Doom: The Darkish Ages is the most recent first-person shooter developed by id Software program, marking the eighth foremost entry within the franchise and the third installment of the fashionable collection, following 2020’s Doom Everlasting. As you’ll be able to think about, we can’t be reviewing the sport right here however relatively, we’ll be benchmarking the “hell” out of it, and little question a couple of configurations will probably be doomed.
The Darkish Ages is powered by the idTech8 recreation engine, which options full dynamic lighting with ray-traced international illumination and ray-traced reflections. In consequence, a GPU with {hardware} RT help is required to play the sport. Path tracing can be anticipated, however it should arrive in a post-launch replace. Meaning no FPS-crushing choice simply but for all you RTX 5090 homeowners.
For testing, Nvidia supplied driver model 576.31, and AMD supplied driver model 25.5.1. Each are game-ready drivers optimized for Doom: The Darkish Ages. After a number of hours of gameplay, we chosen a bit referred to as “Siege Half 1, Chapter 6, Aspiring Slayer” for benchmarking. The check begins at a checkpoint simply earlier than a big battle sequence, and many of the benchmark takes place throughout that combat, so this must be a fairly demanding check.
If you happen to have been to watch body charge efficiency in a much less intense part of the sport, resembling strolling via near-empty corridors, you’ll be able to count on greater body charges than what we’re displaying right here.
The sport presents half a dozen preset choices, and whereas we usually check three or 4 presets at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, for this check we’re specializing in simply two. It is because there was nearly no efficiency distinction between the utmost preset (Extremely Nightmare), Nightmare, Extremely, and Excessive.
Actually, trying on the RTX 5080 and 9070 XT, we see that the GeForce GPU skilled only a 2% efficiency improve when going from Extremely Nightmare to Excessive, whereas the 9070 XT noticed a modest 5% uplift.
Oddly, the 9070 XT outperformed the RTX 5080 utilizing the supplied drivers. This was surprising, given Nvidia granted us early entry to the sport and requested that we spotlight the RTX options of their GeForce 50 collection. We agreed to take action, as a result of you recognize we’re benchmarking RTX graphics playing cards, and people options are related.
However anyway, even with the Medium preset, the Radeon GPU noticed solely an extra 8% increase, whereas the GeForce GPU improved by simply 2%. Dropping to Low yielded an additional 14% improve for the 9070 XT and a 13% achieve for the RTX 5080. Which means that, in comparison with the very best high quality preset, the Low preset presents simply an 18% efficiency enchancment for the RTX 5080 and 29% for the 9070 XT.
It’s kind of shocking to see such restricted efficiency scaling throughout the presets. There’s nearly no distinction among the many prime 4 settings, a small achieve with Medium, and one other modest increase with Low. This will probably be disappointing information for these with lower-end {hardware} hoping the Low and Medium presets would offer extra substantial efficiency enhancements.
Now, the explanation for this minimal scaling turns into clear when inspecting the visible variations between presets. So let’s take a fast have a look at these now…
Picture High quality Comparability
On this first instance, there’s nearly no noticeable distinction between all six presets (and that is not due to picture compression), there merely is not a lot distinction. Even when viewing the native presentation in-game, we could not spot a distinction between the highest 4 presets, all of them seemed precisely the identical to us.
Even when evaluating Medium to Extremely Nightmare, any variations are minimal. Maybe the distant shadow high quality is barely higher, but it surely’s very arduous to inform.
Subsequent, we have now the Low preset, and as soon as once more, the general presentation is extraordinarily just like Extremely Nightmare. The textures on the weapon seem barely softer, and the distant tower reveals a discount in lighting high quality, however in any other case, the 2 look fairly alike.
This second instance highlights close-up particulars, and once more, there’s nearly no seen distinction between Low and Extremely Nightmare. We restarted the sport between adjustments to make sure every setting was correctly utilized, but it surely made no distinction.
Probably the most noticeable variation we discovered was on this instance that includes a muddy floor. That stated, the Extremely Nightmare, Nightmare, Extremely, Excessive, and even Medium presets all seemed similar to us. With the Low preset, some element is misplaced and reflections are diminished, however general, the distinction between the very best and lowest high quality settings is extraordinarily minimal.
Earlier than shifting on, this is a comparability of a scene with intense fireplace results and close-up rubble. Once more, it’s totally tough to establish any actual variations.
The identical applies to this scene – we would not blame you for pondering we by accident confirmed the identical preset six occasions. However relaxation assured, that is not the case.
For a clearer view, this is a side-by-side comparability of the Extremely Nightmare and Low presets. If you happen to look carefully, it’s possible you’ll spot some very minor variations, however they’re refined. As soon as once more, the mud stands out as the realm with essentially the most seen variation, although even the Low setting appears to be like respectable.
Given these outcomes, we have determined to focus our benchmarks on the Extremely Nightmare and Medium presets. Efficiency is nearly the identical throughout Extremely Nightmare, Nightmare, Extremely, and Excessive settings. For the check system, we’re utilizing the Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with 32 GB of DDR5-6000 reminiscence and the most recent show drivers.
Take a look at System Specs
Earlier than publishing this evaluate, we obtained Nvidia’s newest driver (model 576.40), which didn’t enhance efficiency past what we’re displaying right here. At most, we noticed a ~2-3% uplift. We requested Nvidia what sort of efficiency good points customers ought to count on with the brand new driver, however they have been unable to offer a solution.
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D |
| Motherboard | MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (BIOS 7E49v1A23 – ReBAR enabled) |
| Reminiscence | G.Talent Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 [CL30-38-38-96] |
| Graphics Playing cards: GeForce RTX 3060 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 GeForce RTX 3080 GeForce RTX 3090 GeForce RTX 4060 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4070 GeForce RTX 4070 Tremendous GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous GeForce RTX 4080 GeForce RTX 4080 Tremendous GeForce RTX 4090 GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GeForce RTX 5070 GeForce RTX 5080 GeForce RTX 5090 Radeon RX 6600 Radeon RX 6650 XT Radeon RX 6750 XT Radeon RX 6800 Radeon RX 6800 XT Radeon RX 6950 XT Radeon RX 7600 Radeon RX 7600 XT Radeon RX 7700 XT Radeon RX 7800 XT Radeon RX 7900 GRE Radeon RX 7900 XT Radeon RX 7900 XTX Radeon RX 9070 Radeon RX 9070 XT Intel Arc A770 Intel Arc B580 |
|
| ATX Case | MSI MEG Maestro 700L PZ |
| Energy Provide | Kolink Regulator Gold ATX 3.0 1200W |
| Storage | TeamGroup T-Power Cardea Z44Q 4TB |
| Working System | Home windows 11 24H2 |
| Show Driver | Nvidia GeForce Sport Prepared 576.31 AMD Radeon Adrenalin 25.5.1 |
Benchmarks
Extremely Nightmare @ 1080p
Beginning with the Extremely Nightmare high quality settings and utilizing native TAA (we’ll have a look at upscaling information shortly), the RTX 5090 delivered simply 151 fps, making it a mere 3% sooner than the RTX 4090. It is unclear what is going on on with the GeForce 50 collection GPUs, however for essentially the most half, they provide little to no efficiency achieve over their predecessors. Actually, the RTX 5080 was 8% slower than the 4080, which is puzzling.
We carried out clear installs of the GeForce driver – a number of occasions, in truth – however have been unable to enhance the efficiency of Nvidia’s 50 collection GPUs. This implies both a driver challenge, a recreation patch is required, or the 50 collection merely does not present significant efficiency enhancements over the 40 collection – and in some instances, it is slower.
Curiously, each AMD’s RDNA3 and RDNA4 GPUs carried out exceptionally nicely. The 7900 XTX and 9070 XT matched the RTX 4080 Tremendous, coming in simply 16% behind the RTX 5090.
The RX 9070 additionally matched the RTX 5080 and outperformed the 4070 Ti Tremendous, whereas the 7900 XT was on par with the 5070 Ti and beat the 4070 Tremendous.
The older 6800 XT barely edged out the brand new 5060 Ti, whereas the 7700 XT delivered comparable efficiency with 68 fps. Beneath 60 fps, we discover the 3060 Ti, 4060, 6750 XT, and Arc B580. Past that time, body charges dip into the mid-40s, resulting in a subpar expertise.
Extremely Nightmare @ 1440p
Leaping to 1440p with Extremely Nightmare settings, the RTX 5090 dropped to a median of 125 fps – a 6% enchancment over the 4090, and 30% sooner than the 7900 XTX and 9070 XT. In the meantime, AMD’s flagship GPUs as soon as once more barely edged out the RTX 4080 Tremendous and RTX 5080.
For a median of round 60 fps, the 7800 XT, 6950 XT, RTX 4070, and 5070 carried out nicely. Even the RTX 3080 delivered 65 fps on common. The 7700 XT landed between the 8 GB and 16 GB variations of the 5060 Ti. It is value noting that 8 GB of VRAM is enough for these high quality settings – although, as we’ll present quickly, sure configurations should still run into points, even with upscaling at 1440p.
Extremely Nightmare @ 4K
At native 4K, most customers will probably need to allow upscaling, however for an apples-to-apples comparability, we’re taking a look at native efficiency. The RTX 5090 managed 82 fps on common – stable efficiency – but it surely means simply 74 fps for the 4090 and 56 fps for the 9070 XT. So except you are utilizing a 4090 or 5090, count on sub-60 fps efficiency with out upscaling.
Medium @ 1080p
Switching to the Medium preset at 1080p, most GPUs delivered over 60 fps, together with the Arc B580 and the older Radeon RX 6750 XT. Nonetheless, AMD’s RX 7600 collection underperformed, with simply 52 fps on common, whereas the RTX 4060 managed 64 fps.
Medium @ 1440p
At 1440p, the RTX 5090 reached a median of 135 fps utilizing the Medium preset, with the RTX 4090 shut behind at 130 fps. Once more, the 40 and 50 collection GPUs are performing a lot nearer than anticipated. For instance, the RTX 5080 was 8% slower than the 4080, permitting the RX 9070 to match it.
The older 9700 XT additionally matched the 5070 Ti, whereas the RTX 3090 was 7% sooner than the 6950 XT. The 6800 XT and RTX 3080 have been almost similar. Beneath this stage, efficiency begins to fall underneath 60 fps.
Medium @ 4K
Lastly, at 4K utilizing Medium settings, the RTX 5090 achieved 89 fps – solely a 9% enchancment over its Extremely Nightmare outcome. Decrease-end playing cards just like the RTX 5070 noticed an 11% uplift, however that is nonetheless disappointing. Usually, a drop from most to medium high quality would yield not less than a 40% efficiency achieve. As an alternative, the 5070 solely managed 41 fps, that means even with upscaling, the expertise will not be nice.
FSR and DLSS Upscaling Efficiency
This is a fast have a look at how FSR and DLSS upscaling examine utilizing the 9070 XT and RTX 5080. As soon as once more, the Radeon GPU is quicker, delivering 11% extra efficiency when rendering at native decision. With the High quality upscaling choice, that margin extends to 16%, because the Radeon GPU turns into 40% sooner and the GeForce GPU sees a 34% increase.
The efficiency hole narrows barely to fifteen% with the Balanced setting, 14% with Efficiency, and returns to 11% with Extremely Efficiency. At 1440p, we suggest the High quality preset for each GPUs, because it supplies the most effective steadiness between visuals and efficiency.
VRAM Debate: 8GB vs. 16GB
Now let’s discuss 8 GB GPUs in Doom: The Darkish Ages, particularly the brand new 8 GB model of the RTX 5060 Ti. For essentially the most half, 8 GB GPUs carry out moderately nicely on this recreation, and it is clear the developer has put effort into optimizing for that configuration. This is smart, as nearly all of PC players are nonetheless caught on 8 GB GPUs, largely resulting from AMD and Nvidia persevering with to ship low-VRAM fashions, and look like actively making an attempt to kill PC gaming, however I digress.
As was the case with Area Marine 2, this recreation may tremendously profit from a correct 4K texture pack. Whereas some textures look glorious, many seem low-resolution and lack element when seen at greater resolutions. We made comparable feedback about Area Marine 2, which some pushed again on – till the 4K texture pack was launched. At that time, the sport seemed dramatically higher however turned unplayable on 8 GB playing cards.
For example the distinction, this is a have a look at how the 8 GB and 16 GB variations of the RTX 5060 Ti carry out at 4K utilizing DLSS Balanced upscaling throughout a big horde battle. Whereas the 16 GB mannequin’s body charge is not nice, the sport is not less than playable. In distinction, the 8 GB model is totally damaged on this situation – although that is an excessive case, meant to check VRAM limits.
Now, if we enabled DLSS high quality upscaling at 1440p, the 8 GB 5060 Ti sees little or no enchancment over native efficiency, whereas the 16 GB mannequin is roughly 40% sooner. To additional check VRAM saturation, we moved past the 30-second benchmark move and performed for a number of minutes.
Initially, the 16 GB card was about 42% sooner. However a couple of minutes in, VRAM utilization overwhelmed the 8 GB mannequin, tanking its efficiency. This resulted within the 16 GB mannequin delivering an 82% greater common body charge – and over 200% higher 1% lows.
We noticed comparable variations with the Nightmare and Extremely presets. Even the Excessive preset confirmed some discrepancy, although Medium supplied almost similar efficiency and visuals, making it a extra viable choice for 8 GB GPUs.
2GB vs 1.5GB Texture Pool Measurement
Nonetheless, this appeared to turn out to be a non-issue as soon as we found that decreasing the feel pool measurement from the default 2 GB to 1.5 GB drastically improved efficiency on the 8 GB 5060 Ti at 1440p with upscaling. It matched the 16 GB mannequin’s efficiency with no noticeable visible degradation. We additionally noticed no elevated texture or element pop-in, elevating questions on the true advantages of the upper texture pool setting. Whereas the sport means that allocating extra VRAM improves efficiency, we discovered no supporting proof in our testing.
This texture pool setting is very essential for customers with 8 GB GPUs – notably when utilizing options like body era. With the default 2 GB pool measurement, DLSS multi-frame era typically didn’t activate, typically requiring a number of restarts. Even then, efficiency was inconsistent.
For instance, in an early check of multi-frame era, it labored as anticipated on the 16 GB mannequin however diminished efficiency on the 8 GB model. By shifting to a much less demanding space, trying down on the floor, and enabling multi-frame era from the menu, we may typically get it to work. It appeared we needed to decrease VRAM utilization first, an issue that by no means occurred with the 16 GB mannequin.
Nonetheless, dropping to the Medium preset and lowering the feel pool to 1.5 GB allowed multi-frame era to work flawlessly on the 8 GB 5060 Ti. Actually, in that particular situation, the 8 GB mannequin barely outperformed the 16 GB model, although that is probably right down to run to run variance.
Based mostly on our testing, multi-frame era is buggy on the 8 GB mannequin and flawless on the 16 GB mannequin. Decreasing the feel pool measurement to 1.5 GB on an 8 GB GPU is crucial. For these questioning, the feel pool measurement will be elevated to 4 GB on a 16 GB GPU with none efficiency hit, although we could not establish any visible or efficiency enhancements consequently.
What We Discovered
Doom: The Darkish Ages is a well-optimized recreation that performs easily at 1440p with upscaling enabled. High quality upscaling can increase efficiency by round 30% to 40%, permitting GPUs such because the Radeon 7700 XT and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti to common over 60 fps, which must be thought of the naked minimal for contemporary PC gaming.
The primary optimization challenge lies within the lack of efficiency scaling. At most, we noticed a 30% enchancment in body charge when dropping from the utmost to the minimal high quality settings. That is why the Radeon RX 6600 managed simply 41 fps at native 1080p utilizing the Medium preset. The sport nonetheless appears to be like nice, however there’s not a lot extra efficiency gained by decreasing settings.
We might wish to see an choice tailor-made for older or lower-end GPUs that sacrifices visible constancy extra aggressively, permitting GPUs just like the RX 6600 to push past 60 fps at 1080p.
Visually, the sport appears to be like superb general, with many spectacular results, explosions are notably satisfying, nonetheless as famous earlier, texture high quality is not persistently excessive. It is harking back to what we noticed with Area Marine 2, a recreation that vastly benefited from a 4K texture pack.
At this stage, it appears mainstream GPUs could also be holding PC gaming again. Builders are confronted with a troublesome determination: both optimize video games to suit inside 8 GB of VRAM, compromising visible high quality, or prioritize higher-fidelity visuals and go away behind gamers restricted to eight GB GPUs.
Doom: The Darkish Ages is not the primary recreation that works nicely on 8 GB playing cards however suffers in different methods due to it. We noticed comparable trade-offs with Black Fable: Wukong, for instance. We consider video games like this might look considerably higher, with out demanding extra compute energy, if 16 GB was the bottom VRAM configuration for PC gaming.
Hopefully, as with Area Marine 2, we’ll see a high-resolution texture pack launched for Doom, because the outcomes might be transformative.
As for normal stability, we skilled some crashes when utilizing GeForce GPUs, particularly the RTX 50 Blackwell fashions. Whereas stability wasn’t horrible, the sport did hard-lock a couple of occasions, and we encountered a number of crashes when utilizing body era on 8 GB GeForce GPUs.
Decreasing the feel pool measurement to 1.5 GB appeared to assist in these instances. In distinction, we did not encounter a single crash or challenge whereas testing with Radeon GPUs. We have been impressed by how nicely the 9070 collection ran the sport, in addition to the efficiency of the RDNA 3 collection.
Will probably be fascinating to see whether or not the sport receives performance-related patches post-launch. We already know that path tracing is coming quickly, so that may undoubtedly be value exploring. Till then, for those who loved our work on this text, share it, subscribe to our publication for content material updates, and take a look at our TechSpot Elite subscription choice to take away adverts and obtain extra perks.
