Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable but not exceptional experience in Doom, heavily influenced by resolution and settings. The data reveals a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides ample headroom at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected decline as resolution increases, but the rate of decline reveals the system's balance. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces an average of 138 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 89 FPS, a 35.5% decrease. Stepping up to 4K High yields just 48 FPS, a further 46.1% reduction from the 1440p figure.

This scaling pattern is steep. From 1080p to 4K at High settings, the average frame rate falls from 138 to 48 FPS, a total reduction of 65.2%. This significant drop indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the limiting component as pixel count rises. The GPU's workload scales directly with resolution, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus are being saturated at 4K.

The data for Low settings tells a similar story, though with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system hits 188 FPS. This falls to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 35.6% drop) and then to 66 FPS at 4K (a 45.5% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests a fixed performance ceiling imposed by the GPU's raw compute capabilities.

Looking at the Medium settings data, which includes both minimum and maximum frame times, we see the variance. At 4K Medium, the average is 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. The spread of 17 FPS indicates that the GPU is working near its limit, causing frame time inconsistency. In contrast, at 1440p Medium, the average is 106 FPS with a range of 90 to 122 FPS, a similar 32 FPS spread but at a more comfortable performance level.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 40, which is below the 48 FPS seen at High. This 8 FPS difference between High and Ultra at 4K shows that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects place a heavy load on the GPU. At 1080p Ultra, the system still manages 113 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficient frames at lower resolutions, but the GPU's limitations become prohibitive at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Doom, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2161 out of 2930 total combos. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the field, around the 26th percentile of tested systems.

This rank is influenced by the GPU's age and tier. The RX 5700 XT is from the Radeon RX 5000 series and is now end-of-life, while the CPU is a current-generation Arrow Lake part. The combination results in a system that is competent but far from top-tier for this title.

The CPU itself performs well relative to its peers. Its average benchmark score of 46062 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i9-13900HX, which scores 46098, a mere 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030, also a 0.1% delta. This indicates that the Ultra 5 235 provides a solid foundation for gaming, but the GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs drags the overall combo ranking down.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16361 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, which scores 16351. This similarity underscores that the RX 5700 XT is a mid-range performer. The combo's rank of 2161 suggests that many other tested systems use faster GPUs, which is expected given the GPU's 2019 release date.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration for Doom. Its specifications paint a picture of a capable but aging graphics processor. The chip, Navi 10, is built on a 7 nm process and features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The boost clock is listed at 1905 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz.

The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory subsystem is likely a limiting factor at 4K resolution, where high-resolution textures demand significant memory bandwidth. The measured FPS data supports this, as the system's performance degrades sharply when moving from 1440p to 4K.

The card's raw compute power is rated at 9.754 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. This figure is modest by modern standards but was competitive at the GPU's launch in 2019. The data shows that this compute capability is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K in Doom, with averages falling to 40 FPS at Ultra settings.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 59 means it performs better than 59% of all GPUs in the database. This is a respectable position, but it is not enough to drive a high refresh rate 4K monitor in this game. The lack of dedicated ray tracing cores is not directly relevant to Doom's performance data, but the card's overall age limits its ability to handle the game's more demanding presets at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system provides a very smooth experience. With Low settings, the average FPS is 188. Medium settings yield an average of 164 FPS, with a minimum of 139 and a maximum of 188. High settings produce 138 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 113 FPS. All 1080p results are well above the 60 FPS threshold, making this resolution ideal for high refresh rate displays.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but begins to show strain. Low settings average 121 FPS. Medium settings average 106 FPS, with a minimum of 90 and a maximum of 122. High settings drop to 89 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 73 FPS. The 1440p results are playable at all settings, though the Ultra preset may not fully saturate a 144 Hz monitor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings average 66 FPS. Medium settings average 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 66. High settings average 48 FPS, and Ultra settings average just 40 FPS. The 4K results are playable for slower-paced segments, but the frame rates are not ideal for a fast-paced FPS, especially at Ultra settings.

The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Low is faster than Medium, which is faster than High, which is faster than Ultra. The differences between presets are not uniform, however. At 1080p, the gap between Low (188 FPS) and Ultra (113 FPS) is 75 FPS. At 4K, the same gap is only 26 FPS (66 FPS to 40 FPS). This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint, and the graphical settings have less impact on the final FPS because the GPU is already saturated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is more than capable of handling Doom's CPU demands, as evidenced by the frame rates at 1080p. The CPU has 14 cores and 14 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It is built on a 3 nm process and features a 24 MB shared L3 cache.

The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 14769 in the multi-core test and 2085 in the single-core test. These scores are healthy and indicate that the CPU will not bottleneck the GPU in most scenarios. The PassMark single-thread score of 4516 confirms solid per-core performance.

In Doom, the CPU's role becomes apparent when comparing FPS at low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 188 FPS. This is a high frame rate, but it is not the ceiling. The CPU's performance is sufficient to feed the GPU up to this point. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would see similar FPS at 1080p and 1440p, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, we see FPS drop from 188 to 121 when moving to 1440p, proving that the GPU is the limiting factor.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs supports this conclusion. It is a high-end processor in the database, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and the Intel Core i9-13900HX, both of which are high-performance parts. The Ultra 5 235's TDP of 65 W also indicates an efficient design, which is beneficial for system thermals and power delivery.

The lack of a performance difference due to the CPU is also evident in the minimum FPS data. At 4K Medium, the minimum FPS is 49, which is close to the average of 57. This suggests that the GPU is consistently producing frames without significant CPU-induced stutters. In a CPU-bound scenario, we would expect more severe frame drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS is 188, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Is this system capable of 4K gaming in Doom?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 48. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 40 FPS. For a smoother experience, 4K Low settings yield 66 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HX, scores 46098, a negligible 0.1% difference.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it performs better than a majority of GPUs in the database.

Q: What is the largest FPS difference between settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the difference between Low (121 FPS) and Ultra (73 FPS) is 48 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at 1080p?

A: No. At 1920x1080, the system achieves up to 188 FPS on Low settings. The CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution; the GPU still determines the final frame rate.