Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti combination delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Doom, with the data showing this pairing is well-balanced for the game's demanding combat arenas. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings indicate that this setup is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p and solid 60+ FPS performance at 4K, making it a versatile choice for both competitive and cinematic playthroughs.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across the four tested presets, with the sweet spot depending entirely on your target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset produces an average of 142 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors, while the High preset pushes that to 174 FPS. The Medium preset sits between them at 206 FPS, and Low reaches 236 FPS. For most players at 1080p, the Ultra preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as the 142 FPS average still exceeds the refresh rate of most standard gaming displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the data shows that Ultra settings yield an average of 92 FPS, which is perfectly playable for single-player experiences but may feel slightly below the threshold for competitive play on 144Hz monitors. The High preset at this resolution provides 113 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 1440p users who want to maximize both visual quality and frame rate. The Medium preset delivers 133 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh displays, but the visual downgrade from High is noticeable in Doom's detailed environments.

At 3840x2160, the performance picture changes significantly. The Ultra preset drops to 50 FPS average, which is below the smoothness threshold for fast-paced action. The High preset at 4K delivers 61 FPS, just clearing the 60 FPS mark, while Medium reaches 72 FPS and Low hits 83 FPS. For 4K gaming with this combination, the High preset is the clear recommendation, as it provides a stable 60+ FPS experience while maintaining the game's visual impact. The Medium preset offers a more comfortable margin at 72 FPS, but the drop in texture quality and effects is apparent on large displays. The data strongly suggests that High settings at 4K represent the optimal compromise for this hardware pairing.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark database places this specific CPU-GPU combination at rank 1420 out of 2930 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the 51st percentile of all systems evaluated. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the strong measured frame rates, but it reflects the fact that many higher-end GPUs and newer CPUs can push this engine to even higher extremes. The ranking indicates that while this combo is far from the top of the performance pyramid, it sits comfortably above the median, meaning it outperforms roughly half of all tested systems in this game.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 itself ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4464P, which scores 64823 (a delta of -0.3%), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F at 64438 (delta +0.3%). This shows the CPU is performing essentially identically to its closest competitors, with less than one percentage point separating these processors. The AMD EPYC 7343 and EPYC 9124 also sit within 0.7% of its score, indicating that this processor is in a very tightly contested performance tier where architectural differences make little practical difference in gaming workloads.

For the GPU, the RTX 3060 Ti holds the 59th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 16129. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, scores 16014 (0.7% delta), while the Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon RX 5700 XT both score 16351 (-1.4% delta). This places the RTX 3060 Ti in a competitive mid-range segment where performance differences between cards are minimal. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU explains the overall system ranking: the CPU is clearly not the bottleneck, but the GPU limits the system's ability to reach the highest frame rates seen in the database.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is the primary determinant of frame rates in Doom at higher resolutions, and the data confirms this through the scaling patterns across settings. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for Doom's texture-heavy environments at all tested settings. The 8 GB capacity does not appear to be a limiting factor in these measurements, as even the Ultra preset at 4K maintains playable frame rates without evidence of memory-related stuttering.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 4864 shading units and 152 texture mapping units, produce a pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s. In Doom's id Tech engine, these specifications translate to strong fill-rate performance, which is why the card handles 4K Medium at 72 FPS and 1440p Ultra at 92 FPS. The FP32 throughput of 16.20 TFLOPS provides ample compute for the game's particle effects and dynamic lighting.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (0.7% delta) and the Radeon RX 5700 XT (-1.4% delta), confirming that the 3060 Ti sits in a well-populated performance tier. The PassMark G3D score of 20349 and DirectX 12 score of 78 indicate solid DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant since Doom supports Vulkan and DirectX 12 APIs. The GPU's 38 ray tracing cores are not heavily utilized in this title, as Doom primarily relies on traditional rasterization, but they do provide headroom for future titles.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Doom at 4K Ultra settings smoothly?

A: No, the data shows the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the High preset at 4K achieves 61 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that maintains acceptable performance at this resolution.

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for competitive play?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the system averages 142 FPS, which is suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. If you need even higher frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p reaches 236 FPS, providing maximum responsiveness for fast-paced multiplayer matches.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its closest competitors in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3060 Ti has an average benchmark score of 16129, placing it at the 59th percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9060, scores 16014 (0.7% higher), while the Radeon RX 5700 XT scores 16361 (1.4% higher). These differences are minimal and unlikely to be noticeable in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 overkill for this GPU in Doom?

A: The CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile among all processors, significantly outperforming the GPU's 59th percentile ranking. However, the 20-core, 20-thread processor with a 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures there is no CPU bottleneck, even at 1080p Low settings where the GPU is pushed to 236 FPS.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 2560x1440 with High settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 113 FPS at 1440p High, with the Medium preset delivering 133 FPS and Ultra at 92 FPS. This makes 1440p High an excellent choice for users with 120Hz or 144Hz monitors.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K with Medium settings compared to High?

A: At 4K Medium, the system averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, while High settings average 61 FPS. The Medium preset provides a 11 FPS advantage and a more comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the safer choice for 4K gaming if you prioritize smoothness.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about where the bottleneck lies in this system. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system achieves 174 FPS, which drops to 113 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 35% reduction) and further to 61 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 65% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution directly impacts frame rates in a predictable manner. The CPU is clearly capable of handling the game's logic at these frame rates, as evidenced by the 236 FPS achieved at 1080p Low settings.

The data shows that the RTX 3060 Ti is the limiting component when resolution increases. Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings, the frame rate drops from 113 to 61 FPS, nearly halving despite the resolution only increasing by 2.25 times in pixel count. This suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are being fully utilized at 4K, with the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 133.2 GPixel/s pixel rate proving insufficient to maintain higher frame rates at this resolution. The 8 GB VRAM capacity does not appear to be a constraint, as the performance drops are consistent across settings rather than showing sudden degradation from memory overflow.

The scaling also indicates that the Ultra 7 265 CPU provides sufficient headroom for the GPU to operate at its full potential. The fact that frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution suggests no CPU-induced stalling, even at 1080p where the GPU is under less pressure. This is consistent with the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking and its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42216, which provides ample processing power for game logic and physics calculations. Players targeting 1440p or 4K should focus any potential upgrades on the GPU, as the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in this configuration.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 serves as the foundation for this system, providing substantial processing power that ensures the GPU is never waiting on the CPU. With 20 cores and 20 threads, this Arrow Lake-S processor offers robust multi-threading capabilities that handle Doom's background tasks with ease. The base clock of 2.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz provide excellent single-thread performance, which is crucial for game engines that rely heavily on a primary rendering thread. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960 confirms this processor's strength in lightly-threaded workloads, while the multicore score of 42216 demonstrates its capability for simultaneous task processing.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 30 MB shared L3, ensures low-latency access to frequently used game data. This is particularly important in Doom's fast-paced combat scenarios where level geometry and enemy AI states change rapidly. The 65W TDP and 3 nm process node from TSMC indicate efficient power management, allowing the processor to maintain high boost clocks without excessive thermal throttling. The 102.4 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth provides ample throughput for game assets, though the game's performance is more dependent on GPU memory bandwidth as resolution increases.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system achieves 236 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to saturate even high-refresh-rate displays. The processor's nearest rivals, including the AMD EPYC 4464P and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, show less than 1% performance differences, confirming that this CPU is well-positioned in its performance tier. For Doom specifically, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing and prevent any drops during intense combat sequences, which it accomplishes admirably based on the measured averages. The combination of high single-thread performance and substantial multi-thread capacity makes this processor an excellent match for the RTX 3060 Ti, ensuring that system performance is limited only by the GPU's capabilities at higher resolutions.