The much-anticipated Doom: The Dark Ages has finally arrived, and if you're a fan of handheld gaming PCs, you might be curious about how the Asus ROG Ally X performs with this demanding title. Setting a minimum of 30 frames per second (fps) for playability, with a hopeful target of 60fps, let's dive into how the Ally X handles this game.

While the previous title, Doom Eternal, ran smoothly on the Ally, Doom: The Dark Ages presents a different challenge. Despite the Ally X's robust hardware, the performance might not meet your expectations.

The world of PC gaming handhelds is diverse, and the Asus ROG Ally X stands out as a top contender. It uses the same AMD Z1 Extreme chip as many of its peers, but it has a significant advantage with 24GB of system memory, of which 16GB is allocated to the GPU by default. Additionally, its memory speed of 7,500MHz offers superior memory bandwidth, crucial for the Z1 Extreme's integrated graphics.

The ROG Ally X is the ideal testbed for Doom: The Dark Ages, given its potential to handle the game's high system requirements. It serves as a benchmark for other handhelds, hinting at whether less powerful devices can keep up until the next generation of handhelds emerges later this year.

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

7With double the battery and much faster memory, the Asus ROG Ally X has catapulted itself to be the best handheld gaming PC on the market. See it at Best BuyCan the Asus ROG Ally Handle Doom: The Dark Ages?

Before diving into gameplay, 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, and navigate to the Update Center. Look for the AMD Radeon Graphics Driver update, and if it's not visible, click Check for Updates. Install the RC72LA update by selecting Update All.

For optimal testing, the Ally X was plugged into an outlet and set to Turbo Operating Mode (30W). I maximized the vRAM allocation to Texture Pool Size at 4,096 megabytes in the in-game graphics menu, far above the default 2,048, to leverage the Ally X's 24GB of RAM (16GB usable), which remains ample even at the Ultra Nightmare setting.

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

Doom: The Dark Ages ROG Ally X PerformanceUltra Nightmare, 1080p15fpsUltra Nightmare, 720p24fpsNightmare, 1080p16fpsNightmare, 720p24fpsUltra, 1080p16fpsUltra, 720p24fpsHigh, 1080p16fpsHigh, 720p26fpsMedium, 1080p17fpsMedium, 720p30fpsLow, 1080p20fpsLow, 720p35fpsThe test focused on the opening section of Doom: The Dark Ages' second mission, Hebeth, known for its intense action and demanding effects. The results were disappointing.

At 1080p, Doom: The Dark Ages on the Ally X struggled significantly, averaging only 15fps on Ultra Nightmare, rendering it unplayable. Lower presets like Nightmare, Ultra, and High barely improved the frame rate, averaging 16fps, while Medium reached 17fps. Even on Low, the game averaged 20fps, which is still not smooth enough for enjoyable gameplay. 1080p is simply not feasible at any graphics setting.

Performance improved at 720p, but not sufficiently. Ultra Nightmare, Nightmare, and Ultra averaged 24fps, and High reached 26fps. While playable, these frame rates are far from ideal. Only at Medium and 720p did the game hit a playable 30fps, with Low settings boosting it to 35fps.

Asus ROG Ally X Isn’t Ready for Doom: The Dark Ages

Despite my enthusiasm for handheld gaming PCs and the Asus ROG Ally X, it's clear that the current hardware falls short for Doom: The Dark Ages. Achieving 30fps requires dropping to Medium or Low graphics at 720p, which is a compromise many players might not be willing to make.

Steam Deck users should also temper their expectations, as its hardware is less powerful than the Ally X. Playing at 800p on Low settings might be the only way to reach 30fps, a scenario likely to apply to all current-generation handhelds.

However, hope isn't lost. The upcoming next generation of mobile chipsets, such as the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, expected in devices like the Asus ROG Ally 2 and possibly an Xbox-branded model, could significantly enhance performance. We'll need to wait and see how these advancements impact demanding titles like Doom: The Dark Ages.