Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a formidable 1080p and 1440p experience in Doom, with 4K Ultra proving the only scenario where the frame rate dips below the coveted 60 FPS threshold. The data indicates a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the processor’s substantial multi-core headroom ensures that even the most chaotic firefights remain fluid.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across four presets. For players prioritizing a flawless competitive experience, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an average of 288 FPS, the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. This setting ensures maximum headroom above high-refresh-rate monitor limits, effectively eliminating any possibility of the frame rate becoming a constraint. However, the visual compromise is significant, and the benchmark data suggests that such a sacrifice is unnecessary for most users.

The Medium preset at 1080p strikes an exceptional balance, yielding an average of 251 FPS with a recorded minimum of 213 FPS. This minimum is still far above the refresh rate of standard 144Hz displays, making it the optimal choice for high-refresh gaming without sacrificing visual fidelity. The jump from Low to Medium costs 37 FPS on average, but the improvement in texture detail and shadow quality in Doom is substantial, making this the recommended baseline for 1080p panels.

At 1440p, the High preset emerges as the sweet spot. It produces an average of 137 FPS, which is comfortably within the range of 120-144Hz monitors. While the Medium preset at this resolution offers a higher average of 162 FPS, the difference of 25 FPS is less critical than the visual uplift provided by High settings. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 112 FPS, is still playable but begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing may become noticeable on very high refresh rate displays.

For 4K gaming, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 74 FPS, which is the recommended setting for this resolution. It provides a playable experience on 60Hz displays and is only 14 FPS behind the Medium preset’s 88 FPS, while offering significantly better visual quality. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to an average of 61 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no margin for demanding scenes, making it a risky choice for consistent performance. The Low preset at 4K, while reaching 101 FPS, defeats the purpose of high-resolution rendering by minimizing the very details that make 4K worthwhile. Therefore, High at 4K is the most pragmatic choice, offering a smooth experience while retaining the game’s atmospheric lighting.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s, which is more than sufficient for Doom’s texture-heavy environments at all tested resolutions. The data shows that the GPU’s memory capacity is not a bottleneck, even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS is 61, a result more likely tied to the compute load of the AD103 chip than memory saturation.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also telling. With a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, the RTX 4080 maintains high sustained frequencies under load. This is reflected in the scaling from 1080p Low (288 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (173 FPS), a drop of 115 FPS that demonstrates the GPU’s compute units are being fully taxed by the increased shader complexity and shadow calculations of the Ultra preset. The pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are critical specifications here; they define how quickly the card can fill pixels and apply textures, which directly correlates with the observed frame rates.

The GPU’s benchmark scores corroborate its gaming performance. A Passmark G3D score of 34457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, has an average benchmark score that is only 0.1% higher, indicating that this 4080 is essentially performance-equivalent to its newer sibling in synthetic tests. This suggests that the Doom results are representative of the maximum capability of the 40-series architecture at this tier. The RTX 4080’s 9728 shading units and 304 TMUs are the physical resources that the game engine leverages to produce the high polygon counts and particle effects typical of the title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across the three resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 212 FPS at 1080p, to 137 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 74 FPS at 4K. This represents a 35% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 46% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total decline from 1080p to 4K is 65%, which is a significant but expected cost for quadrupling the pixel count.

This scaling pattern is a clear indicator that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. If the processor were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU’s workload (draw calls, physics) stays constant regardless of pixel count. Instead, the substantial FPS drops at higher resolutions show that the RTX 4080’s rendering throughput is being saturated.

The Low preset scaling further confirms this. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 288 FPS. This drops to 186 FPS at 1440p and 101 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35%, identical to the High preset, which strongly suggests the game is hitting a consistent GPU compute limit. The fact that 4K Low (101 FPS) is still higher than 4K Ultra (61 FPS) shows that the GPU has headroom when visual effects are minimized, but it is still the primary constraint on performance. The Medium preset’s minimum FPS values also support this: at 1080p, the minimum is 213 FPS, which is 85% of the average, indicating stable frame pacing. At 4K, the minimum is 75 FPS against an average of 88 FPS, still a healthy ratio. This consistent behavior points to a well-optimized engine that is primarily limited by the GPU’s fill rate and shader execution capacity.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU and GPU combination achieves a comboRankInGame of 910 out of 2930 tested combinations. This places the system in the top 31% of all tested hardware pairings for Doom, which is a strong result given the game’s age and the number of high-end desktop configurations likely tested. The rank reflects that while this is a high-performing mobile-adjacent platform, it is outclassed by a significant number of desktop setups that feature more powerful discrete GPUs.

The ranking is not just about the GPU, however. The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX’s own benchmark percentile of 94 (placing it in the top 6% of all CPUs) helps boost the combo’s standing. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 67469 is notably close to its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon w5-3525, which scores 67673, a difference of only -0.3%. This indicates that the 275HX is performing at the upper echelon of processor capability, ensuring that the GPU is never starved of data.

The combo’s rank of 910 suggests that while the RTX 4080 is powerful, it is not the absolute fastest GPU in the database. Rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and AMD Radeon 8060S have higher average benchmark scores, but those are synthetic tests. In Doom specifically, the combination of this CPU and GPU yields a frame rate profile that is competitive with many high-end desktops. The fact that the combo is not in the top 10% is likely due to the presence of RTX 4090-based systems or newer RTX 50-series cards in the database, which would naturally achieve higher FPS. However, for a mobile-class CPU, this is an exceptional showing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX serves as the computational anchor for this system. With 24 cores and 24 threads based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, it provides massive parallel processing capability. Its multi-core benchmark results are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35589 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20795. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game’s background tasks, such as AI calculations for enemy pathfinding and physics simulations, without breaking a sweat.

However, in Doom, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU. The game is not heavily threaded for the CPU’s core count, but rather benefits from high single-thread performance. The 275HX’s boost clock of 5.40 GHz is crucial here. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2204 and Passmark single-thread score of 4713 demonstrate excellent per-core performance. This ensures that the game’s main render thread can issue draw calls to the GPU as fast as possible, minimizing any potential CPU-side bottleneck.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the system hits 288 FPS. If the CPU were weak, this frame rate would plateau because the processor could not keep up with the GPU’s demand for new frames. Since we see a linear scaling with resolution changes, it is clear the CPU has ample headroom. The processor’s 36 MB of shared L3 cache is also beneficial, as it reduces latency for frequently accessed game data. The 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth from the dual-channel DDR5 support provides sufficient throughput for the CPU to move vertex and texture data to the GPU without creating a data pipeline stall. In essence, the Ultra 9 275HX is overqualified for this game, but its power ensures that the RTX 4080 operates at its full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the best setting for a 144Hz 1080p monitor?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the optimal choice. It delivers an average of 251 FPS with a minimum of 213 FPS, ensuring the frame rate never drops below the monitor’s refresh rate, while providing a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming smoothly?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. At the High preset, the system averages 74 FPS at 3840x2160, which is smooth on a standard 60Hz display. The Ultra preset averages 61 FPS, which is playable but may show stutters in intense scenes. The Medium preset offers 88 FPS but sacrifices visual quality.

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

A: The GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The FPS drops by 65% from 1080p to 4K at the High preset, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU’s high single-thread score of 2204 in Cinebench R23 ensures it is not holding back the graphics card.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 910th out of 2930 tested combos, placing it in the top 31% for Doom. This is a strong result, though it is outperformed by top-tier desktop systems with more powerful GPUs.

Q: How much memory does the GPU have, and is it enough?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory. This is more than sufficient for Doom at all tested resolutions, as the memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s and capacity prevent any texture swapping or stutter issues, even at 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the performance difference between this GPU and its closest rival?

A: The nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. Based on average benchmark scores, the RTX 4080 is only 0.1% slower, meaning the two are effectively identical in performance for this game.