Rollo Lawson
Banned
Hm. Still not many SP3s out there out there huh
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Surface Pro Gaming.
- Thread starter bomblord1
- Start date
SerTapTap
Member
Midway through this year for Win 10 I would guess. Don't expect the 9 month cycle to continue, even MS has to know that's a bad idea.
I wouldn't recommend below an i5 personally, it's a great balance of price and performance. But the SP3 isn't generally higher performance than the SP2 at the same processor since the SP3 is a lot thinner and thus throttles. If all you care about is gaming performance you should probably get something like the Razer Blade. SP3 is amazing, but it's amazing for being an all around device that does all tablet, all desktop and most game things, but it's not designed explicitly for gaming.
Surface Pros rarely go down in price much at all, don't expect more than $100 off the SP3 after the SP4...if you're lucky. Only the RTs ever dropped drastically in price and that's why MS has (probably) killed the line entirely. I'm pretty sure MS is on to the whole "wait for next year's surface...then wait for the next...then never actually buy one" problem the current release cycle results in.
Last you 4 years is really hard to say. You can still play pretty recent PC games on an SP3 at lowish settings, can easily play most non-intensive indie games. Most Sports games target pretty low spec so you're probably alright there (but recent sports games have a pretty high filesize footprint so be aware of that). Shooters will usually run but not at max specs. It's possible poorly PC-optimized stuff a la Assassin's Creed Unity won't work at all. I have yet to have anything straight-up fail to run but I haven't tried too hard and don't have tons of recent AAA PC games.
Steam Streaming is basically flawless on it though if that's an option.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
So MS confirmed today that windows 10 launches this summer.
Surface Pro 4 looks like a lock in for July at this point.
Surface Pro 4 looks like a lock in for July at this point.
Surface Pro 3 has basically identical performance to the 2. In fact, due to throttling, you'll probably experience better performance on the Surface Pro 2.
Damn, I was hoping for Skylake.
summer ends in late sept. First day of fall is sept 23rd.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Indeed, but in conjunction with the previous rumors that it was a July release, the only thing people held against that rumor was that they thought W10 was launching in the fall.
A summer release matches up/strengthens the previous SP4 rumors.
quackamole
Member
Anybody with the pillars of eternity beta get to play it on a surface pro? I have a pro 2 and am wondering if I can just play it on there instead of my big desktop.
LukasTaves
Member
SP3 form factor is much better than 2, I would rather get a 3 along with some cooling solution (a simple usb powered fan seems to be enough to get it to the same throttling point of SP2) if money isn't an issue.
woo hoo!
SerTapTap
Member
I've heard mixed things about cooling solutions, anyone have one that really works?
LukasTaves
Member
I tried playing with a regular size fan once, placed on the side of it, it really worked getting the performance up, but a regular fan can move many tons of air more than a usb fan so that's kinda cheating XD
I couldn't find any usb fan that was portable enough yet, just online, but I ordered some that never arrived...
Well, i didn't want the Pro 3, just because it is 100% useless for emulation thanks to the throttling and overheating. That left the pro 1 and 2, and the 2 has the much better cpu in it, in addition to the later models getting the intel 4300 cpu. So i got what i really wanted, which was a 256gb Pro 2 with the 8gb of ram, and it has the intel 4300 cpu in it as well. So far, i love it to bits. Everything i try is running full speed and wonderfully in dolphin and pcsx2.
Still messing with it, but definitely glad i got one. Need to install steam on here too.
Still messing with it, but definitely glad i got one. Need to install steam on here too.
I have a feeling PCSX2 won't go very far. Even on my surface pro 3 I have a hard time getting consistent FPS at 1x IR and no enhancements even before throttling kicks in on heavier games that is. I'm sure some lighter or 2D games may be entirely playable on the pro 2 and 3.
Dolphin is a different story. I can bump up the IR to 1.5/2x (depending on the game don't even try last story) and maintain full FPS. Considering the Pro 2 doesn't throttle (and therefore performs better under extended load as you said) I could see it doing better.
FF XII, DQ8 and Disney Golf all run 60fps for me. Will try more later.
legacyzero
Banned
I find Emulation to be my favorite gaming on it so far. It doesn't make it run very hot, and it's super easy. Just get a DS4, and it syncs right up with Bluetooth.
Thanks, I'll have to wait it out. I guess I could build a decent mid range for half the budget for one of these anyway.
What version of PCSX2 are you using?
And is it playable with touch only?
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I have been trying Cities Skyline on my new Pro 3 i7. It doesn't run great even on low unfortunately.
A nightlie from feb i believe. Made sure only native res, and using all the sse goodies, along with DX11. Barely touched anything. Wish dolphin team tackled ps2 tho, dolphin destroys pcsx2.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Hmm, define "great"? Resolution and exact frame rate is a thing, too, as is simulation speed at the maximum speed setting. What isn't great to you might be perfectly adequate to others, especially for non-action games.
I'm thinking of maybe splurging on an SP3 or SP4 if it ends up existing by the time I replace my tablet.
Wolf Akela
Member
Might have more to do with the PS2 hardware complexity. It helps that GC and Wii architectures are rather similar.
I think going away from plugin based emulators is how the future will be, just stick to the main apis and everything sorts itself out. The PCSX2 team is very protective of their project, and aren't the friendliest to newcomers trying to clean things up from everything i've read. But there is nothing more dedicated then a nintendo fan in the video game world, which is why dolphin is in the shape it is now, the devs are passionate about the entire thing like no one else.
SerTapTap
Member
$100-$150 off an SP3 this week at Best Buy. Excludes the 64GB i3 but I'd recommend getting the i5 anyway. Don't forget to pick out a type cover
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I dropped it to 1920x1600 and get probably 25fps. I can play it, it's just slow to scroll across the map and the mouse is laggy. I'd love to be able to play the game, but the laggy mouse kills it the most for me.
I never picked up the type cover and honestly have no use for it
. I just use a bluetooth keyboard I had laying around.I've run portal on a low end Atom (lowest settings, 720p over 100fps) even after throttling the surface pro 3's i5 blows the CPU/GPU away in every capacity.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
nope. youre good to go.
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Anyone try Sins of a Solar Empire on an i7?
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I wonder if something is up with my Surface. As I said earlier even on the lowest settings and a lower resolution it has issues running Cities. Also Guild Wars 2 I run at the lowest settings and the best it does is 25fps. I hear people saying they are running Skyrim on these things, I don't see how with my performance...
Lady Siara
Member
Depends on a lot of things. What specs/model? Anything else running in the background? If you have a case on it, that can hinder circulation and limit performance due to higher temperatures.
RipperGrim
Member
Just and FYI This war of Mine works very well with a touchscreen, I have it on my Asus T100 windows tablet and it runs fine so the Surface pro's should run it with no problems.
SerTapTap
Member
I never picked up the type cover and honestly have no use for it
Depends what you use it for, but the type cover is pretty amazing. Adds negligible size to the device and doesn't need to be removed when using it as a tablet. No syncing or wires, just works, surprisingly good for the thinness too. But if you mostly use it for games you'd probably want a separate keyboard anyway (I just use a controller or play mouse/touch only things)
I don't know about Cities but Guild Wars 2 is notoriously heavy. My old fx4100 CPU couldn't even run the game on low (it was CPU limited not GPU). They may have optimized since then I haven't played it since shortly after launch.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Mine is the Pro 3 i7 model with 8GB RAM. I usually have it plugged in, and close all other programs before playing.
Ah, good to know. It runs on my Mac too, but a bit worse than the surface.
Red_taiyaki
Member
Just bought an i5 128gb SP3 for design work plus light gaming + visual novels. Just to make sure, I can connect an external Blu-Ray drive to this right?
SerTapTap
Member
Most foolproof way is just a MicroUSB cable, you can use DS4Windows + Bluetooth (and I think you can sync bluetooth without DS4 Windows too--just enter 0000 when it asks for a key). Haven't really had issues with either method but bluetooth can be fussy for some people with DS4 on Windows.
Anything that's USB, yeah
My birth month, nice.
Anthony Soprano
Banned
Pro2
Rollo Lawson
Banned
Cities is demanding even on low. I run it on a Macbook Pro and it drags. Its one of those games that kind of needs a gaming computer.
I heard that DS4Windows has malware. Or not really?