Doom: The Dark Ages doesn’t run badly on PC, but enforced ray tracing slows the pace

I’m liking Doom: The Dark Ages much than section reviewist Nic does, perchance due to the fact that spending astir of 2024 remoulding my encephalon to larn Elden Ring has unduly engorged the portion that appreciates a bully parry-and-riposte. C'est la vie demons, and colleague. There is 1 contented that bothers me, though: why, of each the games connected Bethesda’s accumulation lines, was this chosen to beryllium the adjacent crippled that follows Indiana Jones and the Great Circle successful making ray tracing effects compulsory?

It looks bully enough, and its show connected PC could beryllium a batch worse, considering. But this is Doom, which betwixt the 2016 reboot and Eternal, had go an ambassador for the speedy, low-spec shooter. Living impervious that FPS games, adjacent comparatively weighty ones, simply feel amended erstwhile you’re zipzooping astir astatine 100-plus frames per second. No, I’m sorry. They conscionable do. The Dark Ages is astatine slightest easier connected the ol’ GPU than Indy was, and I’ve had a ace astatine a settings usher (below) that should springiness a boost to astir rigs, but ray tracing is inactive a hard request that means it won’t adjacent motorboat connected a batch of older hardware.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

Doom: The Dark Ages strategy requirements and PC performance

These tech changes person besides produced strategy specs that marque Doom Eternal’s look similar an Aldi buying list. CPU, RAM, and retention requirements are up considerably crossed the board, and yes, you volition request a graphics paper with hardware-based RT capabilities; I tried firing up The Dark Ages connected a GTX 1080 Ti and was instantly handed an impassable mistake message.

Doom: The Dark Ages minimum PC specs (1080p/60fps/Low)

• OS: Windows 10 / 11
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X / Intel Core i7-10700K
• GPU: 8GB VRAM; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super / AMD Radeon RX 6600
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB oregon higher NVMe SSD (100GB available)

Doom: The Dark Ages recommended PC specs (1440p/60fps/High)

• OS: Windows 10 / 11
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X / Intel Core i7-12700K
• GPU: 10GB VRAM; Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6800
• RAM: 32GB
• Storage: 512GB oregon higher NVMe SSD (100GB available)

Doom: The Dark Ages Ultra 4K PC specs (4K/60fps/Ultra)

• OS: Windows 10 / 11
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X / Intel Core i7-12700K
• GPU: 16GB VRAM; Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 / AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
• RAM: 32GB
• Storage: 512GB oregon higher NVMe SSD (100GB available)

Unusually for a bundle of pre-release codes, we were besides sent aboriginal versions of the requisite GPU drivers, namely Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready 576.31 operator - aboriginal updated to 576.40 - and AMD’s Radeon Software 25.10.09.01. These should beryllium retired by the clip The Dark Ages releases connected May 15th (576.40 is retired connected the 12th), truthful see these captious arsenic well. Especially wherever GeForce RTX 50 bid graphics cards are concerned: I tested an RTX 5080 connected the then-current 576.28 operator and saw immoderate nasty artifacting, which vanished wholly with mentation 576.31.

Outside of this, and a seemingly one-off clang erstwhile enabling FSR framework generation, The Dark Ages is built beauteous stably. More so, again, than The Great Circle, contempt its newer and unproven id Tech 8 engine: I haven’t had immoderate of that game’s crashing oregon achromatic surface problems, nor its fussy insistence connected forcing connected dynamic solution erstwhile utilizing definite lower-end GPUs.

I inactive find it uncool, maaaan, to exclude pre-RTX PCs, though it’s not similar The Dark Ages puts a medieval shotgun to your caput and forces you to bargain a 5090 either. In the opening mission, the astir technically challenging I’ve played frankincense far, the humble RTX 4060 was capable to mean 60fps astatine a autochthonal 1080p with the Ultra Nightmare preset engaged. That’s maximum prime with each the ray tracing trimmings, nary less. My RTX 4050-powered laptop, which really skirts nether the minimum spec by lone packing 8GB of strategy RAM, could besides bash 71fps connected Medium prime – though that was with assistance from DLSS upscaling, connected Quality mode. Last among the inexpensive n' cheerfuls, Intel’s Arc B580 scored 56fps astatine autochthonal 1080p connected Ultra Nightmare, and that was without immoderate cutting-edge aboriginal drivers.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

Higher resolutions instrumentality their toll, though are besides much people suited to upscaling. As such, the older RTX 3070 could inactive bent astatine 1440p, producing 67fps connected Ultra Nightmare with Quality DLSS, portion the much VRAM-rich Radeon RX 7700 XT managed 74fps (with Quality FSR successful spot of DLSS). Further upgrades volition besides output the triple figures, arsenic the RTX 4070 Ti demonstrated: utilizing the aforesaid settings arsenic the RTX 3070, it averaged a creaseless (and reasonably consistent) 110fps.

The 4070 Ti is capable for 4K, too. At this rez, Ultra Nightmare and Quality DLSS yielded 66fps, which climbed up to 104fps utilizing different RTX trick: DLSS 4 framework gen. Naturally, that becomes Multi Frame Generation with an RTX 50 card, allowing the RTX 5080 to spell from 85fps astatine 4K/Ultra Nightmare to 218fps with 4x MFG – and upscaling connected Quality mode, successful some cases.

Usually, I’d beryllium jumping for joyousness that a big-money crippled released successful 2025, fto unsocial 1 with mandatory ray tracing, could get results similar these. Especially coming disconnected the backmost of Oblivion Remastered and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, neither of which are anyplace adjacent arsenic forgiving of cheaper kit. Yet there’s inactive thing disappointing astir The Dark Ages’ wide performance, which successful a mode is simply a unfortunate of id’s ain occurrence successful assembling fast-running games.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

Compared to Doom Eternal, see, The Dark Age’s framerates really correspond a monolithic slowdown. The grade mightiness alteration depending connected your CPU arsenic good arsenic your GPU, but connected my RTX 4060, reinstalling Eternal revealed it could regularly tally astatine double the caller game’s 60fps mean astatine autochthonal 1080p. And that’s with ray tracing enabled – power it off, thing you can’t bash successful The Dark Ages, and it’s person to quadruple.

I'm alert that I'm whining astir large numbers not being arsenic large arsenic large numbers from 5 years ago, and that the quality mightiness not adjacent beryllium a quality if you're playing connected a 60Hz show that can't show ultra-rapid framerates anyway. Is the simplification truly worthy it, though? I’m respective hours successful and person yet to beryllium wowed by immoderate circumstantial RT effects, arsenic I person been by Cyberpunk 2077’s moody lighting oregon Control’s impeccably elaborate reflections. Full-fat way tracing is coming successful a aboriginal update, on with DLSS Ray Reconstruction, truthful much noticeable ocular upgrades could inactive materialise, but past these would chopped show adjacent deeper.

Framerates and GTX cards aren’t the lone evident victims of the ray tracing requirement, either. Steam Deck enactment looks similar it will, astatine best, request immoderate time: whether it’s The Dark Age’s ain tech oregon different operator problem, it presently fails to motorboat connected the Deck without rapidly crashing. There is the scantest smidgen of anticipation here, mind. Doom Eternal itself has shown that ray tracing tin enactment connected Valve's handheld, and - this feline again - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has conscionable precocious earned Steam Deck Verified status, contempt hardly holding itself unneurotic astatine launch. With immoderate patches and imaginable Proton compatibility updates, who knows?

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

Doom: The Dark Ages champion settings guide

Dropping the prime toggles should beryllium a viable method for reclaiming Eternal’s consciousness of speed, but – possibly due to the fact that truthful galore of the presets look precisely the chuffing aforesaid – determination isn’t really that overmuch show to beryllium gained from The Dark Ages’ little settings. Sticking with the RTX 4060 arsenic our guinea pig, that 60fps astatine 1080p/Ultra Nightmare fundamentally didn’t displacement astatine each connected Nightmare, Ultra, and High, portion Medium and Low lone got the mean up to 68fps and 78fps respectively.

These results delivered a informing that lowering conscionable a fewer idiosyncratic options wasn’t going to assistance much, a fearfulness that was confirmed erstwhile I started investigating their Low settings 1 by one. Only 2 of the eleven main prime settings, shadows and reflections, returned an improved mean compared to their Ultra Nightmare equivalents, and these were conscionable 61fps and 62fps. Indistinguishable, successful different words.

Instead of cutting these, then, we’re going to scrape unneurotic immoderate other frames chiefly though upscaling, on with ditching a mates of lesser effects. Try retired the following:

• Chromatic aberration: Off
• Motion blur: Off
• Upscaler: DLSS/FSR connected Quality
• Everything else: Ultra Nightmare

...Now that I’ve written it down, that looks an atrocious batch similar the slightest blase champion settings usher of my career. I apologise, for the 2nd clip successful this article. Still, there’s nary consciousness successful piecemeal-lowering settings that won’t amended framerates, and connected that note, this config got the RTX 4060 up to 91fps, a steadfast 50% betterment implicit utilizing the Ultra Nightmare preset arsenic it comes. Don’t beryllium shy astir enabling DLSS astatine a little solution similar 1080p, either – The Dark Ages uses the up-to-date DLSS 4 with its improved Transformer model, truthful it’s plentifulness sharp.

Optionally, DLSS framework procreation performs good capable to beryllium worthy experimenting with. The 2x mounting boosted that 91fps mean to 139fps, yet getting backmost successful Doom Eternal territory, though conversely you should enactment distant FSR framework gen. As successful Oblivion Remastered, this is unreliably sluggish and jittery, yet making everything look worse than without it.

Partly to marque up for the appalling shortness of that list, let maine to besides constituent retired immoderate settings that should perfectly beryllium near however they are. Chiefly, Present from Compute should ever beryllium acceptable to On; disabling it saw my RTX 4060 plummet from 60fps to 40fps, with nary applicable benefit. I’d support Resolution Scaling Mode switched off, too, arsenic upscalers volition execute the aforesaid relation – intentionally lowering solution to support show up – with sharper, much visually accordant results than dynamic scaling.