Mandatory ray tracing requirement the future of PC gaming? Doom The Dark Ages’ system specs signal a troubling trend

Yesterday’s Developer Direct 2025 gave us a look at what’s coming this year. We saw exciting new titles like Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and South of Midnight, plus the next installment in the Ninja Gaiden series. But let’s be honest most of us were just waiting for the release date of Doom The Dark Ages.

Old GPUs are DOOMED

Doom The Dark Ages will release on May 15, 2025, with a hefty price, $69,99 for the basic version and $99,99 for premium edition. And if that wasn’t enough, PC system requirements and ray tracing took a lot of people by surprise. Looks like it’s upgrade season – there’s no escaping it.

After watching the trailer, all I can say is: Let the headbanging begin! But first, let’s see what we’ll need:

Minimum system requirements (1080P/60 FPS/ Low video settings)

1. CPU: AMD Zen 2 or Intel 10th Generation CPU @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or better, or Intel Core i7 10700K or better).
2. GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware Raytracing-capable GPU with 8GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 2060 SUPER or better, AMD RX 6600 or better).
3. System RAM: 16 GB.

Recommended system requirements (1440/60 FPS/ High video settings)

1. CPU: AMD Zen 3 or Intel 12th Generation CPU @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or better, or Intel Core i7 12700K or better).
2. GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware Raytracing-capable GPU with 10GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 3080 or better, AMD RX 6800 or better).
3. System RAM: 32 GB.

Ultra 4K system requirements (2160/60 FPS/ Ultra video settings)

1. CPU: AMD Zen 3 or Intel 12th Generation CPU @3.2Ghz with 8 cores / 16 threads or better (examples: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or better, or Intel Core i7 12700K or better).
2. GPU: NVIDIA or AMD hardware Raytracing capable GPU with 16GB dedicated VRAM or better (examples: NVIDIA RTX 4080 or better, AMD RX 7900XT or better).
3. System RAM: 32 GB.

As you can see, GPU with ray tracing and at least an 8-core CPU are a must. The issue is, some gamers with older PCs just won’t be able to keep up, and laptop users with low VRAM are going to struggle. It’s going to be like with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle or Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Ubisoft has also shared its PC specs) – GeForce GTX cards are too ancient to handle new games and forced ray tracing is only going to become more common. You might be wondering, ‘Why is that?’

Well, we're moving beyond the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Now that we're in the era of ray tracing-capable consoles, it's becoming the standard. By sticking to ray tracing, developers save a lot of time and resources since they don’t have to manage separate lighting systems.

Doom: The Dark Ages

May 15, 2025

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• Doom (franchise)
• graphics cards
• ray tracing