Spore system requirements released

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 11th June 2008
Comments (23) Stumble
Spore system requirements released

Spore may be ambitious, but it won't require a supercomputer to run...

Spore is inching closer every day, like some sort of alien threat in a tawdry 50s horror film - Spore, aaah! Still, if you like us are anxiously waiting for the release of the game then you'll probably be interested in this in the mean time; the full system requirements for Spore on both PC and Mac.

We did an extensive hands-on preview with Spore not long ago and were throughly impressed by the game. One thing that EA Maxis wasn't keen to let slip though was the hardware requirements - but all that's changed now!

Windows XP
2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
512 MB RAM
A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
At least 6 GB of hard drive space

Windows Vista
2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
768 MB RAM
A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
At least 6 GB of hard drive space

Mac OS X
Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher
Intel Core Duo Processor
1024 MB RAM
ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100
At least 4.7GB of hard drive space for installation, plus additional space for creations.

So, it looks like pretty much anyone can run the game? Even better, if you can't then you'll still be able to build a super-powerful gaming PC capable of playing Spore in all its glory just by following out guide on how to build a gaming PC for £400. Discuss in the forums.
Quote Bauul 11th June 2008, 10:40
Yeah, but how crap will it look? Is that the recommended or the minimum requirements? If it's the minimum, as I suspect it is, I'd be rather intregued to see what the recommended is.
Quote CardJoe 11th June 2008, 10:49
I *think* this may be the recommended.
Quote Joeymac 11th June 2008, 11:53
I want to know if it will run with all the bells and whistles on my 2600XT at about 1280x720..
Quote C0nKer 11th June 2008, 11:53
Wow, finally a game I can play since, well, F.E.A.R.
Quote kylew 11th June 2008, 12:18
I'm really liking the look of spore, I just need a decent graphics card to play it at 1920x1200 (I had a 3870X2 that broke :() roll on RV770 based cards! *twitches*
Quote Arkanrais 11th June 2008, 12:20
Quote:
Wow, finally a game I can play since, well, F.E.A.R
+1
one thing that irks me with pc game minimum and recommended specs is that most of the ones I see only state the video card memory, cause theres a bit of a difference between my X1650 pro 512MB and someone else's 8800gt 256MB. I prefer the labels that say "minimum spec graphics card '7600gt' recommended '8600gts'." much more informative.
still, yay, I don't have to wait till I upgrade to play spore.
Quote Cupboard 11th June 2008, 12:37
The game requirements for Vista are actually less than the normal requirements for Vista weird.
I will be able to play this on my laptop should I feel the need, which is nice but completely pointless! It has pretty much the minimum you can have, I think the 9700 was one of the first cards to have PS 2 support.
And how come it can work with integrated graphics on a Mac?
Quote Gunsmith 11th June 2008, 13:05
my motto is "If you need to read the minimum specs then pc gaming probably isnt for you."
Quote Mentai 11th June 2008, 13:46
I like to read them just to see how vague and uninformative they can be lol
Quote Bauul 11th June 2008, 13:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunsmith
my motto is "If you need to read the minimum specs then pc gaming probably isnt for you."

"unless you're just poor and can't afford to upgrade"

I often need to double check the minimum requirements when my brother/dad wonder if game X will work on their aging PCs.
Quote glaeken 11th June 2008, 14:01
I remember when you could be well below the minimum requirements and still run the game just fine.
Quote MrMonroe 11th June 2008, 14:32
Even if these are minimum specs, they're pretty low. A medium/high-end PC bought in November of last year (like mine) has triple the requirements in every category.

Also, who is running Vista on 768mb of RAM? That's just masochism.
Quote iwog 11th June 2008, 15:21
I used to just run a gig before I upgraded to 3, and better news is that the Creature Creator demo arrives on Monday/Tuesday depending on who you believe. As EA are saying that the 100% paid version will be available on Monday but everyone else is saying both will be available on Tuesday.
Quote Firehed 11th June 2008, 15:28
OS X support? I approve.
Quote CardJoe 11th June 2008, 15:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwog
I used to just run a gig before I upgraded to 3, and better news is that the Creature Creator demo arrives on Monday/Tuesday depending on who you believe. As EA are saying that the 100% paid version will be available on Monday but everyone else is saying both will be available on Tuesday.

Depends on the territory. UK and Europe gets it, and the full game, a bit earlier.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 11th June 2008, 16:53
okay I have always been curious as to how do these companies determine what is to be min requirements, is it if it plays within a certain number of frames per second or what?
Quote xaxaz 11th June 2008, 21:51
Wow, I can run this game perfectly fine it seems! :D I hope these are just the recommended requirements. The game looks rather good for such low specs though so I dunno.
Quote Haltech 12th June 2008, 04:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMonroe

Also, who is running Vista on 768mb of RAM? That's just masochism.

Trust me, almost anyone who I run into saying Vista sucks has this or 1 gig......
Quote chicorasia 12th June 2008, 13:16
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firehed
OS X support? I approve.

I just hope Apple gets Leopard openGL fixed in time.
Quote xaxaz 12th June 2008, 21:41
Quote:
Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
okay I have always been curious as to how do these companies determine what is to be min requirements, is it if it plays within a certain number of frames per second or what?

I think they try making different configurations using old hardware to find out what it will run playable at a decent frame rate on and determine those as the minimum requirements.
Quote salesman 16th June 2008, 14:25
Quote:
Originally Posted by glaeken
I remember when you could be well below the minimum requirements and still run the game just fine.

Yea i ran half-life on a 133 Mhz computer with onboard video and i think 16 MB of ram and a 1.6 GB hard drive, god that was a expensive computer when we got it.
Quote The_Beast 16th June 2008, 21:40
looks like my computer can handle it ;)
Quote impar 17th June 2008, 17:42
Greetings!

Has the DRM implementation on Spore changed?
Or does it continue to be the same as Mass Effect, with the limited installations BS?
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