Doom

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B390 lands at rank 2580 out of 2930 tested combos in Doom. That places this configuration in the bottom 12% of all hardware pairings measured for this title — a result that reflects the GPU's position as the limiting factor rather than the CPU. The CPU alone sits in the 96th percentile among all processors tested, while the GPU's benchmark score places it in the 9th percentile among all graphics cards. That disparity is the defining characteristic of this combo: an exceptionally strong processor dragging along a graphics solution that was never designed for high-refresh 4K gaming.

The data shows a system that can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p, but struggles as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo averages 107 FPS, which is smooth by most standards. Drop to 2560x1440 and the same Low preset yields 69 FPS — still playable but noticeably less fluid. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only produce 37 FPS average, which falls below the threshold most builders would consider acceptable for a fast-paced FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K brings the average down to 22 FPS, making that configuration essentially unusable for competitive play.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing is not competitive at higher resolutions. The rank of 2580 out of 2930 means roughly 88% of tested configurations outperform it in Doom. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% faster), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1.5% faster), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% faster), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (2.7% faster) — all entry-level or legacy parts. This places the Arc B390 squarely in the "integrated-class discrete" territory, which explains why the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates in a demanding 2016 title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for each resolution tier. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 107 FPS average, which is the only setting in the entire dataset that crosses the 100 FPS threshold. Medium drops to 93 FPS, High to 78 FPS, and Ultra to 64 FPS. For a game like Doom where fast movement and quick aiming matter, the Low preset at 1080p offers the best combination of smoothness and responsiveness. The step from Low to Medium costs 14 FPS (from 107 to 93), which is a significant hit for visual gains that may not matter during intense combat sequences.

At 2560x1440, the choice becomes more constrained. Low yields 69 FPS, Medium 60 FPS, High 51 FPS, and Ultra 41 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS, which is the minimum standard for comfortable play in a twitch shooter. Medium at exactly 60 FPS is technically playable, but the lack of headroom means any demanding scene could cause perceptible stutter. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick with Low settings for consistent performance.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets reach 60 FPS. Low averages 37 FPS, Medium 33 FPS, High 28 FPS, and Ultra 22 FPS. Even the lowest settings fail to provide a smooth experience at 4K. The recommendation is clear: this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Doom, regardless of settings. If 4K is a requirement, a different GPU is necessary. For builders who insist on this resolution, the Low preset at 37 FPS is the least-bad option, but it still falls well short of playable for most users.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Doom at 1080p smoothly?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 107, which is well above the 60 FPS standard. Medium (93 FPS) and High (78 FPS) also provide smooth experiences, while Ultra (64 FPS) remains playable but approaches the threshold where frame drops become noticeable.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS across all presets is 37 (Low), with Ultra dropping to 22 FPS. None of the four tested settings at 4K reach the 60 FPS target, making this resolution impractical for Doom with this combo.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807), 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83090), and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135 (82980). It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85072) by 1.3%.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. This is 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443). All rival GPUs score within 3% of the Arc B390.

Q: What is the best resolution-to-setting combination for this combo?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 107. For a balance of visual quality and performance, 2560x1440 with Low settings (69 FPS) is the highest resolution that maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS.

Q: Does the combo's rank change based on settings?

A: The combo rank of 2580 out of 2930 applies to the overall measured performance across all settings. The FPS deltas between settings are significant — at 1080p, Low (107 FPS) is 67% faster than Ultra (64 FPS), and at 4K, Low (37 FPS) is 68% faster than Ultra (22 FPS) — but the relative standing against other combos remains in the bottom tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces a spread from 64 to 107 FPS average. The Low preset leads with 107 FPS, followed by Medium at 93 FPS (with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107), High at 78 FPS, and Ultra at 64 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 43 FPS, representing a 67% performance penalty for the highest visual quality. The Medium preset's min-max range of 79-107 FPS shows that frame times vary considerably, with the 1% lows dipping to a level that could cause brief hitches during intense action.

At 2560x1440, the performance hierarchy remains consistent but compressed. Low averages 69 FPS, Medium 60 FPS (min 51, max 69), High 51 FPS, and Ultra 41 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 28 FPS, or a 68% penalty for Ultra settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 51 FPS indicates that even mid-range settings can produce frame rates below the 60 FPS target during demanding scenes. The step from Medium to High costs 9 FPS, which is a meaningful drop for a game that benefits from high frame rates.

At 3840x2160, all presets fall below playable thresholds. Low averages 37 FPS, Medium 33 FPS (min 28, max 37), High 28 FPS, and Ultra 22 FPS. The Medium preset's range of 28-37 FPS shows that performance is highly variable, with minimums dropping into the low 20s during heavy scenes. The difference between Low and Ultra is 15 FPS, which represents a 68% penalty — the same relative drop seen at 1080p and 1440p. This consistency suggests the GPU is the bottleneck across all resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom to not further constrain performance.

The pattern across resolutions reveals a predictable scaling behavior. Moving from 1080p Low (107 FPS) to 1440p Low (69 FPS) results in a 36% performance loss, and moving to 4K Low (37 FPS) yields a 65% loss from the 1080p baseline. These scaling factors are consistent with a GPU that is heavily fill-rate limited at higher resolutions. The 1080p Low setting is the only configuration that fully utilizes the CPU's capabilities, while all other settings are constrained by the GPU's rendering throughput.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution built on the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture. Its base clock runs at 300 MHz with a boost of 2500 MHz, and it draws 80 W of power. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities include 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (at 2:1 ratio). The memory system is entirely system-shared, meaning the GPU draws from the CPU's DDR5 memory pool with bandwidth that is system-dependent rather than having dedicated VRAM.

In synthetic testing, the Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 9th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals — the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710 — all score within a 2.7% band of the Arc B390. This positions the GPU as an entry-level part that competes with decade-old discrete graphics cards. The pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are modest figures that directly impact Doom's rendering performance at higher resolutions.

The GPU's role in this combo is the primary bottleneck. The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, the frame rate is limited by the GPU's fill rate and shading throughput rather than the CPU. The consistent 67-68% performance penalty between Low and Ultra across all three resolutions indicates that the GPU's architecture handles the additional visual effects of higher presets poorly relative to its baseline performance. The lack of dedicated VRAM means the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which further constrains performance in a game like Doom that streams textures and geometry continuously.

For builders considering this combo, the GPU is the deciding factor in Doom. The Arc B390's performance ceiling is clearly defined by its 3DMark score and the measured FPS data. Even with the most powerful CPU available, this GPU cannot push Doom past 107 FPS at 1080p Low, and it falls to 22 FPS at 4K Ultra. The 12 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are irrelevant for a 2016 title like Doom, which was built around older rendering techniques. The GPU's 3 nm process node and Intel foundry manufacturing are modern, but the architecture's raw throughput is simply too low for demanding gaming workloads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture and built on TSMC's 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus delivering 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. It uses the Intel Socket 1851 and has a passmark multithread score of 60860 and a single-thread score of 4823.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 51731, and the single-core score is 7303. The PassMark data compression score is 698346, and the floating point math score is 214760. The CPU's average benchmark score of 84003 places it in the 96th percentile among all processors. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (0.2% slower), AMD EPYC 4584PX (1.1% slower), and AMD EPYC 9135 (1.2% slower), while the AMD EPYC 7F72 is 1.3% faster.

The CPU's role in this combo is one of massive over-provisioning relative to the GPU. In Doom, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is never the limiting factor — even at 1080p Low with 107 FPS average, the GPU is saturated while the CPU has substantial headroom. The 24 cores and 24 threads are far more than Doom requires, as the game was designed for systems with 4-8 threads. The high boost clock of 5.80 GHz and strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303) would be excellent for games that are CPU-bound, but Doom at these settings is firmly GPU-bound.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s is a notable advantage for this combo, as the GPU relies on system memory for its frame buffer. However, the system-shared memory architecture means the CPU and GPU compete for the same bandwidth, and the GPU's modest texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s means it cannot fully utilize the available bandwidth at lower resolutions. At 4K, where the GPU is heavily bandwidth-starved, the CPU's dual-channel memory support provides some benefit, but the GPU's raw compute limits remain the binding constraint.

For builders, this CPU is overkill for Doom with this GPU. The data shows that a significantly weaker processor would deliver identical frame rates with the Arc B390. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors is completely untapped in this title at this GPU level. If the goal is to maximize Doom performance, the investment in the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus would be better directed toward a more capable GPU. Conversely, if the CPU is already owned or required for other workloads, the Arc B390 represents a severe bottleneck that prevents the system from realizing its true gaming potential.