Anyone use a surface pro?

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Has anyone used Retroarch on a Surface Pro?

I am curious how the more demanding cores run on it like bsnes or a GBA emulator(at least those were the cores that worked my Android tablet pretty well). I am sick of my Android tablet as I don’t really use it for anything other than emulators so I feel it is a waste of money. I have an old laptop as well. I figured the tablet would replace it as my consumption device but I find I don’t like doing anything on the tablet other than emulators. I kind of want to get rid of both of them and get a Surface Pro 3 but my main concern is how emulators will run on it.

I’d probably get the Core i5 model which uses the HD4300 integrated GPU.

If this won’t run most cores at full speed I suppose my next option is a gaming type notebook like a Razer Blade or an MSI GS60 or something but I feel that would be overkill for how I’d use it. I am trying to stay sort of mobile which is why I don’t want a thick and chunky laptop…

#2

That should run most cores fine, though you might run into some heat issues (it’s a common problem with them, evidently). The GPU should be good for almost all of the shaders (except for crt-royale and maybe a handful of others). bsnes balanced should run fine, mednafen-psx should be fine, as well, along with mupen64+. The upcoming ppsspp core should work for the most part, though you may experience occasional framerate droops.

#3

Great, thanks for the info. I have read about the heating issues and am concerned about that… I just don’t want this to be a downgrade in performance vs my Shield and Nexus 5 Android devices when it will be considerably more expensive. They ran the games I like to play really well and audio stuttering is my number one annoyance that I never had to deal with on those devices while using retroarch.

I suppose there is a return period.

#4

Even if it’s a 1st gen surface pro you should have quite a bit more CPU and shader power than with a Nexus 5 and maybe the Shield.

#5

Windows is also much better about proper sync and consistent performance than Android.

#6

Great, I’m thinking I should be good then. Thanks again.

#7

I used Retroarch with a surface pro 3 i tested out at microcenter the other night. It ran pretty much everything fine, even the crt-royale shader. I think it dropped to 56 fps once on yoshi’s island, but was otherwise flawless.

#8

All right. I ended up buying one. It has played everything I have wanted pretty much perfectly. I don’t really get into shaders and stuff so I haven’t looked into that. I even loaded up Twilight Princess on the Dolphin emulator and it seemed to work well. I could see maybe using some anti-aliasing or something on that but I am not sure.

I decided to buy USB adapters so I can use all of my old controllers now.

#9

Same here. Just set it up on my Surface Pro one. Sometimes the vent starts running, but I think it’s rather a background task in combination with the games, cause it turns off from time to time playing N64. Will get an adapter (any recommendations?), too.

#10

I have the Surface Pro 3 with Surface Pro 4 Type Cover but the latest version of RetroArch doesn’t let me pay SNES games normally like using the arrow keys to move mario in the original Super Mario Bros. But it can let me select 1-player option and pause, and using (esc) key to exit RetroArch. Is there a bug or a issue with RetroArch recognizing the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover Keyboard fully?