GPU

November 21, 2012 9:52 AM

Can my laptop play Diablo 3?

My laptop:

15 inch MacBook Pro retina
Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 1600 Mhz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
OS X 10.8.2
512 gb SSD (~200 gb free)

Diablo's requirements (per wikipedia):

Mac OS X 10.7.3
Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 video card or better
12 gb free hard drive space

It looks like my GPU is not up to snuff. Will the game still play given the other specs?

posted by dfriedman to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Best answer: Dude, I want your laptop. Your GPU is better then the one that the requirements call for.. and on the list of one of the better ones to have for gaming. It should play it fine. You could probably play it with the graphics turned up.
posted by royalsong at 10:00 AM on November 21, 2012

Best answer: Based on the Support Agent's comments in this thread, you should be fine.
posted by erst at 10:00 AM on November 21, 2012

Best answer: You're fine. Counterintuitively, the GT 650M (DirectX 11.1, 735 - 850 MHz core speed) is a far better card than the 8600M GT (DirectX 10, 475 MHz core speed). You're way over on all the specs and should be in great shape. For specific benchmarks, scroll down on that first link to Diablo III, which suggests you should be able to get ~50 frames per second even on the highest settings.
posted by Partial Law at 10:00 AM on November 21, 2012

Response by poster: Ah...I was thrown off by 650 being less than 8600...somehow I assumed that meant the 650 was less powerful.

Silly me for expecting logic in naming conventions.

Thanks...
posted by dfriedman at 10:02 AM on November 21, 2012

For future refrence, check out Can You Run It?
posted by dobi at 10:06 AM on November 21, 2012

Wait, that's only for Windows... nevermind.
posted by dobi at 10:07 AM on November 21, 2012

My two-year old MacBook Air plays Diablo 3. You're fine.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:41 AM on November 21, 2012

Diablo 3 is a famously easy game to run. Most Blizzard games are. For reference, newer Ivy Bridge machines with no dedicated graphics cards can run D3 on low settings. Your MacBook is more than enough. I run D3 on a similar processor and the exact same graphics card as you (i7-3610QM and Geforce 650M)
posted by WCF at 1:23 PM on November 21, 2012

Looks like this is pretty much answered, but I'll join the chorus: I play Diablo 3 on a much less beefy laptop (core i5, 6GB RAM, and Intel integrated graphics, even!).
posted by Aquinas at 1:32 PM on November 21, 2012

I've got a 13 inch MBP, pre-Retina line, running the latest version of Mountain Lion. Diablo III runs just fine with quite high graphics settings (although the CPU gets crazy hot and the fat runs non-stop).
posted by deathpanels at 9:29 PM on November 21, 2012

Why would you play Diablo III when Torchlight II is much better, imho?
posted by ZaneJ. at 3:05 AM on November 22, 2012