Diablo III Performance, Benchmarked

By Don Woligroski
published

With the much-anticipated release of Diablo III right around the corner, we wanted to explore this incredible game's performance on 12 different graphics configurations and a few CPUs. Does your PC have what it takes to run Diablo III well?

CPU Benchmarks

Beyond graphics performance, we also need to consider the capabilities of today's platforms, too. Not everyone has an overclocked Core i7-3960X, which we use to stamp out bottlenecks, allowing our graphics cards to achieve their peak potential.

To that end, we benchmarked Core i5, Phenom II X4, and FX-4000-series quad-core processors at varying clock speeds in order to see what kind of processor power Diablo III needs.

At the highest detail settings with AA enabled, even a 2 GHz Phenom II X4 achieves 80 FPS minimum. Clearly, the game doesn’t need an incredibly potent CPU.

Frame rates stay high, despite a small difference between two and four threads. With a Phenom II X2 able to pump out 76 FPS(minimum), Diablo III players have little to worry about when it comes to owning a fast-enough processor.

Don Woligroski
169 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dodger_nzl
    Nice to see my GF460 should play it at max settings.
    Reply
  • Formata
    Oh yes... The epic armageddon of all click-fest's is upon us! In 6 months time I'll bench 100kg with my index finger.
    Reply
  • Murissokah
    So the CPU won't keep us from enjoying the game... nor the GPU... only the calendar then.
    Reply
  • sharpiedpanda
    The calendar and your finger stamina :p
    Reply
  • JoeMomma
    i'm luvin it!
    Reply
  • trace_87
    "Like the originals, the isometric view remains locked in place, and zooming in is not an option."

    Push Z
    Reply
  • cinergy
    HD7870 is on par with GTX580! Now I understand why he didn't even take HD7970 into test. That would have been too embarrassing for nvidia.
    Reply
  • borden5
    Note that amd 12.4 artifacts doesn't only apply for Diablo 3 alone I got artifact in any game with my 3650 so I have to revert to 12.3
    Reply
  • so can anyone recommend a good laptop that can play this no lag for under 800?
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    I had a lot of fun with it in the beta. I still cant say Im going to be a fan of the RMT Auction House, but other then that, its a fun game. Between this and Guild Wars 2, Im gonna have a very unproductive summer :D
    Reply