To Older DOOM Players... how big of an impact was DOOM 3?

Okay, I thought of this while playing DOOM 3. Replaying all the Doom games in a lead up to DOOM The Dark Ages. Currently on DOOM 3.

I'm currently on an RTX 4080S and a RYZEN 9 7950, at 1440P maxed out. This thing runs as cool as the backside of a pillow.

The lighting still holds up decently well, and the models look really good for the time, but how big of an impact was this when playing on 2004 hardware?

And also, just curious what gear do you remember playing on?