Doom

The data for Doom with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 presents a clear picture of a system where the GPU is the primary driver of performance, though the CPU proves more than capable of keeping pace. The measured FPS across the three resolutions and four settings presets shows a predictable scaling pattern that highlights the strengths of this particular hardware pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows the expected curve for a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 232 FPS at 1920x1080 to 150 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 82 FPS or roughly 35%. Moving from 1440p to 4K brings another significant decline, with the High preset dropping from 150 FPS to 81 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 46% decrease, confirming that the 4K resolution is placing a heavy load on the graphics card.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced at lower settings. With the Low preset, the system delivers 316 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 204 FPS at 1440p and finally 111 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is approximately 65%, which is actually steeper than the 65% drop seen at High settings. This suggests that the RTX 4090 is being pushed harder at lower settings where the frame rate ceiling is higher, and the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the limiting factor more quickly.

The Medium preset shows the most complete data set, with min and max FPS recorded at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the Medium preset averages 275 FPS with a range from 234 FPS minimum to 316 FPS maximum. At 1440p, the average drops to 178 FPS with a range of 151 to 205 FPS. The 4K Medium preset averages 96 FPS with a range of 82 to 111 FPS. These ranges indicate that frame pacing remains consistent even as the resolution increases, with the spread between minimum and maximum staying relatively stable.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions, as expected. The 1080p Ultra preset averages 190 FPS, the 1440p Ultra preset averages 123 FPS, and the 4K Ultra preset averages 67 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra shows a 35% reduction, while the jump to 4K brings another 45% reduction. This consistent scaling pattern across all presets indicates that the game's engine is scaling predictably with resolution, and the hardware is responding without any unexpected bottlenecks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the clear performance driver in this configuration. Its specifications place it in the top tier of graphics cards, with an 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The card features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This substantial memory allocation ensures that even at 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the GPU never runs into capacity limitations that would cause stuttering or texture pop-in.

The GPU's clock speeds are notably high, with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These clocks, combined with the 16384 shading units and 512 TMUs, allow the card to maintain high fill rates even when rendering Doom's fast-paced environments. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed to sustain the frame rates observed in the measured data.

The RTX 4090's architecture, Ada Lovelace, is built on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors packed into a 609 mm² die. This density of 125.3M transistors per square millimeter contributes to the card's efficiency and performance. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads, though Doom's traditional rendering path primarily relies on the standard shader units.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position as a top-tier performer. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 271631 both indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance. The Passmark G3D score of 38194 places the card in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 with a delta of 0%, the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 with a delta of 0.3%, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 with a delta of 2.9%.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H serves as the processing backbone for this system, and while it is not the primary performance limiter in Doom, its capabilities ensure that the GPU is never starved for data. The CPU features 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. This combination of core count and clock speed provides ample processing power for game logic, physics calculations, and the draw call submissions that Doom requires.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This cache configuration helps reduce memory latency and keeps frequently accessed game data close to the processing cores. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support provides 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is sufficient to feed the CPU's cores without creating a bottleneck.

In terms of raw processing capability, the Core Ultra 9 185H scores 17984.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1810.5 in single-core. The Geekbench scores of 11657 multi-core and 1794 single-core further confirm the CPU's strong performance. The Passmark multi-thread score of 29376 and single-thread score of 3697 show that the CPU handles both heavily threaded workloads and single-threaded tasks effectively. The CPU's average benchmark score of 35670 places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark performance include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 with a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core 7 250H with a delta of -0.2%, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a delta of -0.4%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with a delta of -0.7%. These narrow deltas indicate that the Core Ultra 9 185H sits at the upper end of mainstream mobile processor performance, though it does not lead the pack by a significant margin.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete FPS dataset reveals a system that delivers playable frame rates at every resolution and settings combination tested. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 316 FPS, which represents the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 275 FPS, the High preset averages 232 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 190 FPS. All of these values are well above the refresh rates of most monitors, indicating that this system can easily drive high-refresh-rate displays at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain impressively high. The Low preset averages 204 FPS, the Medium preset averages 178 FPS, the High preset averages 150 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 123 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 205 FPS, demonstrating consistent performance even during demanding gameplay sequences.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers excellent performance, though the frame rates naturally drop due to the increased pixel count. The Low preset averages 111 FPS, the Medium preset averages 96 FPS, the High preset averages 81 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 67 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum of 82 FPS and a maximum of 111 FPS, meaning that even the lowest recorded frame rate remains comfortably playable.

The data shows a consistent pattern where each settings tier above Low reduces performance by a similar proportion. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 41 FPS, from Medium to High costs 43 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 42 FPS. At 1440p, the corresponding drops are 26 FPS, 28 FPS, and 27 FPS. At 4K, the drops are 15 FPS, 15 FPS, and 14 FPS. This uniform scaling suggests that each settings tier adds a similar computational load regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 823rd out of 3712 tested combinations in Doom, placing it in the top 22% of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the strong performance of both components working together, though the position is somewhat lower than the individual component rankings might suggest. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking and the CPU's 85th percentile ranking both exceed the combo's overall percentile, indicating that other factors such as system configuration or driver optimization may be influencing the final ranking.

The combo's position relative to other tested systems shows that while this pairing is capable, there are many other configurations that achieve higher frame rates in Doom. This is likely due to the mobile nature of the CPU, which is designed for laptops and compact systems, potentially limiting sustained performance compared to desktop processors. The GPU, while being a flagship model, is also subject to thermal and power constraints that may vary between different system implementations.

The ranking data suggests that the RTX 4090 is the dominant contributor to this combo's performance. The GPU's average benchmark score of 60347 is significantly higher than the CPU's average benchmark score of 35670, indicating that the graphics card carries more weight in determining overall gaming performance. The combo's ranking of 823rd out of 3712 places it in the upper quartile of systems, confirming that this is a high-performance configuration suitable for demanding gaming workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Doom?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 316 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

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

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset averages 67 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GPU's performance rank compared to other graphics cards?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-core performance score in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H scores 17984.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1810.5 in single-core.

Q: Which settings preset shows the smallest performance difference between 1080p and 1440p?

A: The Ultra preset shows the smallest percentage drop between 1080p and 1440p, going from 190 FPS to 123 FPS, a 35% reduction.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 82 FPS, which occurs at 4K resolution with the Medium settings preset.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Doom experience with this hardware combination. For players using 1080p displays, the Ultra preset delivers 190 FPS average, which is well above the refresh rate of most standard monitors. However, the High preset at 232 FPS offers a substantial improvement in frame rate while likely maintaining most of the visual quality. For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, the Low preset at 316 FPS provides the highest possible performance.

At 1440p, the High preset achieves 150 FPS, which is an excellent balance between visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset at 123 FPS remains highly playable and would be suitable for players who prioritize image quality. The Medium preset at 178 FPS offers a middle ground that maximizes frame rate while still providing decent visual quality. For players with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, the Low preset at 204 FPS may be the preferred choice.

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 81 FPS provides the best balance of visual quality and smooth performance. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS remains above the 60 FPS threshold but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 96 FPS offers a significant frame rate advantage over High while maintaining acceptable visual quality. The Low preset at 111 FPS would be recommended for players who prioritize smoothness over visual fidelity at 4K.

The data indicates that the Medium preset provides the most consistent performance across all resolutions, with recorded minimum and maximum values showing tight frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the range is 234 to 316 FPS, at 1440p Medium the range is 151 to 205 FPS, and at 4K Medium the range is 82 to 111 FPS. This consistency makes Medium a reliable choice for players who want predictable performance regardless of resolution.