Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for a game like Doom, which is a fast-paced FPS that can leverage multiple threads for physics, AI, and streaming game assets. In the measured performance data, the CPU’s capability is evident at 1080p resolution, where frame rates are exceptionally high, indicating that the processor is not a bottleneck at lower graphical loads. The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support contribute to its ability to feed the GPU efficiently, particularly in scenes with numerous enemies or complex geometry. The 28 W TDP classifies this as a power-efficient mobile part, yet its multi-threaded benchmark scores, such as 14,551 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 25,933 in Passmark multithread, demonstrate that it holds its own against desktop-class rivals from a few generations prior.

At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 224 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can keep up with the GPU even when the render load is minimal. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 89 FPS (224 to 135), which shows that while the CPU is capable, the GPU still has a significant role in determining final performance. For a game of Doom’s era, this processor provides ample headroom, ensuring that frame pacing remains consistent even in chaotic firefights. The data suggests that the Core Ultra 7 165H is not the limiting factor in this system; instead, it provides a stable foundation that allows the GPU to operate at its full potential across all tested settings and resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which preset offers the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance for this hardware combination. At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 126 FPS, which is a substantial 39 FPS higher than the High preset’s 107 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum observed FPS of 107 matches the High preset’s average, indicating that Medium provides a more consistent experience with less severe frame drops, making it the recommended choice for players prioritizing smoothness over minor visual enhancements. Moving to 4K, the Medium preset yields 68 FPS on average, with a minimum of 58 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the lower bounds of smooth gameplay for a fast-paced shooter. The High preset at 4K drops to 58 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider essential for a responsive feel.

For those with high-refresh-rate displays, the 1080p Medium preset at 195 FPS average is the best option, as it provides a significant boost over High’s 165 FPS while maintaining a minimum of 166 FPS, which ensures that the experience remains fluid even during intense battles. The Ultra preset at 1080p offers 135 FPS, which is still excellent, but the 60 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra suggests diminishing returns for the extra graphical detail. At 1440p, the Ultra preset’s 87 FPS is competitive, yet the Medium preset’s 126 FPS offers a 45% improvement in frame rate for what is often a marginal visual difference in Doom’s fast-moving scenes. The data strongly supports choosing Medium as the default preset for this combo, as it delivers the most consistent high frame rates across all resolutions without sacrificing the ability to enjoy the game’s core visual style.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the relative workloads of the CPU and GPU in this system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 224 at 1080p to 145 at 1440p, a 35% reduction, and then to 79 at 4K, a further 45% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, since the CPU’s workload does not scale significantly with pixel count. The same pattern is evident at High settings, where FPS falls from 165 at 1080p to 107 at 1440p (a 35% drop) and then to 58 at 4K (a 46% drop). This consistent proportional decrease across settings points to a GPU-bound scenario, meaning that the RTX 5070 Mobile is the component that determines the upper limits of performance at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern also shows that the CPU has sufficient headroom to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, as evidenced by the 224 FPS result at Low settings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would plateau or decrease less dramatically as resolution rises. Instead, the data shows a clear inverse relationship between resolution and FPS, with each step up in resolution producing a roughly 35-45% decrease in performance. This behavior is characteristic of a system where the GPU’s rendering capabilities, such as its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, are being fully utilized. The 4K Ultra preset at 47 FPS further confirms this, as it represents the most demanding scenario where the GPU is strained to its limits, while the CPU continues to provide stable frame delivery without becoming a bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile combination is ranked 2056 out of 3712 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the 55th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking reflects the fact that while both components are capable, they are not flagship-tier parts, and the game’s optimization favors systems with higher-end GPUs. The CPU itself performs at the 84th percentile compared to all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34,083. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H, scores 33,989, a delta of 0.3%, indicating that the 165H is marginally faster. The AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 both score 34,220 and 34,222 respectively, which are 0.4% higher than the 165H, showing that the CPU sits in a tightly contested performance band.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5070 Mobile achieves a 75th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,928. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, scores 29,945, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the 5070 Mobile is essentially equivalent in raw compute. The RTX 2080 Ti scores 29,783, which is 0.5% lower, while the AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 30,095, 0.6% higher. This GPU performance, combined with the 84th percentile CPU, results in the combo’s 55th percentile ranking in Doom, which suggests that while the individual parts are above average, the game’s specific engine and rendering paths may not fully leverage the strengths of this particular pairing. The combo rank indicates that there are 1,656 other tested configurations that achieve higher frame rates in Doom, likely featuring more powerful GPUs that can better handle the game’s demanding effects at high resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process, featuring 4,608 shading units and 144 tensor cores. Its base clock of 907 MHz and boost clock of 1425 MHz are relatively modest, but the GPU’s 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s, which is crucial for texture-heavy scenes in Doom. The GPU’s performance in benchmarks shows a 75th percentile ranking, with a Passmark G3D score of 20,355 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 122,238. These scores indicate that the GPU is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the measured FPS results, but it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K due to its memory capacity and bandwidth limitations.

The GPU’s role in this system becomes clear when examining the 4K results. At 4K High, the average FPS is 58, which is exactly the same as the 1080p High result’s minimum FPS of 58, highlighting how the GPU’s workload scales with resolution. The 4K Ultra preset at 47 FPS demonstrates that the GPU is the primary constraint, as the CPU would likely be capable of feeding more frames if the GPU could render them. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 13.13 TFLOPS is substantial, yet the 48 ROPs and 144 TMUs limit its ability to handle the pixel fill rate required at 4K resolutions. The GPU’s performance relative to its rivals, such as the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 2080 Ti, shows that it is a mid-high tier mobile part that excels at 1440p gaming, delivering 107 FPS at High settings, but is not designed for 4K ultra settings without compromises. The GPU’s 50 W TDP and IGP slot width indicate it is designed for thin-and-light laptops, where thermal constraints are more important than raw performance, yet it still manages to deliver playable frame rates at 4K with adjusted settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combo in Doom?

A: The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot, with the Medium preset achieving 126 FPS average and a 107 FPS minimum, providing a smooth experience while maintaining good visual quality. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 195 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh displays, while 4K results in 58 FPS at High settings, which is below the ideal threshold for competitive play.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H has an average benchmark score of 34,083, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (33,989). It is 0.4% slower than the AMD EPYC 4244P and AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, which score 34,220 and 34,222 respectively, and 0.5% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X at 34,260.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The frame rate scaling indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K. The average FPS drops from 79 at 4K Low to 47 at 4K Ultra, a 40% reduction, while the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant. This pattern, combined with the GPU’s 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus, shows that the RTX 5070 Mobile is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking in Doom?

A: This combination is ranked 2056 out of 3712 tested combos, placing it in the 55th percentile. This means it outperforms over half of all tested systems but is behind 1,656 configurations, likely those with higher-end GPUs.

Q: How does the GPU’s performance compare to the RTX 3070 Ti?

A: The RTX 5070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 29,928, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 3070 Ti’s score of 29,945. This indicates that the two GPUs offer nearly identical raw performance, despite the 5070 Mobile being a newer architecture.

Q: What settings provide the most consistent frame rate at 4K?

A: The Medium preset at 4K provides an average of 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS, which is more consistent than the High preset’s 58 FPS average. This makes Medium the recommended setting for 4K play, as it avoids the sub-60 FPS drops that occur on High.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS varies from a high of 224 on Low settings to a low of 135 on Ultra settings. The Medium preset achieves 195 FPS, with a minimum of 166 and a maximum of 224, while the High preset delivers 165 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Low settings produce 145 FPS, Medium yields 126 FPS (minimum 107, maximum 145), High provides 107 FPS, and Ultra drops to 87 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Low settings average 79 FPS, Medium averages 68 FPS (minimum 58, maximum 79), High averages 58 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS.

The data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Low settings provide the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra in descending order. The gaps between settings are most pronounced at 1080p, where the difference between Low and Ultra is 89 FPS, while at 4K the gap narrows to 32 FPS. This behavior is expected, as the GPU becomes more constrained at higher resolutions, reducing the relative impact of graphical settings on the final frame rate. The Medium settings consistently offer the best balance of performance and stability, as evidenced by the minimum FPS values being close to the average, indicating fewer frame drops compared to High and Ultra settings. The measured data confirms that this combo is well-optimized for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K being playable only with adjusted settings.