Doom: The Dark Ages Struggles on Handheld PC

Doom: The Dark Ages has arrived, and if you're a handheld gaming PC enthusiast like me, you're likely curious about how well the Asus ROG Ally X can run it. While 30 frames per second (fps) is the minimum for playability, anything above that, especially 60fps, would be ideal, though that might be a stretch for such a demanding title. While Doom Eternal ran smoothly on the Ally, don't expect the same performance with The Dark Ages.

The landscape of PC gaming handhelds is incredibly diverse, but the Asus ROG Ally X sits at the pinnacle. Powered by the same AMD Z1 Extreme as many of its competitors, the Ally X stands out with its whopping 24GB of system memory, of which 16GB is allocated to the GPU by default. More crucially, its memory speed is unmatched, clocking in at 7,500MHz, offering superior memory bandwidth that significantly boosts the performance of its integrated graphics.

This makes the ROG Ally X the ideal candidate for testing Doom: The Dark Ages, as it's the best equipped to handle the game's demanding system requirements. As games continue to evolve and demand more, the Ally X will serve as a benchmark to gauge whether less powerful handhelds can keep up—until the next generation of handhelds arrives later this year.

The Best Handheld Gaming PC### Asus Asus ROG Ally X

7With double the battery life and significantly faster memory, the Asus ROG Ally X has solidified its position as the premier handheld gaming PC on the market. See it at Best BuyCan 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. If it's not available, hit Check for Updates. Once the RC72LA update appears, select Update All.

For these tests, I connected the Ally X to an outlet and ran it on Turbo Operating Mode (30W) to maximize performance. I also set the maximum vRAM to Texture Pool Size in the game's graphics menu at 4,096 megabytes, far exceeding the default 2,048. With 24GB of RAM (16GB usable) and plenty of headroom even at Ultra Nightmare settings, there was ample room for optimization.

All tests were conducted with resolution scaling disabled. I also tested with dynamic resolution, but the results mirrored the 720p metrics since the target frame rate was unattainable across the board, causing dynamic resolution to default to 720p anyway.

Doom: The Dark Ages ROG Ally X PerformanceUltra Nightmare, 1080p15fpsUltra Nightmare, 720p24fpsNightmare, 1080p16fpsNightmare, 720p24fpsUltra, 1080p16fpsUltra, 720p24fpsHigh, 1080p16fpsHigh, 720p26fpsMedium, 1080p17fpsMedium, 720p30fpsLow, 1080p20fpsLow, 720p35fpsFor the test, I repeatedly played the opening section of Doom: The Dark Ages’ second mission, Hebeth, to push the hardware to its limits with intense effects and particles. The results were surprising.

Running Doom: The Dark Ages at 1080p on the Ally X was a struggle. It averaged just 15fps on Ultra Nightmare, rendering it unplayable. Lowering settings to Nightmare, Ultra, and High barely improved the frame rate, averaging 16fps, while Medium settings only slightly increased to 17fps. Even at Low settings, the average was only 20fps at 1080p, which remains choppy. Achieving 1080p is simply unfeasible regardless of the graphics preset.

At 720p, the performance improved marginally but was still not ideal. Ultra Nightmare, Nightmare, and Ultra settings averaged 24fps, with High settings reaching 26fps. While these aren't smooth enough for a comfortable experience, they're tolerable if you're eager to play Doom: The Dark Ages on your handheld. It wasn't until dropping to Medium settings at 720p that the game became playable, averaging 30fps. Low settings offered the best performance, at 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, this game demonstrates their current limitations. The Ally X struggles significantly with Doom: The Dark Ages. To meet the bare minimum of 30fps for playability, you'll need to use Medium or Low graphics presets at 720p.

Steam Deck users are likely to face similar challenges, as its hardware is less powerful than the Ally X. You'll probably be confined to playing at 800p on Low settings just to achieve 30fps, a reality for all current-generation handhelds.

However, there's still hope on the horizon. The next generation of mobile chipsets, including the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, expected in handhelds later this year, may change the game. Leaks suggest that this chipset might power the Asus ROG Ally 2, and there are even rumors of an Xbox-branded model. We'll have to wait and see how these advancements impact demanding games like Doom: The Dark Ages.