Path Tracing in DOOM: The Dark Ages - A Visual Revolution with Performance Costs

I tested the Doom: The Dark Ages path tracing update -- the difference is night and day but my GPU got hotter than hell

Doom: The Dark Ages is not just a fantastically frenetic FPS to play, but it's also a graphical masterpiece -- blending both the artistic inspiration of so many death metal album covers, and adopting advanced techniques to give your demon-slaying a real cinematic quality. I didn't think it could look any better, but then I got to try out the path tracing patch and my mind was blown. You see, I've seen advanced ray tracing not really add much to games over the past few months. Cyberpunk is still neon-drenched whether you have it on or off, so what can it possibly add to something as dark as Doom? Well, as it turns out, a lot. But at what cost to your GPU? I fired up my RTX 5070 Ti gaming tower and got to testing. Path tracing (sometimes, you'll hear it called full ray tracing) is a new level in simulating light and reflective materials -- let's break it down. With ray tracing that you'd see on the likes of your PS5 Pro, you're getting pretty lights and reflections that simulate the physics of only one bounce of a light ray or reflection. To do more is incredibly taxing, but we're now at a point where gaming PCs are capable of it. Stepping up to the next level, path tracing simulates how light interacts with objects in a much more complex way -- packing multiple rays that bounce directly and indirectly off objects, calculates both reflections and refractions, and even works hand-in-hand with a game shadowing technique called ambient occlusion to provide real visual depth to a scene. Dark Ages was already a feast for the eyes, but path tracing does indeed take it to a whole new level that I didn't expect. The shadows of darker rooms without it could make things a little too dark, but the update brings a new brightness to things without looking like artificially placed lighting. I was expecting this to be barely noticeable, but in reality the difference can be stark. In brightly-lit scenes, that may be the case, but since a lot of the game is gloomy, this is a real path tracing Tour de Force. On top of that, the reflections in puddles (be it water or blood) or the refractions of light gleaming off the many weapons in your arsenal add a real cinematic quality to all your chaotic combat moments. No longer does reflective surfaces or substances look like kitchen foil, and neither do rougher matte surfaces see any light bounce off. Everything interacts realistically, and it is a real sight to behold. Just a quick heads-up on my time specifically with RTX 5070 Ti, though. Path tracing has a high cost to GPU memory and performance, so you're going to need DLSS 4, multi-frame gen and all the neural rendering techniques to keep the frame rate at a playable level for something fast like Doom. Without them, this drops sharply to around the 25-30 FPS level, so please AI trickery is a must-use. During my many hours of testing, I took readings at particularly GPU-intensive moments of the game to gather an RTX 5070 Ti average. That's actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but that is still a hefty hit on frame rate in favor of path tracing. So it really becomes up to you on whether you're a detail hog of a frame rate connoisseur. Based on these numbers, if you are on anything less than an RTX 5070 Ti, it becomes a sliding scale of how much you value that improved lighting and reflection quality vs the performance. I'll have to continue testing on other GPUs to get a fuller picture, but given the average percentage gaps I've seen across them, you'll see a roughly 22% drop for RTX 5070 (with more of a risk of topping off that 12GB of video memory, and the demand on RTX 5060 Ti would just put too much of a strain on the lesser number of Tensor and RT cores. One thing that did alarm me slightly were the increased temperatures on the 5070 Ti. It's not hitting my threshold of concern (180 degrees), and it didn't exceed this for any extended session I had of 3+ hours of gaming. But it's starting to wander a little close to it. In the defense of my GPU, it's gotten unseasonably warm here -- like I just came back from LA, and the U.K. is actually warmer than it was the entire week over in Cali! But regardless, that's a dramatic uplift in performance demand and GPU temperatures. I turned on path tracing thinking it would just be like a 5% improvement for a big performance hit -- flashier lights and nicer reflections that slowed down my demon-slaying antics a little too much. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. Path tracing is the real deal and the difference is stark in terms of adding impressive levels of depth and drama to each scene. The way the lighting realistically illuminates and reflections bounce make every bloodsoaked moment look like the most epic metal album cover you've seen. With all this in mind, is it worth the average 40% hit on your GPU's performance? The answer very much comes down to how important frame rate is to you. I do appreciate that uber-smoothness without path tracing turned -- especially when parrying attacks. But for what it does bring to the table, this is a gorgeous, gory glimpse of graphics going forward.

DOOM: The Dark Ages looks stunning at 8K with new lighting effects - but it almost humbled my Nvidia RTX 5090

After DOOM: The Dark Ages launched earlier this year, I've been desperate to whack it on our 8K test PC and see how the beastly Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card handles the latest installment of maybe the most iconic PC gaming franchise in history. Due to various reasons, I've not been able to do that... until now. The game has just been updated with some big graphical improvements and better support for the Nvidia's RTX 5000 series of GPUs and their exclusive features, mainly path tracing for much more accurate and immersive lighting, shadows and reflections, whilst also adding in-built support for Multi Frame Generation - an AI-powered feature which I've found has been a bit of a game-changer when it comes to hitting high frame rates whilst also having demanding graphics settings turned up to 11. So, this is the perfect time to load the game up to see what these new graphical features add - and to see if the RTX 5090 is up to the challenge of demon slaying at a resolution of 7680 × 4320. DOOM: The Dark Ages is a game that prioritises both speedy gameplay and stunning graphics, so when you throw super-high resolutions and complex lighting effects, even the most powerful gaming GPU in the world (which is what we have in our 8K test system) is going to struggle. Before I get to the raw numbers, it's worth mentioning what's new in the game, especially path tracing. Like an increasing number of games, DOOM: The Dark Ages launched with ray tracing effects which can't be turned off, so if your GPU doesn't support the advanced lighting effects (or struggles with how demanding they are), then you're out of luck. By enforcing ray tracing, it does mean the entire asthetic of the game has been designed to make use of it, and the new update adds path tracing, which takes the (already impressive) lighting effects of the game and makes them even more realistic. While normal ray tracing is great at showing realistic lighting effects when the light from a source hits a surface, path tracing goes further by continuing to render the light after it has bounced or reflected off the first surface, allowing multiple surfaces to be affected in real-time. It can result in some incredibly impressive and realistic shadows and reflections, especially in indoor areas of games where light sources from signs, lamps, and candles can bounce off floors walls and objects whilst also being reflected in pools of water. As you might expect, this complex recreation of how natural light behaves can be extremely taxing on your hardware, which is why the addition of Nvidia's Ray Reconstruction to DOOM: The Dark Ages is essential. A part of Nvidia's suite of DLSS tools that use AI to generate pixels alongside the pixels your GPU renders (and with Frame Generation, entire frames), which has in the past dramatically improved the performance of some games, Ray Reconstruction does a similar job but uses AI to generate additional rays (as in rays of light) alongside the rays that the GPU is rendering, taking the load off of the graphics card with an aim to improve performance whilst not impacting image quality too much. As these features have been designed by Nvidia, it means they are exclusive to Team Green's graphics cards (while AMD RDNA 4 GPUs can support path tracing, AMD has yet to release a tool like Ray Reconstruction that takes the load off the graphics card - and that could mean while the game looks great, it won't run well. Even with the power of the Nvidia RTX 5090, it's clear that DLSS and AI generation is required to allow the game to have both Path Tracing effects and a remotely playable frame rate. With graphical settings set to their highest, with DLSS set to 'Quality' (which prioritzes graphic fidelity over performance, meaning the image is upscaled by AI from a larger initial resolution), at 8K resoltion I was only getting 16fps (frames per second) - a far cry from the 60fps I aim for at a minimum. So, even with the help of DLSS, which has helped many modern games hit 60fps at 8K in the past, this level of lighting effects combined with the ultra-high resolution has proved too much. Before giving up in despair, there are a few more tricks to try. As part of the new update, support for Multi Frame Generation has also been added to DOOM: The Dark Ages. I've found Multi Frame Generation to make a drastic impact on frame rates in the titles, but the feature has proven to be controversial. It uses AI to generate and insert frames (essentially still images) between each frame generated by the GPU. With Multi Frame Generation this can mean an additional three frames generated per each frame rendered by the GPU, which can boost the frame rate (how many frames are shown per second) - though the more frames that are AI generated, the more danger there is that image artefacts and other issues appear. I've been impressed with how the recent Multi Frame Generation works, as in the games I've tested it in, the generated frames aren't as noticable than when the earlier Frame Generation (which generated a single frame) launched, though there can be a softness and slight blurriness to the overall look of certain games when used extensively. I won't get into the debate a lot of gamers seem to be having about 'real' and 'fake' frames, but I'm of the opinion that if these frames make games run better without compromising image quality (or replacing anyone's job), then there's no reason why I wouldn't use the feature. Turning on Multi Frame Generation to its highest setting, 4x (which refers to the one rendered frame and three generated frames), the frame rates did indeed jump to 54fps on average (I was playing in a mix of indoor and outdoor game locations with lots of enemies). However, despite the leap in frame rates, the game felt like it was playing in slow motion. It was quite an odd experience as it wasn't like when graphics cards struggle with games, leading to drops in frame rates. Here, gameplay was still smooth, but it just felt like the slow motion effect the game employs during some attacks was permenantly on. I changed the DLSS setting to 'Performance' which renders the game at a lower resolution, then uses AI to generate more pixels to upscale the resolution, and the frame rate jumped to 83fps on average. Crucially, the game once again felt fast, frantic and responsive. Turning off Path Tracing saw the frame rates leap to 143fps, which at 8K is incredibly impressive and also shows how much of a performance impact Path Tracing can have, even with Ray Reconstruction turned on. Turning Path Tracing back on and setting DLSS to Ultra Performance got me 145fps at 8K, and while there was a bit of a hit to image quality, it was an excellent overall experience. It's also worth noting that the 8K TV I use to test these games, the LG 55NANO966PA, maxes out 8K resolution at 60Hz, which means the benefits of frame rates above 60fps become less pronounced, though it can help reduce latency. Because of that, having DLSS set back to 'Performance' is the sweet spot here, as it boosts image quality without a noticable impact to how the game runs. With Path Tracing making such a big impact, is it worth enabling, even if you're not playing at 8K? It's an interesting question, especially with a game like DOOM: The Dark Ages, which already looks fantastic and prioritizes speed and reflexes in its fast-paced action. However, I found it was definitely worth it - the lighting effects really make a huge difference to how the game looks, and how immersive it is. In the moody setting of the medieval-inspired planet of Argent D'Nur, where the game takes place, having lamps and candles flicker and throw shadows and illuminate objects and surfaces, adds a huge amount of atmosphere. Projectiles thrown at you by enemies also benefit from the effect, lighting up the surroundings as they hurtle towards you. For people who have GPUs that will struggle to hit high frame rates alongside Path Tracing effects, then this trade off isn't worth it, as the game really relies on fast and smooth violence against the demonic hordes, but if you have one of the best graphics cards that's up to the task, then I really recommend turning it on and enjoy playing a game that whilst inexplicably tied to PC gaming's past, is hinting at what the future holds.