For all the Mass Effect 2 fans that need to figure out if your rig can run the game or if you need to hit the upgrade shop, you finally get your information today. Bioware has announced (Chris Priestly) on their forums the Minimum and Recommended System Requirements as well as the Digital Rights Management (DRM) situation.
Minimal:
• Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
• 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
• 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
• 15 GB disc space
• DirectX 9.0c sound card
• Keyboard / Mouse
• 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. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.
Recommended:
• Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
• 2.6+ GHz Core 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.
Now on to the DRM portion
Digital Rights Management (DRM) – The boxed/retail PC version of Mass Effect 2 will use only a basic disk check and it will not require online authentication. This is the same method as Dragon Age: Origins. Digital versions will use the retailers protection system.
Now I only played a tiny tiny part of the original Mass Effect, but what I did see and play I loved. What that means is that this one has been on my radar. It looks like I will be fine in the recommended requirements area, so here is to some cold outside, warm inside winter gaming in January 2010.
Source: Kotaku.com and Bioware Forums
You should play the entire Mass Effect. If you played a tiny amount and loved it, you’d be completely blown away if you play all the way through. It’s one of the richest story and character experiences of all time, in my opinion. ME2 looks to be more of the same rewarding formula…and my rig obliterates even the recommended settings! W00t!