In a recent post over on the official Mass Effect forums, BioWare's Chris Priestly has laid out the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version of Mass Effect 3 -- ahead of the upcoming demo launch. Here's the goods:

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 - 2.5 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 - 2.5 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

The Mass Effect 3 demo is due to launch on February 14th 2012, with the cooperative multiplayer component exclusive to qualified 'early multiplayer access' customers until February 17th, at which point it will open up for everyone else.

For more details on the demo's contents or how you needed to qualify for the early multiplayer access check out the full post.

Mass Effect 3 is due on March 8th 2012 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

You should just start referring to them as console port requirements.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but i don't think anyone is surprised when multi platform games dont need a beast of a pc.

I take it the 2.5gb hard drive space is just the demo?

Pus console specs! Thay need to pick it up and get with the big boys or we might have another cod on our hands.or may dx11 patch down the tracks!

I havent had a PC with specs like that for err...... 5 years?
Console ports suck balls. But then EA do too for this. There is maximising audience and then there is this.

256mb holy crap. I remember when that was the norm.

Pus console specs! Thay need to pick it up and get with the big boys or we might have another cod on our hands.or may dx11 patch down the tracks!

Sorry, what?

To be fair all those specs are pretty much on par with the last game, which looked pretty damn good.