are not exceptionally high compared to desktop parts. The fact that the RTX 5050 Mobile’s nearest rival, the RTX 4090 Mobile, has a deltaPct of -0.9% in average benchmark score is a reminder that this is a budget-oriented GPU. In Doom, the 1080p results indicate that the GPU is capable of high refresh rates, but the 4K results show that it is not a 4K gaming part. The 8 GB VRAM, while sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, is likely a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where texture streaming can exceed the memory capacity, causing stutters and frame drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 123 FPS, which indicates a smooth experience for fast-paced FPS gameplay.

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 59 at Low settings, and Ultra settings drop to 35 FPS. Only Low settings approach the 60 FPS threshold, and that is marginal.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H has an average benchmark score of 27507, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i5-12600K, but 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile ranks in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43268.

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

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 108 FPS, while Ultra settings average 65 FPS, resulting in a 43 FPS difference that demonstrates the GPU's sensitivity to settings at this resolution.

Q: Does the data show any frame time consistency at 4K?

A: Yes, only the 4K Medium settings row has min/max data, showing a min of 43 FPS and a max of 59 FPS, with an average of 51 FPS. This indicates relatively stable frame pacing, though the average is below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile combination ranks 2974th out of 3712 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the 20th percentile of all tested systems. This is a surprisingly low rank for a combo that delivers 123 FPS at 1080p High, but it reflects the fact that many tested combos likely include desktop-class CPUs and GPUs that can achieve much higher frame rates at 4K. The rank is likely dragged down by the GPU’s poor 4K performance, as the combo’s 1080p results would suggest a much higher standing.

The rank of 2974 out of 3712 means that 738 combos perform worse, while 2973 perform better. This places the combo in the bottom 20% of all systems, which is a stark contrast to the individual component percentile ranks (CPU at 79, GPU at 83). The discrepancy highlights that the combo’s performance is not simply an average of its parts; the GPU’s 4K weakness disproportionately affects the overall rank. In a game like Doom, which is often used as a benchmark for high refresh rates, this combo’s 1080p performance is solid, but its inability to handle 4K prevents it from climbing the ranks.

Comparing the combo rank to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 5050 Mobile’s performance is similar to the RTX 4070 SUPER (deltaPct 0.1%), but the combo rank suggests that the mobile form factor may be a limiting factor in sustained performance. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver competitive frame rates, but it is not a top-tier solution for 4K. The rank also reflects the possibility that many other combos in the database are paired with higher-end GPUs, making this mobile duo a mid-range option that excels at lower resolutions.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 167 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 146 FPS, with a min of 124 and max of 168, showing a 44 FPS swing across the min/max range. High settings average 123 FPS, and Ultra settings average 101 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is a 66 FPS drop, which is a 40% reduction in performance, indicating that the GPU is responsive to settings changes at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are still strong but begin to show GPU strain. Low settings average 108 FPS, Medium settings average 94 FPS (with min 80 and max 108), High settings average 80 FPS, and Ultra settings average 65 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 43 FPS, a 40% reduction, which is proportionally similar to 1080p. This consistency suggests that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, but the absolute frame rates are sufficient for smooth gameplay at High settings.

At 3840x2160, the limitations become severe. Low settings average 59 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS target. Medium settings average 51 FPS, with a min of 43 and max of 59, indicating that some scenes dip below 45 FPS. High settings average 43 FPS, and Ultra settings average 35 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 24 FPS drop, which is a 41% reduction. While the percentage drop is similar to other resolutions, the absolute frame rates are too low for a competitive FPS, making 4K only viable at Low settings for a console-like experience.

Settings Recommendations

For this combo, the data strongly suggests that 1080p is the sweet spot. At High settings, the 123 FPS average is ideal for a fast-paced FPS like Doom, providing a smooth and responsive experience without sacrificing visual quality. If a player prioritizes frame rate over visuals, Low settings at 1080p yield 167 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. Medium settings at 1080p, with an average of 146 FPS, offer a balanced compromise between fidelity and speed, especially given the min FPS of 124, which ensures no significant stutters.

At 1440p, High settings at 80 FPS are still playable, but the lower frame rate may be noticeable for players accustomed to 120+ FPS. Medium settings at 1440p, with an average of 94 FPS, are a better choice for maintaining a high refresh rate monitor, as the min FPS of 80 ensures a consistent experience. Ultra settings at 1440p (65 FPS) are borderline, and the data shows that the GPU struggles to maintain 60 FPS in some scenes, so Medium is recommended for a smoother experience.

At 4K, the only viable option is Low settings, which average 59 FPS. This is marginal, and players should expect occasional dips below 60 FPS. Medium settings at 4K (51 FPS) are not recommended for a fast-paced shooter, as the min FPS of 43 indicates noticeable frame drops. High and Ultra settings at 4K are effectively unplayable, with averages of 43 and 35 FPS respectively. The best experience for this combo is to stick to 1080p with High or Medium settings, or 1440p with Medium settings, as these configurations provide the best balance of visual quality and frame rate according to the measured data.