Surface Pro 3 throttling

I will still install AOE III tomorrow.  That game "0ad" is a beta and couldn't really play it that much do to the video subsystem in the game is still in works.  Great game on a desktop.

Yea, pretty humble when you have to flush cold air into it in order to play, but, you do what you have to do to get the job done!

This i3 tablet is not a bad machine at all.  I will say that these tablets are not gaming machines (yet).  The i3 clocks in about the same speed as a Pentium or just a tad bit faster.  It is perfect for what I do but the reason why I chose it was not to be cheap, but I knew that very few people would actually buy one and there would be little or no information on them here in the forum if there where any issues.

I can't believe that I dropped it when opening the box.  Didn't do anything to it though and can't see why anybody would have an issue putting the battery in the pen upside down - there is a tab inside the pen that shows both battery types, how to install them, and even has  picture!?!

I did find an extra screw in the box.  It did not come from my tablet.  Nothing like having spare parts, I always say.

Oh well, time to go ahead an order the keyboard/cover and a few micro-SD cards and this machine will be all set.  Didn't try the cameras yet but will later on.

Well, at least it works, gets on the Internet instantly, and Bluetooth is working quite fine as well.  Really do like the internal speakers!

I managed to play titanfall at 720p with textures on high at 40 to 60 fps by placing the SP3 close to the AC vents where cool air would blow at it directly.  I also played bioshock infinite at 40+ frames on high settings 720p.  Both of these games ran for a long period and never  dropped performance.  It is the only way I managed to really game on the surface and it really shows you the power of this tablet pc.  Try it out... At least it's something until an update fixes the heat issue.

Additional input - I thought to download a game called "0ad" which is a freeware game under development but playable.  This game puts a high demand on video and sure enough, it kicks in the fan like crazy and the CPU starts getting really warm.

The game itself had no performance problem other than it had to be knocked down to compatibility mode in order to run it.

The video is definitely the key problem putting on an excessive demand on the CPU for which it should not.  The firmware and additional updates had finally came across for my tablet late in the day and noticed that the fan kicked in seriously after the firmware update itself installed.  Following that, 3 additional updates where available and installed those which brought the fan back down to normal.

That firmware update is a disaster and should have been pulled.  This tablet was working perfect before its installation.  Am having no problems with the tablet now and the last 3 updates corrected the problem the firmware update created.

So, no use in trying other high level games; the i3 will have the same problem of overheating as the i5 and i7 models.  Works great with Solitaire and other Store app games but that is about it.

If it is warm but not really hot, that should be normal.

With your AC router, you may have a model that the Marvell AVASTAR adapter likes.  This adapter is particular on what it wants to work with.

As for Sleep Mode; I shut that off.  These tablets (all Surface models) have had serious issues with it along with hibernate on the Pro's along in conjunction with the WiFi adapter (along with Bluetooth).  Power management features has been a problem throughout computing and some will work great with all options and others will not.

Whenever I am done with a Windows machine, I never use the power button to shut it down.  You know the story; press the gas pedal in order to brake!  I do the normal shutdown routine to make sure it is off.

I would say that after a few firmware updates, all the tablets will probably work normal and by the time the 4th generation machines comes around, problems will probably be a thing of the past.  Once that happens, these things will take over for the iPad.  People want 'normal' and not some glorified, souped up Android tablet from Apple.

I'm having a similar experience with my SP3, although mine being the i7/8GB/256GB model I have a bit more power xD I love the speed and convenience of it though. Same thing about it getting warm in the upper right, but its not hot to the touch and really not a problem at all. I speedtested mine with my AC router and got 220Mbit down and 106Mbit up, not great but wholly acceptable. Haven't had any problems with speed over wifi, just the thing most people are having where a couple times a day I'll wake it up from sleep and the wifi adapter will malfunction and I have to full reboot the device (which takes about 15 seconds).