As we saw in our GeForce GTX 1060 benchmarks earlier today, there's huge FPS gains to be had in Dawn of War 3 if you're prepared to drop a few graphics settings. Average FPS almost quadrupled when going from Max to Minimum, meaning there's plenty of wiggle room to achieve your desired performance while keeping in line with your own personal visual expectations. That said, Dawn of War 3 isn't exactly a looker at Low settings, so be warned you aren't getting quite the same experience.

Here's some Low v Ultra Dawn of War 3 graphics comparison screens so you can make the judgement call for yourself. Also, remember to check out Dawn of War 3's system requirements to get some pointers as to which graphics settings are going to suit your PC hardware.

Dawn of War III Low v Ultra Graphics Comparison

(slide your cursor over the images to compare)

Now, you're probably wondering what the heck is up with those Ultra screenshots. Well Relic decided to layer over what I think is a snow or mist effect into its benchmark tools (it's tricky to tell which), and it actually makes it kind of difficult to see what's even going on. It's a little clearer when it motion, but it's a bizarre style that can make playing Dawn of War 3 a little more difficult at higher graphics settings during certain scenarios.

This aside, there's a humongous gulf in unit detail, shadow quality (there are none at Minimum) and all around graphical effects when playing Dawn of War 3 at maximum settings. Warhammer 40K battles have never looked more resplendent, and it's a joy to watch lasers pinging about and explosions roar out. While you sacrifice a little in playability, you do gain a lot in terms of effects.

By comparison, Minimum graphics settings do look a little plain, and to my reckoning they're pretty much on par with the original, a game that's now over a decade old. They're fairly rudimentary RTS visuals, however it does make Dawn of War 3 a very laptop-friendly gaming experience, which is a perfect fit for a quick strategy fix on the go.

Image Quality setting in Dawn of War 3

I've done a little bit of investigating the image quality setting is responsible for the hazy mist in the screenshots. Set Image Quality to Minimum and there is no mist, but any setting from Low through to Maximum has mist. It's a very strange choice, so hopefully there's an option to remove the fog filter by the time launch rolls around Friday. If not, then I'd have to recommend you set Image Quality to Low, and leave everything else on higher settings.