DOOM: The Dark Ages settings guide – maximise your performance with MSI’s GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs
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DOOM: The Dark Ages has dropped after years of anticipation, and this title comes with a bunch of hardware pushing features, including the GPU crunching path-tracing. So it's pretty important to know what your system is capable of, which is why on this page we'll be listing the ideal settings you should use in the game, depending on which graphics card SKU you buy, to maximise your gameplay experience – looking specifically at the gamut of GeForce RTX 50-series.
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DOOM: The Dark Ages is one of the first games we've come across that has enforced ray-tracing – i.e. the feature is switched on at all times – which is all the more reason to pair it with a top-notch 50-series GPU as NVIDIA remains well ahead of the competition with its RTX tech.
The beauty of the latest NVIDIA tech, in particular DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation, is that you don't even need to buy the most powerful in the series to enjoy the game at 4K. The RTX 5070 for example, represents the sweet spot for most gamers in terms of price/performance, and you can comfortably play the game at 4K, as long as you don't mind adjusting some of your settings..
We've already had the pleasure of building a gaming PC around the MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard Edition, which you can see in the video below, and enjoyed fantastic performance; from competitive 1080p gaming to stunning 4K visuals. MSI are some of the best in the business when it comes to graphics cards and other components, and so we'd heartily recommend you opt for an MSI AIB variant card of these NVIDIA GPUs if you're looking to upgrade your build to run this awesome game.
Here are the cards we looked at for each GPU tier:
- MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Ventus 3X OC – OCUK
- MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Ventus 3X OC Plus – OCUK
- MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB VANGUARD SOC LAUNCH EDITION Graphics Card – Currys
- MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ventus 2X OC – OCUK
- MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB VENTUS 2X OC PLUS – SCAN
- MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB VENTUS 2X OC PLUS – SCAN
- MSI GeForce RTX 5060 8GB VENTUS 2X OC – SCAN
The performance enhancing tech of the RTX GeForce 50-series GPUs
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards are all built upon the latest Blackwell microarchitecture, which allows for higher clock speeds and VRAM and therefore better raw performance. Besides this though, the main benefit of upgrading to a 50-series rig is the plethora of performance-enhancing features that these cards come with.
DLSS 4 & Multi-Frame Generation: DLSS is tech that essentially allows you to increase the framerate in any game you play, through using AI to both upscale and generate new frames. We're now enjoying the 4th generation of this proprietary tech from NVIDIA, which comes with the biggest uplift to performance yet: Multi Frame Generation, which allows DLSS to generate up to three additional frames for every traditionally rendered one. With this feature enabled, NVIDIA 50-series cards are capable of enjoying an insane performance uplift of potentially more than five times the framerate they'd generate without it — mind-blowing stuff!
Ray Reconstruction: Ray Reconstruction is a DLSS-powered feature that improves the quality of ray-tracing in games, removing some of the ‘noise'/graininess and other visual artefacts that can appear with the feature enabled. It can also decrease the performance impact of RTX features on the system, all of which is very beneficial given The Dark Ages has ray-tracing enabled as standard!
Reflex: NVIDIA Reflex is another technology made by the Green Team that helps reduce input lag and improve system responsiveness, meaning you can snap off those split-second headshots with ease. The API technology is shared with game developers as they code their title, allowing them to integrate it into their code and do things like optimise the rendering process between the CPU and the GPU.
Best settings for high-end GPUs: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 & 5080
At the most premium end of the NVIDIA 50-series range come the immensely powerful RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 graphics cards, both designed specifically with 4K gaming in mind. There are quite simply no better GPUs out there for gaming at such high resolution with the settings cranked up to the max. The RTX 5090 in particular performs spectacularly at 4K thanks to its whopping 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, so will guarantee you the highest FPS possible at this resolution of any graphics card currently available.
When playing DOOM: The Dark Ages on a RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 rig, you can turn all the settings up to full, though we still recommend turning on DLSS and Multi-Frame Generation in order to maximise those FPS too. We recommend the following settings:
For 200+ FPS at 4K resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
This goes for the newly added path-tracing update, which samples multiple potential light sources for each pixel, a gorgeous visual feature which ordinarily is extremely taxing on any system. However, using DLSS with Multi-Frame Generation, both of these GPUs shouldn't struggle to run path-tracing at 4K.
- GPU: GB202
- CUDA cores: 21,760
- VRAM: 32GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus width: 512-bit
- Base clock speed: 2010MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2452MHz
- GPU: GB203
- CUDA cores: 10,752
- VRAM: 16GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus width: 256-bit
- Base clock speed: 2295MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2655MHz
Recommended settings for upper mid-range GPUs: The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti & 5070
You don't need to get the very top end GPU to enjoy DOOM: The Dark Ages, as you'll get great performance with the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070. The cards have similar core frequencies but the former has more cores (8960 vs 6144), a greater amount of VRAM (16GB vs 12GB GDDR7), and a greater memory bandwidth (256-bit vs 192-bit). The improved VRAM in particular makes it better suited for gaming at the higher 4K resolution, although the RTX 5070 can still manage this too.
For path-tracing you'll likely want to stick to 1440p on the 5070 Ti (we used the MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard Edition), as the game will start to strain your system at 4K. With the 5070, you'll need to really push the settings down if you want path-tracing to run at 1440p. We would recommend sticking to 1080p if you're looking to go for full path-traced glory, as you can keep the settings up at Ultra.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
For 200+ FPS at 4K resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 200+ FPS at 1440p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
As mentioned, we had the pleasure of benchmarking the game on our PC built around the MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard Edition, and achieved the following results with Frame Generation turned on and off.
- GPU: GB203
- CUDA Cores: 8,960
- VRAM: 16GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus width: 256-bit
- Base Clock speed: 2300MHz
- Boost Clock speed: 2475MHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
For 100+ FPS at 4K resolution
- Quality Settings: High
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 200+ FPS at 1440p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 150+ FPS at 1080p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Quality) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
- : GB205
- CUDA Cores: 6,144
- VRAM: 12GB GDDR7
- Memory bus: 192-bit
- Base clock speed: 2,325MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2,557MHz
Best settings for mid-range GPUs: The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti & 5060
At the lower-mid range end of the SKU spectrum, is the RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 — we went with MSI's two-fan Ventus models here, which come with a clean cooler design and a moderate overclock to boost frames right out of the box.
These cards offer affordability, especially being readily available at MSRP, whilst still enabling consumers to access all the benefits of DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation, meaning you can still enjoy DOOM: The Dark Ages on the higher graphical settings.
There are two variants of the RTX 5060 Ti: a 16GB VRAM and 8GB VRAM option, with the more powerful one still being able to run the game at 4K resolution for good FPS, or with full path tracing,if you don't mind dropping it to medium settings. These three cards are however best-suited for playing the game at 1440p/1600p or 1080p/1200p resolutions though.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti (16GB)
For 100+ FPS at 4K resolution
- Quality Settings: Medium
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 150+ FPS at 1440p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 100+ FPS at 1080p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Quality) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
- GPU: GB206
- CUDA Cores: 4,608
- VRAM: 16GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus Width: 128-bit
- Base Clock speed: 2.4GHz
- Boost Clock speed: 2602MHz
- TBP: 180W
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti (8GB)
For 150+ FPS at 1440p resolution
- Quality Settings: High
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 100+ FPS at 1080p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Quality) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
- GPU: GB206
- CUDA Cores: 4,608
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus Width: 128-bit
- Base Clock speed: 2.4GHz
- Boost Clock speed: 2602MHz
- TBP: 180W
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060
For 100+ FPS at 1440p resolution
- Quality Settings: High
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Performance) with Multi Frame Generation (4x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
For 100+ FPS at 1080p resolution
- Quality Settings: Ultra Nightmare
- DLSS: ON, DLSS 4 (Quality) with Multi Frame Generation (2x), DLAA
- Ray Tracing: Reflections ON, Shadows ON
- Sharpness: 40–50%
- GPU: GB206
- CUDA Cores: 3,840
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus Width: 128-bit
- Base Clock speed: 2.28GHz
- Boost Clock speed: 2527 MHz
There's never been a better time to pick an MSI GeForce RTX 50-Series GPU
Whatever your budget, from the RTX 5060 to the RTX 5090 the NVIDIA 50-series has a solution for you. There's never been a better time to be a gamer if you're looking to buy the latest AAA titles, thanks to the magic of DLSS 4 and Multi-Frame Generation, so what are you waiting for?
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