Mass Effect PC System Specs Released

Minimum System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

Operating System:
Windows XP or Vista

Processor:
2.4+GHZ Intel or 2.0+GHZ AMD

Memory:
1 Gigabyte Ram (XP)
2 Gigabyte Ram (Vista)

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 6 series(6800GT or better)
ATI 1300XT or better (X1550, X1600 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements)

Hard Drive Space:
12 Gigabytes

Sound Card:
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers
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Recommended System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

Operating System:
Windows XP or Vista

Processor:
2.6+GHZ Intel or 2.4+GHZ AMD

Memory:
2 Gigabyte Ram

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or higher.
ATI X1800 XL series or higher

Hard Drive Space:
12 Gigabytes

Sound Card:
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers – 5.1 sound card recommended

[Varsarus]

I might pick up this game when it's released, the 360 version runs so awful it's almost unplayable.

[JDW]

Hopefully the relatively low system requirements, even for recommended specs, means that the game has been well optimised for the PC.

[wAtdaFck]

Can't wait to pick this up. My PC's had nothing to munch on since COD4 (yeah, I stopped playing it).

[The Dark Side]

This is why I done away with the 360. I have the PS3 and my PC which gets almost all the good xbox 360 games and even allow me to use the 360 controller. Good games like uncharted, MGS 4, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance Series, LBP, etc. You have to get a PS3 to play them.

[green]

was there any need for that comment? you talk like you are the voice of all gamers.Dose it occur to you that some people don't like using PC's for gaming?

I only have a laptop and never buy one above 14inches because of mobility (i travel quite often).I have been out of london for 2 months,so my laptop and 360 serve my mobile needs perfectly until i return this weekend.Where i am there is no broadband services but i have bought during this period Assassins creed,Halo 3 and now Lost Odyssey.

So please stick to the topic and don't turn it into one of those mine is better than yours comments.

[kingme71]

I think you both have valid points. It's hard to justify spending money on upgrading the PC and getting a 360 when there is so much overlap in the games that come out.

On the flip side a laptop is great for plane trips and hotel stays, but I would much rather play on my comfy Lazy Boy with my big ole TV on a console then sitting at my desk in front of the PC monitor.

Different strokes for different folks.

[CViper]

The specs here can play bioshock/cod4/gears in a higher resolution than the consoles. Clearly not 1920x1200 because you dont have that kinda machine spec'd out here..

The entire argument about PC gaming goes down the drain when it comes to underpowered multiplatform titles. For Crysis and other PC only titles that are actually advancing in graphics, you need another videocard/more ram etc. But I mean Mass Effect was supposed to be one of the graphical console show pieces, and it runs on a 2.5ghz single core machine with a NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or higher.

Its good for PC gamers on a budget, because you won't miss out on anything multiplatform related. But you will for newer games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2, or that Dracula game.

[Regret]

SC or DC CPU?

[Fishy Fingers]

Dual Core Id imagine.

[Pathard]

Well, I may have to bump up my dual-core.. but I was planning on getting a quad soon anyways, so.. I might as well wait 'til after I get that.

[zonetrooper5]

Get the Intel Q66000 at 2.4GHz, you can overclock it to 3.00GHz.

[I Call 9MM]

Quad cores aren't really worth it right now for Games. You might be better off getting the dual core E8400 or E8500 instead. Lower price and they are clocked higher from the get go. However, if you really want one, that Q6600 isn't a bad choice, though intel has some newer solutions out there now. Q9XXX somethings I think? Apparently they overclock pretty well too.

[I Call 9MM]

Hmm, by the looks of things over at that forum the article comes from, what they meant by processor type from intel is only the old P4's (northwood and prescott). Usually, if the game requires a newer chip, they will label beside it Core 2 Duo or Pentium D or dual core, something like that. I haven't seen a game yet that doesn't do it. Though I do find the recommended settings a little weird in the CPU department, only a .2 Ghz bump up in requirements? Usually, you see a larger jump there or a move to newer hardware (Recommended: Pentium D 3.0 Ghz or Core 2 2.2 Ghz, something like that).

Just a little help for people running older hardware who might want to upgrade their specs to play some newer games.
- If you are still using an AGP bus type, the best cards you can get for it right now are the 512 MB HD 3850s from AMD/ATI and it's partners. They might be overkill for most systems still using AGP, but they are the best. Another option is to find an x1950 Pro, again from ATI/AMD. A year or so older tech, but they shouldn't cost as much now if you can find one (they're drying up quickly). Apparently, SM 2.0 cards don't work with Mass Effect (not officially confirmed, and I'm sure the UE3 can use SM2.0). So, might be worth upgrading.
- Generally, if you are looking for more RAM, DDR2 is the cheapest, so if your motherboard takes it, go with it for the upgrade. If you are running older DDR RAM, well, it might not be worth the upgrade, since I can never seem to find it on sale anywhere. I've seen 4 gigs of DDR2 go for $80 CDN (or less, and it's the good stuff), and 2 Gigs of DDR go for like 130 dollars? WTF eh? If you don't already have at least a gig of DDR in your system, might be worth getting a new motherboard and a new CPU.
- If you are an afformentioned DDR user, is might be worth moving to a new motherboard. There are some motherboard manufacturers that make boards that can accept some of your older parts if need. For example, if you wanted to move to Core 2 Duo, but you have two gigs of DDR in two sticks and you have a kick ass AGP card, check out AsRocks line of motherboards, they have a few that could help out. Or, if you have a good Pentium D chip, but want to ditch everything else, pretty much any new socket 775 motherboard will take that older chip. So, you could pair your pentium D with some newer DDR-2 and a PCIe based card of your choice.

[Valin]

Have you even played Mass Effect on the 360? I'm on my 4th playthrough and have had little problems other than the texture pop-ins and I crashed on me once when I was exploring the Citadel. Like ok this is the Open Zone but please have some truth in your statements.

"unplayable" ? Oh yeah kinda like the DLC PS3 CoD4 maps.

[ravinshield]

"unplayable" ? Oh yeah kinda like the DLC PS3 CoD4 maps." SO TRUE bubbles for you

[2Negative]

Im not surprised that the game doesn't need a powerful CPU. RAM and GPU are much more important to most games then the CPU. I do think that any computer game player should be using a Duo Core machine but an entry level Duo Core machine with 2 - 3 gigs of RAM and a mid range GPU should be fine with most computer games out.

A great PC build would be

Pretty much any Core 2 Duo or AMD X2
8800GT
3 Gigs RAM

[I Call 9MM]

Yeah, that setup would be pretty tight for this game. Nice choices. A 3870 wouldn't be too bad either. One of those 9800 GTX or the original 8800 GTXs are good choices too, though far pricier.

[TheIneffableBob]

2GB or 4GB of RAM.
3GB would disable dual channel.