Updated, 5/11/2016, 3 p.m. PDT: Nvidia uploaded the six-minute demo of Doom with Vulkan on YouTube. Nvidia wanted to note that the video is hosted in "an uncompressed, full resolution format to not impede image quality." Nvidia also told us that the YouTube demo utilized a Titan X GPU instead of the new GeForce GTX 1080 card from the initial demo.
Yesterday, Nvidia officially revealed pricing and availability for the the GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070, which are the both based off of Nvidia’s new Pascal architecture. Today, we saw the GTX 1080 in action yet again thanks to the folks at id Software. Doom will receive support for Vulkan, and id Software’s showcase illustrated the GTX 1080 working in tandem with the technology.
Vulkan is an upcoming low-overhead API developed by the Khronos Group. Vulkan gives developers better control over GPU resources while reducing driver overhead. Both AMD and Nvidia have adopted Vulkan support, and more game developers are hopping on the train as well. id Software was one of the first developers to support OpenGL, and it intends to follow that trend with Vulkan. The developer has worked closely with Nvidia for both OpenGL support and Vulkan support. Doom will initially launch with OpenGL, but it will receive a Vulkan update shortly after.
A live demo using keyboard and mouse was showcased at the event. The demo exhibited a handful of weapons, such as grenades, shotguns, and even a chainsaw. Amidst the fluid gameplay and brutal action, Doom maintained a solid 60 fps for the first minute of footage. As soon as the framerate was uncapped, though, the FPS immediately skyrocketed to 150 fps and higher, and it rarely dropped below 120 fps for the remainder of the gameplay.
During development, id Software claimed that the the GTX 1080 and Vulkan drove framerates up to 200 fps--so high that the team noticed framerate glitches. The company addressed these flaws and credited the GTX 1080's raw power and Vulkan's efficiency for exposing them.
Doom launches next Friday with OpenGL support and will receive Vulkan support soon after. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 will be released on May 27.
Alexander Quejado is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Alexander Quejado on Twitter.
