Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile lands at rank 2974 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places the combo in the bottom quarter of the database, a position that reflects the mobile GPU’s modest absolute performance rather than any systemic bottleneck. The percentile data reinforces this: the CPU sits at the 91st percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards. The gap between those two figures is the first clue that this pairing is GPU-limited in most scenarios, a theme that recurs throughout the measured frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 2974 of 3712, this combo outperforms roughly 20% of all tested configurations in Doom. That ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU’s position relative to its immediate peers. The RTX 5050 Mobile’s average benchmark score of 43268 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262) and the Quadro M6000 (43301), while the RTX 4070 SUPER sits just 0.1% higher (43223) and the RTX 4090 Mobile is 0.9% faster (43667). The deltaPct values are remarkably tight, indicating that the 5050 Mobile’s raw compute is nearly identical to those desktop-class predecessors, but the mobile part’s 50 W TDP and 8 GB GDDR7 memory constrain its sustained performance in a real-time FPS like Doom.

The CPU side tells a different story. The Core Ultra 5 235HX’s average benchmark score of 52073 places it within 0.7% of the Intel Core i9-13900F (51730) and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (51947). It trails the AMD EPYC 8124P by 0.1% (52121) and the Intel Core i7-14700 by 0.4% (52301). These deltas are all sub-1%, which means the 14-core, 14-thread Arrow Lake-HX chip is delivering desktop-class multi-threaded performance in a mobile package. The CPU’s 91st percentile ranking confirms it is not the limiting factor in Doom; the data shows that even at 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 101 FPS, a figure that is far more dependent on the GPU’s fill rate and shading power than on the CPU’s 5.10 GHz boost clock.

The combo’s overall rank is thus a product of a high-end CPU paired with a mid-range mobile GPU. In Doom, which is a well-optimized Vulkan/DirectX 12 title, the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation: the gap between 1080p and 4K at the same settings is roughly 3x, which tracks with the pixel count difference and not with any CPU limitation.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data shows that the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where the combo averages 101 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 65 FPS, which is playable but below the 72 FPS threshold some displays use. At 4K, Ultra falls to 35 FPS, which is not a smooth experience. The High preset is the sweet spot for higher resolutions: it delivers 123 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. The 4K High figure is below 60, but the 1440p High figure is comfortably above it.

If the priority is a locked 60 FPS at 4K, the Low preset is the only option, averaging 59 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K hits 51 FPS, which is close but not quite there. The data suggests a practical recommendation: use High at 1440p for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, or drop to Low at 4K if resolution is non-negotiable. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with 146 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. Notably, the Medium preset at 1080p has a min FPS of 124 and a max of 168, showing a narrow band that indicates consistent frame pacing. The Ultra preset at 1080p has no recorded min/max, but its average of 101 FPS suggests it is still smooth enough for competitive play.

The measured rows indicate that the jump from Medium to Ultra costs roughly 30% performance at every resolution: 146 to 101 FPS at 1080p, 94 to 65 FPS at 1440p, and 51 to 35 FPS at 4K. The visual uplift from Medium to Ultra in Doom is modest, so the data favors Medium as the recommended preset for most users, with High reserved for those who want a bit more detail without sacrificing frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across settings. At High, the combo goes from 123 FPS at 1080p to 80 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop) and then to 43 FPS at 4K (a 65% drop from 1440p). At Low, the figures are 167, 108, and 59 FPS, respectively, showing a similar proportional decline. At Medium, the numbers are 146, 94, and 51 FPS, and at Ultra, they are 101, 65, and 35 FPS.

The scaling pattern reveals a GPU-bound configuration. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the FPS does not quarter; it roughly halves. This indicates that the RTX 5050 Mobile’s 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are the limiting factors, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain flat as resolution increases, but the data shows a clear downward trend that tracks with GPU workload.

The 1440p to 4K transition is particularly telling. At High, the drop is from 80 to 43 FPS, a 46% reduction. At Medium, it is from 94 to 51 FPS, a 46% reduction as well. This consistency across settings suggests that the GPU is operating at its memory bandwidth limit at 4K, and the 8 GB frame buffer is also a factor. Doom at 4K Ultra can exceed 8 GB of VRAM usage, and the 35 FPS average at that setting likely reflects both compute and memory pressure. The fact that Low at 4K hits 59 FPS, just under the 60 FPS target, confirms that the GPU can handle the geometry but not the texture load at higher presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers strong performance across all presets. Low averages 167 FPS, Medium averages 146 FPS with a min of 124 and a max of 168, High averages 123 FPS, and Ultra averages 101 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 66 FPS, which is a significant range but still keeps every preset above 100 FPS. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 124 is higher than the High preset’s average, indicating that Medium offers better frame consistency than High in this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the numbers drop but remain playable. Low averages 108 FPS, Medium averages 94 FPS with a min of 80 and a max of 108, High averages 80 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 80 matches the High preset’s average, which again shows that Medium provides a more stable experience. The Ultra preset at 65 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it a viable option for 1440p gaming if the user accepts the higher preset’s visual cost.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain 60 FPS on any preset except Low. Low averages 59 FPS, which is effectively a 60 FPS lock. Medium averages 51 FPS with a min of 43 and a max of 59, High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The Medium preset’s max FPS of 59 matches the Low preset’s average, indicating that the GPU is hitting a hard ceiling at 4K regardless of settings. The min FPS of 43 at Medium suggests occasional dips that would be noticeable in fast-paced scenes.

The data shows that the 1080p Medium preset is the most balanced overall, offering 146 FPS with a narrow 124-168 FPS range. The 1440p Medium preset is also strong, with 94 FPS and a similar narrow range. The 4K Low preset is the only configuration that hits the 60 FPS target, but it sacrifices visual quality. For users with 1440p displays, the High preset at 80 FPS is a better trade-off than Ultra at 65 FPS, given the diminishing returns of the Ultra preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB207 chip, manufactured on TSMC’s 5 nm process. It features 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, with 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The GPU’s base clock is 1020 MHz with a boost clock of 1500 MHz, and the memory runs at 1500 MHz effective 24 Gbps. The 8 GB GDDR7 memory is paired with a 128-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Doom, the GPU’s 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 performance is the primary driver of frame rates. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2365 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 84171 place the 5050 Mobile in the same performance tier as the Quadro M6000 and RTX 4070 SUPER, but the mobile part’s 50 W TDP limits sustained clocks under load. The boost clock of 1500 MHz is modest compared to desktop parts, and the data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU runs out of both compute and memory bandwidth, resulting in 35 FPS.

The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all presets, but 4K Ultra likely exceeds this capacity, causing the GPU to spill into system memory. The texture rates (120.0 GTexel/s) and pixel rates (48.00 GPixel/s) are adequate for 1080p but fall short at 4K, where the pixel fill rate becomes a bottleneck. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 83rd among all GPUs is consistent with its measured performance in Doom, which is 43 FPS at 4K High and 101 FPS at 1080p Ultra.

The nearest rivals’ deltaPct values, all within 0.9%, indicate that the 5050 Mobile’s raw performance is nearly identical to several older desktop cards. However, the mobile form factor means it cannot sustain that performance in a thin chassis, and the data reflects this in the 4K results. The GPU’s role in this combo is clear: it is the limiting factor at resolutions above 1080p, and its 8 GB memory is a constraint at 4K with higher presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on TSMC’s 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 55 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong for a mobile part. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34731 and single-core score of 4903 place it in the upper echelon of mobile processors. The Passmark multi-thread score of 40849 and single-thread score of 4683 reinforce this. The CPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs is well above the GPU’s 83rd percentile, which is why the combo’s performance in Doom is GPU-limited.

In Doom, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The 14 cores and 14 threads (note: no Hyper-Threading, so core count equals thread count) are more than sufficient for Doom’s engine, which is designed to scale across multiple cores. The 5.10 GHz boost clock ensures high single-thread performance, which is critical for frame pacing in FPS titles. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 167 FPS, a figure that would be impossible if the CPU were the bottleneck.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Core i9-13900F, both desktop parts with higher power envelopes. The 235HX matches them within 0.7%, which is an impressive feat for a mobile chip. The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is also sufficient for Doom, which does not require excessive memory throughput beyond the GPU’s needs. The L3 cache of 24 MB is ample for the game’s working set, and the data shows no CPU-induced stutters in the measured min FPS values.

The CPU’s 3 nm process node and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die contribute to its efficiency, but the 55 W TDP is modest compared to desktop parts. In Doom, the CPU’s performance is more than adequate, and the combo’s rank is dragged down solely by the GPU. Users upgrading the GPU in the future would see significant FPS gains at 1440p and 4K, while the CPU would remain a capable partner.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset is the best choice, averaging 146 FPS with a min of 124 and a max of 168. The High preset averages 123 FPS, and Ultra averages 101 FPS, but the Medium preset offers the best frame consistency per the measured data.

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 4K 60 FPS?

A: No, not at any preset except Low, which averages 59 FPS. Medium averages 51 FPS, High averages 43 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that comes close to 60 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this combo?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU ranks at the 91st percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 83rd percentile. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K confirm that the RTX 5050 Mobile’s compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 Mobile compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 5050 Mobile’s average benchmark score of 43268 is within 0.1% of the Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262) and the Quadro M6000 (43301). It is 0.1% faster than the RTX 4070 SUPER (43223) and 0.9% slower than the RTX 4090 Mobile (43667).

Q: What is the CPU’s single-core performance relative to its rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235HX scores 4903 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its average benchmark score of 52073 places it within 0.7% of the Intel Core i9-13900F (51730) and 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (51947).

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: Yes, the data suggests that 4K Ultra (35 FPS) likely exceeds the 8 GB frame buffer, causing performance degradation. The 4K Low preset (59 FPS) stays within the VRAM limit, while Medium (51 FPS) shows a clear drop that indicates memory pressure.