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PC gaming on a tablet. Have we unlocked the power of the atom?

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bomblord1

Banned
So after having recently owned a dell venue 11 pro and doing some research into it the latest Atom processors are beasts (for a 2 watt TDP). Windows 8.1 tablets running the latest atom series processors are capable of REAL gaming albeit at lower resolutions and framerates.

Doing some quick tests with an atom Z3450 + 2GB of ram I was able to more than comfortably run smaller games like recettear (solid 60fps at highest resolution/settings available)

I put in portal and let it autodetect the resolution/settings (defaulted to everything as low as it could go) it ran at an fps peaking in the 200's.

What blew me away though is I was able to play Skyrim, Yes, that Skyrim. Turning everything on low, putting it to 720p (not that big of a deal on a tablet screen) and plugging in a controller it ran at a playable ~30 fps through the opening.

So gaf, I can comfortably say windows tablets can run any "smaller" games without a hitch and can even play games that are a few years old at resolutions and framerates comparable to last gen consoles. With USB ports or Bluetooth available on every model you can truly play PC games on a portable. Is anyone else excited as much about this as I am? 8" tablets running PC games is probably the best "portable" gaming experience you can get and with broadwell coming out sometime next year it's only going to get better.
 
I was pretty impressed with the performance of my Surface Pro 3, though I know that's a bit of a step up from the processor in question. Makes a suitable portable console with a mini displayport to HDMI adapter and a controller.
 
It is unfortunate that Intel hamstrings the new 14nm atom so much. Gaming is considerably better when using dual channel ram (which is obvious from double the bandwidth).

I can understand why Intel would want to impose so many limitation on Atom though. having a 13" ultra thin laptop with 8GB of ram @$400~ and runs many things well would likely cannibalize all the things.

edit: seems like the Lenovo 20C1A00RUS is the cheapest baytrail with dual channel ram. Still way too pricey.
 
It's in a great place (as you already found) and I'm looking forward to new hardware over the next 12-18 months taking Windows tablet gaming to a level where 2012 and older games running swimmingly on the tablet's displays at their native resolutions, and not just "run" at greatly reduced performance.
 
bomblord1 said:
So after having recently owned a dell venue 11 pro and doing some research into it the latest Atom processors are beasts (for a 2 watt TDP). Windows 8.1 tablets running the latest atom series processors are capable of REAL gaming albeit at lower resolutions and framerates.

Doing some quick tests with an atom Z3450 + 2GB of ram I was able to more than comfortably run smaller games like recettear (solid 60fps at highest resolution/settings available)

I put in portal and let it autodetect the resolution/settings (defaulted to everything as low as it could go) it ran at an fps peaking in the 200's.

ut what blew me away is I was able to play Skyrim, yes that skyrim. Turning everything on low, putting it to 720p (not that big of a deal on a tablet screen) and plugging in a controller it ran at a playable ~30 fps through the opening.

So gaf, I can comfortably say windows tablets can run any "smaller" games without a hitch and can even play games that are a few years old at resolutions and framerates comparable to last gen consoles. With USB ports or Bluetooth available on every model you can truly play PC games on a portable.

So is anyone else excited as much about this as I am? 8" tablets running PC games is probably the best "portable" gaming experience you can get and with broadwell coming out sometime next year it's only going to get better.
Click to expand...




I am. This is just mind blowing... especially with this:

imageikksw.jpg
Click to expand...

Just a far better gaming platform than both my 3DS and Vita.
Able to play a lot of my Steam games... and also visual novels.
 
GhostTrick said:
I am. This is just mind blowing... especially with this:



Just a far better gaming platform than both my 3DS and Vita.
Able to play a lot of my Steam games... and also visual novels.
Click to expand...

:O looks bad ass. Which tablet is that one? what could be the best option in performance for a 8" gaming tablet (with win8.1)?
 
Zurres said:
:O looks bad ass. Which tablet is that one? what could be the best option in performance for a 8" gaming tablet (with win8.1)?
Click to expand...

The tablet is Nvidia Shield... so not Win8.1
As for 8", anything as long as it has 2gb of ram. But to be fair, I'd wait for CES 2015, as new tablets with Cherry trail architecture might be unveiled... which should have twice times more powerful GPU.
But if you're impatient, you can find 130 dollars Win 8.1 tablets doing the job:
http://www.dx.com/fr/p/cube-iwork8-...rom-wi-fi-bluetooth-black-338475#.VKMKL3uAo7U


bomblord1 said:
I know nothing about the build quality but specs/price it's the best deal out there.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Signature-Edition-Tablet/productID.307626900

en-INTL-L-Asus-M81C-B1-MSBK-8-32GB-CWF-01865-mnco.jpg
Click to expand...




Nice !! I'd buy one if shipping prices to France weren't horrible :/
 
I have the ASUS EEEBook X205 running one of the new atom processors and like OP said, it's suprisingly capable and can be had regularly for around $99, with a battery life that lasts me around 9 hours and it's like a centimeter thick!
 
GhostTrick said:
Nice !! I'd buy one if shipping prices to France weren't horrible :/
Click to expand...

You can get the Linx 7 for £60 and it will ship to France just fine:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Linx7-32G...=UK_iPad_Tablets_eReaders&hash=item2c9044c64b

Its a much better option as well as it supports HDMI out and has zero crapware. Full 1 year of office 365 as well.

I'm definitely pleased with mine. I've not done much "local" gaming but playing the full version of Half Life 2 at native resolution with med/high settings at ~30fps on a £60 7" tablet was definitely impressive.

I'm using mine as a HTPC for the bedroom TV. Plex, Netflix, XBMC and Steam in home streaming all work great. I was worried about the 1GB of RAM but it really surprised me how well Windows 8.1 handles it. Its actually a much better experience than Android on 1GB RAM even though its a fully fledged PC OS.
 
In a few years it'll be a great platform to play PC games.

I can see it hammering against Nintendo/Sony's portables alongside mobile gaming.

Might get one in the future but for now I'm good with what I have.
 
brain_stew said:
You can get the Linx 7 for £60 and it will ship to France just fine:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Linx7-32G...=UK_iPad_Tablets_eReaders&hash=item2c9044c64b

Its a much better option as well as it supports HDMI out and has zero crapware. Full 1 year of office 365 as well.

I'm definitely pleased with mine. I've not done much "local" gaming but playing the full version of Half Life 2 at native resolution with med/high settings at ~30fps on a £60 7" tablet was definitely impressive.

I'm using mine as a HTPC for the bedroom TV. Plex, Netflix, XBMC and Steam in home streaming all work great. I was worried about the 1GB of RAM but it really surprised me how well Windows 8.1 handles it. Its actually a much better experience than Android on 1GB RAM even though its a fully fledged PC OS.
Click to expand...



Aaw.. was tempted until I seen shipping prices :'(
 
I'm looking for the most portable way to play mobas/arpg's. 14" monitor/screen + a usb mouse. I have a 970 at home but need something for traveling.
 
Saw one for £60 in tesco a couple of days ago. Tempted at that price purely as a web browser + steam home streaming client for remote playing my PC games. Do those work ok with controllers too?
 
When is the Baytrail line due for a total upgrade? IIRC it's like a mid-2013 chip they've just re-badging and re-releasing since.
 
GhostTrick said:
I am. This is just mind blowing... especially with this:



Just a far better gaming platform than both my 3DS and Vita.
Able to play a lot of my Steam games... and also visual novels.
Click to expand...

@ that picture

maybe in a few years when these things are not memory bandwidth crippled I might buy an x86 tablet for this

full x86 games support and that controller addon would make my shitty vita obsolete

It has a long way to go though, being able to play (and only some) games at 30 fps is not nearly good enough
maybe when they're another 4-5 x more powerful and no longer heavily memory bandwidth crippled (stacked ram to the rescue perhaps?)
 
SneakyStephan said:
@ that picture

maybe in a few years when these things are not memory bandwidth crippled I might buy an x86 tablet for this

full x86 games support and that controller addon would make my shitty vita obsolete

It has a long way to go though, being able to play (and only some) games at 30 fps is not nearly good enough
maybe when they're another 4-5 x more powerful and no longer heavily memory bandwidth crippled (stacked ram to the rescue perhaps?)
Click to expand...



Depends of the game. I ran DMC4 at 60FPS on this thing.
 
mrklaw said:
Saw one for £60 in tesco a couple of days ago. Tempted at that price purely as a web browser + steam home streaming client for remote playing my PC games. Do those work ok with controllers too?
Click to expand...

You can plug in a 360 controller via the included OTG cable with the Linx and it will function just the same as it does on any other Windows PC. The only downside is that you won't be able to charge the tablet at the same time as using a USB device so using a PS4 controller via Bluetooth would be your best option.

The Bay Trail chip will hardware decode a 60fps 720p from Steam in home streaming without issue.
 
brain_stew said:
You can plug in a 360 controller via the included OTG cable with the Linx and it will function just the same as it does on any other Windows PC. The only downside is that you won't be able to charge the tablet at the same time as using a USB device so using a PS4 controller via Bluetooth would be your best option.

The Bay Trail chip will hardware decode a 60fps 720p from Steam in home streaming without issue.
Click to expand...



Speaking of which, if you own the Linx... did you though of buying a Nyko smartclip for it ?
I'd like to know if the weight repartition and the controls are good with that.
I have a 10inch tablet so iPega 9023 is the only good way for me. But games compatibility is an issue.
 
I have a HP Stream 7 with a Baytrail CPU and was surprised how well Hearthstone ran on it. It's an amazing piece of kit for £99 and the Linx 7 is the same spec for £70 iirc. I could even run OBS and Hearthstone to record gameplay without issue.
 
Picked myself up a Linx 10 from staples when they were on sale for £80. I was gonna go with the Linx 8 but the 1gb of RAM annoyed me so went for the 10 instead. It's a neat little machine, but you won't be doing much outside of pixel art gaming on it.

Now couple the Tablet together with a decent desktop and Steam installed on both machines and you got a killer streaming device. I did a couple of videos of me gaming on the Linx 10 if anyone is interested :-

Minecraft running natively on the Linx 10 :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8YnBKXbV3Q

GTA 4 -TBoGT streamed to the Linx 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcCoH3ozRU

Metal Gear Solid - Ground Zero streamed to the Linx 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tq8Sr0fqCc
 
mrklaw said:
Damn, should have grabbed one then, offer has finished now. Will keep my eye out in the January sales.
Click to expand...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Linx7-32G...=UK_iPad_Tablets_eReaders&hash=item2c9044c64b

You can still pick up the Linx 7 for £60 delivered. One point to note is that there is poor shielding on the headphone jack so you will hear a little interference when using it, it didn't really bother me but its worth noting. As I say, mine is permanently hooked upto a HDTV via HDMI anyway, I use a Bluetooth keyboard with an integrated touchpad to control it.

The Linx 8 doesn't have the interference problem and you may prefer the extra screen real estate. You can pick it up for £70, as explained here:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lin...2-month-subscription-69-00-using-code-2084910

PC World have one floating around for £50 but it only has 16GB eMMC storage which becomes extremely tight once you have an updated copy of Windows and a few games on there, so I'd avoid it personally.

Oh, and for anyone picking up a Windows tablet, the most useful program I can recommend is "TouchMousePointer". It turns your whole tablet into a giant touchpad when in desktop mode which makes it much easier to navigate traditional Windows programs.

http://www.lovesummertrue.com/touchmousepointer/en-us/
 
CharmingCharlie said:
Picked myself up a Linx 10 from staples when they were on sale for £80. I was gonna go with the Linx 8 but the 1gb of RAM annoyed me so went for the 10 instead. It's a neat little machine, but you won't be doing much outside of pixel art gaming on it.

Now couple the Tablet together with a decent desktop and Steam installed on both machines and you got a killer streaming device. I did a couple of videos of me gaming on the Linx 10 if anyone is interested :-

Minecraft running natively on the Linx 10 :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8YnBKXbV3Q

GTA 4 -TBoGT streamed to the Linx 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcCoH3ozRU

Metal Gear Solid - Ground Zero streamed to the Linx 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tq8Sr0fqCc
Click to expand...

What processor does the linx 10 use?
 
Bought the iPega Bluetooth controller. Going to try it out on my Dell Venue 11 Pro 7140 with the new Intel Core M processor.
 
currently on vacation with my asus vivotab note 8, a ds4 controller and steam loaded up with South Park, Stanley Parable, Shadowrun, Broken Age, Walking Dead S2....

Kinda sucks that it's only 32 bit, but it's crazy how well some games play on this thing

still prefer vita for a lot of games though if i have the choice
 
bomblord1 said:
What processor does the linx 10 use?
Click to expand...

It has a Intel Atom (baytrail) Quad Core Z3735F running at 1.33ghz (can turbo up to 1.6ghz I believe).

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Atom-Z3735F-Tablet-SoC.116934.0.html

I was actually surprised at how well the tablet performed. I was expecting it to be an utter dog in terms of performance and only really got it so I could play around with a windows 8.1 tablet. But it is pretty functional and a great little backup to my main PC.
 
Anyone thinking of getting one should hold out for Cherry Trail in early 2015, reports indicate that performance of the Cherry Trail GPU should be close to double the current chips.
 
Conflict said:
Anyone thinking of getting one should hold out for Cherry Trail in early 2015, reports indicate that performance of the Cherry Trail GPU should be close to double the current chips.
Click to expand...

Cherry Trail has been delayed until the second half of 2015. You're looking at a the best part of a year before the real budget tablets get replaced.

Considering you can now pick up these devices for £60/$100, I almost view this as "disposable" computing. No one is going to lose sleep over their $100 tablet being outclassed in a years time. There's a lot of value to be had right now, especially once you consider you're getting a year's Office 365 with most of these devices included. If you were planning to subscribe to Office 365 or a cloud storage service, the tablet effectively comes free, and when you consider a Windows license normally costs $100/£60 on its own its really incredible what you can now get for your money.
 
GhostTrick said:
I am. This is just mind blowing... especially with this:



Just a far better gaming platform than both my 3DS and Vita.
Able to play a lot of my Steam games... and also visual novels.
Click to expand...

I have a samsung Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition with the S-pen and all that jazz. If this can run steam titles please someone link me to how in the hell I set that up. This is huge for me.
 
GhostTrick said:
I am. This is just mind blowing... especially with this:



Just a far better gaming platform than both my 3DS and Vita.
Able to play a lot of my Steam games... and also visual novels.
Click to expand...

Honestly the next generation handheld offerings from Nintendo and Sony
(will they even try?)
better be good at the rate technology is advancing for handheld devices.
 
Fezan said:
I just want to play dota at good fps
Click to expand...

Tried to get Dota 2 running at a decent framerate on my Asus T100, wasn't a great experience. Minimum settings and resolution with a few FPS-improving scripts got it running in the mid-20's with a lot of random hitching.

I had better luck with Diablo 3, which wasn't very pretty but wound up being surprisingly playable.
 
I've been looking into a windows tablet, but I want to wait a bit longer for them to get a bit more under them. I just got an Nvidia GTX980 and a shield and I'm mega impressed by its ability to stream, however.
 
All I want is the steam equivelant of the Vita. I don't expect to max out star citizen, but I do expect to be able to play a majority of new releases at 720p with settings turned down.

Seems like we are pretty close.
 
shaowebb said:
I have a samsung Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition with the S-pen and all that jazz. If this can run steam titles please someone link me to how in the hell I set that up. This is huge for me.
Click to expand...

Your best option if you have an nvidia card is to use limelight to stream from your PC to your tablet. Limelight is an opensource implimentation of Nvidia's proprietary streaming tech that lets you use it to stream to any android device instead of just the shield.

Your tablet can't run x86 applications natively.
 
GhostTrick said:
iPega 9023 controller. You can mount your tablet on this thing to have real controls.
Click to expand...

I've got an iPega 9023 as well. It looks ridiculous on a 10" tablet like my Asus Transformer T100, but in terms of ergonomics it is so much more convenient than having to use a "separate" controller. It's kind of like an oversized Wii U GamePad.

The T100 works great for less graphically-intensive games like South Park: Stick of Truth. Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall has bad frame drops, but is playable, as are some last gen ports/cross-platform games like Dragon Age: Origins.
 
Orayn said:
Tried to get Dota 2 running at a decent framerate on my Asus T100, wasn't a great experience. Minimum settings and resolution with a few FPS-improving scripts got it running in the mid-20's with a lot of random hitching.

I had better luck with Diablo 3, which wasn't very pretty but wound up being surprisingly playable.
Click to expand...

ill wait till then
 
Anything that can run LoL well yet?

That's all my youngest bro plays it would also be nice if it can run other things decently as well.

Will pay up to $150.
 
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