Max graphics on laptop?

Synnastix

Anyone running ESO on a laptop at max graphics settings for HD? If so can you post your specs please? If you have a high end machine and still can’t run max, how far do you have to drop your settings to get playable?

I was thinking of getting a new laptop but wanted to be able to run ESO at max settings. I’ve been out of the laptop loop but heard the mobile 1050ti should get it done. My last desktop GPU was a GTX 770 for an idea of how dated my knowledge is.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I have been researching this issue as well. I am about to get a Dell XPS 15 which comes with a 1050ti through my work. From what I understand, you can play eso at close to max settings with this setup at 1920x1080 at 60fps. A 1060 or 1070 should absolutely do it.

You will likely want to tone things down for certain content (PvP/trials) but I do that on my main rig with a 1080ti anyway.

With a laptop, a decent independent g-card and a good CPU should do it. This game is a processor hog so don’t skimp there.

I’ll update when I get my new laptop in hand, but it will be a few weeks.

Vuron

I only play on my desktop, but I do crafting, harvesting, or other easy crap on my laptop.

It runs on max, but the fan has to work pretty hard to keep it cool.

ASUS ROG Strix GL703GS-DS74
17.3 FHD 144Hz 3ms G-Sync
I7-8750H
32GB RAM
GeForce 1070 8GB

tactx

jonswowgothackedub17_ESO wrote: »

Anyone running ESO on a laptop at max graphics settings for HD? If so can you post your specs please? If you have a high end machine and still can’t run max, how far do you have to drop your settings to get playable?

I was thinking of getting a new laptop but wanted to be able to run ESO at max settings. I’ve been out of the laptop loop but heard the mobile 1050ti should get it done. My last desktop GPU was a GTX 770 for an idea of how dated my knowledge is.

@jonswowgothackedub17_ESO I run it at full max settings on a laptop I bought last year.

Alienware 17 R4 with 32gb ram, GTX1080... basically this:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/alienware-17-laptop/dkcwkblg0744?mkwid=sCV9rn1D4&pcrid=262902103402&pkw=&pmt=&pdv=c&slid=&product=DKCWKBLG0744&pgrid=51546451142&pgrid=51546451142&ptaid=aud-448673054128:pla-422846908282&ptaid=aud-448673054128:pla-422846908282&VEN1=sCV9rn1D4,262902103402,901pdb6671,c,,DKCWKBLG0744,51546451142,aud-448673054128:pla-422846908282&VEN1=sCV9rn1D4,262902103402,901pdb6671,c,,DKCWKBLG0744,51546451142,aud-448673054128:pla-422846908282&VEN2=,&VEN2=,&dgc=st&dgc=st&dgseg=dhs&dgseg=dhs&acd=1230923830920560&acd=1230923830920560&cid=312465075&st=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_s7fBRDrARIsAGEvF8T8YP9AoJGZJBZPU4zchIxjNaIEGBSdtLmJFruVZqrkvMO8Ev5wjuUaAqkNEALw_wcB&lid=59673390443&VEN3=811204635841393039

DMuehlhausen

Here's the thing. To get laptop that can easily run at max settings you are going to pay a premium price for that power in a laptop, that you can't even expand when it falls behind.

Just get a desktop, spend a little less money and in a couple years when the hardware falls behind you can upgrade.

Ok you want to be mobile...sure that's a thing, but any gaming laptop that can play at full max settings smoothly isn't really a mobile gaming laptop. I had the ROG FX series and the thing was like 10 pounds, and all the moviing around when I tried actually caused the battery to break open and stop charging.

It's just not worth it.

amith

I play on a Asus ROG Zephyrus M

GTX 1060 6GB
32 GB RAM

Hooked to a AOC Agon AG352Ucg6 35" curved monitor..

Play with everything maxed..

josiahva

I run it sometimes at max graphics on my laptop...but I have an Acer gaming laptop with a 1080card and 8gig of ram. More often I run it on some medium setting, just because I dont see any real reason to run it at max settings, but then, I come from an era where graphical expectations were much lower...so yes, my laptop runs it fine that way, but consumes more power, so I wouldn't do it if you aren't plugged in unless you are playing an hour or less(nothing is as bad as your battery running out in the middle of a final boss in difficult dungeon or a big PvP battle....and you notice a performance degradation the lower your battery gets)

UnseenCat

Another ASUS ROG Zephyrus M user here, also with the GTX1060... No problems maxing out graphics settings in ESO.

Synnastix

Dang some of you guys have some beefy / expensive laptops. Mobile would be an important consideration since I travel for work and would like to back and forth between the bedroom and living room, so I was hoping to find a happy medium where it doesn’t weigh 10 pounds but can still handle ESO. Thanks for the input so far all, still curious about any other experiences with 1050/1060 range GPUs.

Latios

If you want a smooth 1080p @60fps experience, aim for a laptop with a gtx 1060. You'll still have FPS drops on large scale PvP and Trials, but should be completely fine for the rest. No matter the video card, ESO optimization is bad and drops will always occur.

I have a inspiron 7567 with a gtx 1050ti, 16 gbs of ram and an i7 7700HQ. I turned down a few graphics settings to get 60 fps during almost all content, but the game still looks very beautiful. For both models(gtx 1060 and 1050ti), there are many good options in the market, including budget ones, so you should be fine.

Keep in mind, however, that laptops REALLY heat up during intense gameplay. If you don't have a proper cooling surface(avoid wooden ones or bed sheets, for example), you may experience some throttling with fps drops and even stuttering. Also, the fans are very loud, so consider that as well. Pros and cons, however, nothing beats taking ESO wherever you want. I'm quite happy with my mobile gameplay.

ghastley

Find me a laptop with a 50 inch screen, and I might consider using it.

tactx

ghastley wrote: »

Find me a laptop with a 50 inch screen, and I might consider using it.

You must have a VERY big lap...

Ragnarock41

Not on a laptop but I've played this game on ultra with my i5's onboard gpu.

To answer your question I have a gtx 1070 with an i5 6600k clocked at 4.1 ghz. I mainly do PvP and on cyrodiil I play at 4K ultra with little to no performance hit. Though I did lower some stuff that didnt help like particles render distance and that sorta stuff.

A 1050ti should have no issues at all, but obviously your cpu needs to be clocked high to support it and make sure its not overheating by regularly doing maintenance, something that most laptop owners often forget about.

Last of all, don't forget this game is very poorly optimized so your fps will depend on where you play and what you do. ESO is not a good game to test your hardware's worth, and if you are buying a laptop just for ESO then make sure it has a good cpu with a high core speed and efficiency. This game is cpu dependant.

Vapirko

Vuron wrote: »

I only play on my desktop, but I do crafting, harvesting, or other easy crap on my laptop.

It runs on max, but the fan has to work pretty hard to keep it cool.

ASUS ROG Strix GL703GS-DS74
17.3 FHD 144Hz 3ms G-Sync
I7-8750H
32GB RAM
GeForce 1070 8GB

I run just about this same setup, and I agree. I typically stay away from max settings just due to the heat factor. It can handle it outside of trials and PvP where it gets pretty choppy, but it doesn’t seem worth it for the extra stress on the hardware. Alternately it runs very well with most things on high, special effects and a solid view distance without burning up and since I’ve got an older monitor it holds at around 60fps in most situations. I think if you want to run games on max settings get a desktop. It will be relatively cheaper anyway. Unless you’re like me (travels a lot/didn’t want to shell out for laptop and desktop) then you’re just way better off getting a solid desktop rig.

One more note, if you do get a laptop it really helps to either have a cooling pad, or I just got four 2 inch wide strips of heavy duty cardboard like you find at an art store, cut slots in each so they all fit together to form a rectangular platform that fits my laptop. This keeps it evenly supported off the table with completely free airflow. Plus no need to buy yet another hunk of plastic.

karthrag_inak

Clevo P870TM-G
I7-8700k @3.7 GHz
16 gb ram
2560x1440
GTX 1080

Never have a problem with max settings, and unlike my older clevo, this one doesn't seem to get too hot.

RexyCat

ghastley wrote: »

Find me a laptop with a 50 inch screen, and I might consider using it.

Put some VR glasses on and you might have that...in the future. ;-)

RexyCat

jonswowgothackedub17_ESO wrote: »

Dang some of you guys have some beefy / expensive laptops. Mobile would be an important consideration since I travel for work and would like to back and forth between the bedroom and living room, so I was hoping to find a happy medium where it doesn’t weigh 10 pounds but can still handle ESO. Thanks for the input so far all, still curious about any other experiences with 1050/1060 range GPUs.

So far i haven't seen any mention of quality of display on laptops here in this thread. Many laptops have good hardware on paper, but not that good screen for colour and brightness during daylight. You should also consider how good your screen is to handle reflection even during night as light sources might reflect on screen.

In general the more heavy your laptop is the more metallic (=heatpipe) is in its cooling solution which on laptop is often integrated into a large piece of metal to cool both CPU and GPU and transport air to back side with smaller sized fans. Smaller fans will have a high pitched tone when they need to move faster to move as much air as larger fans would do on a stationary desktop.

Another thing I absolutely must put emphasis on get a large enough SSD to both keep this game on (downloading ESO client and installing will need to have double its size the first time and after that it will remove its compressed copy - you need 2 x 80 GB to be on safe side for this process). Windows have also a habit of growing with each update (it will create a windows.old folder, so it is possible to go back to an older version if something with the new version isn't working). Minimum 512 GB SSD or larger, if you also need to work on laptop. I have a 256 GB SSD on my laptop and it is a struggle to remove old windows every time and make space for games on this laptop.

(A) Make sure screen is good enough to use during daylight (and that is not too much reflection) and have colour representation that is accurate enough on that display, which is not too bright or too dark. It is after all your main screen when you aren't home or have access to another screen.

(B) Check out on web if you can see for how that model looks inside. Is is easy to add a second SSD of any kind? Can you remove dust when you need it in the future by opening its cabinet or even replace a fan when fans mechanic is getting too much dust? (During warranty that might be something you should ask company to do where you bought your laptop from before you do it yourself.)

(C) Don't go cheap on SSD space, if this laptop is going to be used for ESO or games in general. Windows do also take more space over time as more features are being added or patches/updates.

(D) Make sure you can get an extra battery or any other parts like AC before vendor stop to support that SKU (model) for your laptop.

(E) Get a good gaming keyboard on laptop and connect a gaming (MMO) mouse or gaming device like XboX controller. Touch pads on laptop in general isn't very good to control you character in MMOs. They work well in desktop situation and to control browser, but it isn't a very good tool to handle input for controlling something with fast reaction. For doing daily writs and that kind of thing touchpad will work ok, but for the rest of what you do in game it will feel hard to get the same kind of control as a mouse or any other device meant for gaming.

*There a solutions like Razer Orbweaver that you can connect to have a different setup of keybindings, if laptops keyboard doesn't have enough of extra gaming keys.

* I really would suggest to get a laptop with keyboards with LED lights integrated in each keys. It helps a lot when I am sitting in a place without full lighting during evening and want to just browse the net, watch a movie or play a game. Most keyboards are flat on laptops so it can be harder for find which is which key without looking.

(F) Don't forget to look into what kind of sound card is integrated in laptop. Some laptop have pretty good integrated loudspeakers considering how small those are today. Do sound card support 5.1 or 7.1 virtual surround and what kind of connection is there to use surround system? Windows have their own brand for virtual surround, DTS and Dolby have some other. Even when you play with headsets most the time which have their own sound cards, you might want to just take them off and use speaker on laptop time to time instead?
- Also check out what kind of webcam is integrated. Does it have high enough resolution and show a clear picture?
- Does laptops microphone work to use in Discord as an example? If you use headset with its own microphone, then it is good to have a "spare" microphone if that microphone would stop working.

(G) Always put a laptop on a flat surface which isn't too soft. If you don't it will block airflow from below and start to overheat laptop. Ambient temperature will play a role in how hot a laptop gets and try to avoid to place a laptop with black or dark colour in a sunny spot. It will fast get hot from direct sun light before you even use it (and it can be better to turn on it just to let fans transport out hot air in that case and not to make any heavy things like playing game until temperature is more normal).


Hardware
As for hardware: i7 7700HQ is a bit old by today, but it is enough to run ESO on it and you might find a good deal now during Black Friday. More threads or cores like in the new i7 85XX series (which have 6 cores and 12 threads vs 7700HQ that have 4 cores and 8 threads) is only useful for those time you uncompress files like the first time you download and install client, but it also depends on base clock speed and how many cores that can work at boost speed at the same time. High boost speed isn't that useful, if you are only having one or two that can work at that speed before thermal limitation start to throttle down speed. It is here where you will see impact of different cooling solution to how much of speed you can get out of CPU and GPU. On most laptop you can tweak fan curves etc, but in the end it the physical limitation that hits a wall.

I have a GTX 1060 and that is what I would recommend to go for as it will not produce that much heat compared to those other GTX like 1070 or even 1080 and still do its work. Also GPU will throttle down in speed if it gets too hot, so higher GPU with higher clock isn't necessary better (and for most cases FPS measurement isn't that large between 1060, 1070 and 1080 compared to desktop versions). My GTX 1060 works well to output signal to 2560 x 1080 pixel external display and it doesn't create much noise from fans during normal usage. During ESO it will make a bit more noise from fans, but it much better then my older laptop did or even my ATI 1950XT GPU.

There are several here that have 32 GB RAM system ram. If you get that for no extra cost then it is fine, but if not then 16 GB RAM should be enough for gaming and everyday stuff.