Diablo 3 System Requirements

Will my PC run Diablo 3? This is a question many gamers are asking themselves at the moment.

With less than two months before the release of Diablo 3, many players are concerned over the graphical demands of the game. Honestly, it’s not that demanding of a game – if you have a relatively modern PC. If you want to know if your machine is up to snuff…here’s a quick guide that will show you whether you need to run out and upgrade your PC before May 15th.

Diablo 3 System Requirements for Mac & PC

Minimum System Requirements for Mac OS X

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion 10.7.x
• Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better
• 2GB RAM
• 12 GB of available disk space
• 1024×768 or greater screen resolution

The above list contains what you’ll need in order to run Diablo 3 on a Mac, but dont expect to be able to play the game with any of the graphics settings above low to medium.

Recommended System Requirements for Mac OS X

• OS X 10.7.x or newer
• Core 2 Duo at 2.4GHz or faster
• 4GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M or ATI Radeon HD 4670 or better

Now, If you’re a Windows gamer, then here’s what you’ll need to run D3…

Minimum System Requirements for Windows

• Windows XP, Vista, or 7 with Direct X 9.0c
• Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon 64 4400
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT or ATI Radeon X1950 Pro or better
• 1GB RAM for Windows XP, 1.5GB RAM for Vista or 7
• 12GB disk space
• 1024×768 or greater screen resolution

Those specs will allow you to run the game, but to truly enjoy all of the Diablo 3 eye candy, along with über frame rates, then look at the recommended Windows system requirements below…

Recommended System Requirements for Windows

• Windows Vista or Windows 7 with the latest service packs
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon 2.8GHZ or better CPU
• 4GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce 260 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 or better

Firsthand Diablo 3 Beta Hardware Tests

I’ve been playing the Diablo 3 Beta for a few months now, on a Mac and a PC – both of which would be considered sub-optimal setups based upon the recommended specs. However, I can tell you that Diablo 3 runs amazingly well on my 2009 iMac running OS X 10.6.8, sporting a 3.06Ghz Core 2 Duo processor and an nVidia GT 130 512MB graphics card. I can play the game at 1920×1200 resolution, with all settings maxed. The frame rate is quite good and my machine runs no hotter than when I’m playing WoW at low to medium settings. I haven’t tried these settings in a co-op game yet, so that may be a different story, however.

My son plays Diablo 3 on his HP DM1z notebook, which features a 1.6Ghz AMD Fusion E-350 processor, along with an ATI Radeon HD 6310 graphics card. With low settings, Diablo 3 runs quite well on this machine, but at high settings it struggles both with reduced frame rate and excessive heat. I typically try to lower the settings down to the basement, but after each beta update – the settings are restored back to a higher default.

I’ve tried to run Diablo 3 on my 13″ Macbook Air, with an Intel 1.7Ghz Dual-Core i5 processor and Intel HD graphics, but it’s painful. The machine heats up quite a bit and frame rate is unacceptable, in my opinion. I think it’s safe to say that a dedicated GPU is needed to run Diablo, although its looking like the Ivy Bridge on-board graphics should be able to run D3 with no problem.

As I’d mentioned, as long as you have a reasonably modern PC with a dedicated GPU, Diablo 3 should be at least playable.

At any rate, I hope this overview of Diablo 3 system requirements has helped you with your decision to upgrade your hardware or not.