Doom

# Doom — Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The combination of Intel's Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 produces exceptional frame rates in Doom, with the measured data showing a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions while the CPU becomes the primary constraint only at 1080p. Across all twelve measured configurations—three resolutions and four settings presets—the average frame rates range from 96 FPS at 4K Ultra to 454 FPS at 1080p Low, placing this combo at rank 45 out of 2,930 tested combinations. The RTX 5090's massive 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth never appear to be a limiting factor, while the Core Ultra 5 245's 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom for Doom's engine demands.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate trajectory from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear picture of where the bottleneck shifts within this system. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 334 FPS, which drops to 216 FPS at 1440p High—a 35.3% reduction—and further to 117 FPS at 4K High, representing a 65.0% decline from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a system transitioning from CPU-bound operation at lower resolutions to GPU-bound operation as pixel count increases. The 1080p Low setting produces 454 FPS, and the fact that this exceeds the 1440p Low result of 294 FPS by 54.4% indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still capable of delivering substantial headroom when the resolution increases.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as resolution increases, which further confirms the GPU-centric nature of performance scaling. At 1080p, the difference between Low (454 FPS) and Ultra (273 FPS) is 181 FPS, or 66.3% higher on Low. At 1440p, this gap narrows to 117 FPS (294 vs. 177), and at 4K it tightens to 63 FPS (159 vs. 96). This compression of the settings-based performance delta at higher resolutions is a hallmark of pixel-fill-rate limitation. The 4K Ultra result of 96 FPS represents the most demanding configuration tested, and it still clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable margin, suggesting that this pairing has no trouble maintaining playable frame rates even under maximum graphical load at 4K. The data indicates that users targeting 4K should expect roughly a 40% performance penalty when moving from High to Ultra settings, based on the observed 117 FPS to 96 FPS transition.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 serves as the dominant performance contributor in this configuration, and its specifications align well with the observed results. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth—a figure that appears more than sufficient for Doom's texture streaming requirements at any tested resolution. The 21,760 shading units operating at a boost clock of 2407 MHz produce a peak FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS, which explains the GPU's ability to maintain triple-digit frame rates at 4K across all settings presets. The 176 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s, directly influencing the resolution scaling behavior observed in the measured data.

When examining the 4K performance envelope, the RTX 5090 demonstrates that it is not memory-constrained in this title. The 4K Medium result of 139 FPS with a minimum of 118 FPS and maximum of 160 FPS shows consistent frame delivery, and the 4K Low score of 159 FPS suggests that even at minimal graphical load, the GPU has additional headroom that is likely being limited by other components or engine-level factors. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842, places it near the top of the performance hierarchy, though its nearest rivals—the Tesla P100 variants and Radeon RX 6850M XT—show that the gap to the next tier is relatively narrow at 0.3% to 1.1% in aggregate benchmarks. The 5090's 1,999 USD launch MSRP reflects its flagship positioning, and the measured Doom performance justifies this tier placement with 4K Ultra frame rates that exceed what most competing GPUs can achieve at 1440p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture chip, built on TSMC's 3 nm process, features 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel configuration providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark results show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,924 and a single-core score of 4,648, placing it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 48,995. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (0.4% higher score), AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.5% higher), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (0.6% lower), and Intel Core i5-14600K (0.8% lower), indicating that this processor sits in a tightly contested mid-to-upper tier.

In Doom specifically, the CPU's role becomes increasingly apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 300 FPS across all settings. The 1080p Low result of 454 FPS represents the absolute ceiling of this combination, and the fact that this is only 13.3% higher than the 1080p High score of 334 FPS—despite the dramatic reduction in GPU workload—suggests that the CPU is nearing its practical limit for this game engine. The single-thread performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,648, is likely the key factor here, as Doom's render thread typically scales with per-core throughput rather than core count. The 14-thread configuration provides adequate parallelism for the game's background tasks, but the boost clock of 5.10 GHz is what enables the sustained high frame rates observed. At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes, with the 4K Low result of 159 FPS being 65.0% lower than the 1080p Low figure, confirming that the GPU becomes the sole limiting factor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves rank 45 out of 2,930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 1.5% of all configurations evaluated. This ranking reflects the synergy between a high-end CPU and flagship GPU, though the position is more heavily influenced by the GPU's performance than the CPU's, given the resolution-dependent scaling observed. The CPU's 90th percentile standing among all CPUs and the GPU's 92nd percentile among all GPUs both contribute positively, but the combo rank of 45 suggests that other pairings—likely those with even faster CPUs or more specialized gaming chips—can extract marginally better frame rates in this title. The data indicates that the gap between this combo and the top-ranked configurations is primarily attributable to 1080p performance, where the CPU's single-thread capabilities become the limiting factor. At 4K, the GPU's dominance means that most high-end GPUs paired with a reasonably capable CPU would cluster closely together, making the 45th rank proof of the RTX 5090's strength in pixel-bound scenarios.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 454 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with maximum quality settings?

A: At 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 96 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, as evidenced by the relatively small 13.3% difference between Low (454 FPS) and High (334 FPS) settings despite the substantial reduction in GPU workload.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 118 FPS, observed at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings, where the average was 139 FPS and the maximum was 160 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 45th out of 2,930 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the top 1.5% of all configurations.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB memory capacity provide any advantage in Doom?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth appears more than sufficient for Doom's requirements, as no memory-related performance degradation is evident in the measured results across any resolution or settings combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured frame rate data for this combo is presented below, organized by resolution and settings preset. All values represent average FPS unless otherwise noted.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 159 FPS
• Medium: 139 FPS average, with a minimum of 118 FPS and maximum of 160 FPS
• High: 117 FPS
• Ultra: 96 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 294 FPS
• Medium: 256 FPS average, with a minimum of 218 FPS and maximum of 295 FPS
• High: 216 FPS
• Ultra: 177 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 454 FPS
• Medium: 396 FPS average, with a minimum of 336 FPS and maximum of 455 FPS
• High: 334 FPS
• Ultra: 273 FPS

The Medium settings rows are the only ones that include minimum and maximum frame rate data, and they reveal consistent frame delivery with tight ranges. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 118 FPS is 84.9% of the average, while at 1440p Medium the minimum of 218 FPS is 85.2% of the average, and at 1080p Medium the minimum of 336 FPS is 84.8% of the average. This consistency across resolutions indicates stable performance without significant frame time spikes. The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a predictable pattern: Ultra is approximately 40-44% slower than Low at every resolution, with the exact deltas being 39.6% at 4K (159 to 96 FPS), 39.8% at 1440p (294 to 177 FPS), and 39.9% at 1080p (454 to 273 FPS). This uniform percentage drop across resolutions suggests that the settings presets scale graphical workload in a consistent, resolution-independent manner.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing the highest visual fidelity while maintaining smooth gameplay, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance, delivering 177 FPS average—well above any display refresh rate currently available on the market. This configuration provides the full graphical feature set while still offering substantial performance headroom. At 3840x2160, the High preset at 117 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 100 FPS while the Ultra preset's 96 FPS, though playable, begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing variations might become noticeable on high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 139 FPS average and 118 FPS minimum, is an excellent fallback for users who want extra performance buffer without sacrificing too much visual quality.

For competitive play where maximum frame rates are paramount, the Low preset at 1080p produces 454 FPS, which is only 13.3% higher than High at 334 FPS—this small gain likely does not justify the significant visual downgrade, making High at 1080p the more sensible competitive choice. The Medium preset at 1440p, delivering 256 FPS with a 218 FPS minimum, represents the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, offering 60.6% more frames than Ultra at the same resolution while still maintaining a substantial level of graphical quality. Across all resolutions, the data shows diminishing returns when moving from Medium to High, with gains of 15.8% at 4K (139 to 117 FPS), 18.5% at 1440p (256 to 216 FPS), and 18.6% at 1080p (396 to 334 FPS), whereas the jump from Low to Medium yields improvements of 14.4%, 14.8%, and 14.6% respectively. This suggests that the visual quality investment in Medium over Low is comparable to that of High over Medium, but Ultra provides the largest incremental visual upgrade at the steepest performance cost.