BioWare Reveals Mass Effect 2 System Specs

[Andy Chalk]

BioWare Reveals Mass Effect 2 System Specs

Mass Effect 2 [http://www.bioware.com], handy information for fans wondering if a system upgrade is looming in their near future.

There are two kinds of PC gamers out there. There are guys like me, who want a game, preorder it and then if it turns out that we can't actually run the thing, upgrade our PCs accordingly without a second thought. (We're generally the same guys who plead poor when it comes to things like food, clothing, paying the rent, etc.) And then there are the folks who pay attention to system specs because their computers are a few years old but they're still running fine and they don't want to waste money on a game they can't play.

Good news for that second group: The minimum requirements for Mass Effect 2 really aren't all that terrible. You won't get all the bells and whistles, but you will be able to play, even with a fairly basic system. Minimum specs are as follows:

OS = Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor = 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory = 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Drive = 15 GB
DVD ROM = 1x Speed
Sound Card = DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X = DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Input = Keyboard / Mouse
Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements.

Now, if you happen to want all the bells and whistles, this is what you'll have to bring to the party to get them:

Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
2.6+ GHz Cure 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better recommended
100% DirectX compatible sound card and drivers
DirectX August 2008
NOTES: For the best results, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards. Laptop or mobile versions of the above supported video cards have not had extensive testing and may have driver or other performance issues. As such, they are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

And for those concerned about intrusive DRM, BioWare Community Coordinator Chris Priestly also noted that copy protection will be minimal. "The boxed/retail PC version of Mass Effect 2 will use only a basic disk check and it will not require online authentication," he wrote on BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins [http://meforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=710074&forum=144]. Digital versions will use the retailers protection system."


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[-Seraph-]

Well, I'm pretty much set. The game didn't look too demanding anyways as it looked a lot like ME1, just a little more cleaned up. Some of these specs look like the same for the first.

 

[Crimsane]

Woot. Bells and whistles time! No intrusive DRM seals the deal for me, definite buy.

 

[Abedeus]

Nothing ground-shattering. Luckily I bought a new CPU that's been overclocked to 3.15 GHz, so I will be able to run the game nicely.

But this means one of the following things:

a) graphics aren't that great, barely better than ME1
b) they did a really good port
c) they watered down the graphics.

I hope it's the b) option, really.

 

[-Seraph-]

Nothing ground-shattering. Luckily I bought a new CPU that's been overclocked to 3.15 GHz, so I will be able to run the game nicely.

But this means one of the following things:

a) graphics aren't that great, barely better than ME1
b) they did a really good port
c) they watered down the graphics.

I hope it's the b) option, really.

Well the first one was a fairly good port with a far better inventory and interface to it so this one shouldn't be worrisome if they have learned from their previous endeavors.

 

[Amnestic]

Those aren't exactly massive requirements. I could do with a bit more hard drive space and that's it.

Hell, I more than half of the "Bells and Whistle" category listed at least and my computer's at least a year and a half old, probably more. I love how my 8800 GT is still pr0 enough to play with the big boys even after all this time.

Might need a new processor.

 

[hazabaza1]

Wow, lucky I'm getting it for the 360. I really do need a PC upgrade.

 

[hansari]

Do you really need windows xp package 3?

Everytime I try to install it, something funky happens to my computer...so I'm still on 2...

 

[RanD00M]

I´m in the clear i guess.Can´t wait for this game.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I'm very worried that the max spec on my graphics card is the min spec for almost every game these days...

Yeah, I need an upgrade. Damn you nvidia geforce 8800!

 

[Kodlak]

Wow, lucky I'm getting it for the 360. I really do need a PC upgrade.

Same here!

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

My 9500gt 512mb should hold up nicely, now, im planning on upgrading to 4 gigs of ram just to be safe. I <3 Core 2 Duo.

 

[UnravThreads]

I smell another console port. These specs are fairly low for a 2010 PC.

Port? No.
Co-Developed? Yes.

It's the same engine AFAIK, and I don't think they really need to bump the specs. As long as the graphics and performance issues are cleared up, I'm all for these low specs.

 

[Plinglebob]

This is why I love the stalling thats happened in the console wars. My PC is 2.5 years old with the only upgrade being some cheap RAM and I'll still be able to run this at max settings.

 

[Woodsey]

Very reasonable. I'd of upgraded even if they were sky-high anyway; can now get a 1GB VRAM 260GTX for like £150.

Can't WAIT for this game.

I smell another console port. These specs are fairly low for a 2010 PC.

You're rubbish at sniffing then - console ports normally have ridiculously high spec because the dev's are too lazy to actually accommodate anything. The first was a port anyway, and it worked superbly on the PC with reasonable specs for the time as well.

 

[geldonyetich]

Here I thought my 8800 GTS would be able to run games well above the recommended requirements for quite awhile to come, but checking some benchmarks [http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=8] it looks like a 8800 GTS is just slightly below a 8800 GT.

Actually, I'm probably fine because this 8800 GTS is actually a 8800 GTS OC.

 

[Sebenko]

Do you really need windows xp package 3?

Everytime I try to install it, something funky happens to my computer...so I'm still on 2...

Yeah, for me it froze every time it got near the end. the solution was either to wait or ignore it and restart.

Nothing ground-shattering. Luckily I bought a new CPU that's been overclocked to 3.15 GHz, so I will be able to run the game nicely.

But this means one of the following things:

a) graphics aren't that great, barely better than ME1
b) they did a really good port
c) they watered down the graphics.

I hope it's the b) option, really.

Probably B). Looked up ME1 combat and noticed that they did a similar thing to Dragon age- complete UI redesign for both PC and console, so it's probably a good port. I'm gonna go out and buy ME1 soon.