Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a playable but uneven experience in Doom, with performance heavily dictated by the graphics preset selected. The data shows a system that can easily handle high-refresh 1080p gaming but begins to struggle as resolution and quality settings climb. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, interprets the scaling behavior, and contextualizes the combo's standing within the broader benchmark database.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 145.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops that to 90 FPS, a reduction of approximately 38%. The jump to 3840x2160 High further reduces the average to 48.7 FPS, another 46% decline from the 1440p figure. This steep, consistent drop-off indicates that the Radeon RX 7600 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at the Ultra preset. The system manages 119.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which falls to 72.8 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and then plummets to 41.9 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is barely above the threshold for smooth gameplay on many displays. In contrast, the Low preset shows the most resilience to resolution scaling: 195.4 FPS at 1080p, 122.4 FPS at 1440p, and 65.7 FPS at 4K. This suggests that when the graphical load is minimized, the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU still bottlenecks at 4K.

The data indicates this is not a CPU-limited scenario at any resolution. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, provides more than enough processing power for Doom's engine. The consistent FPS drops across all settings as resolution increases point directly to the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth being the constraining factors. The RX 7600's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are sufficient for 1080p but become strained at 4K, especially with higher quality textures and effects.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimal settings based on target resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080, the High preset delivering 145.6 FPS is the sweet spot for high-refresh monitors, as it clears the 144 Hz threshold with room to spare. The Medium preset at 169.1 FPS offers even more headroom for 165 Hz displays, but the visual fidelity trade-off may not be worth it given that High already exceeds 144 FPS. The Ultra preset at 119.4 FPS is still playable but misses the 144 FPS mark, making High the better choice for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more nuanced. The High preset at 90 FPS is solid for 60 Hz and even 75 Hz monitors, but those with 144 Hz 1440p panels will need to compromise. The Medium preset at 109 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance for high-refresh 1440p gaming. The Low preset at 122.4 FPS is the only way to approach 120+ FPS at this resolution, but the visual downgrade is significant. The Ultra preset at 72.8 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced single-player sessions but not ideal for fast movement.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests this combo is not well-suited for high-refresh 4K gaming. The High preset at 48.7 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset at 41.9 FPS is borderline unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. The Low preset at 65.7 FPS is the only 4K option that clears 60 FPS, but it requires sacrificing nearly all visual enhancements. The Medium preset at 58.6 FPS is a compromise that stays just under the 60 FPS line. For 4K, the recommendation is to use Low or Medium settings and accept a 60 FPS cap, or to reduce the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the decisive component in this combo's gaming performance. Its benchmark results show a mid-range standing, with a percentile of 63 versus all GPUs. The GPU's average benchmark score of 20258 places it very close to its nearest rivals: the RX 7600 XT is only 0.6% ahead, and the RX 460 is 0.8% ahead. This clustering indicates that the RX 7600 is a well-established performer in its class, but it does not have the raw power to drive demanding titles at high resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. These relatively high frequencies for a mid-range card help it achieve the measured FPS at 1080p, where it can stretch its legs. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p and even 1440p in most cases, but the 4K data shows the limitation. At 4K High, the 48.7 FPS result suggests the GPU is hitting a memory bandwidth wall, unable to feed the shaders fast enough to maintain higher frame rates.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS and its texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are competitive for its class, but they are not enough to overcome the resolution scaling penalties observed. The 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs are standard for this tier, and the 2048 shading units provide solid compute throughput. The data strongly suggests that the RX 7600 is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with moderate settings, where it can leverage its high clock speeds without being bottlenecked by memory bandwidth.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position in the database is surprisingly low given the hardware involved. It ranks 1164 out of 1681 tested combos for Doom, placing it in the bottom 31% of all configurations. This ranking seems at odds with the CPU's performance, as the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K sits in the 97th percentile versus all CPUs. The discrepancy highlights how heavily the GPU drags down the overall ranking for this specific game.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it is a top-tier processor. The Core Ultra 7 265KF is only 0.2% behind in average benchmark score, and the Core i9-14900KF is also 0.2% behind. The Core i9-14900K is 0.9% ahead, and the AMD EPYC 7413 is 1.2% ahead. These tiny deltas indicate that the CPU is performing at the expected level for a high-end desktop chip. However, the combo rank of 1164 suggests that many other configurations with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs achieve better FPS in Doom.

The combo rank is a direct reflection of the GPU's mid-range standing. With the RX 7600 only in the 63rd percentile for GPUs, it is clear that this combo is built for 1080p gaming rather than high-end 4K. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor; a more powerful GPU would likely push this combo much higher in the rankings. The 1164th place out of 1681 is a reminder that balanced builds matter, and pairing a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a system that is CPU-heavy but GPU-light.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides an exceptionally strong foundation for gaming, though its influence on Doom's frame rates is minimal at higher resolutions. With 20 cores and 20 threads, it offers massive parallel processing capability, reflected in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 50009. Its single-core performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 score of 7060. These scores place it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, confirming its status as a high-end desktop processor.

The CPU's clock speeds are substantial: a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This high boost clock is particularly relevant for gaming, as many games rely on single-threaded performance. However, the measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most stressed, the combo achieves 195.4 FPS. This is below what the CPU alone could drive, indicating that the GPU is still the bottleneck even at the lowest settings and resolution.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 per core, provides ample fast memory for game data. The memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via dual-channel DDR5 is sufficient to feed both the CPU and GPU without introducing stutters. In Doom, which is not particularly CPU-intensive by modern standards, the 265K is never the limiting factor. The data suggests that the CPU's role is to provide a stable, high-performance platform that allows the RX 7600 to operate at its full potential without any CPU-induced frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS values provides a comprehensive view of this combo's performance. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 119.4 FPS, which is 38% lower than the Low preset's 195.4 FPS. The Medium preset achieves 169.1 FPS, and the High preset reaches 145.6 FPS. This 1080p scaling is smooth, with each preset step yielding a predictable FPS change.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 72.8 FPS, while the High preset holds at 90 FPS. The Medium preset at 109 FPS and the Low preset at 122.4 FPS show that 1440p is still viable for 60-120 Hz gaming depending on quality preferences. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 49.6 FPS, indicating that the GPU's performance headroom is shrinking as resolution increases.

The 3840x2160 results show the sharpest decline. The Ultra preset at 41.9 FPS is nearly unplayable, while the High preset at 48.7 FPS is marginally better. The Medium preset at 58.6 FPS is the best quality option that approaches 60 FPS, and the Low preset at 65.7 FPS is the only one that exceeds it. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 23.8 FPS, a much smaller absolute gap than at 1080p, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at this resolution regardless of settings. The data concludes that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, with 4K reserved for Low or Medium settings on slower-paced games.