Surface Pro 3 throttling

Your right about the '=='. It's true of all languages I know. Sorry I had nerve surgery on my right arm this last Monday. I still haven't got back to full functionality yet in my right hand and typos are becoming even more common. Plus I would always indent my code, except my phone wouldn't let me enter blank spaces.

Either way, I hope T_high isn't dangerous, just beyond what a reviewer at Cnet would claim to be comfortable. I don't think they should let it get hot enough to actually hurt, but I agree that it should be an option with a disclaimer.

So Microsoft, if you are listening, we get it that you are worried about the surface temperature getting uncomfortable. But as a laptop replacement we often don't hold the computer. Plus because the heat is in the screen it makes for a comfortable workhorse on your lap when hot.

So, since you already track when the keyboard is active:

if usingKeyboard =true:

Text_Lim = T_high

else:

Text_Lim = T_touch

Dear Microsoft, we also understand that you want to protect yourself from stupid people who, if this kind of switch was implemented, might pick up the Surface while it is still very hot and sue/bother warranty support for a replacement to a perfectly functional unit.

Because of this, simply make this an opt in feature with a disclaimer. Everyone wins!

P.S. would be "if usingKeyboard == true" in most languages :D

So Microsoft, if you are listening, we get it that you are worried about the surface temperature getting uncomfortable. But as a laptop replacement we often don't hold the computer. Plus because the heat is in the screen it makes for a comfortable workhorse on your lap when hot.

So, since you already track when the keyboard is active:

if usingKeyboard =true:

Text_Lim = T_high

else:

Text_Lim = T_touch

Now, if getting warm damages the screen or other internal components reducing the lifetime of the machine, just say so. I'd be happy to know that in exchange for longer high speed sessions we are getting increased reliability. I suspect many people on this forum feel the same way.

Thank you, and a reply for a MS engineer would be awesome,

Sincerely a very happy MS customer,

Eric

Just giving an update after I ran more tests on my i7 Surface Pro 3. The USB fan workaround is not a joke. However, it works so well you may find yourself laughing anyway. I ran a furmark graphics torture benchmark for 10 minutes and around 4 minutes in I saw the cpu get pegged to 800MHz as usual. Point my $8 Arctic Breeze usb fan at the top right corner and within 10 seconds it went back to 2.0GHz. Indefinitely. With the fan pointed at the corner the CPU gets up to mid 80C without throttling. My gut is telling me that somehow this little fan is cooling the temperature sensor that is cueing the throttling directly due to how fast the Surface stops throttling after the fan is added. The thing is too small to actually cool down the metal of the Surface that fast, but it works hilariously well. It does move a good amount of air though, so after a couple minutes the Surface's internal fan actually spins down a bit and the back is cooler to the touch even while running the torture test. In synthetic Furmark benchmarks I am seeing a difference of 2668 points without the fan and 3553 points with it.

This is the fan I am talking about: http://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-USB-Powered-Portable-Cooling-Solution/dp/B003XN24GY/ref=sr\_1\_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408860969&sr=8-1&keywords=arctic+breeze

It does take the only USB port which is fine if you're using bluetooth connections, but I actually had the Arctic Breeze Pro just laying around as well which is the same thing except has a built in 4 port USB hub at the bottom. It works just as well at stopping the throttling.

Please read the rest of the forum. This isn't a bug that some people are having, it affects everyone. As a cost for being thinner and lighter than the SP1 and SP2, the SP3 only has one fan and can not cool as well. This forces it to throttle while playing video games, its a hardware decision by Microsoft to take out some of the cooling but leave the core i series processor. Best to just accept it as a concession for the smaller body size. Some people have gotten around it by adding a second fan, a usb one like this http://goo.gl/0xpKvI and pointing it right next to the displayport on the top right side of the Surface. This adds the second fan like the other two surface pros had and seems to improve performance by a good deal.