Doom The Dark Ages: No GPU Except 4090 And 5090 Averages 60FPS At 4K Max Settings

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Doom: The Dark Ages Will Push Every PC Configuration To Its Limits

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  • Doom: The Dark Ages is quite demanding for every type of PC.
  • Testing shows that only the RTX 4090 and 5090 can achieve 60FPS on average at 4K Ultra Nightmare settings.
  • The game also runs below 60FPS at 1080p when using mainstream cards like the RTX 3060.

Doom: The Dark Ages has received plenty of press coverage today. Following very positive reviews and praise for the title online, PC benchmarks have also begun to show up, highlighting the performance expected from id Software’s latest title.

According to testing across various PC setups, Doom: The Dark Ages will be quite challenging to run at maximum settings.

Why it matters: Mainstream graphics cards like the RTX 4060 and 3060 will struggle to run id Software’s latest title due to its heavy reliance on ray tracing.

Doom: The Dark Ages PC Benchmark
Doom: The Dark Ages PC Benchmarks via Hardware Unboxed

As per Hardware Unboxed’s charts, 4K Ultra Nightmare settings in Doom: The Dark Ages rarely result in an average of 60FPS. In fact, only the RTX 4090 and 5090 can achieve these results at the maximum settings.

Even very capable graphics cards like the AMD RX 7900 XTX and 9070 XT manage an average of around 55FPS, putting the last two Nvidia flagships in a league of their own.

Other Nvidia graphics cards like the RTX 5080 and 4080 Super achieve similar results as AMD’s top graphics cards, staying close to the 55FPS average. Although disappointing, these results reflect the intensity of Doom: The Dark Ages’ ray tracing implementation.

id Software’s latest engine is quite hard on the GPU because ray tracing is present all throughout Doom: The Dark Ages. Fortunately, turning down settings can net quite the frame rate boost, and it doesn’t impact visual quality much.

In fact, Hardware Unboxed’s testing shows that the game looks largely similar across all presets. Upscalers like DLSS and FSR should also come in handy for those looking to play the game on more modest PCs.

All in all, the game will certainly be quite testing for a lot of PC builds. Even at 1080p, Doom: The Dark Ages is expected to prove challenging for mainstream GPUs like the RTX 3060, making it essential for PC users to adjust settings as much as possible.

What are your thoughts on this breakdown? Is your PC ready to handle the Doom Slayer’s latest outing? Let’s discuss in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.

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