Doom

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers a strong showing in Doom, a 2016 FPS that remains a demanding benchmark for modern hardware. The data places this pairing at rank 563 out of 2930 tested combos, putting it in the top 20% of all configurations. This is a substantial result, but the numbers reveal a more nuanced story about where the bottleneck lies and how the system scales across resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 563rd out of 2930 tested configurations, a percentile position that signals solidly above-average performance. With 2930 total combos, being in the top 563 means the system outperforms roughly 80% of tested pairings. This is an impressive result for a single-GPU setup, though the ranking also shows there is headroom — 562 other combos sit ahead, likely featuring higher-tier GPUs or more balanced pairings.

The CPU’s overall benchmark percentile of 96 versus all CPUs places it in the top 4% of processors tested, which aligns with its high-end positioning. The GPU’s percentile of 82 versus all GPUs is lower, indicating that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in this pairing. This asymmetry matters: in a game like Doom, which is known for being GPU-bound at higher settings, the CPU’s strength helps maintain high frame rates, but the GPU ultimately caps maximum output.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84003 puts it 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (avgScore 83807) and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX (avgScore 83090). It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3% (avgScore 85072). These deltas are small, meaning the 290K Plus is effectively in the same performance tier as its closest rivals, with differences that are unlikely to be noticeable in real-world gaming. The 1.2% lead over the AMD EPYC 9135 (avgScore 82980) reinforces this pattern.

For the GPU, the RTX 5070’s average benchmark score of 40377 is only 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (avgScore 40318) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (avgScore 40063). It lags the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 by 1.2% (avgScore 40870) and trails the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile by 2% (avgScore 39568). These rival deltas are all within a narrow band, suggesting the RTX 5070 sits in a competitive mid-range tier where performance differences are marginal.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB205 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It packs 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die, with a transistor density of 118.3 million per mm². The GPU’s base clock is 2325 MHz, boosting to 2512 MHz, and it carries 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. This configuration yields a pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute at 30.87 TFLOPS.

Memory consists of 12 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is listed at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective transfer rate. For a game like Doom, the 12 GB capacity is more than sufficient — the game’s texture requirements are modest by modern standards, and the high bandwidth ensures the GPU can feed its 80 ROPs without stalling.

The RTX 5070’s 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores are present, though Doom from 2016 does not utilize ray tracing. In this title, the GPU’s raw rasterization throughput is what matters most. The 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 performance and the 482.3 GTexel/s texture rate directly translate to the frame rates seen in the measured data. The GPU’s 250 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a mid-range power draw, and the PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides ample bandwidth for data transfer.

The 82nd percentile versus all GPUs reflects that the RTX 5070 is a solidly capable card, but not at the very top of the hierarchy. In Doom, this means it can handle high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K Ultra, the 71 FPS average shows the GPU starting to struggle with the pixel fill requirements.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals clear scaling patterns across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 335 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 217 FPS, a reduction of 118 FPS or approximately 35%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 118 FPS, another drop of 99 FPS from 1440p, or about 46%. This steep decline from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

The pattern holds across all settings. At High settings, 1080p yields 247 FPS, 1440p drops to 160 FPS (a 35% reduction), and 4K falls to 87 FPS (another 46% drop). For Medium settings, the numbers are 292 FPS at 1080p, 189 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings show 202 FPS at 1080p, 131 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K.

The consistent percentage drops between resolutions — roughly 35% from 1080p to 1440p and another 45% from 1440p to 4K — are classic signs of a GPU-bound workload. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU’s workload (draw calls, physics, game logic) stays constant. Instead, the FPS scales inversely with pixel count, confirming that the RTX 5070 is the primary limiter in this configuration.

This is especially evident when comparing the 1080p Low result of 335 FPS to the 4K Ultra result of 71 FPS — a 264 FPS difference, or roughly 79% lower performance. The CPU’s 24 cores and high clocks are capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render at 4K, so the system’s ceiling is determined by the graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the combo’s performance is extremely high. Low settings produce an average of 335 FPS, which is the highest measured in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 292 FPS, with a minimum of 248 FPS and a maximum of 336 FPS. High settings yield 247 FPS average, while Ultra settings bring the average down to 202 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, showing that the game’s settings have a significant impact even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages scale down proportionally. Low settings average 217 FPS, Medium averages 189 FPS (with a min of 161 and max of 217), High averages 160 FPS, and Ultra averages 131 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 86 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p but a similar relative reduction. The 1440p results remain well above 60 FPS even at Ultra, making this resolution a sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, performance drops further. Low settings average 118 FPS, Medium averages 102 FPS (with a min of 87 and max of 118), High averages 87 FPS, and Ultra averages 71 FPS. The Ultra setting at 4K is the only measured configuration that dips close to the 60 FPS threshold, though it stays above it. The min FPS values at 4K Medium (87 FPS) and 1440p Medium (161 FPS) suggest the system maintains smooth frame delivery without major stutters.

The measured data includes only one setting with both min and max values per resolution — Medium — which provides a useful frame time envelope. At 1080p Medium, the range from 248 to 336 FPS indicates a wide variance, likely due to scene complexity. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 161-217 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it tightens further to 87-118 FPS. This narrowing at higher resolutions is consistent with the GPU becoming the bottleneck, as frame time variability is reduced when the render workload dominates.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Doom?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combo ranks 563rd out of 2930 tested combinations, placing it in the top 20% of all tested systems.

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

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 84003 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX, and 1.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 9135. It is 1.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 7F72.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the dataset?

A: The highest average FPS is 335, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration that exceeds 300 FPS average in the measured data.

Q: At what settings and resolution does the combo fall below 100 FPS average?

A: At 3840x2160, High settings produce 87 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 71 FPS average. All other measured configurations maintain averages above 100 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU’s average benchmark score compare to rivals?

A: The RTX 5070’s average score of 40377 is 0.1% above the AMD Radeon Pro 580, 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, 1.2% below the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, and 2% below the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s and an effective memory clock of 28 Gbps.

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 codenamed “Ultra 9 (Arrow Lake).” It is fabricated on a 3 nm process by TSMC, containing 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. Base clock is 3.70 GHz, boosting to 5.80 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, providing 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 51731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7303 in single-core. Passmark multi-thread score is 60860, with a single-thread score of 4823. These numbers place the CPU at the 96th percentile versus all CPUs, confirming its high-end status. The 24 cores and 24 threads (no hyperthreading) are fully utilized by Doom’s multi-threaded engine, though the game is not particularly CPU-intensive by modern standards.

The CPU’s boost clock of 5.80 GHz is critical for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 335 FPS average suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to keep it saturated. The single-core performance, evidenced by the 736 score in Cinebench R15 single-core and 3067 in R20 single-core, ensures that the game’s main thread does not become a limiting factor.

The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking versus all CPUs, combined with its nearest rivals all being within 1.3% performance, indicates that the 290K Plus is a top-tier processor. However, in this specific Doom benchmark, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS scaling across resolutions shows that the CPU can sustain well over 300 FPS at 1080p, but the GPU’s rendering limits cap the system at lower frame rates as resolution increases. This makes the 290K Plus a strong match for the RTX 5070, providing ample headroom for future GPU upgrades or more CPU-intensive titles.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, all settings deliver high frame rates, but Ultra at 202 FPS average is the best choice for visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The 202 FPS average exceeds the refresh rate of most 1080p monitors (typically 144 Hz or 240 Hz), so Ultra settings provide the best visual experience without any perceptible performance loss.

At 2560x1440, High settings at 160 FPS average strike the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. Ultra at 131 FPS is still playable and exceeds 120 Hz, but High offers a 29 FPS advantage over Ultra while maintaining most visual quality. For gamers with 144 Hz 1440p monitors, High settings will keep the frame rate above the refresh rate, while Ultra may occasionally dip below 144 FPS in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation is Medium settings at 102 FPS average. High drops to 87 FPS, and Ultra falls to 71 FPS. Medium provides a 15 FPS improvement over High and a 31 FPS improvement over Ultra, while still delivering a smooth experience on 60 Hz or 120 Hz 4K displays. The min FPS at 4K Medium is 87, ensuring no drops below 60 FPS, which is the key threshold for comfortable gameplay.

For the best overall experience across all resolutions, Medium settings offer the most consistent performance. The measured data shows Medium averages of 292 FPS at 1080p, 189 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K, with min FPS values of 248, 161, and 87 respectively. These numbers guarantee smooth gameplay even in intense scenes, making Medium the most reliable choice for users who prioritize frame rate consistency over maximum visual quality.

The data indicates that Doom’s settings have a moderate impact on performance. The gap between Low and Ultra is 133 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K. This means users can comfortably select High or Ultra at 1080p and 1440p without significant frame rate penalties, while 4K users should stick to Medium to maintain high frame rates. The RTX 5070’s 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for all settings, so memory capacity is not a constraint in this title.