id Software shows Doom running on GTX 1080 using Vulkan

Nvidia just had id Software come on stage at their event in Austin, TX to show Doom up and running on the GTX 1080. That may not seem like a big deal, so to kick things up a notch, id had the game running using the Vulkan API. That's the low-level OpenGL equivalent of DirectX 12, and while id didn't specifically say how much faster Vulkan allowed the game to run, they did enable the in-game FPS counter.

The video starts off running at 1080p (which is the limit of the projector being used) with V-Sync enabled, and the frame rate is a steady 60 fps. After a minute or so, they shut off V-Sync and you'll see performance jump into the 120-200 fps range. id says there are still a few graphical glitches they're working to fix, specifically when the game hits 200 fps. Apparently there are some bugs in the game engine at 200 fps that they "weren't able to detect until they had the performance of the GTX 1080."

The retail launch of Doom is set for Friday, May 13.

Update: Nvidia and id Software have released a new video showing similar content, with a high quality 1080p60. Our original video is below, if you're interested.

Jarred Walton

Jarred's love of computers dates back to the dark ages when his dad brought home a DOS 2.3 PC and he left his C-64 behind. He eventually built his first custom PC in 1990 with a 286 12MHz, only to discover it was already woefully outdated when Wing Commander was released a few months later. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Brigham Young University and has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.