Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers exceptional performance in Doom (2016), achieving a combo rank of 500 out of 3712 tested combinations. This places the pairing in the top 13.5% of all tested systems, with measured frame rates ranging from 77 FPS at 4K Ultra to 366 FPS at 1080p Low. The data indicates that this configuration is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at lower resolutions, while 4K Ultra settings present the only scenario where the frame rate drops below the 100 FPS mark.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo rank for this CPU and GPU pairing in Doom?*

A: The combo ranks 500th out of 3712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 13.5% of all tested systems for this game.

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved with this combo?

A: The highest recorded average is 366 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest average is 77 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has an average benchmark score of 70879, which is 1% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163) and 1.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996). It trails the Intel Xeon 6511P by 0.2% and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 0.7%.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX sits at the 64th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19410. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, scores a nearly identical 19334 (0.4% difference).

Q: Does the CPU have integrated graphics that could affect performance?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K includes Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units. However, the measured FPS data comes from the discrete AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, so the integrated graphics do not factor into these results.

Q: What is the boost clock of the CPU and the game clock of the GPU?

A: The CPU boosts to 5.50 GHz from a base of 3.90 GHz. The GPU has a game clock of 2365 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this pairing for Doom, and the data supports this. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is far beyond what Doom requires, even at 4K Ultra, where the measured average is 77 FPS. The GPU’s base clock is 1929 MHz, with a game clock of 2365 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz. These clocks, combined with 6144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 raster operations units, produce a pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 61.39 TFLOPS.

In Doom, the GPU’s raw rasterization power is what drives the high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 366 FPS, which is a clear indicator that the GPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution. The 24 GB VRAM allocation is never stressed by this game, as even the most demanding settings (4K Ultra) only require a fraction of that capacity. The GPU’s role shifts from being the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra to being underutilized at 1080p Low, where the CPU and game engine’s frame rate ceiling come into play.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its capability. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 31238 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 85612. These scores, while not directly tied to Doom performance, align with the observed FPS results. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 64 among all GPUs is modest, but that ranking includes workstation and older cards; in gaming workloads like Doom, the RX 7900 XTX performs far above its percentile suggests. The nearest rival in benchmark scores is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which scores 19334 (0.4% lower), but that card has only 3 GB of VRAM and a fraction of the compute units, so the comparison in real gaming is not meaningful.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 500 out of 3712 places this system in the top 13.5% of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in Doom. This is a strong result, but not the absolute top. The ranking reflects the balance between the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The CPU, with an average benchmark score of 70879, sits at the 94th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P (71051, -0.2%), Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71370, -0.7%), Intel Core i7-14700KF (70163, 1%), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996, 1.3%). This means the CPU is competitive with high-end server and desktop parts, though it does not lead its immediate peer group.

The GPU, however, has a lower percentile ranking (64th) and an average benchmark score of 19410, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (19334, 0.4% difference). This is surprising given the RX 7900 XTX’s 24 GB VRAM and modern architecture, but the benchmark database includes a wide range of tests, some of which may not favor the RDNA 3.0 design. In Doom, the GPU’s actual performance is far better than its percentile suggests, as evidenced by the measured FPS. The combo rank of 500 indicates that many other systems with faster CPUs or more specialized GPUs achieve higher frame rates, but for a mainstream high-end pairing, this is an excellent result.

The rank also benefits from the game’s optimization. Doom (released 2016-05-12) is well-known for scaling across hardware, and the data confirms that. The combo achieves over 200 FPS at 1080p Medium and over 140 FPS at 1440p Ultra, which are numbers that would challenge many newer games. The combination of a 20-core, 20-thread CPU with a 24 GB GPU is overkill for this title, but it produces a smooth experience at every resolution and settings level tested.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (3840x2160, 2560x1440, 1920x1080) and four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). At 4K (3840x2160), the average frame rates are 128 FPS on Low, 112 FPS on Medium, 94 FPS on High, and 77 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting also reports a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS, indicating some frame time variance but no severe drops below 95 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, as the CPU’s 20 cores are more than sufficient for the game’s threading.

At 1440p (2560x1440), the averages jump significantly: 237 FPS on Low, 206 FPS on Medium, 174 FPS on High, and 143 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 176 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, which means even the worst frame times stay well above 144 Hz. This resolution strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as the GPU still has enough headroom to push high frame rates without the CPU becoming a limit.

At 1080p (1920x1080), the averages are 366 FPS on Low, 319 FPS on Medium, 269 FPS on High, and 220 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting reports a minimum of 271 FPS and a maximum of 367 FPS. At this resolution, the CPU and game engine’s frame rate ceiling become apparent, as the GPU is capable of far more than 366 FPS, but the measurement caps out due to other bottlenecks. The 366 FPS Low result is the highest average in the entire dataset, showing that the combo has no trouble saturating a 360 Hz monitor at low settings.

Comparing across settings, the drop from Low to Ultra at each resolution is consistent. At 1080p, the drop is from 366 to 220 FPS (a 39.9% reduction). At 1440p, it is from 237 to 143 FPS (a 39.7% reduction). At 4K, it is from 128 to 77 FPS (a 39.8% reduction). This uniformity suggests that the GPU’s scaling with settings is linear, and the CPU is not introducing any variable bottlenecks at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each resolution. At Low settings, the averages are 366 FPS at 1080p, 237 FPS at 1440p, and 128 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.2%, and from 1440p to 4K is 46.0%. At Medium settings, the averages are 319 FPS, 206 FPS, and 112 FPS, with drops of 35.4% and 45.6%. High settings show 269 FPS, 174 FPS, and 94 FPS, with drops of 35.3% and 46.0%. Ultra settings show 220 FPS, 143 FPS, and 77 FPS, with drops of 35.0% and 46.2%.

The consistent ~35% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~46% drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would be less steep at higher resolutions because the GPU would have more work per frame, but the frame rate would still be limited by the CPU at 1080p. Here, the 1080p results are not disproportionately higher than 1440p, which would be the case if the CPU were capping performance. Instead, the scaling follows the pixel count increase: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p. The actual frame rate drops are smaller than the pixel count increases, meaning the GPU has some headroom even at 4K.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU, but the CPU’s role should not be dismissed. At 1080p Low, the 366 FPS result is likely near the practical limit for the game engine, not the GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with its 20 cores and 20 threads, has a boost clock of 5.50 GHz and a single-thread score of 2020 in Cinebench R23. This strong single-thread performance allows the CPU to keep up with the GPU’s frame generation at lower resolutions. The data shows that the combo scales predictably, and no resolution or settings combination produces an unexpected bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the target resolution. At 1080p, the High setting offers 269 FPS average, which is more than enough for any high-refresh-rate monitor. Ultra drops to 220 FPS, which is still excellent, but the visual improvement from High to Ultra in Doom is minimal compared to the 18.2% performance loss. For players with a 144 Hz monitor at 1080p, High is the optimal choice because it maintains well above 144 FPS with the best visual quality without sacrificing frame rate stability. Low produces 366 FPS, but the visual degradation is not worth it unless the player has a 360 Hz display and prioritizes competitive play.

At 1440p, the Medium setting delivers 206 FPS average with a minimum of 176 FPS. This is the sweet spot for the combo, as it provides a high frame rate that exceeds 144 Hz while still offering decent visual fidelity. High drops to 174 FPS, which is still above 144 Hz, but Medium’s higher minimum (176 FPS vs. High’s unlisted minimum) suggests better frame pacing. Ultra at 143 FPS is just below 144 Hz, which could cause slight stuttering on a 144 Hz display. Therefore, Medium is recommended for 1440p, with High as a viable alternative for those who prefer visual quality over a wider FPS margin.

At 4K, the situation changes. Ultra produces only 77 FPS, which is below the 90 FPS threshold many consider smooth. High produces 94 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced FPS gameplay. Medium produces 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS, making it the best choice for 4K gaming. The 112 FPS average is above 100 FPS, and the minimum of 95 FPS ensures no major dips. Low produces 128 FPS, but the visual drop is severe at 4K, where the resolution’s benefits are wasted on low-quality textures. For 4K, Medium is the recommended setting, as it provides the best balance of visual quality and performance. High is acceptable for slower-paced sections, but Medium’s higher minimum frame rate makes it the safer choice for maintaining smooth gameplay.

The data shows that this combo excels at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K requiring settings adjustments to maintain high frame rates. The 24 GB VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth ensure that memory is never a limitation at any setting, so the choice between settings comes down to the GPU’s compute load. The measured FPS values confirm that Medium settings are the best overall recommendation across all resolutions, as they consistently provide the highest minimum frame rates (95 FPS at 4K, 176 FPS at 1440p, 271 FPS at 1080p) while keeping average FPS well above playable thresholds.