I3/I5 and "is this normal" questions.

[oscarzeta]

Just wanted to introduce myself and make my first post. I just purchased a Surface this past week. Originally I had purchased an i3 and I didn't have any problems with it, but I switched to an I5 anyway, because I wanted a bit more power. I'm using it to help me run a small psychotherapy practice. I'd been using an ipad before this and it was just too limiting. I figured it would be a real convenience to have a PC in a tablet form with both PC and tablet capabilities.

I noticed right away with the I5 that it will get hotter than the I3 and that the fan will come on occasionally, mainly when I'm downloading large files. And actually, it doesn't come on that much even then; just more than the I3.

Today, I went ahead and downloaded a couple of older PC games from the late 1990s. The first game is called "Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father." I started playing it and I immediately noticed that after the first few minutes, the I5 got warm to the touch and the fan was on. I was surprised because it's not exactly a very involved game. It's just point and click, about a 600mb file size total. I'm not all that computer literate, but should this be expected? Will I not be able to even play older games from the 90s?

It's not a deal-breaker, as I didn't get the I5 for gaming, but when I have an extra hour at the end of the day, it's fun to do sometimes. Would I be better off with the I3, if I don't need the extra power? I guess my main question is if the I5 is more powerful, why does it get hotter and need the fan more often?

Thanks for any help. I don't want to seem like I'm just complaining. I love this device and I just want to be realistic about my expectations of it.

 

[ctitanic]

A move powerful is the CPU dissipates more heat.

Old games may use more CPU and less GPU than new games. Also there are games well designed and games with very bad coding. You can see the SP3 getting hot with a Sudoku game.

 

[kundas1]

I game all the time and my SP3 and it gets hot playing any games that involve demanding more tasks of the SP3, even if you would have installed your game on the i3 version the fan would have come on also, so its a moot point whether its a i5/i3 all games are demanding...

 

[oscarzeta]

Thanks for the reply. So in your opinion it likely wouldn't make any difference if I went back to an I3? It seems strange that the fan comes on because it's not exactly uncomfortably hot. I've felt it hotter and the fan didn't come on.

This particular game was one I played as a kid and the reason I liked it was the reliability factor - it would play no matter what system I was running. Not so with a lot of games from back then, as I recall.

Thanks again, the help is appreciated.

 

[kundas1]

no it wouldn't make a difference in HEAT they will both get pretty hot, but the i5 will play better than the i3

 

[GreyFox7]

Um, it's all in your head, just do some breathing exercises...

 

[oscarzeta]

Good to know, thanks. When you play games does your fan stay on the entire time? Is that ok? Does it make sense that this is an old point and click game?

My understanding now is that it's expected that it will get hot and the fan will come on. I guess I just want to make sure my i5 is ok and I don't need to exchange it. It warms up a little when watching Netflix or iTunes but never enough for the fan to come on.

Thanks again.

 

[kundas1]

well mine stays cool when watching Netflix, but have you done all your updates? make sure your upto date in your updates

 

[ptrkhh]

Would I be better off with the I3, if I don't need the extra power? I guess my main question is if the I5 is more powerful, why does it get hotter and need the fan more often?

Let me get this straight, Intel iGPU is sh!t. The fan of my SP3 runs quite furiously when I play Asphalt 8, something a retina iPad from 2 years ago does without breaking a sweat. Interestingly, the fan doesn't run at all when I stress the CPU for half an hour. Intel got it right on the CPU part, but not on the GPU part. Its quite acceptable though since theyre new to the GPU world.

the i5 will play better than the i3

Yes sure, but the difference is very little its almost negligible. As what you might have probably seen, the 3DMark scores of the i3 and i5 are pretty much comparable due to throttling. The i3 even beat the i5 in 2 tests.

Good to know, thanks. When you play games does your fan stay on the entire time? Is that ok? Does it make sense that this is an old point and click game?

As what I mentioned above, anything 3D-graphically intensive would cause the fan to run. Even the 10-year old PS2-era NFS: Underground 2 in 1080x720 res would still stress the iGPU and eventually force the fan to cool it down.

If the only heavy load you do is games, I would recommend the i3. Dont forget to check the link in my sig about the i3 SP3, it might help you in the decision process.

 

[daniielrp]

My thought process here would be that a game from the 90's would likely be expecting to be played on a PC with much less power than what we have today, so there is probably some code in their somewhere that says "set CPU Speed/GPU Speed to MAX" just to get the best performance from a Pentium 3/4 era pc. Therefore on a modern PC it still runs everything at max, even if it has no need to.

 

[kundas1]

^^ sounds legit

 

[ctitanic]

My thought process here would be that a game from the 90's would likely be expecting to be played on a PC with much less power than what we have today, so there is probably some code in their somewhere that says "set CPU Speed/GPU Speed to MAX" just to get the best performance from a Pentium 3/4 era pc. Therefore on a modern PC it still runs everything at max, even if it has no need to.

Well, that's not right. Hardware aceleration and decoding have gone long way in the Last few years and old games do not know how to use those new features so they may end using more CPU than what is supposed.