Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics presents a highly specific configuration for playing Doom. This analysis examines the measured performance data, focusing on how this combo handles the game across resolutions and settings, and where its primary bottlenecks lie.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 1920x1080 with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, at 1080p the combo delivers playable performance across all settings. The average FPS ranges from 107 at Low settings down to 64 at Ultra, with Medium and High landing at 93 and 78 FPS respectively. This indicates that the configuration is viable for smooth gameplay at this resolution, provided you are willing to adjust settings based on your target frame rate.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals in terms of raw benchmark scores?

A: The Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482. According to the data, it is 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% faster than the GeForce 800M, 2.5% faster than the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% faster than the GT 710. This places it in a very low performance percentile, at just 9% of all GPUs.

Q: What is the ideal settings level for 2560x1440 gameplay?

A: For 1440p, the data shows that Medium settings produce an average of 60 FPS, which is generally considered the baseline for smooth play. Low settings boost this to 69 FPS, while High drops to 51 FPS and Ultra falls to 41 FPS. Therefore, Medium or Low settings are recommended for a consistent experience at this resolution.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 CPU a limiting factor for this game at lower resolutions?

A: The data indicates the CPU is not the primary constraint. At 1080p, the Ultra 5 225 has significant headroom, with the CPU's PassMark single-thread score at 4412 and multi-thread score at 30459. The GPU, which ranks in the 9th percentile, becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases, as evidenced by the FPS dropping by roughly half from 1080p to 4K.

Q: What is the expected performance at 4K (3840x2160) resolution?

A: Performance at 4K is demanding for this integrated GPU. The measured average FPS ranges from 37 at Low settings to 22 at Ultra. Even at Medium settings, the average is just 33 FPS, indicating that 4K gameplay will not be smooth and is only feasible for less demanding scenarios or with significant compromises in visual quality.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36938. This is essentially identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36945 (0% delta). It is 0.2% faster than the Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018) and 0.5% faster than both the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093) and the Intel Core i9-12900T (37112). This places the CPU in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Doom, this specific pairing ranks 3300 out of 3712 combos. This places it in the 89th percentile of tested systems, meaning that roughly 89% of other configurations are capable of achieving higher frame rates in this game. The ranking is heavily influenced by the Intel Arc B390's performance, which is in the 9th percentile for all GPUs. While the CPU is a strong performer, ranking in the 85th percentile, it is held back significantly by the integrated graphics solution. This results in a system that is far more capable in CPU-bound tasks than in GPU-bound gaming scenarios like Doom.

The data suggests that this combo is not designed for high-refresh-rate or high-fidelity gaming. Its rank indicates it is a low-end gaming solution, suitable for older titles, esports at low settings, or as a general-purpose system with light gaming capabilities. For a game like Doom, which was released in 2016, the performance is acceptable at 1080p but degrades quickly as resolution and settings are increased.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive component in this configuration's gaming performance. It is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its memory is "System Shared," meaning it uses a portion of the system's main DDR5 memory, with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent." This is a significant constraint, as it shares bandwidth with the CPU.

The B390 features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation pipelines. It also includes 12 ray tracing cores. Its theoretical performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 operations and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, it scores 1482 points. This score is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, all of which are older, low-end NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX and GT 710. The GPU's percentile ranking of 9% underscores its position at the very bottom of the performance spectrum.

In Doom, this GPU's limitations are immediately apparent. The frame rates at 4K are below 40 FPS at all settings, and even at 1080p, it cannot maintain a stable 60 FPS on the "Ultra" preset. The shared memory architecture and low absolute performance of the B390 are the primary factors that prevent this combo from achieving higher frame rates, regardless of the capable CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the combo's capabilities in Doom. The results are organized by resolution and graphics settings.

At 1920x1080, the configuration performs best. The average FPS is 107 on Low settings, 93 on Medium, 78 on High, and 64 on Ultra. The Medium setting data shows a minimum FPS of 79 and a maximum of 107, indicating some variance but generally stable performance. This resolution is the only one where the combo can deliver a consistently smooth experience across all presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance drops by a noticeable margin. The average FPS is 69 on Low, 60 on Medium, 51 on High, and 41 on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69 FPS. This resolution is playable on Low and Medium settings, but High and Ultra presets will result in a less fluid experience, especially during intense action sequences.

At 3840x2160, the integrated GPU is heavily taxed. The average FPS is 37 on Low, 33 on Medium, 28 on High, and 22 on Ultra. The Medium setting data shows a minimum of 28 and a maximum of 37 FPS. These frame rates are below the threshold for smooth, responsive gameplay and suggest that 4K is not a practical resolution for this combo in Doom.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting factor. When moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on High settings, the average FPS drops from 78 to 51, a 34.6% decrease. Increasing the resolution further to 3840x2160 results in an average of 28 FPS, which is another 45.1% drop from 1440p. This pattern of significant frame rate loss with each resolution increase is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario.

The CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225, is powerful enough to handle the game's logic and draw calls at these resolutions. With a boost clock of 4.90 GHz and 10 cores, it is not being maxed out. The data shows that the integrated graphics solution, with its shared memory and low pixel throughput, is the component that cannot keep up with the increasing pixel count. The scaling behavior suggests that to improve performance, one would need to lower the resolution or the graphical settings to reduce the load on the GPU. The CPU has the headroom to support a much more powerful discrete GPU without becoming a bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a desktop processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The CPU includes 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores are solid, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. For instance, it scores 25891 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3655 in single-core. This indicates strong all-around processing power.

In the context of Doom, the CPU is more than adequate. The game, while demanding, does not require the latest high-core-count processors. The Ultra 5 225's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 4412 PassMark single-thread score, is particularly important for gaming. The data confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the frame rates are consistently low across resolutions, a pattern that would not occur if the processor were the limiting factor.

The CPU's performance is essentially identical to its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Ryzen 5 5500X3D, with a delta of 0% and -0.2%, respectively. This shows that the processor is competitive with well-regarded gaming CPUs. However, its potential is untapped in this configuration. The integrated Arc B390 GPU holds the system back, meaning the CPU's power is wasted in gaming scenarios. For a user building a system with this CPU, pairing it with a discrete graphics card would unlock its full gaming potential.