DOOM GRAPHICS OPTIMIZATION GUIDE - 2025

DOOM★ 3 · 33 ratings3.9k views47 favorites5 min readby ItzRileyView on Steam ↗

Official Game Requirements and My Specs

Minimum
OS: 64bit: Windows 7 or higher
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 or AMD FX-8320
RAM: 8 GB RAM
HDD: 55 GB
VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB or AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB

Recommended
OS: 64bit: Windows 7 or higher
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 or AMD FX-8350
RAM: 8 GB RAM
HDD: 55 GB
VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290

These are the game requirements if you have anything less than the minimum requirement the game will not run properly.

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows 11
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10300H CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2496 Mhz, 12 Cores
RAM: 16GB
VRAM: 4GB
GPU: GTX 1650 Ti (Laptop Version)

And yes, I am using a gaming laptop and it is very loud.

On my computer, DOOM with the optimized settings runs at 120 fps for most parts but during heavy fighting parts it can go down to 80 fps.

Video (Display Settings)

Window Mode

Have window mode set to FULLSCREEN

Fullscreen gives you better performance compared to windowed and borderless but if you wanna do something in the background like watch a youtube video or something that requires you to leave the game tab and go to a different tab I would use borderless because it makes it easier to switch tabs.

Resolution

Have resolution set to 1080p (1920x1080)

If you use all of the optimized settings and you still are getting very bad performance turn the resolution lower to 1600x900 or until it is playable.

Vertical Sync

Example of Screen Tearing:

My recommendation is to Turn off Vertical Sync

It does not help in this game. V-Sync is a method of stopping screen tearing which makes the screen split in half making the game look less smooth. The thing is this game is so well optimized that unless you have the worst PC on earth I'm sure you won't need it. Also if you use V-Sync it will cap the fps at 60 so use it only there is insane screen tearing.

Anti-Aliasing

I would recommend TSAAA (8TX)

Anti-Aliasing is a method of smoothing the jagged edges on models so they appear smooth and realistic. All of them work good but I think TSAAA is the best one.

Colorblind, Gamma, Motion Blur, Chromatic Aberration, and FOV

All of these are completely preference:

Colorblind - The name is pretty self-explanatory

Gamma - Used to adjust image brightness

Motion Blur - Blurs fast motions to emulate real movement

Chromatic Aberration - Simulates chromatic lens defect

FOV - Makes your peripheral vision larger or smaller (I use FOV 100)

Advanced (Graphic Settings)

Graphics API

Test both and see which performs better.

Vulkan is usually better than OpenGL especially on AMD systems. But for some systems OpenGl is better so I would test both just to make sure you aren't losing any fps.

Resolution Scale

Have set to 100%

If you still have bad performance after changing the settings you can lower this to get more fps.

Lights Quality

Have set to HIGH or ULTRA

This affects how lights look but they isn't much performance loss from LOW to ULTRA. I would leave it at HIGH but if you have a lot of spare fps at the end change it to ULTRA.

Shadows Quality

Have set to ULTRA

It has a very small affect on performance from LOW to ULTRA. Additionally if you have a really good GPU that has over 5G of VRAM you can set it to NIGHTMARE.

Player Self-Shadow

Leave on, it has literally no effect on performance.

Directional Occlusion Quality

Have set to HIGH

Directional Occlusion Quality is basically just Ambient Occlusion which adds shading under objects to make it look more realistic. Without Directional Occlusion Quality the game will look very unrealistic.

Decal Quality

Have set to ULTRA

There is barely any effect on performance from LOW to ULTRA. This setting effects blood splatters which makes having this setting on ULTRA very important.

Decal Filtering

Have set to 16x

This makes the textures have more depth and look more realistic. This has very little impact on performance.

Virtual Texturing Page Size - VERY IMPORTANT

This setting affects how fast textures loaded in.

For lower amounts of VRAM (2GB - 4GB) the difference from LOW to ULTRA is massive.

If you have 4GB or anything lower set it to LOW or MEDIUM.

If you have anything higher set to HIGH or ULTRA if you have a lot of VRAM

Reflections Quality

Have set to ULTRA

This affects the reflections on glossy metal surfaces. You can see the difference from OFF to ULTRA especially on the guns. The fps loss is very small so I recommend maxing it out.

Particles Quality

Have set to HIGH

This affects the particles on explosions, gunshots, smoke, and fire. Small impact on performance.

Motion Blur Quality

Have set to HIGH

This setting only matters if you have motion blur on so don't worry about it if you turned motion blur off. Their is no impact on performance from LOW to HIGH.

Depth of Field, Depth of Field Antialiasing, HDR Bloom, Lens Flare, Lens Dirt

All of these are completely preference:

Depth of Field - When an object is close to your face it blurs everything far in the distance. This effect is only noticeable in gun / item pickup animations so leave it on unless you don't like the effect

Depth of Field Antialiasing - Makes Depth of Field look more smooth so leave it on as there is no effect on performance

HDR Bloom - Makes light bloom more and there is no loss in fps so leave it on

Lens Flare - When there is a strong light it makes the game more realistic but simulating a flare effect, leave it on as there is not performance loss

Lens Dirt - Adds a dirty lens effect, I don't like it but test if you like it on or off.

Rendering Mode

Adds filters that change the colors of the game, it is completely preference and you don't lose any performance.

Sharpening Amount

Changes sharpness of the image, I recommend leaving it at 2 but it is completely preference. Just don't put it over 4, if its over 4 it will look way too sharpened.

Film Grain

Adjusts the effect of film grain, if left on it makes the image more grainy and it simulates the look of a movie. I don't like it but it is preference so you should test if you like it on or off.

Opacity UI

Changes how transparent the Health Bar and other indicators are. I like it at 50% so I can see the corners that are under the UI but it is preference.

Show Performance Metrics

This option adds a fps counter at LOW and every setting above that gives more details about how your computer is running and how much fps you are getting.