If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Mass Effect 3 PC system requirements

Drell-core processor?

Can your PC run Mass Effect 3? BioWare has released a list of PC system requirements needed to run the demo of its sci-fi role-player, which will likely remain the same for the full game.

In fact, Mass Effect 3's list of demo requirements asks for a whopping 15GB of hard drive space, which may mean BioWare's technical rundown is simply the full game's requirements cut-and-pasted.

It's also worth remembering that Mass Effect 3 on PC requires EA's Origin service to run. Rival service Steam is excluded.

The game's single-player campaign will require a one-time online authentication before the single-player game can be played. Multiplayer Mass Effect 3 will obviously require a constant internet connection.

Minimum Spec:

  • OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7
  • Supported chipsets: NVIDIA 7900 or better; ATI X1800 or better. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 9300, 8500, 8400, and 8300 are below minimum system requirements, as are AMD/ATI Radeon HD3200, HD3300, and HD4350. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.
  • CPU - 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)
  • RAM - 1GB for XP / 2GB RAM for Vista/Win 7
  • Disc Drive - 1x speed
  • Hard Drive - 15 GB of free space
  • Video - 256 MB* (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support)
  • Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible
  • DirectX - DirectX 9.0c August 2009 (included)

Recommended Spec:

  • OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7
  • CPU - 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)
  • RAM - 2GB for XP / 4GB RAM for Vista/Win 7
  • Disc Drive - 1x speed
  • Hard Drive - 15 GB of free space
  • Video - AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB or greater, NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB or greater
  • Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible

Mass Effect 3's demo arrives for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 14th February, while the full shebang will launch 9th March.