Doom just got a boost in frame rate, thanks to new graphics API support

id Software’s new Doom now supports the Vulkan graphics API on Windows PC, which can mean a pretty big boost to the game’s max frame rate, if your graphics card supports it.

Support for Vulkan was added in an update for Doom today. After updating and downloading the latest drivers, players will have the option to play Doom using the OpenGL or Vulkan API. According to benchmarks from AMD, players who use Vulkan may see a 20 percent or greater boost to the game’s frame rate.

"When we were looking to adopt Vulkan for DOOM, the main question we asked ourselves was: ‘What’s the gamer benefit?’" id Software chief technical officer Robert Duffy said in a post on publisher Bethesda’s website. "Ultimately the biggest benefit will be high framerates. There are a number of game-focused reasons super-high framerates matter, but primarily its movement and player feel. The game just feels amazing running that fast, so we made it a priority to try to really exploit the available hardware on PC.

"We also anticipate some older GPUs will now be able to play the game at good framerates. We hope the range of GPU support widens with additional game and driver updates. That said, this is the first time a triple-A game is releasing on a brand-new API and brand-new drivers so there may be a few bumps, but our testing is showing really great performance and stability."

Doom owners can download the latest drivers for AMD and Nvidia GPUs from their respective websites. For more details on Vulkan support, check out id Software’s FAQ.