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.