Surface Pro Running Elite Dangerous

Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
I just wanted to throw it out there for anyone interested that Elite Dangerous will run on a Surface Pro 3. Although I will warn you, I run it on 720 and low graphics all around. Even with those settings, during intense dogfights and sometimes if theres a lot of traffic at a spaceport, I will be getting frame rates that make it near impossible to play. I still enjoy the game immensely despite these flaws and will continue to play this way until I decide to get another computer one day. Hope this helps some people and if you have any questions please comment! Take care.
 
Even an i7 8GB is unplayable. The game just needs way more graphics horsepower than the Surface 3 Pro can provide.
 
For a week or so when I first got the game, I ran it on a HP Touchsmart laptop 2.6 gig quad core and 3 gigs of RAM. It recommended medium settings, but after a couple of runs, I took it down to low because it was heating up. And this was with on MB ATI graphics.

Now, of course I run it on a 3.5 quadcore with a 2GB Radeon card and 8GB of main memory. Works great on medium. Started on high, but in the docking hubs, it slowed down so much it was virtually unplayable, so I took it down to medium. Works great.
 
@Yokai - It still runs though and I still enjoy the game quite a bit, but yeah if you are expecting this to be a seamless experience, id advice against the surface pro 3. Sadly its my only computer at the moment.
 
I run ED on a I3 Surface Pro 3 and it is good. I do use a low resolution and the lowest graphics settings but this mainly due to overheating. Maybe not as good as a dedicated gaming machine but it is adequate.
 
I used my Surface Pro 2 to demo ED for a couple of family members. I don't think you'd want to get into a lot of combat, but trading and exploration would be okay I think, as long as you're not too far from a power outlet!
 
Hmm why would anyone try to run the game on some barebones Tablet thing ?
I dont get the idea. I dont want to offend anyone, but i dont understand it...
I play mine on a 2011 i7 desktop with a decent graphics card (gtx 780), and the game just flies at all max.
Now that rig secondhand surely can be had for same price as a surface pro ?

Cheers Cmdr's
 
Surface Pro is not a toy, it's a very powerful portable PC. It simply doesn't have the GPU power to run such a game as ED though.
 
Hmm why would anyone try to run the game on some barebones Tablet thing ?
I dont get the idea. I dont want to offend anyone, but i dont understand it...
I play mine on a 2011 i7 desktop with a decent graphics card (gtx 780), and the game just flies at all max.
Now that rig secondhand surely can be had for same price as a surface pro ?

Cheers Cmdr's

It is what I have, why else! The SP3 is a fantastic piece of kit, it has revolutionised the way I work. It's just not designed for playing games. But I find it plays ED ok, just not as good as your uber games machines.
 
Last edited:
Why would anyone even want to play this on a Surface Pro? Regardless that it's a decent work machine, I could not fathom playing a serious game on it at all...
 
Because that's all he has available at the moment.

This I can believe. I would not recommend playing ED on a portable machine of any type but if that's all you have and you don't mind running it on Low settings, then why should you wait until you can afford a true gaming rig? Some of us are not made of money.

 
If you haven't laid hands on a Surface Pro 3 and really _used_ it, you really don't know the score.

It's not for gaming of any sort, really, but it's otherwise the tablet you always wanted and didn't know it. It's the only tablet you can do real work on, and the ads don't exaggerate when they call it "the tablet that can replace your laptop".

I've owned and used iPad, Macbook Pros, various android tablets, and the Surface Pro 2. The Pro 2 was a piece of junk that you could _not_ do work on, and was a crappy tablet. The Pro 3, by contrast, is light-years ahead.

If you gave me the choice between the most souped up Macbook Air or Macbook Pro and the Surface Pro 3, I'd pick the 3.
 
So I take it you have fully evaluated it in order to give us your considered opinion? I have been using mine for my work, as a Technical Consultant, for several months.

Yes, I've actually held one in my hand and did some tech support for it.

Sorry, the Surface Pro 3 with i7 and 8gb RAM is around $1400! If you pay that kind of money for a mobile device that doesn't even have a decent 3D, you obviously have no idea what to spend your money on. That kind of money buys an insane gaming notebook that can run ED in 1080p easily with max details.

You're a technical consultant? I guess if all you do with it is Lync and Outlook, it will suit your needs. Plus you probably didn't have to pay for it, which is always a huge plus
 
Last edited:

Slopey

Volunteer Moderator
Indeed - my Surface Pro 3 is now replacing both my iPad and my Mac Air.

It is quite simply an awesome device, and it's unmatched in the market currently. If you buy in at the lower spec'd levels, it's actually fantastic value. Reading web pages on it in portrait is an amazing experience. It does everything a laptop can do, and it's silly thin for the entire device.

I use it extensively while travelling, and demo my software on it - clients are blown away by it if they haven't seen one before and it has replaced the Air in terms of "wow" factor.

But for gaming, it's not great. ED runs barely on the top spec i7 version I have and it gets hellish hot, really quickly. If they could sort out the heat however (there are various bodge-it USB fan mods), it'd be even better.
 
Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom