Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Doom, with the data showing a clear shift from CPU-bound performance at 1080p to GPU-bound performance at 4K. This combo ranks in the 30th percentile of tested configurations, indicating that while it handles the game competently, it is outclassed by a significant portion of the field, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution increases, demonstrating that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the dominant limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 192 FPS, but this drops by 35% to 124 FPS at 1440p, and then by a further 46% to 67 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU that is being pushed to its limits, as the raw pixel count at 4K (3840x2160) is over four times that of 1080p (1920x1080), and the data shows the graphics card struggling to maintain frame rates as fill rate demands increase.

The gap between settings tiers widens dramatically at higher resolutions, which further confirms the GPU bottleneck. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 77 FPS (192 vs 115), showing that the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU even with reduced graphical loads. However, at 4K, this spread compresses to just 27 FPS (67 vs 40), indicating that the GPU is saturated regardless of the quality preset. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is particularly telling, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay, and even the 4K Medium average of 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS shows the system teetering on the edge of playability.

Interestingly, the scaling from Medium to High settings is relatively modest across all resolutions, with only a 9 FPS drop at 1080p (167 to 141), a 17 FPS drop at 1440p (108 to 91), and a 9 FPS drop at 4K (59 to 50). This suggests that the High preset offers a favorable balance of visual quality and performance, whereas the jump to Ultra incurs a much steeper penalty, particularly at 1440p where the drop from High to Ultra is 16 FPS (91 to 75) and at 4K where it is 10 FPS (50 to 40). The data implies that the Ultra preset introduces effects or texture details that disproportionately tax the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 SUPER’s specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Doom. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes strained at 4K where high-resolution textures demand more memory and faster data transfer. The GPU’s boost clock of 1650 MHz and base clock of 1470 MHz are modest by modern standards, and the 7.181 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power places it in the mid-range segment of the current GPU landscape, as evidenced by its 62nd percentile ranking among all GPUs.

The benchmark data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER sits in a competitive but not dominant position. Its average benchmark score of 18093 places it just 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189), but it trails the AMD Radeon RX 460 by 1.5% (18373) and the Intel Arc A770M by 1.6% (18383). This tight grouping indicates that the GPU is operating at the edge of its capabilities, and the Doom results reflect this, with the card unable to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra despite its DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and 2176 shading units.

The GPU’s memory configuration is a critical factor in the observed performance. At 4K, the gap between Low and Medium settings is only 8 FPS (67 to 59), suggesting that the card is not just compute-limited but also possibly VRAM-limited, as the Medium preset likely increases texture sizes that push against the 8 GB capacity. The 64 ROPs and 136 TMUs are adequate for the game’s demands at lower resolutions, but the data shows that the card’s pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s becomes a bottleneck when pixel count quadruples at 4K, explaining the dramatic FPS drops observed.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Doom with this combo for a consistent 60+ FPS experience?

A: The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot, with High settings averaging 91 FPS and even Ultra achieving 75 FPS. At 4K, only Low (67 FPS) and Medium (59 FPS) come close to 60 FPS, while High dips to 50 FPS and Ultra falls to 40 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 18093 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159, -0.4% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189, -0.5% delta). It is slightly behind the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373, -1.5%) and Intel Arc A770M (18383, -1.6%).

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 a bottleneck for this game at 1080p?

A: The data suggests no, as the combo achieves 192 FPS at 1080p Low and 141 FPS at 1080p High. The CPU’s 14 cores and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, combined with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, provide sufficient headroom, as evidenced by the large FPS spread between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p (77 FPS).

Q: What 4K settings are playable with this hardware?

A: The only 4K settings that maintain an average above 60 FPS are Low, which hits 67 FPS. Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS, while High (50 FPS) and Ultra (40 FPS) fall below the smoothness threshold.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 235’s multi-core performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 46062 is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030) and 0.2% ahead of both the AMD EPYC 4364P (45970) and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960). It trails the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098) by just 0.1%.

Q: Does the combo’s rank in Doom indicate it is a high-end or mid-range configuration?

A: With a combo rank of 2056 out of 2930 tested configurations, it sits in the lower 30% of results, indicating a mid-to-low-end position for this specific game, primarily due to the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance, with Low settings averaging 192 FPS, Medium at 167 FPS (minimum 142, maximum 192), High at 141 FPS, and Ultra at 115 FPS. These numbers indicate that the system is capable of high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p, with even the most demanding Ultra preset staying well above 100 FPS. The data shows a consistent 25 FPS drop from Low to Medium, a further 26 FPS drop to High, and then a 26 FPS drop to Ultra, suggesting that each settings tier adds a similar level of graphical load.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but begin to show strain. Low averages 124 FPS, Medium drops to 108 FPS (minimum 92, maximum 125), High settles at 91 FPS, and Ultra falls to 75 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 49 FPS drop, which is a 40% reduction, indicating that the GPU is starting to become the limiting factor. The Medium preset’s minimum of 92 FPS is still comfortable, but Ultra’s 75 FPS average shows that high-refresh 1440p gaming is only possible with reduced settings.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly, with Low averaging 67 FPS, Medium at 59 FPS (minimum 50, maximum 67), High at 50 FPS, and Ultra at 40 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is only 27 FPS, which is a 40% reduction, but the absolute numbers are low enough to impact gameplay. The Medium preset’s minimum of 50 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, and even Low settings may experience occasional dips in demanding scenes, as indicated by the 67 FPS average without a recorded minimum. The data clearly shows that 4K is only viable with the lowest settings, and even then, the experience is marginal.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 2056 out of 2930 tested configurations places it in the 29.8th percentile, meaning that roughly 70% of the tested combos outperform it in Doom. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU’s mid-range position (62nd percentile among all GPUs) and the CPU’s strong showing (89th percentile among all CPUs). The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the combo’s low rank indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the weak link in this pairing, holding back what would otherwise be a much more capable system.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 46062 puts it in elite company, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, +0.1% delta), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, -0.1% delta), and two AMD EPYC server processors. This shows that the Core Ultra 5 235 is computationally powerful, but this strength does not translate to high rankings in Doom because the game’s performance at 1080p is already GPU-limited, and at higher resolutions, the GPU bottleneck becomes even more pronounced. The combo’s rank suggests that users would need to upgrade the graphics card to significantly improve Doom performance, rather than the CPU.

The measured FPS data corroborates this ranking, as the system achieves playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but struggles at 4K. The fact that the combo falls in the bottom third of tested configurations indicates that many other GPU+CPU pairings offer better performance, likely due to more powerful graphics cards that can handle 4K resolutions more effectively. The 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is particularly low for a game from 2016, and it highlights the GPU’s age and its inability to keep pace with modern visual demands.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a powerful processor that is not the limiting factor in this combo’s Doom performance. With 14 cores and 14 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, the CPU provides ample compute resources for the game. Its 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 102.4 GB/s of dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth ensure that data can be fed to the GPU without starvation, and its 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its high-end positioning.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769 and a single-core score of 2085, indicating strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. In Passmark tests, it achieves a multi-thread score of 37816 and a single-thread score of 4516, further validating its capabilities. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9-13900HX, both of which are high-performance mobile and desktop processors, showing that the Core Ultra 5 235 competes at the top tier of consumer CPUs.

In Doom specifically, the CPU’s role is to maintain frame pacing and handle game logic, and the data shows it does this effectively at 1080p, where the system achieves 192 FPS on Low settings. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s extra headroom goes unused. The fact that the 1080p Low-to-Ultra FPS spread is 77 FPS indicates that the CPU can easily handle the game’s single-threaded demands, and the 14-core configuration provides more than enough multi-threading for any background tasks. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.00 GHz is particularly beneficial for Doom’s engine, which relies on high single-thread performance, but this advantage is masked by the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 at 102.4 GB/s bandwidth is another asset, as it allows for fast data transfer between the CPU and GPU. This is evident in the 1080p results, where the system maintains high frame rates without stuttering, as indicated by the Medium preset’s minimum of 142 FPS. Overall, the data indicates that the Core Ultra 5 235 is a future-proof component that would pair well with a more powerful GPU, but in this specific combo, it is held back by the RTX 2060 SUPER’s age and performance ceiling.