Surface Pro 3 gets BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of my screen and on back, why is it doing this?

[wendy joyce]

Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

When running Word Processing and Data Base programs, the right quarter of the screen and on the back gets VERY warm. When gaming (especially Microsoft Treasure Hunt), within five minutes it's nearly too hot to touch the metal back.

I contacted Microsoft...and they said that is NOT usual; thus, they sent me a new one.

And AGAIN, within five minutes of Treasure Hunt, the upper right corner is VERY hot.

My mother also bought a Surface Pro 3...same day as I did. I drove to her house and watched a six minute video. And her SP-3 did the same thing...started warming up on the upper right corner.

Microsoft says this is not usual...yet, that makes THREE SP-3s that get extremely hot in the upper right when doing ANYTHING but just plain writing.

We have had our SP-3s for about four months. So what gives, Microsoft? Is the SP-3 not meant to do anything more than writing a doc? I have to shut mine down (THE ONE I RECEIVED TODAY) after ten minutes of gaming.

HELP!

 

[NJ1193]

Re: Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

Mine does the same thing. Do you have Windows 10 preview installed? I was thinking that might be what's up with mine.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Guzzler3]

Yep, there is an issue with some SP3's. Mainly with the i7's from what I've noticed on various forums and such. I have a hunch that it's a heat sink compound issue. Not enough, to much, offset, but something isn't right.

I too got two SP3's that overheated constantly and would go into thermal shutdown while doing a factory reset. I took them back to the store and they replaced them. I finally got a good one.

But I do have to admit, that Treasure Hunt, and Microsoft Jackpot REALY get the systems hot for some reason. I can do 3D AutoCAD all day long without any heat issues, but those two games.... forget about it.

 

[SCWells72]

This happens to me as well. In my case I'm developing software in an IDE and after a while the Surface Pro 3 i5 gets so hot on the upper-righthand corner that thermal throttling kicks in and makes everything excruciatingly slow. I have a USB fan that I can plug in and point right at the fan exhaust that helps manage this quite a bit, but it's not exactly quiet, and I'm disappointed that I have to do it at all. Overall I love my SP3, but had I known about this aspect of the device, I'm pretty sure I would've gotten a different device at the time like a Yoga. It kills my productivity when it happens.

 

[Topataco]

Re: Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

I forgot that this was a "problem" it annoys me when the throttling kicks in, but I bought my sp3 refurbished from Microsoft's eBay store, so I can't do much about it. Then again it is kind of expected from a device this thin, mine just gets annoyingly hot, but it doesn't really bother me since I don't hold the tablet like a tablet. Microsoft games, strangely enough, make it, and my 1020, extremely hot.

 

[mashardy]

I have the same exact issue bought a S3P i7 256 from Costco. They replaced it once, but the same issue keeps coming back. The upper right corner (screen horizontally facing me) gets extremely hot to the touch! I'm running IE not Chrome and not really doing anything out of the ordinary. I called them many times and each time someone overseas try to tell me to do something that eventually does not work. unfortunately I have to buy a windows for the type of work I do, otherwise I'm much much happier with my macbook.

I don't think there is a cure for this otherwise they would have come up with a update that fixed the problem.
Microsoft SUCKS!

There is nothing we can do! I've call them they send me a new one same problem. They know they have a lemon on their hands and there is nothing they can do to fix the problem. I would love it if a remedy came along!

 

[arjan wolthuis]

Re: Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

Download Piriform specy to check system temperatures

 

[Hieu Nguyen6]

You can find video of changing the power setting on youtube. He introduces the way to change plan to High Performance but you can choose Power Saver. Then, go to advance setting and you can reduce CPU to 70% on Maximum. It reduces temp and makes battery longer.

 

[BGrewer]

Will it alter performance, and if so by how much?

 

[Didierb]

same problem for me just bought a S3P i7 512..... a bit expensive in Thailand and get this noise and hot..... shame to buy something to this price and get this type of problem........:angry:

 

[v0lum3]

Well the upper right corner is where the processor is placed, so it is where it would get hot!

On a more serious note, I don't have the core i7 version, so I can only talk from my experience with my i5 version.
First of all I've experienced the same thing, with my Surface getting hot for no reason, and the cure was simply to refresh the device. This will reinstall Windows without affecting your files or apps, it will delete any desktop programs tho. This completely removed any problems I had with "heating up for no reason". Its done by going into settings (swipe in from the right, then hit the cogwheel and then "change pc-settings), then update and recovery and then recovery!

Also the Surface will be working "more than normal" the first few days you own it, since it will be indexing you files and installing updates. When that is done it will be quieter and cooler! Remember to install all updates since it will help it run better.

But there are some precautions you have to take while using a versatile device like this. The thing is that the Surface can be both a tablet and a computer, meaning that the processor in these can range from using no power at all, when doing web browsing or word editing, but can also be pushed very far when doing heavy tasks, like video editing and 3d graphics. The processor ramps up speed dynamically, based on what tasks its doing, but the amount of power needed for a specific task is hard to determine. Especially Microsoft Store apps have trouble determining when to use a lot of power, fx. Playing a 3d intensive game, or when playing a simple card game that don't require much from the processor. I try to explain it more thoroughly here: http://forums.windowscentral.com/mi...estion-regarding-playing-games-store-sp3.html
Microsoft could have build in the old power profiles, so people could choose what they are using their computers for and then choose the appropriate power profile for that task, but it is also a hassle, so I think that Is one of the reasons they choose not to do this.

What I'm trying to say, is that you cannot expect a versatile device like this to be as powerful as a laptop, and at the same time be as "quiet" as a tablet. It shouldn't ramp up when doing simple things like web surfing or word editing, or watching a movie. Tho especially movies can be deceitful, if you are watching them on a website that is using flash or some other plugin, I could tasks the processor quite a bit! Using the Netflix app for example, will help this.

If your Surface still acts up, other than the examples I have given, a week after you have refreshed it, you should contact support to get a replacement.

Hope this helps, both your problem and to clarify how this device works.

 

[Dirigent82]

Mine will fire up and get hot when I'm video editing (more specifically, when it fires up to make/convert the video), watching Netflix through the website, or doing a video chat through a website. I can't say that I've noticed a reduction in performance when the fan comes on, but I'm certainly aware it's on.

Every now and then the fan will come on for seemingly no reason. It's rare, but I assume something is being done in the background - some sort of updating or something.

 

[dkp23]

same with me, have an i5 version. For me, i know what it is because it only started since i put it on and it is windows 10 preview. I put windows 10 preview probably three weeks ago, prior to that, i had very limited issues with the upper right part being extremely hot, it would happen if i had intense usage, but for just playing back videos, some app games and general surfing, rarely would it get hot (unless i use chrome).

After installing win10 preview, it gets hot constantly unless i absolutely do not use it and just let it sit there with the screen on. Once i fire up edge or chrome, it gets hot, i stream anything or playback a movie its hot, app game, its hot and then the battery drain is unreal. I could watch a show live stream and maybe go down 10-15%, now it goes down 40% in almost an hour.

Pretty sad, have to charge constantly now and its annoying. Very difficult to rely on this now with the horrible battery life and also warming upper right corner.

 

[Chandresh Shah3]

exact same condition as the last post - it started heating after upgrading to Windows 10 (3 weeks now).

 

[BGrewer]

Hasn't yesterdays update fixed it? Google Earth usually sets of the fan but after the most recent cumulative update I've got no throttling

 

[noobchief]

Re: Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

As a owner of the i5 SP3, the back top right becoming hot for me is normal. I played games like l4d2 on it for hours. But somehow it doesn't overheats for me. So don't really need to be afraid if it gets hot lol

 

[dkp23]

Re: Surface Pro 3 get BLAZING HOT on the upper right quarter of screen and on back.

As a owner of the i5 SP3, the back top right becoming hot for me is normal. I played games like l4d2 on it for hours. But somehow it doesn't overheats for me. So don't really need to be afraid if it gets hot lol

Do you have windows 10 installed?

So first playing a PC game on your sp3 that results in a hot upper right corner is one thing, it is another using an sp3 on windows 10 and open microsoft edge for less than 5 minutes general surfing and your upper right corner becomes hot and the fan goes off, and again, within minutes.

I could surf an hour straight prior to windows 10 with no fan going off, can't get passed 5-10 minutes until the fan comes on.

Antoher is the battery life, atrocious.

 

[dkp23]

S​o i just got all the updates which included all the firmware updates and a new one for the intel graphics driver.

So far, looks like the battery drain and overheating with minimal usage has been fixed, at least for me. at 1030pm the % was 76% and i left it on with minimal usage for about an hour and it drained just 4%. The last 45 minutes or so, i've been surfing and xbox one streaming to test it out and i am still at 60%. Much improvement from previously which would have 10% drain in about 5 minutes of MS edge web surfing. During the update, my sp3 got real hot and once everything got installed, looks like its back to normal prior to win10. Hopefully it stays this way.

SO anybody with sp3, get the update!

 

[Shayan Davoodi]

Ok guyz.
Have you checked the task manager to see what is consuming many resources ? Sometimes something called modular installer or sth caused the problem and I noticed that it's using about 25 percent of cpu and also a lot of RAM and Storage. It happens like 3 times a week and a restart can handle it.

 

[mashardy]

No shayan joon, I've checked it has nothing to do with that! It's a hardware problem since it happens when nothing is going on!