Surface Pro 3 for Gaming

[Jake Jasinski]

I am off to college, and it is likely that my computer for school will be the surface pro 3. The surface that I get will either be the i5-4300U with 1.9 Ghz or 2.9 Ghz with turbo boost and an Intel HD 4400 graphics card. Depending on the model, I will either get 4 or 8 GB of Ram. I will also likely get a full sized monitor for my dorm room.

My main question is will I be able to play games on steam with these specs. I do not need to play the newest games that will be coming out in the next couple years. In other words the highest quality games I would be playing would be on par with Assassins Creed 4 or Rome Total War 2 or COD Ghosts. Would said surface be able to play these games. I don't really care about minor glitchiness, just as long as the games remain playable.

Also don't try to convince me to get some other laptop. I've already decided, I just want to know.

 

[Zephyrium]

that's not really for gaming sorry to say you won't be playing much on it.
Heres the Benchmark for that video card

on low it will only get around 22fps on Assassins creed 4 the game benchmark is near the bottom.
you'll be able to play a couple things but the settings will mostly be on low.

 

[randomhkkid]

I am off to college, and it is likely that my computer for school will be the surface pro 3. The surface that I get will either be the i5-4300U with 1.9 Ghz or 2.9 Ghz with turbo boost and an Intel HD 4400 graphics card. Depending on the model, I will either get 4 or 8 GB of Ram. I will also likely get a full sized monitor for my dorm room.

My main question is will I be able to play games on steam with these specs. I do not need to play the newest games that will be coming out in the next couple years. In other words the highest quality games I would be playing would be on par with Assassins Creed 4 or Rome Total War 2 or COD Ghosts. Would said surface be able to play these games. I don't really care about minor glitchiness, just as long as the games remain playable.

Also don't try to convince me to get some other laptop. I've already decided, I just want to know.

The i7 model has the more powerful hd5000 it's a decent improvement over the 4400. Check out this article HERE scroll down to the bottom to see individual game benchmarks.

However realistically the Surface 3 isn't made for games such as Rome II and COD Ghosts, it's a still ultrabook performance so games such as Fifa, Dirt and Source titles are more inside its abilities.

 

[Mike Zwarich]

I don't have the SP3 yet either, but I have been looking at this as well. Given that the i5 edition is very similar in performance to the SP2, I am guessing that if the SP2 can play it, so can the SP3.

I have read reports that you can play mid-level games on the SP2 / 3 with no problems. I watched a video of some guy trying Titanfall on the SP3, and even on low settings it was hit-and-miss.

My guess is that you will find some of the older games will play just fine, or some of the less intensive ones. FPS may require downgrades on graphics options though.

BTW -- Good choice on a school computer. It looks like it could be ideal for that. I wish that had been around when I was in school. Back then only the rich kids had laptops, and they were big and clunky. The rest of us just used the computer labs.


UPDATE: I now own the Surface Pro 3 (8GB RAM version), and have had it about three months. I can confirm the following for games:

Civilization V: Works great on mid-range settings
Borderlands 2: Works well on minimum settings
Kingdoms of Amalur: Works ok on minimum settings

Basically any games less intensive than those should work great for you.

 

[SurfaceProGamer]

the surface pro 3 with i7 is the more overheating and thottling surface pro, it's the worse option for playing,
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opt21q8EP6g"][/video]
for other hand ypu can solve this a little bit with usb fan

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHN6IB6S1HU"][/video]

 

[avinashlego]

I game a lot on SP3. It's great, but just lower down to 720p. For more recent releases(2014ish to present)it will be unplayable unless you lower to, say, 360p or lower. Anything before 2014 should work just fine at a lower resolution that is still HD.