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Surface Pro 3 is throttling CPU while playing games. I have confirmed this while attempting to play diablo 3 which runs fine at first, until the temperature get to a certain degree and fps start to drop. Not the only one experiencing this issue so please fix through a firmware upgrade to bring back "high performance" profile like my surface 1. Thanks
http://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/291b8h/thermal\_throttling\_examined\_under\_linux\_why/
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
There is a great explanation of the problem here:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/microsoft/62921-surface-pro-3-problems-thread-58.html#post406135
It would be great to hear from MS on this! I really want to buy this computer but this issue is stopping me.
I want to add my experience. For a cool environment of 70F my SP3 will run 2 processes at 100% CPU indefinitly at +2.5GHz. These do not use any graphics processing. This is the same performance I used to get on my SP2 with 4300U processor on High Performance.
Yea, I think Microsoft knocked it down "for now". The BIOS settings can be controlled by the operating system and even if you got to the BIOS and changed it, once you boot the system, the operating system will knock it back.
Why they are doing that is a very, very good question. I have the desktop 4200U and it can create some heat when Turbo Boost kicks in. That may be one reason and when it does, if my computer was on a battery, chances are that it would only last a couple of hours. That is a guess since it is a desktop.
The laptops with the 4200U are not having a problem at all. They do put out some heat but not really hot enough to remove from your lap.
Some time in the future, Microsoft could release a firmware update to release the throttling of the CPU. There could be even another issue that we don't know about.
As for waiting for a release of an official statement, don't hold your breath. Microsoft doesn't release any information on anything. Take a look at the technical specifications. Those are about as generic as you can get.
It should still be a good machine.
I also have the i7 desktop and that puppy is "FAST"! Running Linux on it for about a month and then will put Windows 8.1 on it later. I might hold out and wait for Windows 9 Beta to come out if Microsoft releases it at the end of the year. That particular CPU generates enough heat that the CPU cooling fan is not enough. So, the tablet version should have a beefed up heat sink within the chassis. I would say, for a tablet, that one would be worth it. There would not be a tablet on Earth that could compete with its performance.
Not just speed, graphics also! Check with Intel on that one.
On a regular computer motherboard, you can change the clock speed; on these tablets, it is locked.
You are correct, the 4300U GPU runs at 1100MHz while the 4200U GPU runs at 1000MHz which is even more reason that the SP3 should perform better than the SP2 but does not because of throttling.
It seems that MS knows of the issue based on changes with the latest updated but it would be very reassuring to hear an official statement.
Not just speed, graphics also! Check with Intel on that one.
On a regular computer motherboard, you can change the clock speed; on these tablets, it is locked.
