Surface Pro 3 Throttling - A Smart Way to Protect it or a Rip Off?
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I for one am loving the SP3...Core i7, 512GB storage...it does absolutely everything I need it to do...that said, I do reserve heavy video editing for my tower PC...just make more sense, especially since I have VCR's connected to it for input...
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It's unreasonable to pay $1700+ for an i7 based machine yet have it spend most of it's time down clocked to that of an i3. You pay that price tag because you want things to be done more quickly - if I didn't care about how long it took I would have purchased the cheaper one to begin with.
If they can't keep it cool enough then they should just not make it.
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@Dashrender all mobile devices are this way. They have to deal with massive heat variations.
It shouldn't be that they don't make it. People should not buy devices that need more cooking than they are prepared to provide to get the performance that they want. Realistic expectations are needed.
Would you rather that mobile devices weren't made because they all have to be priced at a premium for performance but clock down under heat load?
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I do completely understand what you are saying Scott, but unless there is some sort of magical cooling that can be given to a SP3 (or any slate/tablet) you're simply never going to get the full power of those processors because they will always produce more thermal output than the device can compensate for, therefore they will always be under-clocked.
The SP3 is even worse though considering the video - MS intentionally under-clocks the device even when it's below the thermal threshold.
My above statement is based on current technology - who knows someday they may come up with chips that run super cool, or a new cooling technology, but until then...
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@Dashrender said:
I do completely understand what you are saying Scott, but unless there is some sort of magical cooling that can be given to a SP3 (or any slate/tablet) you're simply never going to get the full power of those processors because they will always produce more thermal output than the device can compensate for, therefore they will always be under-clocked.
The SP3 is even worse though considering the video - MS intentionally under-clocks the device even when it's below the thermal threshold.
My above statement is based on current technology - who knows someday they may come up with chips that run super cool, or a new cooling technology, but until then...
Which may be why the Surface Pro line will always be enigmatic...what is it intended to do? Who is it for? In theory, was/is it a good idea?
I've used the Dell Venue Pro 8 and it was actually pretty snappy for an Bay-Trail atom...even ran Portal 2 with acceptable results...
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I think the SP3 is an awesome device (wish I had the cash to plunk down on one). But the from the video, it's definitely not worth the extra cash for the i7, stop at the i5 and you're probably good enough.
Which is unfortunate for those who want a single device to deal with, with a docking station or two (one at home, one at work).
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@Dashrender said:
I think the SP3 is an awesome device (wish I had the cash to plunk down on one). But the from the video, it's definitely not worth the extra cash for the i7, stop at the i5 and you're probably good enough.
Which is unfortunate for those who want a single device to deal with, with a docking station or two (one at home, one at work).
Well, our owner can be generous at times and had me get the i7, 512 model...passed the i5 down to another user (IE less of a power user.) Just got it today...configuring it (as I also work on 0365.)...will load some steam games on it in a few days and see if the "throttling" is a big deal to me or not...
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It should only throttle if it overheats.
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@scottalanmiller said:
It should only throttle if it overheats.
The video clearly showed this wasn't the case.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
It should only throttle if it overheats.
The video clearly showed this wasn't the case.
Yes...from what I read elsewhere, it is a threshold...I plan on doing some heavy testing of this over the weekend...video rendering!
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Now what would be interesting to know - if you format it and reinstall with your own image, will those thresholds still be there?
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@Dashrender said:
Now what would be interesting to know - if you format it and reinstall with your own image, will those thresholds still be there?
Yes...I don't have an image beyond the one it came with...but I could always get one...well, post TechNet days, a little harder...LOL
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Does your company not have an open license? If it does, you can use that license to install Windows 8.1 using the open license version.
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It just install Linux.
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@garak0410 Digital River ISO downloads are public just google for them.
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Thanks...I'll check out those ISO's...
I did start up a graphic's intensive game last night, the hilarious The Stanley Parable. Yes, not a power horse like some games but still gave the system a test. I can say, at default settings (1024 x 768), the fan did NOT kick in and the system did not get warm. On the i5, it would always kick in...wondering if the Intel HD 5000 is helping.
Will do more intensive tests later on...
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I ran a temp monitor on my Surface Pro 3 i7 during Half-Life Lost Coast:
The fan kicks in high and it gets very warm but I didn't see any noticeable slow down... tough you can see the MHz go down...the game looked great with it only being an Intel HD 5000.
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i've got several Dell Venue 11's out in the wild and we haven't noticed any problems. Now, these are used in a clinical setting so they aren't "under heavy bind". They are, however, quite heavy and dont scroll as nice iDevices, but they are natively compatible with our applications.
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@Hubtech said:
i've got several Dell Venue 11's out in the wild and we haven't noticed any problems. Now, these are used in a clinical setting so they aren't "under heavy bind". They are, however, quite heavy and dont scroll as nice iDevices, but they are natively compatible with our applications.
Game playing will be an occasional thing with my SP3 and glad to have the options to play games and the fact they do look quite good. I think the panic over the heat is basically, the core i7 is right there, by your hand and yes, you will feel heat...
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Seems like it is performing very reasonably.
