Doom

Doom’s 2016 engine is famously scalable, and the measured results for the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D confirm that flexibility, though with a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptionally high frame rates that push into territory where the CPU’s single-thread performance becomes the primary governor; at 4K, the GPU takes over as the limiting factor, yet still maintains triple-digit averages across all presets. The data shows a system that is overkill for this title at standard refresh rates, but the scaling pattern between resolutions reveals exactly where each component’s headroom lies.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 illustrates a classic GPU-bound transition. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 480 FPS, a figure that is almost certainly constrained by the CPU’s ability to feed the renderer rather than the RTX 5090 D’s raw throughput. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 314 FPS, a 34.6% reduction that aligns with the increased pixel count demanding more from the GPU. At 4K Low, the average falls to 170 FPS, which is a further 45.9% drop from 1440p, showing that the GPU is now the dominant variable.

The scaling under High settings tells a similar story but with a tighter spread. At 1080p High, the average is 357 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 231 FPS, a 35.3% decrease. At 4K High, the average is 125 FPS, which is 45.9% lower than the 1440p result. The consistency of these percentage drops—roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and 46% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the GPU’s rendering load is scaling predictably with resolution, and that the CPU is not introducing a variable bottleneck at these settings.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest absolute decline. The combo averages 292 FPS at 1080p Ultra, 189 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and 102 FPS at 4K Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.3%, and from 1440p to 4K is 46.0%, nearly identical to the High preset’s pattern. This suggests that while Ultra increases the overall workload, it does not change the fundamental relationship between resolution and performance. The 4K Ultra result of 102 FPS is notable because it remains above the 100 FPS threshold, meaning the system can still drive a high-refresh 4K panel with maximum settings in this title.

The medium preset offers the only complete min/max data in the pack. At 1080p Medium, the average is 422 FPS with a minimum of 359 FPS and a maximum of 486 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 273 FPS with a minimum of 232 FPS and a maximum of 314 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS and a maximum of 170 FPS. The minimum frame rates scale proportionally with the averages, indicating no unexpected stutter or frame-time spikes as resolution increases. The data shows that the gap between average and minimum FPS remains consistent, which points to stable performance rather than occasional drops.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Doom’s texture and geometry demands at any resolution. The GPU’s base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its 21760 shading units deliver 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These specifications translate directly into the high frame rates observed, particularly at 4K where the GPU’s pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s become the deciding factors.

At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 102 FPS. This is the most demanding scenario in the measured data, and the result is still comfortably above 60 FPS. The GPU’s 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs are tasked with filling a 3840x2160 buffer with the Ultra preset’s increased effects, and the data shows they handle it without issue. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what Doom requires, but the bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s ensures that even the highest-resolution textures stream without bottlenecking the render pipeline.

Comparing the RTX 5090 D to its nearest rivals in the database shows a mixed picture. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 77712, which places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76904, a delta of 1.1% behind, while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, a delta of -1.6% ahead. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB variants score 79396 and 79605 respectively, putting them 2.1% and 2.4% ahead. This means the RTX 5090 D is positioned in a tight cluster with those mobile and data-center parts, despite being a desktop flagship, though the measured FPS in Doom reflect the GPU’s actual gaming capability rather than synthetic averages.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility are relevant to Doom’s renderer, which can leverage modern APIs efficiently. The passmark DirectX 12 score of 219 and DirectX 11 score of 371 are synthetic metrics, but the real-world 4K results show that the GPU scales well with the API’s feature set. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14326 further indicates strong modern API performance, which aligns with the observed frame rates.

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 by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and it features 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s single-thread performance is critical for Doom’s game logic and draw-call submission, and the benchmark results show it is more than capable. In Cinebench R23 single-core, it scores 4648, and in PassMark single-thread, it scores 4394, both indicating strong per-core throughput.

At 1080p Low, the combo averages 480 FPS. This is where the CPU’s role is most evident, as the GPU is not being fully utilized at such a low resolution and preset. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.10 GHz and its 14 cores (though only a fraction are likely used by Doom’s main thread) allow it to sustain frame rates that exceed what most displays can show. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 shows the CPU’s overall capability, but for this game, the single-core score of 4648 is the more relevant metric.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth ensures that data can be fed to the GPU without a memory-side bottleneck. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared is ample for Doom’s working set, and the per-core L2 of 3 MB helps reduce latency for frequently accessed data. The PassMark physics score of 2569 is a synthetic measure, but it correlates with the CPU’s ability to handle game physics calculations, which Doom uses extensively for its destructible environments.

Comparing the Ultra 5 245 to its nearest rivals, the average benchmark score is 48995, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49196, a delta of -0.4% ahead, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228, a delta of -0.5% ahead. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, a delta of 0.6% behind, and the Intel Core i5-14600K scores 48618, a delta of 0.8% behind. This puts the Ultra 5 245 in a very tight performance band with those rivals, meaning any of them would deliver similar CPU-bound frame rates in Doom at 1080p.

The CPU’s 3 nm process node and 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die indicate a modern, efficient design, though the 65 W TDP is modest for a desktop part. The lack of a multiplier unlock means overclocking is not an option, but the boost clock of 5.10 GHz provides sufficient headroom for this title. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU is irrelevant for gaming with the RTX 5090 D, but its presence does not detract from the CPU’s discrete GPU performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 4K, the High preset averages 125 FPS, which is 22.5% higher than the Ultra preset’s 102 FPS. The visual difference between High and Ultra in Doom is often subtle, involving shadow quality and post-processing effects, so the 23 FPS gain from dropping to High is substantial. For 4K players with a 120 Hz or 144 Hz display, High is the recommended preset, as it maintains a frame rate that fully utilizes such panels without the performance cost of Ultra.

At 1440p, the High preset averages 231 FPS, which is 42 FPS higher than Ultra’s 189 FPS. This gap is significant for competitive play or high-refresh displays. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 273 FPS, but the step down from High to Medium typically involves noticeable reductions in texture filtering and draw distance, which may not be worth the 42 FPS gain for most users. Therefore, High at 1440p is the sweet spot, offering 231 FPS with a minimum of 232 FPS (from the Medium data, though High likely has a similar floor), ensuring smooth frame delivery.

At 1080p, the High preset averages 357 FPS, which is already far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor. The Ultra preset averages 292 FPS, still exceeding 240 Hz displays. For 1080p users, the Ultra preset is viable, as it provides the best visual quality while maintaining a frame rate that exceeds 240 FPS. The Low preset’s 480 FPS is only relevant for extreme competitive scenarios where every frame matters, but the visual degradation is likely too severe for general play.

The Medium preset offers the most complete data with min/max values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 422 FPS with a min of 359 FPS and max of 486 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 273 FPS with a min of 232 FPS and max of 314 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 148 FPS with a min of 126 FPS and max of 170 FPS. This data shows that Medium provides consistent frame pacing without dips below the average’s 85%, making it a reliable fallback if High or Ultra introduce any instability.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 11th out of 2930 tested combinations in Doom. This top-0.4% placement reflects the system’s ability to deliver exceptional frame rates across all resolutions and settings. The rank of 11 means there are only 10 other combinations in the database that achieve higher performance in this specific game, which is remarkable given the GPU’s average benchmark score puts it in the 92nd percentile and the CPU in the 90th percentile.

The combo’s high rank is driven by the GPU’s raw horsepower at 4K, where the RTX 5090 D’s 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth allow it to maintain 102 FPS at Ultra settings. The CPU’s role in this ranking is more pronounced at 1080p, where its 480 FPS Low result demonstrates that it does not bottleneck the GPU even at extreme frame rates. The combination of a top-tier GPU with a high-end midrange CPU proves effective for Doom, as the game’s engine scales well with both single-threaded CPU performance and GPU throughput.

The nearest rival CPUs to the Ultra 5 245, such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 with a delta of -0.5%, would likely produce nearly identical results in this combo, as the GPU is the dominant factor at higher resolutions. The nearest rival GPUs, including the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT with a delta of -1.6%, might show a slight performance difference, but the RTX 5090 D’s position in the 92nd percentile ensures it is among the fastest available. The rank of 11 out of 2930 confirms that this specific pairing is an elite configuration for Doom, with only a handful of alternatives offering better performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: The combo averages 102 FPS at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, which is the lowest average across all measured resolutions and settings but remains above 100 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: At 1080p Low, the average is 480 FPS, indicating a CPU-bound scenario where the RTX 5090 D is not fully utilized. At 4K Low, the average drops to 170 FPS, showing the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The High preset averages 231 FPS, while Ultra averages 189 FPS, a difference of 42 FPS. The High preset provides a 22.2% higher frame rate than Ultra at 1440p.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for Doom at 4K?

A: Yes, the RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is far more than Doom requires. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures high-resolution textures load without issue.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 11th out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the top 0.4% of all systems in the database for this game.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium?

A: The minimum FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is 126, with an average of 148 FPS and a maximum of 170 FPS, indicating stable frame delivery.