The ever-increasing use of ray tracing in video games often necessitates a change of graphics card.
DOOM: The Dark Ages was only made official a few days ago by publisher Bethesda and studio id Software. It continues the franchise whose last opus - DOOM Eternal - dates back to 2020. At the time, the studio was only asking for a GeForce GTX 1050 as the minimum configuration to run its game. Today, however, it's a different story, with id Software going all out for ray tracing and requiring a graphics gas pedal designed for ray tracing, i.e. a GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card - even in its Super version - from NVIDIA, or a Radeon RX 6600 from AMD.
These hardware requirements are in line with the growing inflation of PC game configuration requirements throughout 2024. DOOM: The Dark Ages, however, goes one step further. The minimum system requirements include an AMD Zen 2 or Intel 10th generation @ 3.2 GHz processor with 8 cores/16 threads (or higher), 16 GB RAM, an SSD with 100 GB of available space and, therefore, a GeForce RTX 2060 Super, a Radeon RX 6600 or better. But that's not the most astounding part. According to id Software, such a configuration is only capable of running the game at 1080p, with graphics details set to " low ". Sure, we're talking about 60 frames per second, but only in 1080p!
System requirements for DOOM: The Dark Ages © Bethesda/id Software
As you can see from the image above, the other two configurations put forward by id Software are even more demanding, with an AMD Zen 3 or Intel 12th generation @ 3.2 GHz processor with 8 cores/16 threads, 32 GB of memory, an SSD with at least 100 GB available and a GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 6800 graphics card for "recommended" play: here, you can afford to set the game to 1440p to play at 60 frames per second with graphics details on " high ". Finally, the " ultra 4K " configuration requires an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or Intel Core i7-12700K processor, 32 GB of RAM and the same SSD with 100 GB of free space, but an overpowered graphics card: a GeForce RTX 4080 or a Radeon RX 7900 XT. Fortunately, you can then play in 4K at 60 frames per second, with graphic detail in " ultra ". The honor is safe!
All that remains now is to await the game's release, scheduled for May 15 on PC of course, but also on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. The game will be launched at a hefty price: 79.99 euros on PC and PlayStation 5, with only Xbox gamers benefiting from a small discount to 69.99 euros. That said, if that's not enough for you, you can always go for the " premium" edition and its digital accessories (DLC, skins, artbooks, soundtrack): it costs 109.99 euros. Note that for an additional 100 euros, you can also opt for the " collector's " version, which includes a 30-centimeter DOOM Slayer figurine.
