Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest PC game to support path-tracing. The recent patch added path-traced global illumination, reflections, and ray-traced shadows. Of course, you need a beefy graphics card, upscaling, and frame generation for an enjoyable experience. Here’s how path-traced Doom: The Dark Ages performs across popular RTX GPUs.
Doom: The Dark Ages Path Tracing Requirements
- Doom’s path-tracing requirements include the GeForce RTX 4070 for 1080p 60 FPS using upscaling (bare minimum).
- QHD 1440p requires an RTX 4080, though you can get away with an RTX 5060 Ti.
- 4K UHD demands an RTX 4090, but an RTX 4070 Ti should also suffice.
- Frame generation is recommended for a smoother experience.
- The CPU and memory requirements are unchanged.
| 1080p 60 FPS | 1440p 60 FPS | 4K 60 FPS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Quality | Medium + Bal Upscale | High + Bal Upscale | Ultra + Perf Upscale |
| Path Trace Settings | RT Shadows Off | All On | All On |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | Intel Core i7 12700K | AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | Intel Core i7 12700K | AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | Intel Core i7 12700K |
| GPU | NVIDIA RTX 4070 | NVIDIA RTX 4080 | NVIDIA RTX 4090 |
| RAM | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB |
| Storage | 100 GB SSD | 100 GB SSD | 100 GB SSD |
Doom TDA: 1080p Path Tracing Performance
Doom: The Dark Ages performs best on the GeForce RTX 40 and RTX 50 series graphics cards. The RTX 3080 Ti (usually on par with the RTX 4070/4070 Super) is slower than the 5060 Ti, averaging under 50 FPS. This is likely due to the large L2 cache on the Ada Lovelace and Blackwell GPUs.
- The RTX 4070 Ti averages 69 FPS using the highest path-tracing settings at 1080p with balanced-mode upscaling.
- The RTX 5070 Ti follows with an average of 87.5 FPS and 75 FPS 1% lows.
- The RTX 4080 Super is slightly faster, averaging 93 FPS with 80 FPS lows.
- The RTX 4090 is roughly 15% faster than the 4080 Super/5070 Ti, yielding 104 FPS with path-tracing at 1080p (upscaled).
Doom TDA: 1440p Path Tracing Performance
QHD or 1440p reduces the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and the 3080 Ti to under 40 FPS with path-tracing, the former retaining a marginal lead over the latter. The RTX 4070 Ti offers baseline playable frame rates at 1440p with path-tracing, requiring frame generation for >60 FPS paired with balanced upscaling.
- The RTX 5070 Ti leads the 4070 Ti by 27%, averaging 64 FPS with 56 FPS lows.
- The RTX 4080 Super is a smidge faster at 68 FPS.
- The RTX 4090 nets 80 FPS, beating the 5070 Ti by 25% at path-traced 1440p (balanced upscaling).
Doom TDA: 4K Path Tracing Performance
Doom: The Dark Ages requires (at least) a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti for 4K path-tracing alongside upscaling and frame generation. Using only upscaling, it averages 38 FPS, trailing the 5070 Ti by 25%.
- The RTX 5070 Ti averages 50.6 FPS at path-traced 4K with performance upscaling.
- The RTX 4080 Super delivers roughly similar frame rates as the 5070 Ti.
- The RTX 4090 with 65 FPS extends its lead over the 5070 Ti/4080 Super duo to nearly 30%.
Doom TDA: Path Tracing + Multi Frame Gen
Frame generation (and multi-frame generation) is instrumental for high frame rate performance with path-tracing. The GeForce RTX 4090 consistently delivers nearly 100 FPS at path-traced 4K with performance upscaling, up from ~60 FPS with only the latter.
Using multi-frame generation, the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti delivers similar frame rates at path-traced 1440p. The midrange Blackwell GPU averages 62 FPS using single frame generation and 108 FPS using 4x mode.
Doom: The Dark Ages Path Tracing VRAM Usage
Doom: The Dark Ages uses substantially more graphics memory with path-tracing. The increase is relatively mild at 1080p (+2 GB), but becomes more pronounced at 1440p (+2.5 GB) and 4K (+4 GB).
The peak VRAM usage increases to 20 GB at 4K native with frame generation. Upscaling brings it down to 13-14 GB, but pairing it with frame generation boosts it to 15-16 GB.
