How is this with games?

[1iam5mith]

I am thinking of getting a Surface Pro 2 and wondered if anyone had played any Minecraft of theirs? And how it handles and performed and if it heats up much while playing?

Also does it heat up much while playing games available in the windows store?

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[xandros9]

I can't tell you firsthand, but I can tell you using relevant info.

Any fancy 3D game causes heat, its just how much, and regarding that I can't help.

The Pro 2 will run Minecraft fine. The weaker graphics in lower end tablets (Bay-Trail equipped Atoms for example) can run Minecraft at a solid framerate on a fresh world.
I did some robotics stuff and a guy would play Minecraft among other games on his Surface Pro 1.

Its no gaming rig, but its still respectable. At least by my rather low standards.

 

[chrisjfinlay]

Minecraft on this runs rather nicely. I get around 40-50FPS. The draw distance is lowered a bit as it's only intel hd 4400 graphics chip, but it plays well and not sluggish at all. Using high quality texture mods would probably drop this considerably, though.

I also play Guild Wars 2, Portal 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown on it and it's beautifully smooth. Again, texture quality is dropped but it works well. Civ V also works well though I rarely play it. Starbound, Speedrunners, Rogue Legacy and Faster Than Light also work great. FTL has the added bonus of being completely playable in tablet form with just the stylus.

It does get pretty warm but the heat is around the top part, where the vents are. So if you're using it in laptop configuration you won't feel it.

The downside is that games DO sap the battery a bit. From full charge, expect to be reaching for the plug in about 2 hours. This isn't a problem unique to the Surface Pro 2 though - many gaming laptops have the same battery life when being maxed out like this.

 

[onlysublime]

It's a decent performer with games.

Games will cause it to heat up significantly which you'll especially notice with touch games as it's likely to be lying flat on your lap or holding in your hands. then again, it's just like laptops when they sit on your lap. Probably the worst offender is the MacBook Pro on your lap. That will really cook you.

If the SP2 is in its kickstand mode on your lap or on a desk, you won't feel the heat of course since it's away from your body.

Honestly, I try not to play games for more than 2 hours straight because of an experience with my Surface RT where I played for a few hours and it totally crapped out the system. The damage was permanent (screen pattern looked like some CGA display with flashing colored squares and lines and it wouldn't POST properly, let alone go to Windows). The store swapped machines for me but since then, I limit my gaming sessions to under 2 hours to be safe.

 

[Berryal202869]

I can play Portal 2 with settings on high, so i think it's fairly decent for a tablet PC.