Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable experience across most of Doom’s settings, but the measured data reveals a clear sweet spot. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 152 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while leaving headroom for fast-paced action. High at 1080p drops to 129 FPS average, still excellent, but Medium offers a better balance of visual fidelity and performance headroom. At 2560x1440, Medium averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS, which remains highly responsive. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 68 FPS average, which is playable but less consistent. At 3840x2160, even Medium only manages 53 FPS average with a 45 FPS minimum, which is borderline for a twitch shooter. The data indicates that Medium at 1080p or 1440p provides the best experience—high frame rates without sacrificing too much detail, while Low at 1440p (113 FPS) is the choice for maximum fluidity if visual quality is less important. High at 1080p is also viable, but the incremental visual gain over Medium does not justify the 23 FPS average loss.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its cache configuration includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3. In Doom, which is a heavily GPU-bound title at higher resolutions, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at lower settings and lower resolutions where frame rates rise. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 175 FPS average, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at that level. However, the CPU’s benchmark scores indicate strong general-purpose performance: its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 32924, and its single-core score is 4648. The PassMark multithread score is 38706, and single-thread score is 4394. These figures place the CPU in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. Compared to its nearest rivals, the CPU is nearly identical in average score: it trails the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 by 0.5%, while leading the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.8%. This parity suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck in Doom at the tested settings, as the frame rate differences between resolutions and presets are largely driven by GPU load. The 14 threads, while not hyperthreaded, are sufficient for a game of this era, and the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz helps maintain consistent frame pacing in CPU-light scenes.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU-GPU combo at 1920x1080?

A: Based on the measured FPS, Medium at 1080p delivers 152 FPS average with a 130 FPS minimum, which is the strongest balance of smoothness and visual quality. High is close at 129 FPS, but the 23 FPS gap makes Medium the more consistent choice.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Doom?*

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 37 FPS, High averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 53 FPS with a 45 FPS minimum, and Low averages 61 FPS. Only Low achieves a 60 FPS average, so 4K requires reduced settings for a fluid experience.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, placing it in the 58th percentile. It is virtually tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% ahead), while leading the RTX 3050 OEM by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 by 0.8%.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 1080p Low preset achieves 175 FPS average, which is the highest measured value in the dataset. Given the CPU’s 90th percentile ranking and its near-parity with rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, the data indicates the CPU can sustain high frame rates without being a limiting factor at this setting.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1440p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 Medium, the average FPS is 99, with a minimum of 84 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average drops to 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS. This represents a 46 FPS average reduction when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 68 FPS. While this is above 60 FPS, it is noticeably lower than the 99 FPS of Medium, and the lack of a minimum FPS figure means frame dips could be more pronounced. For competitive play, Medium is safer.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2294 out of 2930 tested combinations in Doom. This places it in the lower-middle tier of the database, indicating that while the setup is functional, it is far from the top of the performance hierarchy. The rank reflects the GPU’s modest standing—the RTX 2060 is in the 58th percentile of all GPUs—combined with a strong CPU that does not compensate for the GPU’s limitations in this title. The measured frame rates at 1080p are solid, but the combo’s rank suggests that many other pairings achieve higher performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The CPU’s high percentile (90th) does not lift the overall ranking because Doom’s frame rates at 1440p and 4K are constrained by the GPU. For context, the GPU’s nearest rival is the GTX 580 with an identical average score, and the CPU’s nearest rival is the Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G with a 0.4% higher score. This indicates that the combo’s ranking is more a function of the GPU’s tier than any CPU deficiency. Users seeking higher rankings would need a more powerful GPU, as the CPU already sits near the top of its class.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 175 at 1920x1080 to 113 at 2560x1440 (a 62 FPS decrease) and then to 61 at 3840x2160 (a further 52 FPS decrease). At Medium settings, the progression is 152 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. At High settings, the averages are 129 FPS, 83 FPS, and 45 FPS, respectively. This scaling pattern—roughly a 35-40% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 45-50% drop from 1440p to 4K—demonstrates that the GPU is the primary limiting component. The RTX 2060’s 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are taxed heavily at 4K, where the pixel count quadruples relative to 1080p. The CPU’s performance remains constant, so the frame rate drops are almost entirely attributable to GPU workload. The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions: at 1080p, the difference between Low (175 FPS) and Ultra (105 FPS) is 70 FPS, while at 4K, the difference is only 24 FPS (61 FPS vs 37 FPS). This compression at 4K indicates that the GPU is fully saturated, and settings changes have a smaller relative impact. For players targeting 60 FPS, the combo requires Low settings at 4K, Medium at 1440p, and can handle Ultra at 1080p with 105 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average frame rates: Low hits 175 FPS, Medium averages 152 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS, High averages 129 FPS, and Ultra averages 105 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 70 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution. The Medium preset’s minimum of 130 FPS ensures that even demanding scenes stay well above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 113 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 113 FPS, High averages 83 FPS, and Ultra averages 68 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 45 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a factor. Medium remains the most balanced choice, with a minimum that stays above 80 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 61 FPS, Medium averages 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS, High averages 45 FPS, and Ultra averages 37 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 24 FPS, confirming that the GPU is the bottleneck at this resolution. Only Low achieves a 60 FPS average, and even that is marginal. The Medium preset’s minimum of 45 FPS makes it unsuitable for fast gameplay, while Ultra dips into the 30s, which is not recommended for a FPS.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the most stable experience, with the smallest gap between average and minimum FPS in the available data. The maximum FPS values for Medium match the Low preset’s averages at 1080p and 1440p, suggesting that the GPU can burst to higher frame rates but settles at a lower average under sustained load.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with the TU106 chip, featuring 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. It has 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The GPU’s base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM is a critical factor in Doom, as the game’s texture-heavy environments at higher resolutions can approach or exceed this limit. The data shows that at 1080p, the GPU has ample headroom, with Ultra settings averaging 105 FPS. However, at 4K, the frame rates collapse to 37-61 FPS, which aligns with the VRAM and bandwidth constraints. The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range status: its PassMark G3D score is 14111, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1242. Its average benchmark score of 15290 places it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with a near-tie against the GTX 580 and a slight lead over the RTX 3050 OEM and Radeon RX 7600. The FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p gaming but insufficient for 4K at high settings. The GPU’s 160 W TDP and dual-slot design are modest, but the measured FPS data indicates that the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor in this combo for resolutions above 1080p. The CPU’s high single-thread score (4648 in Cinebench R23) means it can keep up with the GPU’s frame output, but the GPU’s raw throughput caps the experience at higher resolutions.