BioWare Reveals Mass Effect 2 System Specs

[achilleas.k]

Anyone notice how minimum and recommended specs have been more "true" the last couple of years? It used to be you were on the recommended specs and could never set every little graphics option to maximum. Every game I've played this year has been around or slightly above recommended specs and I've had no trouble just maxing everything before I load up the first time. Also, since I went SLI (2x 8800GT) a year ago, with the rest of my hardware being almost 3 years old now, I haven't felt the need to upgrade just yet, while in the olden days you had to keep up every six months.
That's probably because everything is a console port (or a cross-platform game) this year and the devs don't pump up the graphics too hard to keep everything running smoothly across every platform (just speculating here).

 

[slackbheep]

Now my only problem is I don't know if I want to play this one on 360 as well, or try it on PC.

 

[zahr]

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."

Good. This one I'll actually buy.

Of course, I'll still use a no-cd crack, because discs are a pain in the ass... but will buy the actual game

 

[David_G]

Awesome, I'm going to be able to play it on highest settings.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Can't wait; I have a 8800GT and I was worried this would mean turning down the graphics but they did not lie about their new shaders and general texture mapping.

 

[johnman]

I beat recommened with my 3 year old rig, hooray.

Though I will porlby not get this game though.

 

[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.

They're using Unreal3 again? It's a great engine for sure, but I thought they would be using Eclipse like they did for Dragon Age. Weird, but I guess they have their reasons. Unreal3 is still very pretty.

They might have kept it as the U3 engine just to simplify the transition. There's a few features in ME2 that rely on ME1 data, so it could just be something simple like that. Plus like you said, it's a "pretty" engine. The graphics in BioShock and Mirror's Edge are amazing!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_effect_2 Wiki claims it's U3 still.

 

[Cowabungaa]

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.

Quite surprised with that as well, we've already had 2 new GeForce generations, and still this old boyo is listed in the Recommended System specs of a game due to release in 2010. That could either mean that this game looks like crap, or the card is just really good, and by the looks of released video's and screenies, I'm going for the latter.

Makes me happy for another reason as well, now I can link Mass Effect 2 with my Mass Effect 1 save, which I have also played on the PC. Great news all around. Don't need a new CPU though, upgraded to a 3.1 Ghz AMD dual core. Yes it's Athlon, but I just don't have the cash to go for Intel, especially since I would have to upgrade my motherboard as well. I bought the first version of this PC back when AMD was still supreme over Intel. That was quite a while ago...*goes into nostalgic mode*

They might have kept it as the U3 engine just to simplify the transition. There's a few features in ME2 that rely on ME1 data, so it could just be something simple like that. Plus like you said, it's a "pretty" engine. The graphics in BioShock and Mirror's Edge are amazing!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_effect_2 Wiki claims it's U3 still.

Don't forget the most atmospheric game (yes I recon that game more atmospheric than the almighty BioShock, and gods I love BioShock) made with the U3 engine, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

 

[zahr]

UE3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Eclipse.

Just play Mirror's Edge or Gears of War 2 to see why.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I'm getting a Leadtek GeForce GTS 250 512MB for Christmas since my awesome last Video card went balistic a month ago. I wonder if it will play the game on medium settings...

 

[Kirky]

I certainly have the specs for it, but I played ME 1 on the 360, so if I want to transfer my saves I'll have to go down that route again.

Damnit.

 

[Treblaine]

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!

Don't worry dude, any geforce 8800 can still offer many many times better performance than 360 or PS3 even for recent games like FEAR 2 (as long as your CPU can keep up).

 

[Abengoshis]

"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."

That doesn't make sense.

So it's telling me that it supports NVIDIA GeForce 6800 OR GREATER but it doesn't support NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300.

And I have to be stuck with an 8200...
Oh well I'm getting a 250 GTS soon anyway...

 

[zahr]

So it's telling me that it supports NVIDIA GeForce 6800 OR GREATER but it doesn't support NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300.

From what I understand, those cards are not greater than the 6800.

The number in the thousands place indicates what line they're from. The number in the hundreds place indicates how new they are. So for example, 6800 would be greater than 7300, because 7300 is an older model from a different line.

If I'm just full of shit here though, someone more knowledgeable please let me know.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Wow I'm surprised its that little. I'm sure max specs are way above that, but its kind of sad when my machine stomps all over new games' minimum specs.

 

[Baron Khaine]

Pre Ordering from the EA Store when I get paid, my machine destroys those maximum specs, so, yay.

 

[dududf]

Wow, pretty damn close on the reccommended settings

AMD Athlon(tm) 7750 Dual-Core Processor, 2.7 ghz.

Geforce 8800, with 320mb vid ram.

2gb of ram

and of course, my OS being XPro SP 3



X_X Gonna need to upgrade in 2 years at latest =[

 

[rougeknife]

Beauty, defiantly getting this now. I may even brave the stupidly overpriced box version in Australia.

Oh who am I kidding, steam for the win.

 

[Master Kuja]

Beauty, my M15x will run this a treat with all the bells and whistles then, it seems, I'll certainly be getting this when the time comes, thanks for the specs, much obliged.