Players eager to jump back into the galaxy of Mass Effect don’t necessarily need an expensive gaming rig to run the game at an acceptable framerate, however, as the game’s minimum system requirements demand a fraction of the hardware horsepower required for peak performance.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is the latest entry in developer BioWare’s galaxy-trekking sci-fi series, following up on a trilogy of releases for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms over the past decade. The upcoming sequel features an entirely new cast and its open-world framework will allow players to explore multiple planets and star systems.
PC players will need a 64-bit Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 setup in order to run Mass Effect: Andromeda, along with 55 GB of free hard drive space. The game requires an Intel Core i5 3570 or AMD FX-6350 processor and 8GB of system RAM to run at minimum settings, along with an Nvidia GTX 660 2GB or AMD Radeon 7850 2GB graphics card or equivalent.
EA’s recommended settings bump processor requirements up to an Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD FX-8350 at a minimum. Players with high-end rigs will also need at least 16 GB of system RAM and an NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB or AMD RX 480 4GB video card or better to achieve smooth framerates at high resolutions.
Veteran players at gaming forum NeoGAF specifically recommend a multi-core CPU such as those featured in AMD’s Ryzen lineup, as the game’s underlying Frostbite engine typically sees improved performance when running on a multi-core processor.
Mass Effect: Andromeda drops for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PCs on March 21.
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