Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics produces a playable but constrained experience in Doom, with performance heavily dictated by resolution and preset. The data shows a clear pattern: the system is firmly GPU-limited, as frame rates scale dramatically with resolution changes while the CPU remains a capable foundation. This combination ranks near the bottom of the tested pool, but its performance profile reveals a workable setup for older titles.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent performance drop as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of the AMD Radeon 890M integrated GPU being the primary limiting component. At 1080p High, the system delivers 70 FPS, but moving to 1440p High cuts that down to 45 FPS, a reduction of roughly 36%. The step from 1440p to 4K is even more punishing, with High settings falling from 45 FPS to just 24 FPS, a 47% decrease. This scaling pattern is not linear, suggesting the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth are exhausted well before the CPU's capabilities are challenged.

Looking at the Low preset, the trend is similar but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system hits 95 FPS, which drops to 61 FPS at 1440p (a 36% decline) and then to 33 FPS at 4K (a 46% decline from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets reinforces that resolution is the dominant variable, not graphical complexity. The CPU, with its 16 cores and 22 threads, is more than sufficient for Doom's engine; the bottleneck is squarely on the Radeon 890M's 1024 shading units and its system-shared memory.

The Ultra preset tells the same story with even lower absolute numbers. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 20 FPS, which is barely interactive. The gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution is substantial but consistent: at 1080p, Low (95 FPS) is 67% faster than Ultra (57 FPS), and at 4K, Low (33 FPS) is 65% faster than Ultra (20 FPS). This indicates that the GPU's compute units are saturated by the higher settings, and the frame rate scaling is primarily a function of pixel count and shader load, with no evidence of CPU-side stalling or driver overhead creating a secondary bottleneck.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H + AMD Radeon 890M combo capable of running Doom at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but with severe compromises. The data shows 4K High averaging 24 FPS and 4K Low at 33 FPS. Only the Low preset approaches playability, and even then, the 33 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target most players expect. The 4K Ultra setting is effectively unplayable at 20 FPS.

Q: How does the Radeon 890M's performance compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The Radeon 890M scores 9210 on average across all benchmarks, placing it at the 45th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which scores 9221, a negligible 0.1% delta. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 is 0.7% faster, and the GTX 465 is 0.9% faster. This means the 890M is statistically tied with these older discrete GPUs in overall performance.

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth experience with this setup?

A: According to the measured rows, 1080p is the only resolution where the system consistently exceeds 60 FPS. At 1080p Low, it hits 95 FPS, and at 1080p High, it reaches 70 FPS. 1440p is marginal, with only the Low preset achieving 61 FPS, while High and Medium fall to 45 and 53 FPS respectively.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No. The data shows that frame rates scale almost exclusively with resolution and settings, which is the signature of a GPU bottleneck. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H has a high multi-threaded score of 17984.5 in Cinebench R23, which is far beyond what Doom's engine requires. The GPU is the limiting factor at every measured setting.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H rank against similar CPUs?

A: The CPU sits at the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35670. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350, scores 35719, which is a 0.1% delta in favor of the AMD chip. The Intel Core 7 250H is 0.2% behind this CPU, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is 0.7% behind, indicating the 185H is a very competitive mobile processor.

Q: Is the Radeon 890M's performance consistent across different settings?

A: The performance deltas between settings are logical and consistent. At 1080p, the spread between Low (95 FPS) and Ultra (57 FPS) is 38 FPS, while at 1440p the spread is 24 FPS (61 vs 37). At 4K, the spread narrows to 13 FPS (33 vs 20). This narrowing at higher resolutions suggests the GPU is becoming pixel-bound, reducing the relative impact of shader-heavy settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is a integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output pipelines, along with 16 ray tracing cores. Its boost clock is rated at 2900 MHz, with a base clock of 400 MHz. The GPU's memory is "System Shared," meaning it draws from the main system RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, and its memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent."

In Doom, this shared memory configuration is a critical factor. The game's texture streaming and frame buffer demands are met by the system's dual-channel DDR5 memory, which provides 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth. However, this is shared with the CPU, and the data suggests it is insufficient for high-resolution, high-texture workloads. The 4K Medium preset shows an average FPS of 29 with a minimum of 25, indicating that frame times are inconsistent when the memory subsystem is under load. The GPU's pixel rate of 92.80 GPixel/s and texture rate of 185.6 GTexel/s are modest figures, and the 5.939 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is low compared to dedicated gaming GPUs.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this picture. Its Passmark G3D score is 8076, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 590. These numbers place it at the 45th percentile of all GPUs, making it a mid-to-low tier part. In Doom, the GPU's role is to handle the game's Vulkan and OpenGL rendering paths, and the measured FPS data shows it does so adequately at 1080p but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K. The 16 ray tracing cores are present, but Doom does not use ray tracing, so they remain idle; the workload is purely rasterization-based, which stresses the ROPs and shading units.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. The Low preset averages 95 FPS, while Medium averages 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 95. High settings average 70 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. This resolution is the only one where every preset exceeds 50 FPS, and the Low and Medium presets clear the 60 FPS threshold comfortably.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably. The Low preset averages 61 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS mark, but Medium falls to 53 FPS with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61. High settings average 45 FPS, and Ultra drops to 37 FPS. At this resolution, only the Low preset is consistently smooth; the others require compromises in visual quality or frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly overmatched. The Low preset averages 33 FPS, Medium averages 29 FPS with a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 33, High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra drops to 20 FPS. None of these are playable for a fast-paced FPS like Doom, which demands high frame rates for responsive aiming. The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is viable, 1440p is marginal, and 4K is not recommended for this hardware combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H + AMD Radeon 890M combination ranks 2758 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the bottom 6% of all systems. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU is a high-end mobile part. The combo's position indicates that while the CPU is capable of driving high frame rates, the integrated GPU holds the entire system back in this title.

This ranking is consistent with the GPU's overall percentile of 45, which means it performs worse than 55% of all GPUs. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking shows it is not the limiting factor. In practical terms, this combo is comparable to systems with older discrete GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or GTX 465, which are within 1% of the 890M's average benchmark score. However, those discrete GPUs often have dedicated VRAM, which can help in texture-heavy scenarios, whereas the 890M relies on system memory.

The rank of 2758 out of 2930 suggests that most other tested combos include dedicated graphics cards, which are inherently faster than integrated solutions. This is not a surprising result, but the data shows that the combo is not entirely unplayable; at 1080p Low, it achieves 95 FPS, which is a solid experience. The ranking reflects the average across all settings and resolutions, and the high-resolution results drag it down significantly.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience balances visual quality with frame rate stability. At 1920x1080, the High preset is the best choice, delivering 70 FPS average. This is above the 60 FPS target and provides a significant visual upgrade over Low. The Medium preset at 82 FPS is also viable, but High offers better image quality for only a 12 FPS penalty. The Ultra preset at 57 FPS is playable but dips below 60, which can be noticeable in fast-paced action.

For users who prioritize frame rate above all else, the 1080p Low preset at 95 FPS is the clear winner, offering near-100 FPS performance. However, the visual difference between Low and High is substantial in Doom, so High is recommended for most players. At 2560x1440, the Low preset at 61 FPS is the only option that hits the 60 FPS target, but it sacrifices visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 53 FPS is a compromise, but the minimum FPS of 45 suggests occasional stutters. For 1440p, Low is recommended if playability is the priority.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets are recommended for serious play. The Low preset at 33 FPS is the highest average, but it is still below the 30 FPS threshold for some, and the input lag will be noticeable. The Ultra preset at 20 FPS is a slideshow. The data clearly indicates that 4K is beyond the capability of this integrated GPU. The best experience is at 1080p High, which offers a smooth 70 FPS average with good visual quality, making it the sweet spot for this hardware combination.