Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a compelling, high-refresh-rate experience in Doom, though the path to maximum frame rates requires careful settings management. The measured data shows this combo is capable of pushing well past 200 FPS at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the primary constraint as resolution climbs, making preset choices critical for maintaining fluidity.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all tested resolutions, providing a significant boost over High settings while maintaining playable frame rates even at 4K. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset produces 177 FPS average, which is only a 26 FPS drop from Low but delivers substantially better visual fidelity than the 122 FPS Ultra setting. The Medium preset also shows strong frame time consistency, with a minimum of 150 FPS and maximum of 203 FPS, suggesting a stable experience.

For 2560x1440 users, the Medium preset again emerges as the sweet spot, delivering 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS. This clears the 100 FPS threshold comfortably, whereas High drops to 97 FPS and Ultra falls to 79 FPS. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 131 FPS, but the graphical compromises are unnecessary when Medium provides 87% of that performance with better image quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more nuanced. The Medium preset delivers 62 FPS average with a 53 FPS minimum, which is the only 4K setting that maintains a playable experience above 60 FPS. High drops to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS, both of which will feel less responsive in a fast-paced FPS. Low at 4K reaches 71 FPS, but the visual downgrade is severe enough that the Medium preset's 62 FPS is the better trade-off for image quality.

The data clearly shows that Ultra settings are not recommended for this combo. The jump from Medium to Ultra costs 55 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K, yet the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically marginal in Doom's engine. For competitive play, Low at 1080p delivers 203 FPS, but the Medium preset's 177 FPS still provides ample headroom for high-refresh monitors.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It runs with a base clock of 2.70 GHz and boosts up to 5.40 GHz, with 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a mobile flagship CPU, rated at a 55 W TDP, and its benchmark scores place it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

For Doom, a game released in 2016, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. The Ultra 9 275HX's single-core performance is strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2204 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2458. These numbers indicate excellent per-thread performance, which is what matters most for game logic and draw call processing. The multi-core results are equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35589 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20795, but these are largely irrelevant for a game like Doom that scales primarily with single-threaded performance.

The data supports this interpretation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 203 FPS, which is likely close to the engine's practical limit given the CPU's capabilities. The fact that frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution (203 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, 71 FPS at 4K on Low) indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4060, and the processor's 94th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms it is a high-end part.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the Ultra 9 275HX sits in a tight cluster. It is 0.3% behind the Intel Xeon w5-3525, 0.5% behind the AMD EPYC 4484PX, and 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5955WX, while being 0.7% ahead of the Intel Xeon 6515P. These differences are negligible in gaming workloads, meaning the CPU choice has essentially no impact on Doom's performance with this GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Doom?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, delivering 114 FPS average with a 97 FPS minimum. This offers high refresh rates with good visual quality, whereas 4K requires dropping to Medium for just 62 FPS, and 1080p, while faster, doesn't showcase the GPU's capabilities as well.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost?

A: Compared to Medium, Ultra settings reduce average FPS by 55 FPS at 1080p (177 to 122), 35 FPS at 1440p (114 to 79), and 19 FPS at 4K (62 to 43). The visual uplift is typically minimal in Doom, making Ultra a poor trade-off for this hardware.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The GPU is the primary bottleneck at all tested resolutions. Evidence includes the linear FPS scaling with resolution: Low settings produce 203 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K. The CPU's 24 cores and high single-thread scores (2204 in Cinebench R23) are more than sufficient for Doom's engine.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but only on Medium settings, which yield 62 FPS average with a 53 FPS minimum. High settings drop to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Low settings reach 71 FPS but with significant visual compromises.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like?

A: The Medium preset shows the best consistency, with a 53 FPS minimum at 4K, a 97 FPS minimum at 1440p, and a 150 FPS minimum at 1080p. The spread between min and max FPS is tight across all resolutions, indicating stable performance without major hitches.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its closest competitors?

A: The RTX 4060 sits in the 61st percentile among all GPUs. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7790, 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 780M, 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 560, and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 460. These are all within a narrow performance band, though the RTX 4060's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth give it an advantage in modern titles.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1755th out of 2930 tested combos in Doom, placing it in the 40th percentile of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than the CPU's high-end capabilities. The RTX 4060, with its 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate, is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, but it is not designed for maximum settings at 4K.

The rank of 1755 out of 2930 indicates that roughly 60% of tested systems outperform this combo in Doom. This is expected given the RTX 4060's launch MSRP of 299 USD and its position in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. The CPU, on the other hand, is a top-tier mobile part in the 94th percentile, but its influence on gaming performance is minimal in this title.

The data suggests that the combo's ranking is almost entirely GPU-bound. If the same CPU were paired with a higher-end GPU, the ranking would improve dramatically, as the Ultra 9 275HX would not bottleneck even the fastest graphics cards in this engine. Conversely, pairing the RTX 4060 with a weaker CPU would likely produce nearly identical results in Doom, given the game's modest CPU requirements relative to this processor's capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear GPU-limited scenario. On Low settings, the combo delivers 203 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K. The ratio of 1080p to 1440p performance is 1.55x, and 1080p to 4K is 2.86x. These ratios align almost perfectly with the pixel count differences (1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 4x), but the FPS drops are less severe because the GPU's memory bandwidth and other resources don't scale linearly with pixel count.

The Medium preset shows similar scaling: 177 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 63 FPS (36%), and from 1440p to 4K is 52 FPS (46%). This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU is increasingly the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the CPU providing ample headroom at all times.

At Ultra settings, the scaling becomes more pronounced: 122 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 4K. The 4K result represents only 35% of the 1080p performance, highlighting how the RTX 4060's 128-bit memory bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth struggle with the higher memory pressure of 4K Ultra. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is also a concern at 4K with high texture settings, though the measured data shows playable frame rates even at 4K Medium.

The limiting component is definitively the GPU. This is supported by the CPU's benchmark scores, which place it in the top 6% of all processors, and the fact that even the most demanding settings at 1080p (Ultra, 122 FPS) leave significant CPU headroom. The RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS of compute throughput is simply not sufficient for 4K Ultra in a title like Doom, which stresses fill rate and memory bandwidth heavily.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 203 FPS average, Medium produces 177 FPS with a 150 FPS minimum and 203 FPS maximum, High produces 149 FPS, and Ultra produces 122 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 81 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution even when pushed to maximum settings.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but starts to show the GPU's limitations. Low settings reach 131 FPS, Medium delivers 114 FPS with a 97 FPS minimum and 132 FPS maximum, High drops to 97 FPS, and Ultra falls to 79 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 97 FPS is particularly notable, as it stays above the 90 FPS threshold that many gamers consider essential for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4060 is clearly stretched. Low settings produce 71 FPS, Medium delivers 62 FPS with a 53 FPS minimum and 71 FPS maximum, High drops to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS. Only the Low and Medium presets maintain average frame rates above 60 FPS, and even Medium's 53 FPS minimum may cause noticeable stutters in fast-paced combat sequences.

The Medium preset is the only settings level with complete min/max data across all resolutions, providing a consistent picture of frame time behavior. At 1080p, the 150-203 FPS range indicates excellent stability. At 1440p, the 97-132 FPS range shows a slight increase in variance but remains well-controlled. At 4K, the 53-71 FPS range reveals more significant fluctuations, suggesting the GPU is nearing its performance ceiling and frame pacing may suffer during intense scenes.