DOOM is back—and it’s never looked meaner. DOOM The Dark Ages is the latest installment in Id Software’s iconic franchise, bringing a brutal blend of medieval mayhem and modern firepower. Powered by the id Tech 8 engine, this entry trades Mars for dark fantasy while keeping the brutal combat, metal soundtrack, and silky-smooth performance that DOOM is known for.
Naturally, we had to see how it runs.
Test Setup Link to heading
Hardware Used:
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (Arrow Lake, 5.7 GHz, 8P+16e-Core)
- Motherboard: MSI MEG Z890 ACE
- Memory: 2x 24GB Kingston DDR5-8666 MT/s CUDIMMs
- Storage: Toshiba RD400 512GB NVMe SSD
Software Environment:
- Windows 11 Pro x64 (24H2)
- AMD Radeon Software (25.5.1)
- NVIDIA GeForce Drivers v576.40
- Intel Arc Drivers 101.6793
Graphics Cards Tested:
- AMD: RX 7800 XT, RX 7700 XT, RX 7600, RX 6800 XT, RX 6750 XT
- Intel: Arc B580, Arc B570, Arc A770, Arc A750
- NVIDIA: RTX 4080, RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 3070 Ti
Methodology Link to heading
We benchmarked using a consistent scene from Chapter 6, featuring a large-scale outdoor battle in daylight with heavy enemy spawn. This area proved to be the most demanding during gameplay.
Testing Details: Link to heading
- Lower-end GPUs: 1080p @ Medium preset (no upscaling)
- High-end GPUs: 4K @ High preset + “Quality” upscaling (DLSS 4 or XeSS)
- Frametime data captured via CapFrameX
- Three consistent test runs for accuracy
1080p Medium Benchmarks Link to heading
Despite DOOM: The Dark Ages being ray tracing mandatory, even mid-range GPUs perform well at 1080p Medium settings.
Every card achieved 40+ FPS averages with solid frametime consistency. Notably, the RX 6800 XT kept pace with the RTX 3080, showcasing impressive performance in this RT-heavy title.
⚠️ Note: Ultra and Nightmare settings are not currently functional in this pre-release. Path tracing support is planned for future updates.
4K “Quality” Upscaling Benchmarks Link to heading
At 4K with upscaling from 1440p:
- The RTX 4080 leads the pack, delivering stunning visuals and high frame rates.
- RX 7800 XT and Intel Arc B580 offered nearly 40 FPS—great for their price class.
- GPUs with 8GB VRAM or less struggled. Texture pool tuning helps, but drops below 2048MB hurt texture quality.
📉 Some cards (especially with 8GB VRAM) suffer at 4K due to memory constraints.
Frametime Consistency Link to heading
Even at 30 FPS on lower-end cards, the frametime graph remained remarkably flat, indicating smooth, stutter-free gameplay—a testament to the game’s optimization and pacing.
“The Dark Ages plays great even when the framerate dips. It’s not DOOM Eternal-fast, but it’s silky nonetheless.”
Power Efficiency Insights Link to heading
- Intel Arc (Alchemist): Still power inefficient
- NVIDIA Ada (RTX 40 series): Most efficient
- AMD RDNA 2 & 3: Middle ground
- Battlemage (Intel Arc B-series): Underperforms power-wise, possibly due to driver limitations—but shows promise
📈 Battlemage GPUs like the B570/B580 ran ~15% below their power limit, signaling potential gains from future driver updates.
CPU Usage & Scaling Link to heading
Surprisingly, the game is incredibly light on CPU usage:
Even a Ryzen 5 3600 can sustain 60 FPS comfortably.
Tests on both Intel and AMD platforms showed no significant performance differences. It’s safe to say your GPU matters much more than your CPU here.
Conclusion Link to heading
DOOM The Dark Ages is a brutally gorgeous game that scales well across modern GPUs. Whether you’re running a $250 mid-range card or a $1200 flagship, you’ll get a smooth and cinematic experience—especially at 1080p or with upscaling.
Highlights: Link to heading
- ✅ Excellent 1080p performance even with ray tracing
- 🎯 Solid 4K visuals using AI upscaling (DLSS, XeSS)
- 💡 CPU-light, GPU-heavy title
- 🔋 Efficiency varies widely by vendor
Stay tuned as future patches add path tracing and unlock “Ultra Nightmare” settings.
“Even on Medium, DOOM looks mean.”
🕹️ Have you played DOOM The Dark Ages yet? Let us know your experience with your GPU setup in the comments!