DOOM: The Dark Ages Path Tracing PC Performance Analysis: Slaying Demons Never Looked Better Thanks To PT, Boosted By NVIDIA DLSS 4

DOOM: The Dark Ages has finally received its path tracing update, offering greater visual fidelity and further enhancement with NVIDIA's DLSS 4.

DOOM: The Dark Ages Path Tracing Update Is Finally Here: Huge Visual Boost With NVIDIA's DLSS 4 & Ray Reconstruction Being a Must For Demon Slaying & Fast-Paced Action

The folks at Id offered another successful entry within the DOOM franchise with their latest release, DOOM: The Dark Ages.

It's the same demon-slaying action turned to 11 that we got a taste of in the 2016 release, followed by the brutally fast-paced DOOM: Eternal. These two titles were some of the most optimized FPS releases, powered by the latest versions of Id Tech. With Id Tech 8, developers are more focused on enhancing the visual fidelity while retaining the fast-paced nature of the game, and today, we can finally look at how Path Tracing takes these visuals to the next level.

DOOM: Eternal was the first DOOM title to feature ray tracing support, and DOOM: The Dark Ages came with Ray Tracing support baked into the game from the start. Modern hardware such as the RTX 50 series from NVIDIA can push several hundred FPS in the title, and with support for NVIDIA's MFG and DLSS 4x modes, you get some insanely fast frame rates to enjoy the game.

With Path Tracing support, you get even better visuals, but Path Tracing is expensive when it comes to GPU resources. As we have seen with Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake II, and Valve's remix releases, it requires strong ray tracing capabilities to run smoothly, and DOOM: The Dark Ages is a similar affair.

DOOM: The Dark Ages With Path Tracing Settings

Before starting the performance roundup, we have to look at the settings offered within the in-game graphics configuration menu. While there was no option to adjust the ray tracing settings, with the Path Tracing updates, users can tinker with several settings after enabling Path Tracing.

These settings include changing the Ray Traced Shadows to Off, Sun Only, or enabling it for all light sources. You can also enable or disable Ray Traced Transparency & Path Traced Water Reflections. The game also gives you an option to select between two Denoisers, one of which is the standard NVIDIA Real-Time Denoiser and the other of which is DLSS Ray Reconstruction.

The NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction Denoiser can be enabled on GPUs that support RR, which include RTX 50 and RTX 40 series, while the Real-Time Denoiser takes over the in-engine Denoiser and can be used for non-RTX 50/40 GPUs that support ray tracing, such as RTX 20 and RTX 30 series.

You can enable the Real-Time Denoiser on the newer RTX 40/50 series, too, but it runs a bit slower than Ray Reconstruction, and the visual fidelity also takes a small hit, but is still an improvement versus the in-game denoiser. Other than that, all the previous settings are still there with upscaling modes allowing you to switch between TAA, DLSS, XeSS, and FSR. NVIDIA's DLSS & DLAA modes can be used alongside DLSS Frame Generation, up to 4x MFG on the RTX 50 series and 2x on RTX 40 GPUs.

DOOM: The Dark Ages PC Performance Benchmarks

For testing purposes, we used our trusty Intel Core i9-13900K alongside several GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs. The driver used here is the GRD 576.76 release, a version similar to the official one, GRD 576.80, released just a few hours ago.

First up, we compare the performance in DOOM: The Dark Ages, using the flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card at various presets. At native resolution, ray tracing will get you an average of around 90 FPS, while enabling path tracing will drop the FPS down to 35 FPS on average. That's a 61% drop in performance, so enabling PT is going to yield a staggering hit. So, enabling upscaling & frame generation has become a necessity here.

As soon as we enable DLSS using 2x MFG mode, you can get an average of 60+ FPS with DLAA and 100+ FPS with DLSS Quality preset. You can go the extra mile by enabling 3x and 4x modes that yield up to 200 FPS on average with DLSS Quality and 120 FPS on average with DLAA modes. If you are to stick with the standard ray tracing settings, the DLSS 4 Quality preset combined with MFG at 4x mode gives you over 300+ FPS on average, while DLAA combined with MFG at 4x gets you over 200 FPS.

Considering that DLSS 4 Performance and Balanced modes offer very similar quality to Quality presets, you can also enable them to get extra performance if you are gunning for 240 FPS on average with a high-refresh rate 4K screen.

Latency figures for DOOM: The Dark Ages within these various modes that we benchmarked the GeForce RTX 5090 with are provided below:

Now let's look at the performance on offer with the entire GeForce RTX 50 series fleet in native, upscaled, and several frame-gen modes. Once again, if you are using frame-gen, then GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and above graphics cards are most suitable for 100+ FPS at 4K resolution. The rest of the lineup sits below 100 FPS at 4K, and the native performance can also be seen in the following GPU benchmarks.

At 1440P, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and above offerings are suitable for 100+ FPS using MFG 4x modes. We used the Quality preset, so those looking for more performance can once again switch to Performance or Ultra Performance presets for a much smoother FPS experience. The RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 GPUs are mostly going to be decent solutions for 1080p high-refresh-rate PC monitors.

DOOM: The Dark Ages PC Image Quality Comparisons (Path Traced vs Ray Traced)

Now the differences between the PT and RT implementations can be seen right from the start in the Main Menu, which features the DOOM Slayer and a small game environment rendered in-engine rather than using a static image. In the RT implementation, you can see that the armor, the shield, and the background are very dark, while the fire burning below produces a very flat texture. All of that lights up once PT is enabled. Look at the slayer's boots as PT does a finer job at reflecting the flames on the ground versus PT.

Ray-Traced Image #1:

Path-Traced Image #1:

Next are shadows. Notice the loading chamber of the gun in the first and second images. It's darker in the PT shot versus the RT one. In the RT shot, it feels like a light source is embedded in the chamber of the gun, whereas that's not the case. You can also see proper shadowing on the banners, whereas RT seems to suggest that there's a light source behind the character, but it's only on the front.

Ray-Traced Image #1:

Path-Traced Image #1:

In the forest area, we see PT-based GI, which lights up the scene more naturally, versus the hazy look in the RT image. The shadow cast are properly handheld, and the whole scene looks more moody and immersive than the flat look in the standard implementation.

Ray-Traced Image #2:

Path-Traced Image #2:

One of the areas where ray reconstruction works greatly is reflections on wet surfaces, and enabling various light sources to pop out. Certain denoiser techniques can destroy or hide these sources, but you can clearly see the differences between RR enabled and disabled below.

Ray-Traced Image #3:

Path-Traced Image #3:

Once again, scenes just look more immersive and well-lit with Path Tracing enabled. See that not only is there a higher level of GI in the scene, but the light itself isn't overdone on objects that are not in its way. For example, the walls facing the character and the weapons/shield.

Ray-Traced Image #4:

Path-Traced Image #4:

Statues, pillars, and various sources that either emit light or reflect light look better overall with PT and Ray Reconstruction.

Ray-Traced Image #5:

Path-Traced Image #5:

Larger open environments see some dramatic visual uplifts when enabling Path Tracing with Ray Reconstruction. Following is a shot that shows how better shadows and GI can impact the scene on a grander scale.

Ray-Traced Image #6:

Path-Traced Image #6:

The same scene near the statue can be seen below.

Ray-Traced Image #7:

Path-Traced Image #7:

Look at those flames being properly reflected on the surrounding surfaces. The RT render only has an orange hue on the ground, but no reflections are seen.

Ray-Traced Image #8:

Path-Traced Image #8:

Interior surfaces and objects provide more detail with ray reconstruction is enabled.

Ray-Traced Image #9:

Path-Traced Image #9:

And lastly, we have another large environment area below, which shows light sources popping out better with Path Tracing enabled.

Ray-Traced Image #10:

Path-Traced Image #10:

Conclusion - Id Tech 8 Goes In Overdrive Mode With Path Tracing & NVIDIA's DLSS 4 Technology

The recent DOOM entries are fast-paced shooters and look beautiful. Each entry has upped the ante when it comes to visual fidelity, and with the Id Tech 8-powered DOOM: The Dark Ages, we are seeing another leap in graphics for the series.

The game already looked insanely good with the standard RT implementation, but with today's Path Tracing update, users with powerful and latest hardware can enjoy better visuals. The visual uplift is there and is very noticeable as soon as you turn it on. Lighting is better, shadows look great, and reflection quality is substantially improved.

The cost is also there. Path Tracing is a graphics hog and has been seen in other games. You are looking at an over 50% performance drop when enabling everything to the max, but that's where DLSS 4 upscaling and frame-generation (MFG) support comes in. With the latest RTX 50 GPUs, you can still retain high FPS with the top lineup offering 200+ FPS in MFG 4x mode with minimal latency impact by enabling Reflex. In 2x mode, the RTX 40 series will also perform great using the DLSS 4 "Performance" preset. Older GPUs, such as the RTX 30 and RTX 20 series that don't have a frame-gen option, will suffer the most, but DLSS upscaling can still help them achieve around 100+ FPS.

This is still the first update of Path Tracing for DOOM: The Dark Ages, so we can expect updates to improve performance in the coming months. But yeah, if you want to experience the penultimate version of DOOM: The Dark Ages, Path Tracing with DLSS 4 is the way to go!

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