This has to go back...

[GoodBytes]

But they are almost using the same hardware beside the fan. So what made you believe that they cant tweak it? I have Seen reviewers of the demo units playing games and they were saying that performance wise both, the 2 and the 3 were about the same. So that makes me believe that we will see improvements once they release new updates.

But thing long term. Penny Arcade and AnandTech both found that after pushing the device for a while, it engages the over heating protection system, and starts throttling, until the system cools off.
The problem is not the device, it is the cooling. While innovative, it has less surface area than the Pro 2, and they already applied copper construct, close and ultra thin fins maximizing surface area, and heat pipe with gas inside to help spread away the heat from the CPU to the heatsink fins to cool off. I want to say fan design, but they are using a blower, and there isn't much that can be done in that regard (ie: I can't say, "they should make a deal with Noctua, and use Noctua high-static pressure fans". Noctua doesn't make blower type fans). Noctua is a fan manufacture, renown to be making the best computer case fan, with a crazy 6 year warranty on them, just to top it off. They are also expensive at 20-35$ per fans compared to 5-10$. However, everyone will say they are worth every penny.

 

[ctitanic]

But thing long term. Penny Arcade and AnandTech both found that after pushing the device for a while, it engages the over heating protection system, and starts throttling, until the system cools off.
The problem is not the device, it is the cooling. While innovative, it has less surface area than the Pro 2, and they already applied copper construct, close and ultra thin fins maximizing surface area, and heat pipe with gas inside to help spread away the heat from the CPU to the heatsink fins to cool off. I want to say fan design, but they are using a blower, and there isn't much that can be done in that regard (ie: I can't say, "they should make a deal with Noctua, and use Noctua high-static pressure fans". Noctua doesn't make blower type fans). Noctua is a fan manufacture, renown to be making the best computer case fan, with a crazy 6 year warranty on them, just to top it off. They are also expensive at 20-35$ per fans compared to 5-10$. However, everyone will say they are worth every penny.

Here is the thing, there is a GPU update coming soon. So far those finding about temperature gamers are using intensively the graphics and CPU. If the graphic drivers are not optimized the use of CPU intensifies and with that temperature. I do not have any issues with temperature and I have only heard my fan one time while running a Benchmark which failed the direct2D test which makes me believe again that graphics driver have not been optimized.

That said. I'm not a gamer. This is not a gaming device. Why should I be worry about? For using office there is not a better device out there. For using OneNote there is not a better device out there. For reading all kind of magazines, there is not a better device out there. For me, there is not a better device out there. :wink:

 

[ctitanic]

BTW, here is the CrystalMark benchmark score. Can anyone post the one for SP2?



CrystalMark 2004 - Software - Crystal Dew World

 

[GoodBytes]

Sure.
Here is what I get:

I have the Core i5 4300U CPU, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD

 

[ctitanic]

If you add your D2D value to my results you almost get the same values like I expected.

 

[Seneleron]

It's amazing. . the SP2 forums here were always so amazing regarding issues and how to solve them, and here in the SP3 forums we get a rousing rendition of people acting like disgruntled Apple fans. I'm never going to understand why people keep whining, because my unit does not throttle, the fan is nearly silent, even pushing Prime95 [you think it's loud you've never heard a GTX780ti reference going full bore] and gaming performance is on par for what I'm running. I'm almost convinced that during the anandtech comparison, some moron left the SP3 unplugged and was to embarassed to admit to it.

I'm not saying the SP3 is perfect. I've got SOME of the issues that other people are having [bluetooth, wifi slow on battery [which is weird, speedtest I get the same download speeds, but 1/4 upload speed] But this is part of new design launch. EVENTUALLY they'll figure it out [or I will]

The thing that really bothers me are that most of these toxic complaints seem to revolve around a fringe audience of people that seem to have WANTED this to be something like a Keyboardless 2014 Razer Blade. "It's slower than the SP2"! [gee, pushing 2160 x 1440 vs 1920 x 1080. . common sense dictates folks] "But I"m doing both at lower resolutions. . though I Shouldn't HAVE to, but it *MUST* be the cooling solution"! [Disable indexing and windows search, remove that crappy overblown PAID Anti-virus, use a browser sandbox program when you search pr0n. . . . I could really do this all day. . . AND DO NOT DISCOUNT THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME UNDERPAID WORKER DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO APPLY THERMAL PASTE]

I'll give you one thing, connected standby was a moronic idea. What's the point if I can't continue to stream music when the screen shuts off? I suspect that eventually MS will offer a way to roll back to standard power profiles, at which point many of these performance anomalies will PROBABLY vanish.

If I'm ranting, well WHO ISN'T?! If you have genuine problems and want a SOLUTION, I and many other people are floating around and will help where we can. Mindlessly complaining about how "junk" the equipment is, and how you're going back to your iDevice . . . . please do. Solutions come by troubleshooting problems, not verbally abusing product X and pitching it disgustedly back at the store 20 minutes later. It doesn't do what you wanted it to do? Maybe you bought the wrong tool for the job. Maybe you have a genuine problem, but /ragequit, while it may make you feel better, doesn't help answer "why" or resolve any actual potential issues.

Lastly, and I ask this in all seriousness, can someone PLEASE post a youtube video of what you mean by "the fans are too loud"? I'm just genuinely curious if it's really an issue on some systems, or if some people just have expectations beyond physics.

 

[ctitanic]

It's amazing. . the SP2 forums here were always so amazing regarding issues and how to solve them, and here in the SP3 forums we get a rousing rendition of people acting like disgruntled Apple fans. I'm never going to understand why people keep whining, because my unit does not throttle, the fan is nearly silent, even pushing Prime95 [you think it's loud you've never heard a GTX780ti reference going full bore] and gaming performance is on par for what I'm running. I'm almost convinced that during the anandtech comparison, some moron left the SP3 unplugged and was to embarassed to admit to it.

I'm not saying the SP3 is perfect. I've got SOME of the issues that other people are having [bluetooth, wifi slow on battery [which is weird, speedtest I get the same download speeds, but 1/4 upload speed] But this is part of new design launch. EVENTUALLY they'll figure it out [or I will]

The thing that really bothers me are that most of these toxic complaints seem to revolve around a fringe audience of people that seem to have WANTED this to be something like a Keyboardless 2014 Razer Blade. "It's slower than the SP2"! [gee, pushing 2160 x 1440 vs 1920 x 1080. . common sense dictates folks] "But I"m doing both at lower resolutions. . though I Shouldn't HAVE to, but it *MUST* be the cooling solution"! [Disable indexing and windows search, remove that crappy overblown PAID Anti-virus, use a browser sandbox program when you search pr0n. . . . I could really do this all day. . . AND DO NOT DISCOUNT THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME UNDERPAID WORKER DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO APPLY THERMAL PASTE]

I'll give you one thing, connected standby was a moronic idea. What's the point if I can't continue to stream music when the screen shuts off? I suspect that eventually MS will offer a way to roll back to standard power profiles, at which point many of these performance anomalies will PROBABLY vanish.

If I'm ranting, well WHO ISN'T?! If you have genuine problems and want a SOLUTION, I and many other people are floating around and will help where we can. Mindlessly complaining about how "junk" the equipment is, and how you're going back to your iDevice . . . . please do. Solutions come by troubleshooting problems, not verbally abusing product X and pitching it disgustedly back at the store 20 minutes later. It doesn't do what you wanted it to do? Maybe you bought the wrong tool for the job. Maybe you have a genuine problem, but /ragequit, while it may make you feel better, doesn't help answer "why" or resolve any actual potential issues.

Lastly, and I ask this in all seriousness, can someone PLEASE post a youtube video of what you mean by "the fans are too loud"? I'm just genuinely curious if it's really an issue on some systems, or if some people just have expectations beyond physics.

Totally agree.

 

[delti90]

I joined pretty much to comment on this thread.

I'm considering returning mine as well. It seems like there is a lot of SP3 talk about performance (specifically on the Surface subreddit). I bought mine to replace a laptop, but it's doing a pretty bad job so far. Yesterday I had a video playing on the surface, and was just doing some basic web browsing on another screen, but the thing was stuttering like crazy throughout that whole process. I had similar issues today at work with it. Watching a video on one screen while editing a small spreadsheet on another I was getting a lot of intermittent freezing. Overall it just seems to handle simple multitasking worse than my SP1 did. So I might just return this and buy a cheap SP1 off ebay until the SP4 comes out.

I just finished running heavy load for 8 minutes, the lowest clock speed the Surface hit was 1.15ghz, but the fan was definitely flying. I don't think it's a matter of being a lemon, I just think it's Microsoft throttling the processor to keep the heat down. I'll probably hold on to mine for a couple of weeks to see if they push any firmware updates to alleviate the performance issues. If they don't, it's definitely going back.

 

[ctitanic]

I think that I bought a different device than those coming here to let us know that they are returning it. Is there a forum for those who want to keep it or are just interested in tweaking it to make it better?:nerd:

Is there a forum for those that want to use this device to work no to play like teenagers on summer vacation?

Unbelievable!

 

[cardinalryan]

I didn't even know there is a fan on it... that is how cool and smooth my SP3 is running.

I am using the heck out of mine and zero issues. I cannot believe that one guy's issues have created a seven page thread where most of the comments are made by the OP continuing to complain about his device which was obviously defective.

This is a great, great device. I think it is hilarious that the OP claims the guy at the MS store said 50% of the units are coming back. I am not saying the OP is lying, but I am saying that rep was making a very poor estimate. If 50% are coming back there would be a bigger fuss than one or two yahoos complaining on surface forums.

Unbelievably, my SP3 made it through this entire post... hope my leg doesn't start burning!

 

[cardinalryan]

I think that I bought a different device than those coming here to let us know that they are returning it. Is there a forum for those who want to keep it or are just interested in tweaking it to make it better?:nerd:

Is there a forum for those that want to use this device to work no to play like teenagers on summer vacation?

Unbelievable!

Ding, ding, ding!

This is the most worthless thread on the board. Simply not representative of how fantastic the device is.

 

[ctitanic]

I didn't even know there is a fan on it... that is how cool and smooth my SP3 is running.

I am using the heck out of mine and zero issues. I cannot believe that one guy's issues have created a seven page thread where most of the comments are made by the OP continuing to complain about his device which was obviously defective.

This is a great, great device. I think it is hilarious that the OP claims the guy at the MS store said 50% of the units are coming back. I am not saying the OP is lying, but I am saying that rep was making a very poor estimate. If 50% are coming back there would be a bigger fuss than one or two yahoos complaining on surface forums.

Unbelievably, my SP3 made it through this entire post... hope my leg doesn't start burning!

Wow! I'm not alone! What a good news! For one moment I thought that I lost my mind!