Can I Run Elite Dangerous?
Elite Dangerous is an action adventure game from Frontier Developments, released in 2015. Frontier Developments both developed and published it. The game supports a single player campaign and cooperative play. It is localised into 6 languages according to the store listing. Over 81 thousand players have left a Steam review, so this is a title whose performance is widely reported. The game ships for Windows alone. Its Metacritic score stands at 80. It is old enough that no current GPU generation existed when it shipped, so modern hardware tends to be far past what it can use. Only some of the game is mapped to a controller.
Can your PC run it? →System requirements
Minimum requirements
| CPU | Quad Core CPU (4 x 2Ghz) |
|---|---|
| GPU | Nvidia GTX 470/AMD R7 240 |
| RAM | 6 GB |
| Storage | 25 GB |
| OS | Windows 8/10 64-bit |
| DirectX | 11 |
Recommended requirements
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3770K Quad Core CPU or better / AMD FX 4350 Quad Core CPU or better |
|---|---|
| GPU | Nvidia GTX 770 / AMD Radeon R9 280X |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 25 GB |
| OS | Windows 8/10 64-bit |
| DirectX | 11 |
Verified from Steam · 9 Jul 2026 source
Scores are deterministic, computed by fixed rules and benchmark tables, not written by an AI. How we score. Maintained by Farhad Ali. Spotted a wrong specification? Tell us.
Setting and environment
The game is set in space and the vessels that cross it. Play is structured around open space and the ships that cross it. It is played from a first person view. 16 storefront images show what the game actually looks like in motion.
Why Elite Dangerous is demanding
Elite Dangerous is undemanding on the graphics side. Its Nvidia GTX 770 / AMD Radeon R9 280X target sits well below our RTX 3060 reference, so most cards still in service clear Elite Dangerous. Elite Dangerous needs 64 bit Windows. Elite Dangerous needs only 8 GB of RAM. Disk footprint is light, near 25 GB.
This reading comes from the published requirements and our own benchmark tables, not from the store listing.
Can you run Elite Dangerous?
Elite Dangerous targets a mainstream modern PC: Nvidia GTX 470/AMD R7 240 and 6 GB of RAM for the minimum, stepping up to Nvidia GTX 770 / AMD Radeon R9 280X for the recommended experience. No single part dominates the requirements, so a balanced mid-range build clears it.
Bottleneck: GPU
Projected by resolution
| Resolution | Projection | Headroom |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | Comfortable | 3.27x |
| 1440p | Comfortable | 1.84x |
| 4K | Below the bar | 0.82x |
A projection, not a measurement. We scale the published GPU requirement by pixel count, since 1440p draws 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p and 4K draws 4 times as many, then compare against RTX 3060 / Ryzen 5 build. The publisher did not state a target resolution, so 1080p is assumed as the baseline. We hold no frame rate data, so no FPS figure is claimed. Headroom above 1 means the reference machine has room to spare at that resolution.
Common GPUs
| Graphics card | Verdict |
|---|---|
| GTX 1060 6 GB | Runs great |
| GTX 1060 Laptop | Runs great |
| GTX 1650 4 GB | Runs great |
| GTX 1650 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 6 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 2060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 3060 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4060 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 8 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 3070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 12 GB | Runs great |
| RTX 4070 Laptop | Runs great |
| RX 6600 8 GB | Runs great |
Each card is compared against Elite Dangerous's published GPU requirement, assuming an otherwise-capable PC. Laptop rows use the real mobile chip's benchmark, a mobile GPU is always slower than its desktop namesake.
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DOOM EternalFrequently asked questions
Can my PC run Elite Dangerous?
Upload your DxDiag file to Idxdiag's free checker and get a component by component compatibility verdict for Elite Dangerous in seconds. No install required.
What are the minimum system requirements for Elite Dangerous?
The minimum requirements are CPU: Quad Core CPU (4 x 2Ghz); GPU: Nvidia GTX 470/AMD R7 240; 6 GB RAM; OS: Windows 8/10 64-bit.
How much storage does Elite Dangerous need?
Elite Dangerous needs about 25 GB of available storage.
Can an RTX 3060 run Elite Dangerous?
The RTX 3060 runs Elite Dangerous comfortably, clearing the title's GPU requirement with room to spare.
What is the bottleneck for Elite Dangerous?
On a typical modern PC (Ryzen 5 5600, RTX 3060, 16 GB RAM), the tightest component for Elite Dangerous is the GPU.