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Surface Pro Gaming.

Terrified said:
End of March, if I recall correctly - it's been fairly quick from announcement to reviews.
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That's fast and impressive. I've been reading the reviews just now. I'm almost of the mind that I should have held off on the pro 3 (only almost!). The new Cherry Trail Atom means it should have some decent gaming chops as well.
 
bomblord1 said:
That's fast and impressive. I've been reading the reviews just now. I'm almost of the mind that I should have held off on the pro 3 (only almost!). The new Cherry Trail Atom means it should have some decent gaming chops as well.
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Agreed. I have to admit, I'm not normally a Windows guy, but with W10 around the corner and all in one devices like this becoming cheaper, I'm tempted to jump on the bandwagon. I'm not much of a PC gamer (haven't been in a loooooong time), but for catching up on some stuff I've missed over the years, this could be great. Enough power for me, and enough portability that it might be time for me to bite.

I just wish the keyboard wasn't as expensive. I know I can buy 3rd party, but the form and function of the Type Cover is just so perfect that I'd rather not add any more bulk than necessary, especially since it'll mainly just be used for messing around with dev stuff for work and popping back and forth to my parent's house to fix their PC related issues.

Will be nice to finally have something half decent to run Steam on though. At the moment I only have a Stream 7, and I haven't really gotten around to testing gaming stuff on it yet.
 
Terrified said:
Agreed. I have to admit, I'm not normally a Windows guy, but with W10 around the corner and all in one devices like this becoming cheaper, I'm tempted to jump on the bandwagon. I'm not much of a PC gamer (haven't been in a loooooong time), but for catching up on some stuff I've missed over the years, this could be great. Enough power for me, and enough portability that it might be time for me to bite.

I just wish the keyboard wasn't as expensive. I know I can buy 3rd party, but the form and function of the Type Cover is just so perfect that I'd rather not add any more bulk than necessary, especially since it'll mainly just be used for messing around with dev stuff for work and popping back and forth to my parent's house to fix their PC related issues.

Will be nice to finally have something half decent to run Steam on though. At the moment I only have a Stream 7, and I haven't really gotten around to testing gaming stuff on it yet.
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I use the surface pro 3 without a cover. If I'm moving around I use it as a tablet and when I sit down I just plug a keyboard into it or use a bluetooth one.
 
If the non-pro Surface 3 had been announced earlier this year, I may have waited and/or not bought the iPad I grabbed back then. With my student discount it's a bit cheaper for me to buy a Surface 3 128gb (about £450) model as the 64gb iPad Air 2 I bought costed (about £460), and I get my Steam library (native and in-home streaming) on a Surface 3 too.

Oh well. Guess those of you who had more patience than me will enjoy this device!
 
I agree the add ons can make it expensive but I would use it 90% of the time as a tablet and the plug in my Saturn pad for simple gaming so no need of them for me. I did think about the pro but it is a lot more and I think it would be too big as just a tablet.
 
longnosedgoblin said:
I agree the add ons can make it expensive but I would use it 90% of the time as a tablet and the plug in my Saturn pad for simple gaming so no need of them for me. I did think about the pro but it is a lot more and I think it would be too big as just a tablet.
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I can hold the pro 3 fine with my right hand in portrait mode. I walk around and use the pen and it works great as a tablet. It's hard to hold with my left hand though because all the weight is on the right side so it wants to flop out of my hand.
 
Terrified said:
Agreed. I have to admit, I'm not normally a Windows guy, but with W10 around the corner and all in one devices like this becoming cheaper, I'm tempted to jump on the bandwagon. I'm not much of a PC gamer (haven't been in a loooooong time), but for catching up on some stuff I've missed over the years, this could be great. Enough power for me, and enough portability that it might be time for me to bite.

I just wish the keyboard wasn't as expensive. I know I can buy 3rd party, but the form and function of the Type Cover is just so perfect that I'd rather not add any more bulk than necessary, especially since it'll mainly just be used for messing around with dev stuff for work and popping back and forth to my parent's house to fix their PC related issues.

Will be nice to finally have something half decent to run Steam on though. At the moment I only have a Stream 7, and I haven't really gotten around to testing gaming stuff on it yet.
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I would suggest you get a Surface Pro 2 with a Power Cover

SP2 256GB with 8GB RAM $695 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRLYUOE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Surface Power Cover $67.90 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZMKM94/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Actually, i'm tempted to get the Power cover for my own SP2. My type cover sometimes acts weird :(
 
Omikaru said:
If the non-pro Surface 3 had been announced earlier this year, I may have waited and/or not bought the iPad I grabbed back then. With my student discount it's a bit cheaper for me to buy a Surface 3 128gb (about £450) model as the 64gb iPad Air 2 I bought costed (about £460), and I get my Steam library (native and in-home streaming) on a Surface 3 too.

Oh well. Guess those of you who had more patience than me will enjoy this device!
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The IPad Air 2 is an amazing tablet - well worth every penny IMHO.

That said, when Microsoft expectedly launches the Surface Pro 4 models later this year, I'm jumping ship to Windows :-)
 
Runs Deus Ex at 1080x720 with no frills at around 30fps with some drops.

What I don't understand is the crushed colors I'm getting. Like, not just blacks, but like color artifacting. Anyone know?
 
Unicorn said:
Runs Deus Ex at 1080x720 with no frills at around 30fps with some drops.

What I don't understand is the crushed colors I'm getting. Like, not just blacks, but like color artifacting. Anyone know?
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No clue I've seen something that sounds like that happen when GPU's are crapping out.
 
Silly question but how well do point n click games work on the surface? Been itching to play Sanitarium again (as well as upgrade to a new tablet). Is it frustrating?
 
Unicorn said:
Runs Deus Ex at 1080x720 with no frills at around 30fps with some drops.

What I don't understand is the crushed colors I'm getting. Like, not just blacks, but like color artifacting. Anyone know?
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Human Revolution or the original Deus Ex?
 
So are there games on steam which have a option for touch controls?

Broken Age works really good, but I want some more games
 
NeOak said:
I would suggest you get a Surface Pro 2 with a Power Cover

SP2 256GB with 8GB RAM $695 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRLYUOE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Surface Power Cover $67.90 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZMKM94/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Actually, i'm tempted to get the Power cover for my own SP2. My type cover sometimes acts weird :(
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I picked up the power cover when that amazon price drop hit. I actually find it more comfortable to type on than the type cover. The only down sides are the weight and the fact that the system won't recognize it as a keyboard if the power cover's battery is completely drained, but for $67 I'd recommend it to anyone.
 
Got my surface 3 and so far it seems great for normal tablet things. Installed steam and fired up rogue legacy and it looks great on this screen. With the kickstand at position 3 and a gamepad plugged in it is the perfect sofa gaming machine.
 
Cleve said:
I picked up the power cover when that amazon price drop hit. I actually find it more comfortable to type on than the type cover. The only down sides are the weight and the fact that the system won't recognize it as a keyboard if the power cover's battery is completely drained, but for $67 I'd recommend it to anyone.
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Wow didn't know Amazon had the power cover for so cheap. I'm definitely considering on buying one since I have the first gen pro. Though the whole, it doesn't recognize the keyboard if the power is drained is putting me off. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of it being a keyboard and extra power source combined?

Edit: Ok that's what I though. Thought it was weird it wouldn't recognize it as a keyboard if it was drained. Microsoft claims it should still work. https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/hardware-and-drivers/power-cover#how
If the battery on Power Cover is completely drained, you can still use it as a keyboard.
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Are you sure yours isn't faulty or something?
 
Just got y surface 3 today. Downloaded steam and tested out Binding of Isaac: Rebirth a bit. Runs really well! I'm surprised to be honest. I fully expected it to be running at like 30 FPS, but it seems like it's at 60 most of the time. There may be a few drops but it's hard to tell with no FPS counter on screen, and while I haven't played against any of the more "bullet hell"-y bosses, I'm confident that I could plug in a controller and play a quick game from time to time. Very pleased!

Also tested out a bit of in home streaming with GTA V. Granted, I'm sitting in the same room as my gaming PC, but it worked pretty well. Don't think this would be the primary way I'd want to play a game, but for about half an hour of gaming it seems like it would be perfectly adequate. Might play around with some of the in home streaming settings to see if I could get it running a little more smoothly, but again, I'm really happy with this little machine's performance.
 
Been playing Heroes of the Storm on my Surface Pro 1 whilst i wait for my new desktop. Have to have graphics on low but framerate is smooth - absolutely no issues playing the game at all.
 
Has someone compiled exactly how well does the Surface not-Pro 3 run games, especially semi-recent console ports (starting from the 360 generation until just now)?

I'm mostly interested in how the Atom x7 and its improved graphics handle modern video games and I've heard pretty good things with the Atom Z3xxxs.

I don't really want to get an i5 Surface Pro 3 if I can help it - I'd rather have a fan-less, physically smaller tablet computer that happens to be able to do double duty as a low-end laptop while having enough space for many things,so minimum 128 GB, and that automatically excludes the i3 SP3.
 
I wouldn't expect recent or semi recent 3d stuff to run on the non pro. Its great for 2d indie stuff and I have seen old 3d stuff running ok. It is still an atom and the gfx side of things is improved but not enough to compete anywhere near the pro or a laptop.
 
Recommending dark fantasy SRPG Battle Brothers, on Early Access. Runs like a dream on my Asus T100, with great touch interface, so should do very well on a Surface. Brutal game, brilliant fun.

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longnosedgoblin said:
I wouldn't expect recent or semi recent 3d stuff to run on the non pro. Its great for 2d indie stuff and I have seen old 3d stuff running ok. It is still an atom and the gfx side of things is improved but not enough to compete anywhere near the pro or a laptop.
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It cant be that bad at 480p, right?

(The Z3xxx were surprisingly competent, so I'd prefer a more concrete answer.)
 
Noivern said:
It cant be that bad at 480p, right?

(The Z3xxx were surprisingly competent, so I'd prefer a more concrete answer.)
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I'm sure you can get most games running at 720P low aside from fairly recent heavily demanding games like the WItcher 3.

The rrevious gen atom (which had a gpu roughly 1/2 as powerful) ran crysis on low @ 720p at roughly 30fps
 
Smo21 said:
Anyone know if massive chalice runs on surface pro 3 i5?
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While I can't say for certain without testing it based on the minimum specs

( OS: Windows Vista
Processor: 1.8 GHz dual core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB GeForce 8800, Radeon 3850, or Intel HD 3000 Graphics
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 2 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card )

And the gameplay videos I've seen it should easily run it on low-med
 
My surface pro 3 is perfect to play all the old dos games I play from gog.

I've tried a couple newer games (new rise of the triad) but it's hit and miss. I stick to older stuff and indie games on this thing.

I mostly work on it anyways
 
What do you guys do for controllers? Bluetooth PS4 controller is a little inconvenient since you can't really shut the controller off (to my knowledge, at least) and my 360 wired controller is old and busted.

I was thinking of picking up an XBone controller and maybe the adapter whenever it happens to come out so I can go wireless.
 
Mister Negative said:
What do you guys do for controllers? Bluetooth PS4 controller is a little inconvenient since you can't really shut the controller off (to my knowledge, at least) and my 360 wired controller is old and busted.

I was thinking of picking up an XBone controller and maybe the adapter whenever it happens to come out so I can go wireless.
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Steam Controller brah.
 
Mister Negative said:
What do you guys do for controllers? Bluetooth PS4 controller is a little inconvenient since you can't really shut the controller off (to my knowledge, at least) and my 360 wired controller is old and busted.

I was thinking of picking up an XBone controller and maybe the adapter whenever it happens to come out so I can go wireless.
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Hold PS button for 10 sec or so. Turns off controller.
 
Mister Negative said:
What do you guys do for controllers? Bluetooth PS4 controller is a little inconvenient since you can't really shut the controller off (to my knowledge, at least) and my 360 wired controller is old and busted.

I was thinking of picking up an XBone controller and maybe the adapter whenever it happens to come out so I can go wireless.
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You can turn off the PS4 controller:
1) by using wired USB and just pulling the plug
2) By using DS4 Windows (which I recommend anyway) and using the "stop" command in the app
3) By holding the PS Button for 10 seconds even without DS4 Windows
 
bomblord1 said:
Are there any decent games on the windows app store?
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Not really, beyond some mainstays you can easily find by browsing the games section like Fruit Ninja. Unfortunately if you want touch-friendly stuff you pretty much need to know what to buy from Steam. Cut The Rope is a good suggestion though. Hopefully windows 10 fosters in more windows store support.

The most ambitious/whatever game I noticed in the win store is probably Halo Spartan Assault but that's on Steam too and I haven't heard great things.
 
Sir TapTap said:
Not really, beyond some mainstays you can easily find by browsing the games section like Fruit Ninja. Unfortunately if you want touch-friendly stuff you pretty much need to know what to buy from Steam. Cut The Rope is a good suggestion though. Hopefully windows 10 fosters in more windows store support.

The most ambitious/whatever game I noticed in the win store is probably Halo Spartan Assault but that's on Steam too and I haven't heard great things.
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That's pretty sad.
 
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