Elite Dangerous: PC requirements and the PC you need

About Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is a space flight game from Frontier Developments set in a full-size model of our galaxy, with billions of star systems to visit. You fly your own ship and choose how to make a living, trading cargo, mining, hunting pirates or exploring the unknown, upgrading to bigger ships over time. You can play alone or online alongside other players, and it supports VR headsets. It has in-game purchases and is rated PEGI 7. The makers recommend a GTX 770 or R9 280X and 8 GB of memory, so any of our gaming PCs handles it easily.

What Elite Dangerous needs

In plain words: to play at all it needs almost any graphics, even the graphics built into the processor, and to play it well the makers suggest basic graphics: built-in graphics on a modern processor, or an old entry-level card, with 8GB of memory.

A low-spec PC or a high-spec PC?

This is a light game: almost any of our gaming PCs will run it comfortably at high settings.

On a PC that only just meets the minimum, the game will start and play, but on low settings: simpler shadows and textures, shorter view distances and fewer frames each second, so fast moments can feel less smooth. A 1080p screen is the sensible match.

On a PC that meets or beats the recommended spec, you can turn the settings up: sharper textures, proper shadows and lighting, more detail in the distance, and a smoother picture. A stronger PC also lets you use a sharper 1440p or high-refresh screen.

Questions about Elite Dangerous on PC

How we match: we compare the graphics card and the memory in each PC with the makers' spec, because those decide most of how a game runs. For very new or demanding games, ask us and we will check the processor too. More help: graphics cards explained, how much RAM, which screen.