Since the early days of 3D graphics the range of visibility in a virtual world is one of the important factors for the performance the gamer can receive. The bigger the distances become, the more environment geometry has to be calculated, texturized and shaded which results in lesser frames provided by the graphics card. For fine tuning the range of view there is the proven combination of terrain detail and terrain distance which provides basic control over the environment geometry.
Our benchmarks reveal that on open terrain even a graphics card on the level of the Geforce 8600 GT is enough to provide a smooth gameplay. Minimal framerates above the 30 fps limit are possible with maximal range of view - as long as you don't activate Anti Aliasing.