Mass Effect 3 on Pentium Dual Core CPU

faster23rd

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Oct 11, 2011
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Intel Pentium Dual Core E6600
2 gig RAM
Palit GeForce GT 440 (1024 MB)
Windows 7 Professional-32 bit

I've seen the minimum system reqs for ME3 and it says that the minimum CPU requirement is a Core 2 Duo, and if memory serves me right, the recommended setting is higher on the hierarchy than what I already have. I can't upgrade hardware anytime soon since I am simply a middle-class student in a not so fun country. Also, if I could add, what settings should I tweak to compensate for my low RAM and achieve 30+fps?
 
Solution
if your just above minimum spec then all you can use is just minimum settings... sorta makes basic sense that 1.

start the game at absolute minimum if its smooth, first increase the screen size to native monitor size... if its still smooth you can then increase things like texture quality first... going to medium first and if again its smooth you can start adding the higher end stuff like soft shadows. as a general rule for all games, things like soft shadows high shaders, smoke and soft smoke, hbao and ssao are all high end and will be beyond your cards ability to handle them smoothly...
1 good thing is the e6600 is a great overclocker and if you have good quality matched ram then theres no reason why you cant get that cpu to 3.3ghz...
You can lower the resolution of the game. There isn't much graphic settings to tweak in the game.

I actually recommend playing the series from the very beginning with Mass Effect 1. Since the choice you make can have consequences in Mass Effect 2 and ultimately in Mass Effect 3. Overall, the best game out of the series is Mass Effect 2 especially when you take into consideration all the DLC released for that game which adds to gameplay. The best DLCs for ME2 are Lair of the Shadow Broker and Overlord.
 
if your just above minimum spec then all you can use is just minimum settings... sorta makes basic sense that 1.

start the game at absolute minimum if its smooth, first increase the screen size to native monitor size... if its still smooth you can then increase things like texture quality first... going to medium first and if again its smooth you can start adding the higher end stuff like soft shadows. as a general rule for all games, things like soft shadows high shaders, smoke and soft smoke, hbao and ssao are all high end and will be beyond your cards ability to handle them smoothly...
1 good thing is the e6600 is a great overclocker and if you have good quality matched ram then theres no reason why you cant get that cpu to 3.3ghz as long as you have good cooling.
you should be able to get away with putting a gtx 560ti in without bottnecks on some games that only use 2 threads. but a more realistic ballanced system would be to max it out at 460 and you would be able to have high settings on some games..
as you have a core 2 duo motherboard you could jump to the core 2 quad with little more than a bios update... so you may get out of the entry level with a bit of spending when you can afford it.
 
Solution