The highly anticipated Doom: The Dark Ages has arrived, and if you're a fan of handheld gaming PCs, you might be curious about its performance on the Asus ROG Ally X. To ensure a playable experience, we're aiming for a minimum of 30 frames per second (fps), though the dream is to hit 60fps. While the previous installment, Doom Eternal, ran smoothly on the Ally, don't expect the same from The Dark Ages.
A Note on the Hardware
The world of PC gaming handhelds is flourishing, and the Asus ROG Ally X stands out as a leader. It's powered by the same AMD Z1 Extreme as its competitors, but its secret weapon is its 24GB of system memory, with 16GB dedicated to the GPU. Moreover, its memory speed of 7,500MHz provides superior bandwidth, a crucial factor for the integrated graphics of the Z1 Extreme. This makes the ROG Ally X an ideal candidate for testing the demanding Doom: The Dark Ages. As games evolve, the Ally X will serve as a benchmark for other handhelds, setting the stage for future developments expected later this year.
The Best Handheld Gaming PC: Asus ROG Ally X
With a doubled battery life and significantly faster memory, the Asus ROG Ally X has firmly established itself as the top handheld gaming PC on the market. Check it out at Best Buy.
Can the Asus ROG Ally Handle Doom: The Dark Ages?
Before diving in, ensure your chipset is updated for Doom: The Dark Ages. Updating on the ROG Ally X is straightforward: Open Armoury Crate (bottom right menu button), select the cogwheel at the top, and navigate to the Update Center. Look for the AMD Radeon Graphics Driver update, and if it's not available, hit Check for Updates. Install the RC72LA update by selecting Update All.
For our tests, I connected the Ally X to an outlet and ran it in Turbo Operating Mode (30W) to maximize performance. I set the in-game Texture Pool Size to the maximum of 4,096 megabytes (default is 2,048), confident that the ROG Ally X's 24GB of RAM (16GB usable) would handle it even at the highest settings.
All tests were conducted without resolution scaling, and I also tried dynamic resolution, though the results mirrored those at 720p due to the game's inability to reach target frame rates, causing dynamic resolution to default to 720p.
Here's how Doom: The Dark Ages performed on the ROG Ally X:
- Ultra Nightmare, 1080p: 15fps
- Ultra Nightmare, 720p: 24fps
- Nightmare, 1080p: 16fps
- Nightmare, 720p: 24fps
- Ultra, 1080p: 16fps
- Ultra, 720p: 24fps
- High, 1080p: 16fps
- High, 720p: 26fps
- Medium, 1080p: 17fps
- Medium, 720p: 30fps
- Low, 1080p: 20fps
- Low, 720p: 35fps
The tests were run repeatedly on the opening section of the game's second mission, Hebeth, which is intensely demanding due to its effects and particles. The results at 1080p were disappointing, with an average of just 15fps on Ultra Nightmare, making it unplayable. Lower presets didn't fare much better, averaging around 16-17fps, with only Low settings reaching 20fps at 1080p. Clearly, 1080p is not feasible for this game on the Ally X.
Switching to 720p offered some improvement, but not enough to be considered ideal. The highest settings averaged 24-26fps, which is far from smooth gameplay. Only when dropping to Medium settings at 720p did we reach the playable threshold of 30fps, with Low settings achieving 35fps.
Asus ROG Ally X Isn’t Ready for Doom: The Dark Ages
As much as I love handheld gaming PCs and my Asus ROG Ally X, it's clear that current hardware isn't up to the task for Doom: The Dark Ages. The Ally X struggles significantly, and to hit the 30fps mark, you'll need to use Medium or Low graphics presets at 720p.
Steam Deck users won't fare any better, given its less powerful specs compared to the Ally X. You'll likely be limited to 800p resolution on Low settings just to maintain 30fps, and this applies to all current-generation handhelds.
However, there's hope on the horizon. The next generation of mobile chipsets, such as the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, expected later this year, might change the game. Leaks hint at its integration into devices like the Asus ROG Ally 2 and an Xbox-branded model. We'll have to wait and see how these advancements impact demanding titles like Doom: The Dark Ages.
