Will my laptop handle Elite Dangerous?

dastaten

D
Hi all,

Elite Dangerous looks like my dream game, and I'm all ready to buy, but I'm not sure if my laptop (which is currently my gaming machine) will handle it. The CPU (2.5Ghz 4th gen Intel i7) and RAM (12GB) seem acceptable, but my onboard video card may not be good enough. It's an HP Envy m7-k010dx, and the video card is an Intel HD graphics 4600 with up to 1792MB total graphics memory.

I'm going to build a gaming machine, but it's going to be a couple months before I can afford it. I'd really like to play sooner than later though. Will my laptop handle it?

Thanks,
Dorian
 

kursah

kursah
I have a Dell 3540 I got for $525 refurbished from Dell back in March. Been a pain in the ass until I used modded drivers...I have the same Intel GPU for standard duties and some old games that don't detect the second GPU, an ATI 8850M (or 265M) with 2GB dedicated. It plays great at 1920x1080 resolution with all on High with SMAA. My i5 4200u has the 4400 GPU iirc... I will see if I can game with that GPU and try to report back. I imagine this is a no-go with this game... not all is lost... look into Evochron Mercenary for a good space sim fix on a ligher GPU...excellent title with steep learning curve that handles great with joystick or kb + mouse. EvoMerc and Elite Dangerous are both my favorite games to play atm. EvoMerc even has a demo to try out.

Not saying don't get Elite, but if you just use it on that Intel integrated GPU...you might be more frustrated than not... hopefully I can report back soon!
 

Morbad

Morbad
An Intel HD 4600 is probably not going to give acceptable performance in Elite: Dangerous. Well, unless your definition of acceptable is a pixelated slideshow.
 

kursah

kursah
Update... used my Intel GPU. NOTICEABLY slow than the AMD 8850M. But is able to smoothly play Elite Dangerous using 1600x900 and Low settings with FXAA. Honestly still looks amazing, and doesn't look all that different aside from the lower resolution and panel scaling issues (I had a letterbox around my entire screen instead of full screen).

At 1080p and high settings with SMAA, there was no chance of smooth performance.

But even on low, the game looks amazing and played quite well on just the Intel GPU...I honestly didn't think I'd even get that much out of it. Now I know. :)
 

Morbad

Morbad
kursah said:
Update... used my Intel GPU. NOTICEABLY slow than the AMD 8850M. But is able to smoothly play Elite Dangerous using 1600x900 and Low settings with FXAA. Honestly still looks amazing, and doesn't look all that different aside from the lower resolution and panel scaling issues (I had a letterbox around my entire screen instead of full screen).

At 1080p and high settings with SMAA, there was no chance of smooth performance.

But even on low, the game looks amazing and played quite well on just the Intel GPU...I honestly didn't think I'd even get that much out of it. Now I know. :)
Click to expand...

I'm impressed. What sort of frame rate are you getting in resource extraction sites?
 

dastaten

D
Thanks for all the feedback, guys. I may try it out on reduced res and low settings. I'll look into EvoMerc as well and might play that until I get my gaming machine set up.

Spectre Alpha said:
You should be fine, the smaller screen of a laptop will make a lower resolution look fine.
Click to expand...

Actually, I use an HDMI cable to play my games on my 65" LED TV, so...
 

kursah

kursah
I didn't get very far, flew around, got into some combat after an interdiction. Handled hyperspace and supercruise just fine at that level. Keep in mind my GPU is an Intel 4400...where the OP's is a 4600, so he should see even better results. I love that my laptop can play this game at 1080 and high settings...looks great on a 15.6" screen... but like I stated before, even at 1600x900 and low graphics, the game still looks pretty damn good.

I might try the 4600 on my 4970k system and see how it does just for the sake of the full GPU versus my ultra-low power GPU in the laptop. The 4200u is a decent little chip and can run up to 2.3GHz, but due to Dell's thermal cooling design it throttles to the 1.6GHz every time a decent load is applied.

Maybe more users can try with APU's and Intel iGPU's and post some results...I didn't have an OSD FPS running, I went by "seat of the pants" feel as I did it right before going to bed...and honestly I play by feel not stats. But I'll see if I can't post some performance stats.
 

dastaten

D
Is there any way to allocate more memory to my onboard video card other than in the BIOS? Neither the BIOS on my desktop or laptop has that option. Or are there external video cards for laptops?
 

Borgkube

Borgkube
dastaten said:
Is there any way to allocate more memory to my onboard video card other than in the BIOS? Neither the BIOS on my desktop or laptop has that option. Or are there external video cards for laptops?
Click to expand...

I won't say no, but I'd save my money for a better machine rather than investing in expensive laptop upgrades that are not going give you much of a boost.
 

Villany

V
I would have a question about wether I would be able to run the game or not. I have a rather old (roughly 5 years) PC, below the recommended minimum specs, however I found that I was able to run other games smoothly for which my PC also did not meet the minimum requirements.

PC: intel core 2 duo 2.8 Ghz CPU, 2 GB DDR2 ram and a Nvidia Gforce 9500 GT GPU, plus an SSD. In your opinion, Will I be able to run the ED on low settings and on 1440x900? I would rather not buy ED if a wont be able to play it...

If not, do you have any suggestions what I shall do (eg what to overclock) in order to be able to play the game without a mayor outfitting?
 

CHristina

CHristina
I use a 2 year old Toshiba satellite 760 series...( out of the box, NO over clocking.) on screen everything set to high.(NOT ultra.) and all works great. AND I tried with the rift DK2, with everything set to low,or off, still works great ,no judder.. It's a bit blurry yet still plays good.
 

Ryanextreme143

Ryanextreme143
I have roughly the same specs for my Pc, but Amd, and it works really well with it, once the games fully Optimized it should run smooth. Give it a shot! the game still looks stunning on low graphics :).
 

dastaten

D
Ryanextreme143 said:
I have roughly the same specs for my Pc, but Amd, and it works really well with it, once the games fully Optimized it should run smooth. Give it a shot! the game still looks stunning on low graphics :).
Click to expand...

Sweet. Thanks all for all the great feedback, guys. I think I'll go ahead and give it a shot tonight. Even if it's not playable, I don't think I care anymore. I'm happy to give my money to the project, and I know I'll have my gaming machine up and running in the near future, so what the hell. =)

Cheers!

D
 

thewzdoc

thewzdoc
There was a guy on here that setup an external GPU with a power supply and offloaded the work to it in the Nvidia setup...pretty slick. I'll see if I can find it.
 

IndianaGeoff

I
My two year old Maingear Pulse 11 works great. It has a separate GPU.

My brand new work lenovo with built in intel graphics is not acceptable.

You have to have a Nvidia (or equivilant) graphics chip in your laptop from my experience.
 

kursah

kursah
The game does look quite good on low graphics settings...in fact I checked to make sure it stayed on low when I was testing my iGPU 4400. I would say those with older PC's, might consider Evochron Mercenary (there is a demo you can try too..full game, time limited to 120 min iirc...). EvoMerc is a solid space sim, excellent really considering it is the creation of one person, has a very good community for support and training, and is a blast. I love me some Elite Dangerous, but EvoMerc still holds the top spot in space sims for me. Could have a little more life in it AI-wise in solo..the combat is tough...the customization is very good...seamless everything once the game world is loaded..and runs great on lower spec'd machines! So if Elite Dangerous doesn't run well on your system, or you need to upgrade before you get it but want something as an affordable fix until then... EvoMerc my friends is where it's at IMHO. Not all will agree, but if you like a challenge, and love space sims...this title should already be in your collection.
 

Spectre Alpha

Banned
Spectre Alpha
dastaten said:
Thanks for all the feedback, guys. I may try it out on reduced res and low settings. I'll look into EvoMerc as well and might play that until I get my gaming machine set up.



Actually, I use an HDMI cable to play my games on my 65" LED TV, so...
Click to expand...

Shouldn't matter, the pixel pitch on a tv is a lot different than a monitor.
 
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