[PC] Extreme Start Up Lag In Mass Effect

Have you tried unticking "Enable Origin in Game" under "Application Settings / In Game" in Origin? Did you update your graphic card drivers?

You should probably list your PC specifications for good measure (despite Mass Effect 1 playing smoothly).

I meet recommended specs, but my specs are:

16 gigabytes of RAM

Intel i5-35700k CPU Running at 3.4 Gigahertz (4Core)

NVidia GeForce GTX 650

64-bit operating system

Running Windows 7

I can run most games on high-ultra settings, so it isn't about the computer.

And @ 1ago, My card drivers are up to date, and the origin settings did not work.

Also one thing I forgot to mention is that at the title screen of Mass Effect 2, the cursor loads and that has no lagging, just the animation going on in the background.

So for added clarification, here's a steam user's problem that explains it a little more clearly, as well as some failed solutions he attemtped http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2202303

The only thing I can think of is maybe a corrupted game-profile of the nvidia driver. You could try downloading nvidia inspector and optimize your settings according to this guide ("advanced tweaking"). You should first try to reset every setting shown under the Mass Effect 3 profile.

[edit]I found this regarding lag in ME2. Not sure if it'll help, but surely worth a try, should be the same procedure for ME3. Some people could set the affinity back to all cores after confirming the affinity to one core as well and ME would still run smoothly.

Setting the affinity unfortunately did not work, and being unfamiliar with the Nvidia inspector, I had no idea where to find it. I googled Nvidia Inspector but there as no reliable Nvidia website, and I would prefer a trusted site. Thanks for the help thus far, once I get the inspector and attempt it I can go from there.

You can get it from here. Guru3D is one of the best known graphics cards websites. It's not an official nvidia tool, but given that nvidia themselves are using it in the guide I linked from their official page, it's at least endorsed.

I was having the same issues and came here for help. I saw someone say to turn off the Origin overlay. I did that on a monster rig having experienced horrible vid lag in ME2 and then it went away and i was able to play it on full graphics. I would give turning off the overlay a chance.

I had the same problem, but I found a solution that worked for me. In Origin, go to My Games section, right click Mass Effect 2 and select Game Properties. I little window will pop up, then click the check-box to DISABLE in-game Origin. 
You wont be able to access Origin chat and what-not while playing, but who cares? ME is too great for that anyway xD