Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a combination that lands in the middle of the pack for Doom, according to benchmark data. With a combo rank of 1654 out of 2930 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the 56th percentile of all tested combos, meaning it outperforms more than half of the systems tested in this game. The data shows a configuration that is capable of strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K, particularly at higher quality settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1654 out of 2930 tested combinations places this system firmly in the middle of the distribution. This rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, where the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 provides substantial processing power, while the RTX 2070 SUPER represents an older generation of graphics hardware. The combination outperforms 1276 other tested combos, which indicates that this is not a bottom-tier setup, but it is also far from the top performers in the database for Doom.

The CPU itself carries a percentile rank of 93 against all CPUs, which is exceptionally high. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 scores an average benchmark score of 64640, placing it in the top 7% of all processors tested. Its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database include the AMD EPYC 4464P with an average score of 64823, representing a delta of -0.3%, meaning the EPYC is marginally faster. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, a 0.3% delta in favor of the 265, while the AMD EPYC 7343 scores 64202, which is 0.7% slower. The AMD EPYC 9124 scores 65104, making it 0.7% faster than the 265. These are all very close margins, indicating that the 265 is competitive with a range of high-end server and desktop processors.

The GPU, however, tells a different story. The RTX 2070 SUPER has a percentile rank of 65 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M with an average score of 20480 and a delta of -1%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile with 20534 and a delta of -1.2%, the Intel Arc B570 with 20556 and a delta of -1.3%, and the Intel Arc A750 with 20582 and a delta of -1.5%. This means the RTX 2070 SUPER is slightly slower than all four of these rivals, with the gap ranging from 1% to 1.5%. While the GPU is not a top-tier performer, it is still above the median for all GPUs, sitting in the 65th percentile.

The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's lower percentile suggests that this combo is likely limited by the graphics card in most scenarios. The data confirms this in the measured FPS results, where the CPU has ample headroom to push higher frame rates, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and quality settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, providing significant single-thread and multi-thread performance. The CPU features a cache hierarchy with 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache, all of which contribute to its responsiveness in gaming workloads.

In benchmark tests, the 265 achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and a single-core score of 5960. These scores indicate that the processor is extremely capable in both multi-threaded and single-threaded tasks. For a game like Doom, which is a fast-paced FPS that benefits from strong single-core performance, the 5.30 GHz boost clock is particularly relevant. The high clock speed ensures that the game's main thread can run at maximum speed, reducing the risk of CPU-bound frame rate drops.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 49682 and single-thread score of 4689 further reinforce this picture. The data compression score of 522983 and encryption score of 40456 show that the CPU handles data-intensive tasks well, though these are less directly relevant to gaming. The floating-point math score of 172776 and integer math score of 134773 indicate strong arithmetic performance, which can help with physics calculations and game logic.

The CPU's TDP is 65 W, which is relatively modest for a 20-core processor, suggesting efficient power delivery. It supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, which provides ample memory bandwidth for Doom's data streaming needs. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures that the GPU can communicate with the CPU at high speed, though the RTX 2070 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which is backward compatible.

Given that the CPU's average benchmark score of 64640 places it in the 93rd percentile, it is clear that the 265 is not the limiting factor in this combo. In Doom, the CPU provides more than enough processing power to feed the GPU, and the benchmark results show that frame rates are more heavily influenced by the graphics card. The CPU's role here is to ensure that frame times remain consistent and that there are no CPU-induced stutters, which is well within its capabilities.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is based on the Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process by TSMC. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. The GPU also includes 40 ray tracing cores and 320 tensor cores, which are part of the Turing architecture's feature set. The base clock is 1605 MHz, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective on a 256-bit bus.

The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K resolution, the 8 GB capacity and bandwidth can become limiting, particularly with high-quality textures and settings. The pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s, which are respectable figures for a card of this class. The FP32 performance is 9.062 TFLOPS, and FP16 performance is 18.12 TFLOPS, which reflects the card's compute capabilities.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 2070 SUPER scores 18169 in PassMark G3D, which is a measure of general 3D graphics performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1651, and the Geekbench Vulkan score is 90637. These scores indicate that the GPU is competitive with other mid-to-high-end cards, but it is not a top-tier performer in the current database. Its percentile rank of 65 means that 35% of all tested GPUs are faster, which aligns with its position relative to the nearest rivals mentioned earlier.

The GPU's TDP is 215 W, which is typical for a card of this performance level. It uses a dual-slot cooler and requires a 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connector, with a suggested power supply of 550 W. The card has a length of 267 mm, a height of 116 mm, and a width of 35 mm, making it a standard dual-slot design that fits in most cases.

For Doom, the GPU's role is to render the game's fast-paced action at high frame rates. The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the memory bandwidth and capacity become stressed, particularly at Ultra settings. The boost clock of 1770 MHz provides good performance, but the card is clearly the bottleneck in this combo, as evidenced by the FPS measurements that show significant drops at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how this combo performs across different resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the system delivers high frame rates across all settings. At Low settings, the average FPS is 212, with a minimum of 157 and a maximum of 212 in the Medium setting range. At Medium settings, the average FPS is 184, with a minimum of 157 and a maximum of 212. At High settings, the average FPS is 156, and at Ultra settings, the average FPS is 127. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the combo is more than capable of driving high refresh rate monitors, with even Ultra settings exceeding 120 FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the frame rates drop noticeably but remain playable. At Low settings, the average FPS is 137, at Medium settings it is 119, with a minimum of 101 and maximum of 137, at High settings it is 101, and at Ultra settings it is 82. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra settings is from 127 to 82, which is a 35% reduction. This suggests that the GPU is becoming more stressed at this resolution, but the frame rates are still within an acceptable range for most gamers, with only Ultra settings dipping below 90 FPS.

At 4K resolution, the performance takes a significant hit. At Low settings, the average FPS is 74, at Medium settings it is 65, with a minimum of 55 and maximum of 74, at High settings it is 55, and at Ultra settings it is 45. These numbers show that at 4K, even Low settings struggle to maintain 75 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 45 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS is particularly telling, as it indicates that the GPU is heavily bottlenecked at this resolution.

The data shows a clear pattern: the combo is excellent at 1080p, with all settings producing frame rates above 120 FPS. At 1440p, it remains playable, but Ultra settings fall below 90 FPS. At 4K, the system is only suitable for lower quality settings, and even then, frame rates are modest. The minimum FPS values, where available, show that the system maintains reasonable frame time consistency, with the 1080p Medium minimum of 157 and 1440p Medium minimum of 101, which are still above 60 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals which component is limiting performance in this combo. At 1080p Low settings, the average FPS is 212. At 1440p Low settings, the average FPS is 137, which represents a 35% drop. At 4K Low settings, the average FPS is 74, which is a 65% drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where increasing resolution places more demand on the graphics card.

Looking at Ultra settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 127. At 1440p Ultra, it is 82, a 35% drop. At 4K Ultra, it is 45, a 65% drop from 1080p. The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU's performance does not change with resolution. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar frame rates across resolutions, but that is not the case.

The drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is from 212 to 74, which is a 138 FPS difference. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 127 to 45, an 82 FPS difference. The fact that the absolute FPS drop is larger at Low settings (138) than at Ultra settings (82) indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is being pushed harder relative to its capabilities, while at Ultra settings, other factors such as memory bandwidth may also come into play.

The data clearly shows that the limiting component in this combo is the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has more than enough processing power to handle Doom at any resolution, as evidenced by its high benchmark scores and percentile rank. The RTX 2070 SUPER, on the other hand, shows its age at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where it cannot maintain 60 FPS at any setting above Low. The 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth are simply not sufficient for 4K gaming with this title at higher quality settings.

The resolution scaling also highlights that at 1080p, the combo is well-balanced, with the GPU able to push frame rates high enough to take advantage of the CPU's capabilities. At 1440p, the balance shifts toward the GPU, and at 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. For users targeting 4K, this combo would require a more powerful graphics card to achieve playable frame rates at higher settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 with the RTX 2070 SUPER in Doom?

A: This combo ranks 1654 out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the 56th percentile of all tested combos for this game.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 4464P, scores 64823, which is 0.3% faster. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, making the 265 0.3% faster. The AMD EPYC 7343 scores 64202, which is 0.7% slower, and the AMD EPYC 9124 scores 65104, which is 0.7% faster.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile rank and how does it compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has a percentile rank of 65 against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all slightly faster: the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M is 1% faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is 1.2% faster, the Intel Arc B570 is 1.3% faster, and the Intel Arc A750 is 1.5% faster.

Q: What are the measured FPS results at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average FPS of 127. For comparison, at 1080p Low settings, the average is 212 FPS, at Medium settings it is 184 FPS, and at High settings it is 156 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K resolution, the average FPS ranges from 74 at Low settings to 45 at Ultra settings. Medium settings achieve 65 FPS, and High settings achieve 55 FPS. These results indicate that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo for Doom?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the combo delivers over 120 FPS at all settings, but at 4K, frame rates drop significantly, with Ultra settings falling to 45 FPS. The CPU's percentile rank of 93 and high benchmark scores indicate it has ample headroom, while the GPU's percentile rank of 65 and lower memory bandwidth are the primary constraints.