Doom: The Dark Ages is finally here, and if you’re a handheld gaming PC nerd like I am, you’re probably wondering whether or not the Asus ROG Ally X can handle it. I’m setting 30 frames per second as the bare minimum for playability, but anything higher is welcome, especially 60fps (which would be ideal, but unrealistic for such a demanding game). 

The last game in the series, Doom Eternal, was renowned for how well it ran on the Ally, but if you’re expecting that same level of performance out of The Dark Ages, I’m sorry to say you’re going to be disappointed. 

Before we begin, make sure to update your chipset before playing Doom: The Dark Ages. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy on the ROG Ally X: Open Armoury Crate (bottom right menu button), select the cogwheel at the top, and go to Update Center. AMD Radeon Graphics Driver should be an available update. If it isn’t there, select Check for Updates. Once the RC72LA update appears, select Update All.

For these tests, I plugged the Ally X into an outlet and played on Turbo Operating Mode (30W) to get the most out of the machine. I also allocated the maximum amount of vRAM to Texture Pool Size in the in-game graphics menu, which is 4,096 megabytes. The default is 2,048, but the ROG Ally X has 24GB of RAM (16GB usable) and it’s nowhere near capacity even at Ultra Nightmare, so there’s plenty of breathing room.

All tests were performed with resolution scaling off. I tested each graphics preset with dynamic resolution as well, but the results were identical to the 720p metrics, so they’re not included. This is because the target frame rate was unachievable across the tests to begin with, so dynamic resolution just defaulted to 720p anyway.

For the test, I replayed the opening section of Doom: The Dark Ages’ second mission, Hebeth, over and over, because it thrusts the player into the action immediately, pushing the hardware to its limit with all of its effects and particles. The results were shocking.

Doom: The Dark Ages at 1080p on the Ally X is a disaster. It yielded an average of 15fps on Ultra Nightmare, which is unplayable, and the frame rate barely changed with lower presets. Nightmare, Ultra, and High at 1080p averaged at 16fps, while Medium was at 17fps. The only major change was on Low, which averaged 20fps at 1080p, but it’s still lacking in smoothness. 1080p is an impossibility no matter what graphics preset you select.

The game fared better at 720p, but it’s still not ideal. Ultra Nightmare, Nightmare, and Ultra averaged at 24fps, while High came in at 26fps. I wouldn’t consider these playable, but it’s bearable if you’re desperate to play Doom: The Dark Ages on your handheld gaming PC. It wasn’t until I dropped the settings to Medium at 720p that it became playable, hitting an average of 30fps. Low was even better, coming in at 35fps.

I adore handheld gaming PCs and my Asus ROG Ally X, but this is an example where they just don’t have enough power. To say the Ally X struggles with Doom: The Dark Ages is an understatement. If 30fps is the bottom floor for playability, that’s only possible through the Medium and Low graphics presets at 720p.

Steam Deck users won’t have much luck either, as its specs are inferior to the Ally X, and if it can barely run on Asus’ handheld, it won’t have different luck on Valve’s popular device. You’ll most certainly be stuck playing at its 800p resolution on Low graphics just to hit 30 fps – and that’s true for all current-generation handhelds.

Not all hope is lost, though. Doom: The Dark Ages will benefit with the next generation of mobile chipsets hitting the market. The AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme is going to make its way into handhelds sometime this year, and leaks suggest it may be powering the Asus ROG Ally 2 – there are even leaked images of an Xbox-branded model. We’ll just have to wait and see just how well demanding games like Doom: The Dark Ages fare.

Claire finds joy in impassioned ramblings about her closeness to video games. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Media Studies from Brooklyn College and seven years of experience in entertainment journalism. Claire is a stalwart defender of games as an artform and spends most days overwhelmed with excitement for its past, present and future. When she isn't writing or playing Dark Souls, she can be found eating chicken fettuccine alfredo and gushing about handheld gaming PCs.