Doom: The Dark Ages requires a GPU with ray tracing

Doom: The Dark Ages got an official release date today at Xbox’s Developer Direct — and we even had a chance to go hands-on with the game — and alongside the announcement of a May 15 release, developer id Software released the PC requirements for the game. And similar to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is also built using the idTech engine, it looks like Doom: The Dark Ages will put some heat on even the best graphics cards.

You can see the full system requirements below. You’ll need an 8GB graphics card to even run the game, but that’s a fairly low bar for a title releasing in 2025. What’s interesting is that an 8GB graphics card will only get you 60 frames per second (fps) at 1080p with the Low graphics preset. That’s a bit of problem considering otherwise powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 3070, are stuck with 8GB of video memory.

Even the lowest tier calls for a GPU that supports ray tracing, locking out anything older than Nvidia’s RTX 20-series and AMD’s RX 6000 GPUs.

In order to push to higher graphics settings, the system requirements call for at least 10GB, though a 12GB graphics card like the RX 7700 XT will likely be better. If you want to climb up to 4K, you’ll need 16GB, locking out all GPUs except flagship cards like the RX 7900 XTX and RTX 4080 Super — and, of course, the brand new RTX 5090 with its 32GB of memory.

This isn’t exactly surprising. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle revealed the VRAM demands of the modern idTech engine, and 8GB just doesn’t make the cut. Thankfully, the engine uses a texture streaming model that can fit within 8GB of VRAM at the Low graphics preset, and it doesn’t completely tank image quality. Instead of just using lower-resolution textures, the game more actively streams high-res versions in, giving you image quality and performance in equal strides.

Outside of the VRAM requirements, Doom: The Dark Ages also requires a GPU with ray tracing hardware. The game will support path tracing, as well as DLSS 4, according to Nvidia’s Jacob Freeman.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is releasing May 15th with DLSS 4 and Path Tracing support! System requirements are out now, RT hardware required. From what I have seen so far, it looks amazing. Huge DOOM fan, cannot wait! 😃 pic.twitter.com/hCvi8wKh1m

— Jacob Freeman (@GeForce_JacobF) January 23, 2025

Although idTech has made a name for itself for being a remarkably stable engine with its pioneering use of Vulkan, it’s also been at the center of the VRAM discussion as of late. Doom: The Dark Ages may struggle to run on 8GB graphics cards at higher graphics presets, but hopefully it provides a smooth experience regardless. That’s certainly what we’ve come to expect out of id’s tech at this point.