Bethesda and id Software have just released the Path Tracing Update for the PC version of DOOM: The Dark Ages. So, it’s time now to benchmark this new path-traced version of this new DOOM game and examine its performance on a high-end PC.

For these Path Tracing benchmarks, I used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founder’s Edition. I also used Windows 10 64-bit and the NVIDIA GeForce 576.80 driver.

DOOM: The Dark Ages does not have a built-in benchmark tool apparently, the devs added one. You can find it in the Extra menu. So, for our benchmarks, I used the same scene we had in our PC Performance Analysis. In this area, you get to fight a lot of enemies. This is one of the most demanding areas early in the game. As such, it should give us a pretty good idea of how the rest of it runs.

At 4K, DOOM: The Dark Ages falls to unplayable levels with Path Tracing at Native Resolution. The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is unable to offer a 30FPS experience. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, we’re talking about Path Tracing in a modern triple-A game. The performance hit of Path Tracing is around 63%. Without Path Tracing, the game runs with a minimum of 68FPS and an average of 74FPS. With DLSS 4 Quality Mode, we were able to get to 50FPS. However, we were nowhere close to a smooth 60FPS experience. Thankfully, with DLSS 4 Performance Mode, we were able to get over 60FPS at all times.

Now, if you want to keep using DLSS 4 Quality at 4K, you’ll have to enable Frame Gen to get over 60FPS. As I’ve reported, the DLSS 4 implementation is DOOM: The Dark Ages is amazing. I could hardly spot any visual artifacts, even with MFG X4. So, I highly recommend using it. Well, that is if you already have a somewhat healthy framerate without Frame Gen.

At 4K/Ultra/Path Tracing with DLSS 4 Quality and MFG X2, we were able to get to the 80FPS territory. Then, with MFG X3, we were getting over 110FPS at all times. Finally, with MFG X4, we were hitting framerates above 140FPS.

Just for the fun of it, I also tried the game at 8K. To get a somewhat playable experience, I used DLSS 4 Performance with MFG X4. And the results were not that great. The game ran with 70FPS. Again, this was just for fun. It’s not possible in any way to get a playable experience in DOOM: The Dark Ages at 8K with its Path Tracing.

What’s crucial to note is that the game felt responsive, and there was minimal input latency. And when I say minimal, I mean minimal. Most of you won’t be able to notice it. As for visual artifacts, I could not spot any major ones.

But what about the visual differences between Ray Tracing and Path Tracing? Well, here are some comparison screenshots. Ray Tracing is on the left, whereas Path Tracing is on the right. As you will see, in some cases, the difference is huge. Take, for example, the first and last comparisons. In other cases, the differences are pretty small. The good news is that Path Tracing can maintain a high level of image quality. It looks better, and if you have the appropriate hardware, you should enable it.

My only gripe is with the game’s Textures. Now that we have Path Tracing, the lighting exposes the game’s textures even more. DOOM: The Dark Ages would greatly benefit from an HD Texture Pack. From what I know, though, id Software does not plan to release one yet.

All in all, DOOM: The Dark Ages looks great with Path Tracing. Compared to the default ray-traced version, the path-traced version looks better. There are scenes in which the visual improvement is huge. There are also places in which the difference is small. So, it all comes down to your personal preference.

Let’s also make something clear. The Path Tracing Update is mostly for those with a high-end GPU. If you own a mid-tier GPU, you should avoid it. Because if you’re expecting to enjoy Path Tracing at 4K on a mid-tier GPU, you’ll have to be delusional. Yes, you might get away with it at 1080p with DLSS 4. But would the resolution hit justify it? As I said, it’s up to you to decide.

Speaking of DLSS 4, given the fact that its implementation is so good here, I don’t see why someone with a high-end GPU would not enable it to enjoy these new Path Tracing effects.

Ultimately, since this is a free update, you can try it and see for yourselves whether it’s worth it. In my opinion, this is the best way to experience DOOM: The Dark Ages on a high-end GPU. But then again, that’s just me. Others may have a different opinion.

Enjoy!

John Papadopoulos

John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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