Doom

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 lands at rank 147 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom. That places this configuration in the top 5% of all combinations tested for this title, a strong showing driven primarily by the GPU's raw throughput. The combo's position is not surprising given that the RTX 5080 sits in the 87th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU holds an 85th percentile ranking among all processors.

What is more telling is how the two components compare to their immediate rivals. The RTX 5080's average benchmark score of 56083 puts it just 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon 8060S, and only 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB. The delta to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is more pronounced, with the 5080 trailing by 2.2%. This tight clustering at the top of the GPU leaderboard suggests that the 5080 is competitive but not dominant in synthetic workloads.

On the CPU side, the Core Ultra 5 225's average score of 36938 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36945, a delta of 0%. The gap to the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is similarly negligible at -0.2%, and the Intel Core i9-12900T trails by just 0.5%. For a game like Doom, which is known for scaling well across hardware, this combo's rank reflects a balanced pairing where neither component bottlenecks the other to a significant degree.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads to the table, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This is a desktop part from the Core Ultra Series 2, built on Arrow Lake architecture and fabricated on a 3 nm process at TSMC. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide the memory hierarchy needed to feed the GPU in a fast-paced FPS.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's multithreaded performance is solid: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 25891, while the single-core score hits 3655. The Passmark multithread score of 30459 and single-thread score of 4412 indicate a processor that can handle both lightly-threaded game logic and background tasks without issue. Data compression scores of 302811 and floating point math of 92038 suggest the CPU is not a limiting factor in most gaming scenarios.

The nearest CPU rivals are all within 0.5% of the Ultra 5 225's average score, which means that swapping to any of these alternatives would yield virtually identical frame rates in Doom. The 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for this workload. The lack of a multiplier unlock means overclocking headroom is absent, but the stock boost clock of 4.90 GHz is high enough for the game's requirements.

Doom's engine is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, so the CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU has more influence on frame rates, but the data shows that even at the lowest settings, the combo still delivers over 400 FPS, indicating the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU's output.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the star of this show, featuring 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2295 MHz and boosts to 2617 MHz, with memory clocked at 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective). The Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, packs 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores are equally impressive: Passmark G3D scores 36565, while Geekbench Vulkan reaches 255450 and OpenCL hits 235901. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 confirms strong DirectX 12 performance, which is directly relevant to Doom's Vulkan and OpenGL rendering paths. The 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores provide headroom for any ray-traced effects, though Doom's original release does not heavily utilize these features.

The 5080's nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are within a narrow band. The AMD Radeon 8060S is just 0.6% behind, and the RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% behind. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X trails by 2.3%, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE actually leads the 5080 by 2.2%. This means that in pure compute terms, the 5080 is competitive but not class-leading against these specific alternatives.

In the context of Doom, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game's textures at any resolution. The 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not cause stutters. The 304 mm length and dual-slot design are typical for a high-end card, and the 360 W TDP with a suggested 750 W PSU should be noted by anyone building a system around this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 416 FPS, which is the highest measured figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 363 FPS, High to 306 FPS, and Ultra to 250 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 308 FPS and a maximum of 417 FPS, indicating tight frame pacing even during intense combat sequences.

Moving to 1440p, the numbers remain impressive but show the expected scaling. Low settings average 269 FPS, Medium 235 FPS, High 198 FPS, and Ultra 162 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution reports a minimum of 199 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS, which means even the lowest frames stay well above the refresh rate of most high-refresh monitors.

At 4K (3840x2160), the GPU begins to feel the strain, though the results are still strong. Low settings average 146 FPS, Medium 127 FPS, High 107 FPS, and Ultra 88 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 146 FPS, meaning the combo holds above 100 FPS even in the most demanding moments at this resolution.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern: Ultra settings cost roughly 40-50% of the frame rate compared to Low. At 1080p, the drop from 416 FPS to 250 FPS represents a 40% reduction. At 1440p, the drop from 269 FPS to 162 FPS is also around 40%. At 4K, the drop from 146 FPS to 88 FPS is approximately 40% as well. This consistency suggests that the settings scaling is uniform across resolutions, with each quality tier exacting a similar toll.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the frame rate drops from 306 FPS to 198 FPS, a 35% reduction. From 1440p to 4K at High, the drop is from 198 FPS to 107 FPS, a 46% reduction. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings is a 65% reduction in frame rate, from 306 FPS down to 107 FPS.

This pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low, the drop from 1080p to 4K is from 416 FPS to 146 FPS, a 65% reduction. At Medium, it goes from 363 FPS to 127 FPS, also a 65% reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 250 FPS to 88 FPS, a 65% reduction. The uniformity of this scaling indicates that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being fully utilized at each resolution step.

The fact that the percentage drop is nearly identical across all settings suggests that the game's rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution. The CPU's influence is minimal, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (416 FPS), which would be impossible if the CPU were constraining the system. The 10-core, 10-thread configuration with a 4.90 GHz boost clock is sufficient to feed the GPU even at the lowest settings where CPU overhead is most likely to surface.

At 4K Ultra, the 88 FPS average is still playable, but it is the only setting and resolution combination that dips below the 100 FPS threshold. For players targeting 4K, the Medium preset at 127 FPS offers a much more comfortable margin, while High at 107 FPS remains viable for those who prioritize visual fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the sweet spot for this combo across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 363 FPS with a minimum of 308 FPS, which is more than enough for any display. At 1440p, Medium averages 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS, keeping frame times consistent even during heavy action. At 4K, Medium still achieves 127 FPS with a minimum of 108 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without sacrificing too much visual quality.

High settings are a reasonable alternative for players who value visual fidelity over raw frame rates. At 1080p, High still delivers 306 FPS, which is far beyond what most monitors can display. At 1440p, High provides 198 FPS, still excellent for high-refresh gaming. At 4K, High drops to 107 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom for frame time spikes.

Ultra settings are only recommended for players with 1080p displays, where the 250 FPS average remains high. At 1440p, Ultra delivers 162 FPS, which is still good, but the jump from Medium to Ultra costs 73 FPS while the visual improvement is often marginal in a fast-paced game like Doom. At 4K, Ultra's 88 FPS average is below the 100 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay, making it the least desirable option.

Low settings are unnecessary for this combo, as even the most demanding preset at 4K clears 88 FPS. The only scenario where Low might be considered is competitive play at 1080p, where the 416 FPS average could theoretically reduce input latency, though the difference between 363 FPS and 416 FPS is unlikely to be perceptible.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, Medium at 1440p is the recommended configuration. It delivers 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors while maintaining a high level of graphical detail. Players with 4K displays should opt for Medium at 127 FPS, which provides a smooth experience without the performance penalty of High or Ultra. The data clearly shows that this Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and RTX 5080 combination is powerful enough to handle Doom at high frame rates in nearly any configuration, with Medium offering the most consistent experience across all resolutions.