Doom

# Doom Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The pairing of Intel's Core Ultra 5 225 with AMD's Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but not overwhelming experience in Doom, landing at rank 2161 out of 2930 tested combos. The CPU's 85th percentile standing among all processors contrasts sharply with the GPU's 59th percentile, suggesting the graphics card is the primary limiter across most settings. This becomes immediately evident in the resolution scaling behavior, where frame rates collapse as pixel counts rise, but the relationship between settings and resolution reveals a more nuanced story about where this system's true bottleneck lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across three resolutions—1080p, 1440p, and 4K—shows a predictable decline in performance as pixel count increases, but the magnitude of that decline varies significantly by quality preset. At Low settings, the system produces 188 FPS at 1080p, drops to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 36% reduction), and falls to 66 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1080p). This steep curve indicates that even at Low settings, the RX 5700 XT's computational throughput is being saturated by the pixel fill requirements of higher resolutions, rather than any CPU limitation.

Medium settings tell a similar story: 164 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p (35% reduction), and 57 FPS at 4K (65% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium presets—both hovering around 35% for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and 65% for the full climb to 4K—suggests a purely GPU-bound scaling pattern. The 4K Medium result includes a minimum of 49 FPS and maximum of 66 FPS, showing that even the frame time variance scales with resolution pressure.

High settings reveal a slightly different pattern: 138 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (36% drop), and 48 FPS at 4K (65% drop). The percentage reductions remain remarkably uniform regardless of preset, which is a strong indicator that resolution scaling in Doom is dominated by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth—the RX 5700 XT's 448.0 GB/s and 64 ROPs—rather than shader complexity or CPU overhead. Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers: 113 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p (35% drop), and 40 FPS at 4K (65% drop), maintaining the same proportional decline.

The uniformity of these scaling ratios across all four presets is the key finding. It implies that the Core Ultra 5 225, with its 10 cores and 10 threads boosting to 4.90 GHz, is never the limiting factor in resolution scaling—the GPU's workload scales linearly with pixel count, and the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames even at 188 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS falls below the generally accepted 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, but the 1080p and 1440p results suggest this combo is well-matched for lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with High settings?

A: Yes. The measured average of 89 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, and even Ultra settings at 1440p produce 73 FPS average. The data indicates 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, with all presets except Ultra at 4K delivering above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's core configuration affect performance in Doom?

A: The Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads with a 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and single-core score of 3655 place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it has far more processing headroom than the GPU can utilize in this game.

Q: Is the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in Doom?

A: The measured data shows playable frame rates at 4K Low (66 FPS) and 4K Medium (57 FPS), suggesting 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is adequate for this title at those settings. However, 4K High (48 FPS) and 4K Ultra (40 FPS) drop below 60 FPS, indicating the GPU's compute limits, not necessarily VRAM capacity, constrain higher presets.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This pairing ranks 2161 out of 2930 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the lower-middle portion of all systems tested. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary contributor to this modest position, while the CPU's 85th percentile shows the processor is not holding the system back.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 188 FPS while Ultra produces 113 FPS—a 75 FPS difference that represents a 40% performance cost for the highest quality preset. This gap narrows proportionally at higher resolutions, with the same settings comparison showing 121 vs 73 FPS at 1440p and 66 vs 40 FPS at 4K.

Q: Should I use Medium or High settings for the best balance?

A: At 1440p, Medium delivers 106 FPS and High delivers 89 FPS, both well above 60 FPS. At 4K, Medium averages 57 FPS (with a 49 FPS minimum) while High averages 48 FPS. The Medium preset appears to offer the best compromise between visual quality and frame rate stability across all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is an Arrow Lake-S desktop processor built on a 3 nm TSMC process, featuring 10 cores and 10 threads with no hyperthreading. Its 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.90 GHz boost clock provide substantial single-thread capability, reflected in a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655. The multi-core score of 25891 demonstrates strong parallel performance, though Doom's engine—originally released in 2016—may not fully utilize all 10 threads.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 20 MB shared L3, which at 3 nm with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die produces an 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores nearly identically at 36945 average versus 36938 for the Ultra 5 225, with a 0% deltaPct. Other rivals include the Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37018 (-0.2%) and Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37093 (-0.4%).

In the context of Doom's measured results, the CPU's performance headroom is evident from the fact that frame rates at 1080p Low reach 188 FPS—far beyond what any 60 Hz or even 144 Hz display would need—without any indication of CPU bottlenecking. The data shows that at 1080p, even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains 113 FPS, which is well above the point where CPU limitations would typically manifest in a 2016-era FPS title. The 10-core, 10-thread configuration with a 65 W TDP appears more than adequate for this game's engine, with the PassMark single-thread score of 4412 and multi-thread score of 30459 confirming strong performance across both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads.

The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s from dual-channel DDR5 support further ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a bottleneck. Given that the GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (0.1% delta) and even the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (-0.3%), the CPU clearly outclasses the GPU in this pairing. The benchmark results indicate that any frame rate differences between settings presets are driven by GPU workload, not CPU processing capability.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT achieves rank 2161 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in approximately the 26th percentile of all systems tested. This ranking is notably lower than the CPU's individual 85th percentile standing, which strongly suggests that the GPU is dragging down the overall system performance classification.

The rank of 2161 means that 769 tested combinations performed worse than this setup, while 2160 performed better. Given the CPU's high percentile, the ranking is almost entirely a function of the GPU's capabilities. The RX 5700 XT's 59th percentile among all GPUs is a mid-pack position, and when paired with a top-tier CPU, the combination still cannot overcome the GPU's inherent performance ceiling in this game.

At 1080p, the system achieves frame rates ranging from 113 FPS at Ultra to 188 FPS at Low, which would place it in a competitive position for esports-style play. However, the rank of 2161 indicates that many other combos—likely featuring newer or higher-end GPUs—can achieve higher frame rates or better 4K performance. The delta between this combo's rank and what the CPU alone would suggest indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield a substantial improvement in overall ranking, while upgrading the CPU would provide minimal benefit for Doom specifically.

The data implies that this combo sits in a performance tier where 1440p gaming at high refresh rates is attainable, but 4K gaming requires significant settings compromises. The 2930 total combos tested represent a wide range of hardware generations, and a rank of 2161 places this system in the lower-middle portion, suggesting it is capable but not exceptional for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield an average of 188 FPS, Medium produces 164 FPS with a minimum of 139 and maximum of 188, High achieves 138 FPS, and Ultra delivers 113 FPS. These numbers indicate that even at the most demanding 1080p preset, the system maintains frame rates well above 100 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops but remains respectable. Low settings average 121 FPS, Medium averages 106 FPS with a range of 90 to 122, High produces 89 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. All four presets at 1440p stay above 60 FPS, with even the Ultra setting maintaining a playable 73 FPS average. This resolution appears to be the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance for this hardware combination.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to struggle with higher presets. Low settings average 66 FPS, Medium drops to 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66, High falls to 48 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 40 FPS. The Low and Medium presets at 4K are marginally playable, but High and Ultra fall below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay.

The progression across resolutions shows diminishing returns as settings increase. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 75 FPS (188 to 113). At 1440p, the same comparison shows a 48 FPS difference (121 to 73). At 4K, the gap narrows to 26 FPS (66 to 40). This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU's pixel processing capability becomes the dominant constraint as resolution increases, with settings having less relative impact at 4K than at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1080p, the data strongly supports using Ultra settings, as the 113 FPS average remains well above what most displays can show. The jump from High (138 FPS) to Ultra (113 FPS) costs 25 FPS but likely provides meaningful visual improvements in a game known for its detailed environments. Even at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate is high enough for competitive play.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 106 FPS appears to offer the best compromise, staying above 100 FPS while presumably providing better visuals than Low's 121 FPS. The Ultra preset at 73 FPS is also viable for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate, but the 33 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra may not justify the visual upgrade for most users.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 66 FPS is the only setting that reliably exceeds 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for players with 4K displays. The Medium preset at 57 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 49 FPS that could cause noticeable stuttering during intense action sequences. High (48 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS) are not recommended for 4K play, as the frame rates fall below acceptable thresholds for a fast-paced FPS.

The overall recommendation based on the measured data is to use Medium settings at 1440p for the best balance of visual quality, frame rate stability, and performance headroom. The 106 FPS average with a 90 FPS minimum provides a smooth experience, while the 1440p resolution offers significantly more detail than 1080p without the steep performance cost of 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, built on the Navi 10 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture at 7 nm, serves as the primary performance limiter in this configuration. Its 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs deliver a peak FP32 throughput of 9.754 TFLOPS, with a boost clock of 1905 MHz and game clock of 1755 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for Doom's requirements given the measured frame rates.

The GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16361, places it in the middle of the performance spectrum. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, +0.1%), NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, -0.3%), and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415, -0.3%). The fact that a professional workstation GPU and a flagship Blackwell card score within 0.3% of the RX 5700 XT in aggregate benchmarks highlights the older GPU's competitive position in certain workloads.

In Doom specifically, the GPU's RDNA 1.0 architecture, released in 2019, handles the game's Vulkan-based engine well but shows its age at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS represents a 79% drop from the 1080p Ultra result of 113 FPS, illustrating the GPU's limited pixel throughput at extreme resolutions. The texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s provide context for these results—at 4K, the GPU must process over 8 million pixels per frame, and the 64 ROPs become a bottleneck for fill-rate-intensive scenes.

The GPU's power requirements of 225 W TDP, with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors and a suggested 550 W PSU, indicate it draws significant power for its performance class. The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface ensures adequate bandwidth to the CPU, and the dual-slot form factor with 272 mm length should fit in most modern cases. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed, while lower than newer GPUs, provides sufficient bandwidth for this 2016 title, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at Medium settings across all resolutions.