Following its explosive release on July 6, 2026, Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations has brought the Slayer’s medieval origins to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Built on the latest iteration of the id Tech engine, the game expands beyond linear corridors into massive, open-air siege battles featuring the Slayer’s new shield saw and rideable mechs.
True to id Software’s legacy, the game is incredibly well-optimized, but the sheer volume of on-screen enemies and hardware-accelerated ray tracing can still bring older GPUs to their knees. Here is our complete hardware benchmark breakdown and the settings you need to adjust to hit the competitive 120+ FPS sweet spot.
Technical Architecture & id Tech Enhancements
The transition to medieval environments introduces several new rendering pipelines for the id Tech engine:
- Massive Swarm Rendering: Revelations features open battlefields with hundreds of demonic grunts on screen at once. The engine utilizes advanced CPU multi-threading to handle projectile trajectories and AI pathing, meaning modern 8-core CPUs will see significantly higher 1% minimum frametimes than older quad-core processors.
- Full Ray-Traced Reflections & Shadows: Unlike Doom Eternal’s post-launch RT patch, Revelations integrates ray-traced shadows and water reflections into the core lighting model. These bounce effects look stunning across blood-soaked castle ruins but require severe GPU horsepower.
- VRAM Efficiency: id Tech continues to manage memory masterfully. The game requires just 8GB of VRAM to run the Ultra Nightmare texture preset at 1440p, making it highly accessible to mid-range configurations.
Tested Hardware Benchmarks
Tested during the chaotic “Siege of Argent D’Nur” sequence using DLSS/FSR set to Quality Mode:
| GPU Configuration | Target Resolution | Preset Setting | Avg FPS | 1% Low FPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (24GB) | 4K UHD (3840x2160) | Ultra Nightmare / RT On | 142 FPS | 118 FPS |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) | 1440p QHD (2560x1440) | Nightmare / RT On | 115 FPS | 94 FPS |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (16GB) | 1440p QHD (2560x1440) | Nightmare / RT Off | 132 FPS | 106 FPS |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (8GB) | 1080p FHD (1920x1080) | Ultra / RT Off | 108 FPS | 88 FPS |
| AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8GB) | 1080p FHD (1920x1080) | High (FSR Quality) | 82 FPS | 64 FPS |
Need to squeeze out more performance? Plug your display resolution into our PC Resolution & Upscaling Calculator to see your exact internal render resolution on DLSS/FSR Quality or Balanced modes.
Crucial Settings for Maximum Framerate
If you are trying to lock your display to its maximum refresh rate, tweak these three settings first:
1. Hardware Ray Tracing
- Performance Impact: Extreme (~25% to 35% FPS penalty).
- Recommended Setting: Off (unless using an RTX 4080/4090).
- Disabling RT completely transforms the performance profile on mid-range GPUs. The baked-in screen space reflections and rasterized shadows still look phenomenal at 140+ FPS.
2. Volumetric Quality
- Performance Impact: High (~12% FPS variance).
- Recommended Setting: High.
- Lowering the density of fog and dust kicked up by the Slayer’s mech from Ultra Nightmare to High stabilizes frame drops during intense explosive sequences.
3. Decal & Blood Splatter Duration
- Performance Impact: Medium (~8% FPS variance).
- Recommended Setting: High.
- Ultra Nightmare permanently leaves scorch marks and gore across the entire map, which slowly drains CPU resources over a long level. High clears them out naturally as you move forward.
Final Verdict: Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations is a masterclass in PC optimization. By turning off Ray Tracing and dialing Volumetrics to High, almost any modern gaming rig can achieve a flawlessly smooth, ultra-fast combat experience.
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