Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 produces a playable but far from optimal experience in Doom, with the GPU acting as the primary constraint across all tested settings. The data shows a combo that ranks in the 2833rd position out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 4% of systems, yet the game’s excellent optimization means the 1080p experience remains surprisingly smooth. The verdict is clear: this pairing is for 1080p gaming at medium-to-low settings, and any attempt to push higher resolutions will result in a slideshow.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, revealing a system that is thoroughly GPU-bound at every resolution. At 1080p with High settings, the average frame rate is 68 FPS, but this falls to 44 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 24 FPS at 4K. That represents a 65% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern that points directly at the GeForce GTX 1650’s limited rasterization power rather than any CPU bottleneck.

The trend holds across all quality presets. At Low settings, the system delivers 92 FPS at 1080p, 59 FPS at 1440p, and just 32 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36%, and from 1440p to 4K it is another 46%. This non-linear degradation is typical of a GPU hitting its memory bandwidth ceiling, as the GTX 1650’s 128-bit bus and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth simply cannot feed enough pixels at 4K. The 4K numbers are uniformly poor: 24 FPS on High, 28 FPS on Medium, 32 FPS on Low, and only 19 FPS on Ultra. None of these are playable, and the data strongly suggests that 4K is entirely off the table for this combo.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is more forgiving, with the system losing roughly one-third of its performance. At 1080p Medium, the average is 80 FPS, and at 1440p Medium it drops to 52 FPS. The 1440p results are borderline for competitive play, with only the Low preset (59 FPS) approaching the 60 FPS threshold. The 1080p results, by contrast, show a system that can handle the game well, with all presets except Ultra (55 FPS) exceeding 60 FPS. The clear conclusion from the resolution scaling data is that the GTX 1650 is the limiting component, and the CPU’s substantial headroom is wasted at anything above 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to 1080p Medium as the optimal configuration for this combo, balancing visual quality with a smooth 80 FPS average. The 1080p Medium row shows a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing without severe drops. This is the sweet spot where the GTX 1650 is adequately utilized without being overwhelmed. The 68 FPS minimum is comfortably above the 60 FPS target, making this the safest choice for a consistent experience.

For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, 1080p Low delivers 92 FPS, a 15% improvement over Medium. The jump from Low to Medium costs 12 FPS (from 92 to 80), which is a notable trade-off for the visual uplift. However, the step from Medium to High is even more punishing: the average drops from 80 to 68 FPS, a 15% reduction. The Ultra preset is the worst value, delivering only 55 FPS at 1080p, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and 31% slower than Medium.

At 1440p, the only viable setting is Low, which produces 59 FPS — just shy of 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 52 FPS, and High drops to 44 FPS. None of the 1440p settings offer the consistency of the 1080p Medium configuration. The data suggests that users should either accept 1080p Medium for the best balance or drop to 1080p Low for maximum smoothness. The 4K settings are uniformly poor (19–32 FPS) and should be avoided entirely. The Ultra preset is the worst performer at every resolution, confirming that this GPU lacks the pixel throughput for maximum quality settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its benchmark results demonstrate exceptional multi-threaded capability, scoring 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,960 in single-core. The 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that this processor is in the top tier of computing hardware. However, in Doom, this power is largely irrelevant, as the game’s frame rates are dictated by the GPU.

The CPU’s role in this pairing is to avoid bottlenecking the GTX 1650, which it does with ease. The 1080p Low preset produces 92 FPS, and the CPU’s 5.30 GHz boost clock and 30 MB of shared L3 cache ensure that frame times remain stable. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation: the frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, but the 4K results are dramatically lower than 1080p, confirming the GPU is the bottleneck.

The Ultra 7’s 20 cores are overkill for a game like Doom, which is lightly threaded. The CPU’s PassMark multi-thread score of 49,682 and single-thread score of 4,689 are substantial, but the game’s performance is capped by the GTX 1650’s 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The comparison to nearest rivals shows the Ultra 7 265 is within 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343 and 0.3% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, but these differences are immaterial for gaming. In this specific context, the CPU is a non-factor, and its performance headroom is simply unused.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2833 out of 2930 tested combinations places this system in the 96.7th percentile from the bottom, meaning only 97 tested combos perform worse. This is a low ranking, but it is entirely attributable to the GeForce GTX 1650, which sits in the 40th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU, by contrast, is in the 93rd percentile, creating a massive imbalance where a top-tier processor is paired with an entry-level graphics card from 2019.

The ranking data suggests that this is a mismatched pairing for Doom specifically. The game’s 2016 release date means it is well-optimized for older hardware, but the GTX 1650’s 4 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are severe limitations. The combo rank of 2833 indicates that the vast majority of tested systems deliver better performance in this game. The nearest GPU rivals — the AMD Radeon HD 8850M, Intel UHD Graphics 750, and AMD Radeon R7 350 — all score within 0.6% of the GTX 1650 in synthetic benchmarks, confirming that this GPU is at the very bottom of the performance ladder.

For context, the CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 4464P and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, show that the processor is competitive with server-grade parts. However, this CPU strength does not translate to a better gaming experience in Doom. The combo rank is a stark reminder that the GPU is the sole determinant of gaming performance here. Users with this pairing should expect to be in the bottom 4% of systems for Doom, and the measured FPS data confirms that this ranking is deserved.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the definitive bottleneck in this system. This Turing-architecture GPU features 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is the key limitation for higher resolutions. The 40th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the lower half of graphics cards, and its PassMark G3D score of 7,880 is modest.

In Doom, the GPU’s limitations are exposed at every turn. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the Ultra preset averaging just 19 FPS. This is a direct consequence of the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth being insufficient for 4K textures and pixel fill rates. The GPU’s 53.28 GPixel/s pixel rate and 93.24 GTexel/s texture rate are simply too low for 4K workloads. Even at 1440p, the GPU struggles to maintain 60 FPS, with the Low preset averaging 59 FPS and every other preset falling below 52 FPS.

The GTX 1650’s 4 GB VRAM is another concern, though Doom’s 2016 release means it does not require excessive memory. The 1080p results show that the GPU can handle the game well when resolution is kept low. The 92 FPS at 1080p Low and 80 FPS at 1080p Medium demonstrate that the GPU has enough raw compute for 1080p gaming. However, the steep drop-off at higher resolutions indicates that the memory subsystem is the limiting factor. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the Intel Arc A310 which scores 1% higher, confirm that this is an entry-level part. The measured data leaves no ambiguity: the GTX 1650 is the reason this combo ranks so low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for this combo in Doom is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the High preset averages 24 FPS, the Low preset averages 32 FPS, the Medium preset averages 28 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 19 FPS. None of these are playable, and the 19 FPS Ultra result is the worst of the entire dataset.

At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 44 FPS, the Low preset averages 59 FPS, the Medium preset averages 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 36 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that comes close to 60 FPS, but its 59 FPS average is still below the target.

At 1920x1080, the High preset averages 68 FPS, the Low preset averages 92 FPS, the Medium preset averages 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 55 FPS. The 1080p Medium result is the best overall, offering a 68 FPS minimum and an 80 FPS average. The 1080p Low result is the fastest, at 92 FPS.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low is the fastest at 92 FPS, followed by 1080p Medium at 80 FPS, then 1080p High at 68 FPS, and 1080p Ultra at 55 FPS. The 1440p results are roughly 35% slower than 1080p at the same settings, and the 4K results are roughly 60% slower than 1440p. The minimum FPS values for the Medium presets (68 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, 24 FPS at 4K) indicate that even the best-case scenarios have significant frame drops. This breakdown confirms that the GTX 1650 is the limiting factor, and the only way to achieve smooth gameplay is to stay at 1080p with Medium or Low settings.