Mass Effect CPU limited?

[titaniumx3]

Am I right in saying that the performance in this game is heavily cpu dependent?

I have a X2 4400+ @ 2.5ghz and a HD4870 and the fps drops to 30-40fps in some areas even though the scenes don't seem all that complex graphically. I personally found Bioshock graphics (also on the U3 engine) to look just as good, if not better and that runs at 60+fps pretty much all the time.

(note: My findings are only based on the first mission and the bit on the ship right at the beginning.)

 

[Flying Gribble]

Possibly. What res and setttings are you running at? Mine runs at 60Hz @ 1920x1200 all the time unless I've forced anti-aliasing on via CCC.

 

[titaniumx3]

I'm playing at 1680x1050 res, with maximum settings.

I've seen some benchmarks online and they seem to be getting considerably higher fps with same graphics card, but more up to date CPUs.

 

[Flying Gribble]

The graphics card is certainly well able to handle that, so it must be the CPU holding you back. Try the Mass Effect Tweak Guide for some in-depth tweaks you could make to get the frame rate back up.