Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX paired with the AMD Radeon 8050S delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The measured data shows a system that is exceptionally strong at standard gaming resolutions, but which begins to show its limits when pushed to 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K reveals a predictable yet significant performance drop that is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 139 FPS at 1920x1080 to 90 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 49 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 49 FPS, representing a 90 FPS loss from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the AMD Radeon 8050S is the limiting component, as the resolution increase directly taxes the GPU's fillrate and shading capabilities.

The scaling pattern across all settings is consistent. At Low settings, the system achieves 188 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 65% at Low settings, which is substantial. At Ultra settings, the same resolution jump sees the average frame rate plummet from 113 FPS to 40 FPS, a 65% reduction as well. This uniformity in scaling across presets reinforces the conclusion that the GPU's raw throughput is the bottleneck, rather than the CPU or memory subsystem.

Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K. For instance, at Medium settings, 1080p yields 164 FPS, 1440p yields 106 FPS, and 4K yields 57 FPS. The frame rate loss from 1080p to 1440p is 58 FPS, while the loss from 1440p to 4K is 49 FPS. This suggests that while the GPU is heavily loaded at 1440p, the jump to 4K pushes it into a territory where pixel throughput becomes increasingly inefficient, likely due to the Radeon 8050S's 64 ROPs and 2048 shading units being overwhelmed by the 8.3 million pixels of 4K.

The data indicates that the Core Ultra 7 265HX has ample headroom at all resolutions. The 20-core, 20-thread processor with a 5.30 GHz boost clock is never the limiting factor in these tests. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a plateau in frame rates as resolution decreases, but the consistent scaling from 4K down to 1080p proves otherwise. The benchmark results show a system that is perfectly balanced for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates, but which cedes ground to the GPU's workload at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for a smooth experience depend heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p, the Ultra preset is the clear choice for visual fidelity, as it delivers an average of 113 FPS, which remains well above the 60 FPS threshold and is suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset at 1080p offers 139 FPS, which is a 23% improvement over Ultra and could be preferable for competitive play where maximum frame rates matter more than shadow quality or texture filtering.

At 1440p, the High preset emerges as the best balance of visual quality and performance. It produces an average of 90 FPS, which is smooth for most players. The Medium preset at 1440p yields 106 FPS, a 17% uplift over High, but the visual downgrade may not be worth it for a 16 FPS gain. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 73 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. For a 144Hz monitor, Medium would be the recommended setting to stay near the refresh ceiling, but for a standard 60Hz display, High offers the superior image quality without compromising smoothness.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. The High preset averages 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 4K averages 57 FPS, which is closer to playable but still not ideal. The Low preset at 4K achieves 66 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that consistently stays above 60 FPS. Given the data, players targeting 4K should use Low settings for a responsive experience, or accept Medium for a visual compromise at slightly lower frame rates. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as its 40 FPS average falls into a range where input latency becomes noticeable in a fast-paced FPS like Doom.

The data suggests that the Radeon 8050S is best utilized at 1080p and 1440p, where it can deliver high frame rates with high or ultra settings. The measured rows show a clear inflection point at 4K, where the GPU's 11.47 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient to maintain high frame rates with demanding presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable at 1080p with this combo?

A: The highest average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 188 FPS, achieved with the Low settings preset. The High preset delivers 139 FPS, Medium delivers 164 FPS, and Ultra delivers 113 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, only the Low settings preset exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, with an average of 66 FPS. Medium settings average 57 FPS, High settings average 49 FPS, and Ultra settings average 40 FPS, all of which fall below 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings?

A: The average frame rate drops from 139 FPS at 1080p to 90 FPS at 1440p, a decrease of 49 FPS or roughly 35%.

Q: Is the Core Ultra 7 265HX or the Radeon 8050S the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. Frame rates scale consistently with resolution, dropping from 188 FPS at 1080p Low to 66 FPS at 4K Low, which is a classic GPU-bound pattern. The CPU's high single-thread score of 5737 in Cinebench R23 suggests it has ample headroom.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Ultra and Low presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset averages 73 FPS, while the Low preset averages 122 FPS. This represents a 49 FPS difference, with Low being approximately 67% faster than Ultra.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for this setup?

A: The only measured minimum FPS values are for the Medium preset: 139 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. These minimums match the average FPS of the High preset at the corresponding resolutions, suggesting consistent frame pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 188 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset follows with 164 FPS, and the High preset reaches 139 FPS. The Ultra preset, while the most demanding, still produces a robust 113 FPS. The measured minimum for Medium at this resolution is 139 FPS, with a maximum of 189 FPS, indicating a tight frame time distribution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. The Low preset averages 122 FPS, the Medium preset averages 106 FPS, and the High preset averages 90 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 73 FPS, which is the lowest score at this resolution but still comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum and maximum are 90 FPS and 122 FPS, respectively, which perfectly align with the average FPS of the High and Low presets, showing a linear scaling relationship.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly under heavy load. The Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration to break the 60 FPS barrier. The Medium preset averages 57 FPS, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS. The High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 40 FPS. The minimum FPS of the Medium preset at 4K matches the average FPS of the High preset at 4K, suggesting that the GPU's performance ceiling is around 49 FPS when pushed with higher quality settings.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each settings tier at a given resolution is roughly 15-25% faster than the tier above it. For example, at 1440p, Medium is 17.7% faster than High, and High is 23.3% faster than Ultra. This consistent scaling suggests that the game's settings have a uniform impact on GPU load, with no single setting causing a disproportionate performance hit.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8050S, based on the Strix Halo chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture, is the primary driver of the measured frame rates. Its 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are configured with a boost clock of 2800 MHz, which contributes to its peak pixel rate of 179.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 358.4 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 compute of 11.47 TFLOPS is the theoretical ceiling for its shading work, and the benchmark results show that this compute is fully utilized at 4K, where the Ultra preset drops to 40 FPS.

The memory configuration is notable: the 8050S uses System Shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is system-dependent. In this configuration with the Core Ultra 7 265HX, the CPU's dual-channel DDR5 memory support provides a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. This shared memory architecture avoids the traditional VRAM capacity limits of discrete GPUs, but it also means the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth. The data shows that this is not a bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p, as frame rates remain high, but at 4K, the increased memory pressure from higher resolution textures could contribute to the performance drop.

The GPU's 32 ray accelerators are present but not heavily utilized in Doom, which is primarily a rasterization-based game. The benchmark scores for the GPU show a Geekbench OpenCL score of 65818 and a Vulkan score of 58398, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, is a close match with a 0.3% higher average score, while the Radeon RX 9060 XT LP is 2.7% faster. These comparisons indicate that the 8050S is a solid mid-to-high-tier mobile GPU, but its performance at 4K Ultra in Doom is limited by its 11.47 TFLOPS compute and 64 ROPs.

The GPU's 4 nm process node allows it to achieve a 2800 MHz boost clock within a 55 W TDP, which is the same TDP as the CPU. This power envelope is shared in a mobile platform, but the benchmark data shows that the GPU is able to sustain its performance without thermal throttling, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, provides a robust foundation for gaming. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz are complemented by a 30 MB shared L3 cache, which is ample for game data. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 40642 and single-core score of 5737 place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating that it is a high-performance mobile processor.

In Doom, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system achieves 188 FPS, which would require the CPU to process frames at a rate of under 5.3 milliseconds per frame. The Core Ultra 7 265HX's single-core performance is more than sufficient for this task. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 4500 is strong, and its multi-thread score of 47985 indicates that even heavily threaded game engines would not strain it.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13790F, has an average score that is 0.1% lower, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G is 0.2% higher. This puts the 265HX in a tightly contested performance band. The 265HX's 30 MB of L3 cache is shared across all 20 cores, which helps with data locality in games. However, Doom is known to be more GPU-dependent than CPU-dependent, and the benchmark results confirm that the CPU's 20 cores are underutilized in this title.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s is shared with the GPU, and while this could theoretically be a limiting factor, the high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p suggest that the memory subsystem is adequate. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU's PCIe 5.0 x16 connection, ensuring that data transfers between the CPU and GPU are not a bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested game combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and AMD Radeon 8050S ranks 2742 out of 3712 tested combos in Doom. This places it in the 26th percentile of all combinations, meaning that about 74% of tested systems perform better in this game. This rank is somewhat surprising given the individual component strengths, but it reflects the fact that the 8050S, while capable, is not a top-tier discrete GPU.

The combo rank is likely influenced by the GPU's shared memory architecture. While the 8050S has a high Geekbench score, its system-dependent memory bandwidth can be a disadvantage in games compared to discrete GPUs with dedicated GDDR6 memory. The rank suggests that in Doom, which scales well with GPU compute, the 8050S's 11.47 TFLOPS is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but falls short of the performance offered by higher-end mobile GPUs.

The CPU's percentile rank of 93 is significantly higher than the combo's overall rank, which is a clear indication that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the combo rank would be closer to the CPU's percentile. The GPU's own percentile rank of 89 is also higher than the combo rank, which suggests that the specific combination of this CPU and GPU in a shared memory configuration results in performance that is lower than either component would suggest individually.

The measured FPS data confirms this ranking. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 113 FPS, which is excellent, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 40 FPS. Many other combos with discrete GPUs would maintain higher 4K performance. The combo's rank of 2742 out of 3712 places it in the lower-middle tier of tested systems, which is consistent with a GPU that is powerful for integrated graphics but not competitive with mid-range discrete solutions in the most demanding scenarios.