Introduction
Despite players battling the infamous error 37 and various other Battle.Net server related issues, Diablo 3 has still become the fastest selling PC title of all time. So you’ve defeated error 37 for now and there you are bashing the legions of hell into dismembered oblivion, having a blast. Uh oh, your frame rate has started tanking! Before you know it you’re staring at a charming little screen letting you know you’ve lost 10% durability. It’s time for a graphics settings and performance guide for Diablo 3!
While Blizzard are known for their relatively light graphics engines focused on great art direction and texture work, Diablo 3 can still get a little hairy when the minion hoards start amassing around your character. In this graphics settings and performance guide we’ll be taking a look at each and every graphics setting, benchmarking their individual effect and comparing the visual impact of each. We’ll also look at tweaking and optimizing each setting for the best graphics to performance ratio.
How we tested
No benchmarking tools are offered in Diablo 3 and as such we had to make our own. The most scientific way of doing this was running a set course that could be repeated as accurately as possible. My run consisted of starting at New Tristram’s waypoint, performing 6 flashy attacks in place, running along the path to the cellar near the back of the town, performing 6 flashy attacks again, running along the path all the way back to the waypoint and performing a final 6 flashy attacks. The only problem with this method is that not all aspects of the game’s graphics are present in town, like physics. But since there is no reliable way of repeat testing those, this was the best method of testing. Settings were all placed on their lowest settings and raised individually per benchmark to isolate each setting’s effect on frame rate, which was recorded with FRAPS. Each benchmark run was approximately 50 seconds.
Testbed
CPU: Intel Core2Quad 8200
Graphics card: MSI GTX 560 Ti OC
RAM: 6GB Corsair XMS2
Driver version: 285.62
With all that out of the way we plough straight into the demon masses! Onwards dear heroes, for vast graphics settings benchmarks and screenshots await!
