Is Your Windows 8 Tablet Fast Enough For PC Gaming?

[cleeve]

Why not dell venue 11 pro i3 or i5?

Well, like the article says, we were looking for ultra-portability, like portable game consoles. That means sticking to a small and low-priced tablet.

That doesn't mean we're not interested in gaming on larger tablets, but that isn't the focus of this particular article.

 

[Third-Eye]

I actually have a Venue 8 and I've been really itching to try Steam on it, with a few older games, but really - my first love when it comes to gaming is strategy games, and I can't wait to see how this one pairs with my favorite - Civilization V. Especially now that Brave New World has touch screen support.

I've played about 12-14 hours on my venue 8 pro and what I've discovered is you have to run civ5 in windowed mode at 1024x768 in DX9 mode. In windows 8 touch mode or DX11 the game will crash at any resolution and full-screen will crash as well and both are due to either running out of memory (more often the cause) or a driver issue. You can't play with more than 4 civs total including your own and you will be stuck with small maps because the tablet comes to a crawl in mid to late game otherwise due to The tablet throttling down the CPU to lower the temperature. You can try the copper sheet mod applied to the heat-sinks on the motherboard to help with that issue, but I haven't done that myself yet so I don't know if it fixes the throttling issue enough.

 

[Dosflores]

Interesting. The question in the title "Is Your Windows 8 Tablet Fast Enough For PC Gaming?" can be answered "Yes". However, then comes another question: "Is Your Windows 8 Tablet Convenient Enough For PC Gaming?". I'd certainly answer "No". Not yet, at least. The great advantage of 3DS, Vita, and Shield, is that you can play perfectly anywhere. Both lying in a comfortable armchair or sitting on an uncomfortable chair while waiting to take a plane. Using a tablet as described here, you either need an appropriate surface on which to rest it to be able to use the gamepad, or you have to play using on-screen virtual pads and sticks, which isn't acceptable for serious gaming. Until a better solution comes out, there's just no point in using a tablet for PC gaming. PC gaming requires a notebook at least. If you want portable console-like gaming, use a portable console. The Vita is powerful enough, and has input methods good enough for complex games. Of course, if you only play stragegy and MMO games, the Vita is useless to you. But if you play other genres, you can find very good shooters (Killzone), adventures (Uncharted, Gravity Rush), racing games (Wipeout, Need for Speed), etc. Sadly, there are few games like these that fully leverage the Vita, and no signs of a change in this tendency, but the Vita can also play lots of PS1 and PSP games, and there are very good PS2 ports (Jak, Ratchet, Metal Gear, God of War), so there's no shortage of hours of quality gaming in a convenient portable system.

 

[gamerk316]

"The game's well-known camera spin issue occurred when I tried to use the SteelSeries Free, but I switched to GestureWorks' Gameplay on-screen controller and was fine."

Its not a game, or even engine issue. The issue is how DirectInput based gamepads interact with the XInput API. Essentially, the mappings are handled differently by the two API's, resulting in camera spin in any Xinput title that uses a DirectInput gamepad with RS camera control. More or less every UE3 title suffers this problem for this reason.

I typically get around this by using a wrapper, generally x360CE, to wrap the DirectInput binds to match the 360 controller's XInput binds.

 

[WithoutWeakness]

Why not just go with a wired Xbox 360 controller or Xbox One controller? No need for third-party drivers or funky third-party configuration programs. If the long cord is a deterrent you can just use a shorter USB cable with the Xbox One controller. You'll be carrying a USB cable to recharge that Bluetooth controller anyway.

 

[pinholepirate]

I have been using my DV8Pro for Gaming for a few months now, and I would like to add a few things: The Moga Power Pro sells for about 50 bucks as well and with very limited modification it can handle the 8 inch tablet making the whole thing very easy to hold in your hands. (I can post some pics if you like) plus it has a built in battery that can keep the tablet charging even while you are gaming.
Second the addition of Steam Home Streaming means that you can play any games you want from your couch or armchair. (set up the Moga in Big screen mode to get this working)
Lastly the modification of an old Moterola lapdock and a 30 Display link usb to HDMI adapter makes a KVM dock for the Dell that works very well. I have only tried playing Awesomenuats on it, but it worked great. This to me is where Windows devices could really shine right now: If I could buy an Atom based Windows Phone that when docked to a lapdock or desktop dock turned it into a full blown desktop environment. I would not need a phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop (except for high level gaming)
I don't know if Microsoft is thinking about it, but They could really make an amazing product. (If anyone knows someone at MS who want to give me a job, I would be more than happy to show them the way

 

[falchard]

"The game's well-known camera spin issue occurred when I tried to use the SteelSeries Free, but I switched to GestureWorks' Gameplay on-screen controller and was fine."

Its not a game, or even engine issue. The issue is how DirectInput based gamepads interact with the XInput API. Essentially, the mappings are handled differently by the two API's, resulting in camera spin in any Xinput title that uses a DirectInput gamepad with RS camera control. More or less every UE3 title suffers this problem for this reason.

I typically get around this by using a wrapper, generally x360CE, to wrap the DirectInput binds to match the 360 controller's XInput binds.

I always thought RawInput was the primary input API to use now. When I asked on MSDN, they advised me to do away with DirectInput for RawInput.

 

[sudz]

Safe to say it runs hearthstone well enough?

 

[sudz]

Also, I can't find anything about the 3470D. Did you typo and mean 3740?

 

[cleeve]

Why not just go with a wired Xbox 360 controller or Xbox One controller? No need for third-party drivers or funky third-party configuration programs. If the long cord is a deterrent you can just use a shorter USB cable with the Xbox One controller. You'll be carrying a USB cable to recharge that Bluetooth controller anyway.

I cover that in the article. It has only a single micro-USB port, some tablets have none... Bluetooth is the way to go for these devices.

You don't really have to worry about charging the Steelseries Free, it runs for 11 hours off a charge. Can charge it at home before you go out and use the tablet.

 

[cd000]

Hopefully that will change soon. The AMD Discovery tablet they showed off earlier this year was a nice bit of kit. And I'd love to see an OEM put it up for sale. Did you see the gaming dock they made for it?

 

[Firehawke]

Of course, if you want to play from the couch or somewhere else in the house, there's always Steam Home Streaming. I've played Mortal Kombat 9 from my Dell Venue 8 Pro using home streaming and a PS4 controller with XInput drivers.

 

[Dosflores]

Hopefully that will change soon. The AMD Discovery tablet they showed off earlier this year was a nice bit of kit. And I'd love to see an OEM put it up for sale. Did you see the gaming dock they made for it?

Cool, that's the solution I'm waiting for.

AMD Discovery picture

 

[loosescrews]

I am also thinking SteamOS as dual boot...

This tablet has non-existent Linux support due to its 32-bit EFI implementation. You won't be able to dual boot Linux.

The Surface Pro line has poor Linux support, but at least it is generally possible to get it installed. If you want to run Linux you should find a different tablet.

 

[LostAlone]

I was really hoping to see the higher end windows 8 devices put through their paces here - Especially the Surface Pros (1 vs 2 vs 3) and maybe even stacked up against the Razer Edge with it's discrete GPU. I just don't care about the low end of the market here. What I want to know is if I get a Surface Pro for work, can I dock it with a traditional display, a proper keyboard and mouse and play games after work.

 

[mlga91]

And steam in home streaming? thats something i'll like to see, streaming from a high end pc to a tablet while taking a doomp.

 

[Jmich246]

You guys didn't mention you can stream games from Steam to the tablet. I was running Thief on ultra playing on my Lenovo Miix 8 Tablet with an Xbox One controller hooked up! It was pretty sweet laying in bed playing games on ultra.

 

[Scotty Young]

anyone know of a controller that will grip a tablet of this size? something like the razr dock etc

 

[Jaroslav Jandek]

That's how I use my ASUS T100 (it has the same SoC) when I am away from a PC. Also use it for light work (it easily runs smaller Visual Studio projects). Pretty handy in current hot weather.
The bonus is, it has a pretty good keyboard as well.