For many years, ray tracing was the holy grail for game developers. Though it had long been possible to use this advanced technique for pre-rendered cutscenes, the Nvidia RTX 20 series graphics cards made it possible to use during gameplay. Despite the improvements it makes to in-game visuals, there is a price to be paid, as those on cheaper graphics cards are finding out.

The release of the highly anticipated Doom: The Dark Ages has brought the issue of ray tracing back into the consciousness of PC gaming enthusiasts. This title forces ray tracing as a minimum requirement, which means owners of older or lower-specced graphics cards are locked out of playing the game.

Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest example

Since it was launched, some users have noticed issues with performance on some PC hardware setups. Though some were quick to point the finger at Denuvo anti-tampering software, others pointed their ire in a different direction. One user on Twitter/X expressed anger about ‘forced ray tracing’ and accused it of being a gimmick that negatively affects the framerate.

The system requirements for Doom: The Dark Ages specify: “a raytracing-capable GPU with 8GB dedicated VRAM or better.” Data gathered by reviews shows that 8GB cards like the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8GB model can just barely handle the demanding visuals. For users of older cards, such as a GTX GPU from Nvidia, this game, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle before it, is simply unavailable to play. It’s worth noting that both of these games run on the id Tech engine, and the developers have partnered with Nvidia, which is known for its leading ray tracing performance.

Developers are, of course, free to make the requirements whatever they want. Infamously, when the original Crysis was released, only the most powerful CPUs were able to play it with anything like reasonable performance figures. However, the market has changed since those days.

As many analysts and consumers have lamented, it is very difficult to upgrade your GPU in the current market. Models are regularly out of stock, soaring prices even before potential trade tariffs are brought into the equation. Recent news of Nvidia GPU price rises doesn’t help, though the situation at least looks better in Europe. Regardless, this makes it a spectacularly bad time to start forcing users to upgrade their graphics cards.

It would be a more customer-friendly approach to offer a non-raytracing option for those on older hardware, at least until the market settles down and cards become more affordable and available.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.