Doom Eternal Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

Doom Eternal is the first game to run on id Software's in-house id Tech 7. Similar to the predecessor from 2016, which was still based on the id Tech 6, Doom Eternal scores with a nice look. In addition to the texture quality, the level of detail is usually at a good level. The effects are beyond any doubt anyway. If several opponents are on the screen, the first-person shooter produces a real spectacle. We will analyze which graphics cards will break a sweat.

Our benchmarks were carried out with the Steam version, which is slightly more expensive than the version for the Bethesda Games Launcher, but without the disadvantages of the latter platform (a Bethesda account is required in both cases). The download size is around 42 GB, which is decent for a game from 2020. Other first-person shooters with comparable graphics quality such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare easily break the 100 GB mark.

While the game takes some time to start, the in-game loading times are surprisingly short (at least with an SSD). Switching between menus is also quick. Speaking of menus: The graphics settings of Doom Eternal are quite extensive. If you scroll through the list, you will not only find various display options (resolution, vertical synchronization, HDR etc.), several video settings (field of view, motion blur, gamma, ...) and a mode for color-blind people, but also dozens of advanced settings, all of which can be adjusted by Overall Quality.

But be careful: depending on the size of the video memory, certain quality levels are blocked (especially with regard to the textures). For a GPU with 4 GB VRAM in Full HD, you can only select the high preset at most. With 2 GB VRAM, the restrictions are even greater (only low in full HD), which seems somewhat incomprehensible to us. Yes, as you can see from the integrated display, Doom Eternal has a very high VRAM consumption (approx. 5 GB @ FHD / Ultra), but the 2016 Doom looked similarly well with less system hunger. Due to the restrictive VRAM policy, we do not use the Nightmare and Ultra Nightmare presets in our benchmarks, as otherwise some GPUs would lack even more results.

There are pluses for the fact that setting changes do not require a restart. However, one should also mention that the presets often differ little visually and in terms of performance. Caution: Doom Eternal refuses to start with outdated GPU drivers. If for some reason a new driver cannot be installed on a device (as with our GTX-1650 notebook), gamers are stuck.

Doom Eternal is at its best during gameplay. Hardly any first-person shooter creates such a good "flow" when it comes to movement speed, weapon handling, feedback and general movement (although the character is sometimes stuck briefly). However, in our opinion, id Software is exaggerating with the additional features. Without all the improvements or activations (e.g. skill menus etc.) Doom Eternal would work just as well. The additional features do not necessarily increase the fun, but take out speed unnecessarily and distract from the actual gameplay.