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Diablo III - Performance Review

By James Lu - 18 May 2012

Diablo III GPU Performance Review

Diablo III GPU Performance Review

Source: Blizzard Entertainment

After twelve years of waiting, Blizzard’s Diablo III is finally out. Can your GPU handle the biggest game of the year or is it time for an upgrade? We’ve put a range of desktop and notebook GPUs through their paces to see how well they handle Diablo III.

Back in September 2011 we tested out Diablo III’s beta on three different rigs to see how it would run. We found that any quad-core system with a decent mid-range GPU should have no problems playing the game. But now that the game has been officially released, has anything changed? Let's start off by listing the system requirements you need to take into consideration.

 

System Requirements

Minimum System Requirements
PC Mac
  • OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (Latest Service Packs) with DirectX 9.0c or better
  • Processor: Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT or ATI Radeon X1950 Pro or better
  • OS: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or newer
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better

 

Recommended System Requirements

PC Mac
  • OS: Windows Vista / Windows 7 (Latest Service Packs)
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHz) or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (2.8 GHz) or better
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 4870 or better
  • OS: Mac OS X 10.7.x or newer
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M or AMD Radeon HD 4670 or better
Common Requirements to All Platforms
  • Hard Drive Space: 12GB available for installation
  • Memory: 1GB RAM (1.5GB required for Windows Vista / Windows 7 users, 2GB for Mac users)
  • Drive: DVD-ROM drive
  • Internet: Broadband internet connection
  • Display: 1024x768 pixels minimum display resolution

The system requirements haven’t changed from the beta testing period. You'll notice that while the requirements are not as high as some other modern games, a mid-ranged GPU (or a high-end one from a few years back) is recommended. The question is, what kind of frame rates can you expect with a GPU like that and just how low can you go, while still retaining a visually appealing level of graphics quality and reasonably smooth game play?

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