Surface Pro 3, m3 CPU = 23 fps ?

I didn't even think this would run, but with EVERYTHING in DCS at the lowest or Off settings, I get 23 fps over water and high (angels 20+) over land.

Low over cities and landing it drops to about 17-18 fps.

Not super smooth, but not too bad. Definitely makes me want to learn/try more DCS. Next desktop upgrade will have i5, 1080, 16GB+ RAM, etc..

Surface Pro 3 Win10 x64 (all hardware is built-in, not up-gradable)

m3 (not even i3) CPU at 1.61GHz (nominal is 1.1Ghz)

4GB RAM

SSD 100GB

Intel 615 GPU

Max performance settings, gets warm if room temp is above 76F.

Opentrack IR _ 320x240 30 Hz with Creative web cam/IR filter.

1600x900 60Hz Dell 20" monitor, but only running 1280x768 resolution

Note: running 1600x900 game res lowers fps by about 3 fps.

Control pad joystick for now, upgrading old FCS Mk2 Hotas to USB next.

DCS: all lowest, off, graphics, cockpit 256 (512 lowers fps 2 fps).

Windows Task/Performance Manager shows GPU 100% and CPU bouncing off 100% in game. Only takes about 1-2 minute to start missions.

Here's a screen shot, not sure what everything else means other than fps:

Haha I just asked in a different thread if I could run it on an old 3.2ghz machine with 16gb ram and a 750ti. So you're telling me there's a chance! :D

Haha I just asked in a different thread if I could run it on an old 3.2ghz machine with 16gb ram and a 750ti. So you're telling me there's a chance! :D

Maybe it might work. I have an old quad core 9600 at 2.8GHz with only 8GB RAM and it would not work. I think my old ATI GPU card wasn't enough.

I also think the Surface Pro does tricks with RAM, SSD, GPU memory, etc. I can run iRacing on the surface pro, at 1600x900 and it's a steady 51fps. Kind of crazy, but it works.

I also use a Dell D6000 USB-C docking station, so all the USB crap I have plugged runs as fast as possible.

Im not that surprised the cpu can handle it. Its got only 2 cores, but DCS only needs one fast and one "spare" core. It can also boost to 2.2 GHz and IPC is quite respectable, as its a skylake core. It will "only" be about 50% slower in DCS than current desktop cpu's

The gpu; well you took take of that by running just over VGA resolution with everything turned off :)

But what really shocks me is that you can run DCS with 4GB ram. Now join a multiplayer server and let us know what happens :D.

Im not that surprised the cpu can handle it. Its got only 2 cores, but DCS only needs one fast and one "spare" core. It can also boost to 2.2 GHz and IPC is quite respectable, as its a skylake core. It will "only" be about 50% slower in DCS than current desktop cpu's

 

The gpu; well you took take of that by running just over VGA resolution with everything turned off :)

 

But what really shocks me is that you can run DCS with 4GB ram. Now join a multiplayer server and let us know what happens :D.

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I just did the No-MipMap Mod for SU-33 and it went from 23 to 28fps!

I'll probably go from 1280x768 up to native 1600x900 now (dell 20" 60hz monitor).

I did MP last night. It "stalled" when trying to select Red or Blue and the slot/plane to fly. Took about 5 min to load and "unfreeze" so I could select a plane.

BUT, MP worked (my first time, terrible, crashed, no weapons, etc. but I did fly) and the FPS was still around 23fps (without the no-MipMap mod = about the same as off-line). I run Comcast cable to a 150 foot Cat6 Ethernet up to my desk with a Dell D6000 docking station via USB-C/USB3 to the Surface Pro 3 . Ping was 40-80us in USA so easy to find a server.

And to try to get around the 4GB RAM (internal, can't change) I tried to force an 8GB memory stick to be ReadyBoost but it won't work. Windows 10 rejects Readyboost, even when I try to mess with the Registry.

readyboost is pointless nowadays. Your ssd is faster than that USB stick. Readyboost had some marginal use then we still used rotating harddrives with very high seek times. Then a USB stick could be helpful as cache because those had low seek times. But if you have an ssd, microsoft is wise to disallow readyboost as no usb stick will be faster than a half decent ssd.

I just googled how impossible it is to upgrade that machine. And yeah, kinda impossible. You can replace the ssd if you are a brave man:

https://liliputing.com/2015/03/upgrade-a-surface-pro-3-with-a-power-drill.html

And if you are more than brave, i suspect you can replace the ram modules with higher capacity ones if you first you manage to open the damn thing:

And then have a hot air station to desolder the ram modules, and you manage to buy the exact right higher capacity chips somewhere. And even then I wouldnt bet more than even odds that it will actually work. But it may.

CORRECTION on MP:

My Surface Pro 3 did work on MP with less than 4 players online (after the 5 min delay to pick my plane/slot).

I just tried a server with 31 players and I got the BSOD total machine crash...

Impressive! I tried to get DCS to run on my Laptop years ago, and it wouldn't even start up do to it having only 4GB of RAM.

I run DCS from my Surface Book Pro (Work Laptop) during my lunch break sometimes. It's great for testing missons. With 8Gb and a i7-8650 @ 1.90Ghz and a GTX 1050. No speed demon at all but it works.

Surface Pro 3:

I can run the F-14B, but fps drops from 27 (FC3 planes) to about 19.

I cannot run the Viggen, as I get black frame drops about 1/second.

Ebay prices for Surface Pro 3 i3 (really m3), 128GB storage = $200

Teensey USB mod to old Thrustmaster FCS, Mk2 HOTAS = 10

Homemade OpenTrack 3D printed headset, leftover IR LEDs = 5

Yes, lots of hours in testing, soldering, setup....

So $215 for lets say 21fps = $10/fps , probably a record low???

Not hard to beat that record. Get a PC from a dumpster, connect it to your tv (unless you also find a glorious 14" crt in that dumpster) and fly it with the keyboard. You might only get 5 or 10 FPS, but its still $0/FPS. Its not very useful or enjoyable though.

Tried my Surface Pro 3 on a 1920x1080 display. FYI about 13fps.

For me on a Surface Pro 3 it works pretty well. Around 22 fps.

I can fly the M-2000C, the Cuesta Rafale, the Su-25T and the TF-51. Overall it works well.

My main problem with SPro3 is poor MP support, once over about 8 players it crashes trying to connect to MP.