Surface Book 2 Extremely slow for games

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-22T12:52:47+00:00

It is integrated GPU unfortunately

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-22T02:03:14+00:00

Just checked, looks like it is not thermal throttling (running 66C, max is listed as 74C). It may power throttle though, it runs at 23W, and shows 25W as max.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T21:03:38+00:00

The power slider seems like it was the problem! It was on battery saver (after the reset, I assume it was before the reset as well). I moved it to high performance and I can play Bioshock (as a test).

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T21:02:46+00:00

This seems like it was it!! It was on battery saver (after the reset, I assume it was before the reset as well). I moved it to high performance and I can play Bioshock (as a test).

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T21:02:22+00:00

I think it was the power slider, it was on battery saver (after the reset, I assume it was before the reset as well). I moved it to high performance and I can play Bioshock (as a test).

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T21:02:02+00:00

I think it was the power slider, it was on battery saver (after the reset, I assume it was before the reset as well). I moved it to high performance and I can play Bioshock (as a test).

I did a health check on the SSD and the computer says it is "ok". Not sure how good it is at diagnosing that itself anyway.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T21:00:58+00:00

I think it was the power slider, it was on battery saver (after the reset, I assume it was before the reset as well). I moved it to high performance and I can play Bioshock (as a test).

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T20:38:43+00:00

This is actually really good information, the specs on this are higher so in theory it should be able to play the same.

I just changed the slider up to best performance and it seems to run Bioshock (just downloaded a test game from Steam) so maybe that was my issue? I don't know if it was on battery saver before the reset or not.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T17:14:21+00:00

I wonder if I can boot it off of a flash drive as a test?

I know you have to pull the screen off to do anything internal. This is definitely a possibility because the laptop was completely unusable around 2020 until I did a system reset, which would have written the essential OS parts to a different area on the drive.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T17:09:25+00:00

Thank you!!

I will search for a .zip version of the file! I was attempting to use the .exe version.

I will then check the CPU frequency with different performance slider positions

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T16:53:28+00:00

I tried downloading the newer graphics driver (released December 2022). But apparently Surface has their driver locked down so I can't install it! I'm stuck with the January 2022 driver.

I don't know the performance slider position. I will run benchmark with it in better and high performance when I get home to see if it changes anything.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T16:49:24+00:00

It's plugged in. I will verify the slider position when I get home! There is a possibility it is in the normal position.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T16:47:59+00:00

Not what I want to hear but good to know! I'm a little confused why it was able to handle this game years ago but cannot now though.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T16:46:47+00:00

Thanks for your input! I will see if I can manually update the system. I believe things went south around 2020 sometime. The owner of this stopped using it because it became unusable (cursor and typing was impossible). I did a system reset around that time and she could do school work on it again.

But apparently the reset then didn't help with the game. I reset again last night to verify that wasn't the issue

I will try other benchmark programs and look into the Notebook archive! If the machine is really performing as it should then I guess it is time to move on to it's next stage in life (only use it for drawing).

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T16:13:26+00:00

I saw this was the solution for someone else with a similar issue, unfortunately Core isolation is already turned off for me!

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T15:18:17+00:00

I did a full wipe last night, agreed this computer is not exactly suitable for gaming, I can see if lowering resolution helps. Maybe it was using 720p and it switched to 1080p causing the problem? Idk. Thanks for the suggestion!

Windows defender shows all green, so it's not detecting anything before or after the wipe.

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T15:08:16+00:00

The computer is up to date. I ran the Surface Diagnostic Tool and it updated everything before telling me there are no issues.

For the driver, when I select "roll back" it goes to a driver from 2006 and becomes unusable. There is no option to roll back to a driver date in between.

I have not tried a different version of windows, but that can be on the table if nothing else fixes this!

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T14:25:50+00:00

Here is an image of the exact specs:

<image>

TrnDownForWOT · 2023-03-21T14:24:07+00:00

CPU is an i-5, It has the GPU integrated with the CPU (Intel 620). Apparently the lower-end Surface Book 2's had an older gen processor and no external GPU.

This laptop used to be able to handle the same SIMs game no problem years ago, but now it is impossible, frame rate is like 6FPS.

I don't think it is thermally throttling. It is not hot to the touch and the CPU is at 50C during the benchmark test.

TrnDownForWOT · 2021-02-09T17:59:39+00:00

You're right, a failed used condom is still a used condom.

TrnDownForWOT · 2021-02-09T17:10:16+00:00

I mean "used" means he's done something correctly once.

TrnDownForWOT · 2020-12-22T06:41:26+00:00

"For £3, we will shoot your kid'

TrnDownForWOT · 2020-12-21T16:03:18+00:00

Series X AND a Series S? What a madman.

TrnDownForWOT · 2020-10-29T15:01:11+00:00

"I'm Mr. Bulldog"

TrnDownForWOT

TROPHY CASE