Surface RT - Tegra 3 Fifth core optimization

[FFX]

Hello!

I received my Surface RT yesterday and I love it! My only complaint was that the updates took quite a long time to get installed.(was very eager to play around with it )

But I have some questions that I haven't found answers to, so I hope you guys can help me out.
Is there any news about when we can expect the updates for the fifth core optimaization? I can't wait to use this awesome tablet fully optimized!
And is Microsoft only updating, on the second tuesday every month, or will updates come at random?

Best regards FFX!

 

[Arun01]

How is your wifi?

 

[J515OP]

Welcome to the forum. It is unlikely that we will hear anything about the 5th core optimization. Both MS and Nvidia will probably keep that confidential until it is optimized (if ever since there is no obligation and battery life is already great). Some updates come at random (security fixes, virus definitions, etc.) but the big ones are on Tuesday according to Microsoft's tradition.

Don't let either of those stop you though. Out of the box with the currently available updates the Surface is a great machine

JP

 

[FFX]

@Arun01 My WIFI is great, got no problems there.

@j515op Hopefully they'll try to optimize it, or people will bad mouth them even more... I'm so tired of all techsites bashing on Microsoft.

 

[J515OP]

Even if they don't what's the harm? The Surface already has excellent battery life and the argument can be made that it doesn't matter. There is no guarantee that optimizing for the 5th core means more battery life as a result. If it can add battery life and they implement it (I also hope the would) great. If not, it in no way detracts from the Surface's capabilities. It may be in Microsoft's and our best interest if they focused on things besides the 5th core optimization. Perhaps there are better ways to use their resources.

What I am trying to say is look at the Surface for what it is and see if it is acceptable. We could scream and shout that MS should implement legacy apps and allow RT ports to the desktop and macros and Outlook should be added to Office. The reality is that none of that really matters as long as the device does what it is supposed to out of the box. It certainly does that. It is also getting better with updates and time. MS has also promised a significant support time frame which is good news.

In this world of disposable devices though I wouldn't be surprised if certain things aren't addressed until the next version. That is sort of the way it goes particularly when it comes to ever evolving hardware. Always focusing on what's next but not always optimizing what's current.

 

[FFX]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Surface RT for what it is! But I still hope that Microsoft will optimize the RT to utilize all of the five cores!

 

[J515OP]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Surface RT for what it is! But I still hope that Microsoft will optimize the RT to utilize all of the five cores!

In the end that is exactly what I think too.

 

[guitar1969]

Hoping the 5th core optimization will help with the slow loading of apps, as in its current state it is not very fast, although I love my Surface

 

[J515OP]

Hoping the 5th core optimization will help with the slow loading of apps, as in its current state it is not very fast, although I love my Surface

Not likely. The 5th core is a low power core. It is meant to basically handle idle state duties and call back in the other cores when you start using the device. The only performance gain should be with regard to the battery.

MS seems to have done some wonky things with their apps which have already been at least partially address by updates (assuming you have updated). I expect them to get better over time as MS optimizes app performance but for now apps do not launch like traditional windows that just open up. They do take a few (to quite a few) seconds to load. Let's hope it is one of those items that starts out as just ok and in a few months has been corrected to fly.

 

[bacalaohombre]

Even if they don't what's the harm? The Surface already has excellent battery life and the argument can be made that it doesn't matter. There is no guarantee that optimizing for the 5th core means more battery life as a result. If it can add battery life and they implement it (I also hope the would) great. If not, it in no way detracts from the Surface's capabilities. It may be in Microsoft's and our best interest if they focused on things besides the 5th core optimization. Perhaps there are better ways to use their resources.

What I am trying to say is look at the Surface for what it is and see if it is acceptable. We could scream and shout that MS should implement legacy apps and allow RT ports to the desktop and macros and Outlook should be added to Office. The reality is that none of that really matters as long as the device does what it is supposed to out of the box. It certainly does that. It is also getting better with updates and time. MS has also promised a significant support time frame which is good news.

In this world of disposable devices though I wouldn't be surprised if certain things aren't addressed until the next version. That is sort of the way it goes particularly when it comes to ever evolving hardware. Always focusing on what's next but not always optimizing what's current.

actually the main reason (or at least my main reason) to enable the 5th battery-saving core is to clock the processor up to speed. it's currently underclocked (1.3GHz to 1.5 GHz) to save power. if it was using the 5th core, it could be running faster while using same amount of power.

 

[demandarin]

that's not how it works. I had tegra3 since it first arrived on Transformer Prime and Nexus 7 tablets. I don't believe all 5 cores are never all on at once. theres some kind of switch that goes from main cores to fifth core. developers have been trying to do this for the longest, to enable all cores to run at once. if NVidia hasn't done this yet, its not happening. or at least in the sense you want.

what we did find out was that even the underclocked tegra3 was able to run at slightly higher speeds even stock. but you have to go in and enable it. im not sure if it can be done the same way as android since RT is a version of windows.

itd be best to ask this question in RT thread in xda. they can get it going if possible. they already have the RT running some desktop legacy apps that normally wouldn't on a stock RT.

I believe the real question as to slow installs is what kind of memory or hard drive the rt uses. if its emmc then they are known to have slower read/write speeds. speeding up the processor wouldn't neccesarily mean faster installs.