It's rare that a game franchise has multiple games that trigger "I remember where I was when I first played them" moments. From my dad introducing me to the first DOOM via a shareware floppy disc to a friend going out to get a high-end graphics card to power the revolutionary lighting effects in DOOM 3, to ripping and tearing through the whole 2016 reboot during a week-long vacation, DOOM is one of the special series that has this effect.
DOOM has always pushed the limit of what a PC can do. The original 1993 release revolutionized video games by popularizing the FPS genre, setting a standard that exists to this day. The only way to truly experience the DOOM Slayer's glory is with a desktop that lets you push your tech's limits further than ever. Lucky for me, I got to dive into DOOM: The Dark Ages on a brand-new, super sleek CyberPowerPC gaming PC. Equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU, I was truly blown away by the way it evolved my playing experience.
GeForce RTX gamers will receive the definitive DOOM: The Dark Ages experience thanks to their technical partnership with id Software. Multiply frame rates on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs on average by 4X at 4K using DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and enhance image quality on all GeForce RTX GPUs with DLSS Super Resolution’s transformer AI model.
Bleeding edge
Can I be real? It's very rare that I'm able to play a game on max settings. Most of the time, I'm just trying to get the most out of what I have to work with. So much so that, sometimes, I worry it limits my gaming choices. Most of what I play on PC are indie titles that don't push my still-pretty-solid rig past its limits.
That's part of why this opportunity was so exciting. What does it look like when I'm able to wield best-in-class tech to bring a brand new, graphically intensive game to life? Normally, one of the most fun parts about getting a new computer is the steady process of running all the updates, downloading all your backups, and making the transition from PC to PC as seamless as possible. This time, though, I had a mission: I wanted to get right to the game. Fortunately, setting up the CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Gaming PC was a breeze and I dropped into the village of Khalim in no time.
The experience was immediately visceral. Running through the introductory demons with my combat shotgun felt just as sharp as it ever has. Developing muscle memory that allowed me to instinctively know when to throw my shield, melee attack, parry, and blast away was much easier than usual.
Maxed out
I wouldn't call these graphics "lifelike." Which is good. You do things to demons in this game that you wouldn't want to see in real life. Still, getting to dive into this game with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics was ideal. The detail was incredible. I turned off DLSS for a bit and, while the game still looked great, it wasn't as smooth as before. If I'd never experienced DLSS, I may not have even realized I was missing out on something. But now that I've seen the difference, it's going to be hard to go back.
Ray tracing, though, is a feature I always keep my eye on. To my mind, nothing makes a game more atmospheric than getting to see light refracting off the world in realistic ways. As I was making my way through Khalim and approached the beach, it started to rain. I took a break from the battle to engage in the time-honored video game tradition of staring at water. Looking at the world reflected in puddles on the ground was jaw-dropping. I couldn't spend too much time gawking, though. I had demons to smash.
Gamer supreme
A game like this is meant to be played on the highest possible settings. Fully experiencing id Software's vision was a real treat. CyberPowerPC has a ton of high-performance configurations on its website and at various retailers. You can check out the rig I played on, one of the brand's best-sellers, or even a slightly more affordable alternative that is still sure to crush DOOM: The Dark Ages and provide the kind of immersive experience you can only get from a top-of-the-line PC.
With certain games, you need a high-powered desktop. Thanks to CyberPowerPC, DOOM: The Dark Ages joins the lineage of "I remember where I was when I first played it." Except, I didn't just play it. I got to experience it.
