Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 is a combination that finds itself in an interesting position for a 2016 title like Doom. With the CPU ranking in the 90th percentile among all processors and the GPU sitting in the 53rd percentile, the data reveals a significant imbalance that shapes the gaming experience across all tested resolutions. This analysis examines how this pairing handles the id Tech engine, focusing on the measured FPS data and what it implies about system bottlenecks.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 102 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The High preset delivers 75 FPS, Medium delivers 89 FPS, and the demanding Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Doom?

A: The combination ranks 2675 out of 2930 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the overall distribution. This rank reflects the GPU's 53rd percentile standing rather than the CPU's stronger 90th percentile score.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 75 at 1920x1080 to 26 at 3840x2160. This represents a substantial 49 FPS difference, indicating that the RX 580 struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher resolutions.

Q: Which settings preset provides the most balanced experience at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 58 average FPS with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66 FPS. This provides a smoother experience than the 40 FPS average of Ultra and maintains higher visual quality than the 66 FPS of Low.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 demonstrates high processing capability, but the RX 580's lower percentile ranking means the graphics card cannot keep pace, particularly at 4K where even Low settings only yield 36 FPS.

Q: Is this combo capable of 60 FPS gaming at 1080p with high settings?

A: Yes, the measured 75 FPS average at 1920x1080 with High settings exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset, however, averages 62 FPS, which is barely above this mark and might experience more frequent dips.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the clear limiting component in this pairing. Its GCN 4.0 architecture, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, includes 2304 shading units and 32 ROPs. The card operates with a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz, pushing a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s. The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Doom's assets but cannot overcome the raw compute limitations.

The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all graphics cards is telling. When compared to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 580 trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER by 0.4% and the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile by 0.1%, while leading the AMD Radeon 740M by 0.5%. These narrow margins in average benchmark scores suggest that the RX 580 sits in a crowded performance tier, yet its 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is clearly insufficient for Doom at higher resolutions.

The game's measured data reinforces this GPU-bound scenario. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 22 FPS, while 4K Low reaches 36 FPS. This scaling pattern, where even the lowest settings cannot produce playable frame rates at 4K, points directly to the GPU's inability to process the increased pixel count. The RX 580's end-of-life production status and 185 W TDP further contextualize its position as a mid-range card from the Polaris generation, one that was designed for 1080p gaming rather than 4K workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a dramatic collapse in performance that reveals the GPU bottleneck. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 75 at 1920x1080 to 49 at 2560x1440, then plummets to 26 at 3840x2160. This represents a 65% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a decline that aligns with the GPU struggling to handle the 4x increase in pixel count.

The Low settings row shows similar behavior: 102 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is particularly telling, as it falls below the 1440p Medium result of 58 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes saturated at 4K regardless of the quality preset chosen, with the difference between Low and Ultra at 4K being only 14 FPS (36 versus 22). In contrast, at 1080p, the spread between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS (102 versus 62), showing that the CPU and memory system can feed the GPU adequately at lower resolutions.

The scaling pattern suggests that the RX 580 has a performance ceiling around 36 FPS at 4K, which it hits even with minimal graphical load. This is characteristic of a GPU that is fill-rate or pixel-bound, where the 32 ROPs become the limiting factor. The 1440p results, ranging from 40 FPS at Ultra to 66 FPS at Low, offer the most balanced scaling and indicate that 1440p is the practical upper limit for this combination, with Medium settings providing the best compromise between visual quality and frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most compelling experience for this combo. The 58 FPS average with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66 provides a consistent frame pacing that suits fast-paced FPS gameplay. While the 1440p Low setting achieves 66 FPS, it sacrifices the visual enhancements that Doom's dynamic lighting and particle effects benefit from. The Medium preset at 1440p strikes the right balance, maintaining a 49 FPS minimum that keeps gameplay responsive without the visual downgrade of Low.

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 75 FPS is the recommended choice. This setting leverages the CPU's capability while giving the GPU manageable work, resulting in smooth performance that exceeds the 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is technically playable, but the narrow margin above 60 FPS leaves little headroom for demanding scenes or brief drops. The Low preset at 102 FPS is unnecessarily conservative for 1080p, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle higher quality settings without compromising frame rates.

At 4K, none of the settings provide a playable experience. The best result, Low at 36 FPS, falls well below the 60 FPS standard and even struggles to maintain 30 FPS consistency. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 27 FPS, which would cause noticeable stuttering in combat. Users with 4K displays should either lower the resolution to 1440p or accept that this combination is not suitable for 4K gaming in Doom.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 2675 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 9% of all configurations. This ranking is heavily influenced by the GPU's performance tier, as the CPU's 90th percentile score suggests it is capable of much higher frame rates when paired with a more powerful graphics card.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G with an average score 0.4% higher, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 0.5% higher, the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core i5-14600K at 0.8% lower. These closely matched scores indicate that the Ultra 5 245 is competitive with mainstream and even some high-end processors from the previous generation. However, this processing power is wasted when paired with a GPU that ranks in the 53rd percentile, as Doom's engine is clearly GPU-bound in this configuration.

The GPU's position among its nearest rivals further clarifies the ranking. The RX 580's average benchmark score of 12928 places it just behind the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and GTX 1660 SUPER (12986), while leading the Radeon 740M (12870) and FirePro W5100 (12847). These are all mid-range or entry-level parts, and the combo's ranking reflects this tier of graphics performance rather than the CPU's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across all tested configurations:

1920x1080:

• Low: 102 FPS average
• Medium: 89 FPS average, with a minimum of 76 and maximum of 103
• High: 75 FPS average
• Ultra: 62 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 66 FPS average
• Medium: 58 FPS average, with a minimum of 49 and maximum of 66
• High: 49 FPS average
• Ultra: 40 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 36 FPS average
• Medium: 31 FPS average, with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 36
• High: 26 FPS average
• Ultra: 22 FPS average

The 1080p data shows a clear progression from 102 FPS at Low to 62 FPS at Ultra, with each settings tier costing roughly 13-15 FPS. The 1440p results compress this range slightly, with a 26 FPS spread between Low and Ultra. At 4K, the range narrows to just 14 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU's performance ceiling is the dominant factor at this resolution. The Medium preset at each resolution provides the only complete min/max data, showing that frame pacing remains consistent within a narrow band, which is favorable for gameplay stability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process at TSMC. With a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, this CPU offers substantial processing power that is reflected in its 90th percentile ranking among all processors. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample capacity for game data, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without starvation.

In Doom, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The synthetic benchmarks show impressive single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4394. These scores indicate that the Ultra 5 245 can handle the engine's main thread efficiently. The multi-threaded results are equally strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and a Passmark multithread score of 38706, ensuring that background tasks and game logic do not interfere with frame rendering.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 102 FPS, but the GPU's compute limits prevent higher frame rates. If the RX 580 were replaced with a more powerful GPU, the CPU could likely support significantly higher FPS. The 14 cores running at up to 5.10 GHz provide more than enough headroom for Doom's engine, which was designed for the era of quad-core processors. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die further demonstrate its efficiency, but this efficiency is underutilized when paired with a GPU that ranks in the 53rd percentile.