Surface Pro 3 & tablet gaming

[Apocalypse 31]

My man-cave is awesome, and I enjoy spending time within in.
Wife complained that I spent too much time in it.
We came to a compromise, and I purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, so I can play games on the couch and in the living room.
I receive the hardware; very smooth. 1.7ghz i7 processor, but overall doesn't run games very well.
While messing around I see an option on Steam to 'stream' games. What is this?
It turns out that my tablet will use the gaming rig in my office to run games, while using the tablet to view and control the games.
I'm basically running the game on my tablet.
I'm sitting on my couch running ArmA 3 on Ultra settings, using my tablet.

I'm not 'in touch' with technology, but I feel like this is some kind of scientific breakthrough. I'm also not sure which other tablets have this feature, but I find that its pretty awesome.

[W8taminute]

That's awesome and thanks for sharing.  How does the tablet work when it comes to having to right click or ctrl click on something though?

[JasonPratt]

I've seen this on my SP3 also, but didn't realize what I was looking at!

I've heard there's a program (for free??) for Android and/or iOS which will do the same thing; accesses the base PC anywhere, the tablet just acts like another audio-visual output and control-input device.

[Apocalypse 31]

That's awesome and thanks for sharing.  How does the tablet work when it comes to having to right click or ctrl click on something though?

I have the Surface keyboard, and a wireless mouse hooked up.

[bbmike]

I've seen this on my SP3 also, but didn't realize what I was looking at!

I've heard there's a program (for free??) for Android and/or iOS which will do the same thing; accesses the base PC anywhere, the tablet just acts like another audio-visual output and control-input device.

I found this but haven't investigated it yet.

[Grim.Reaper]

I have used splashtop and has worked for the things I tried....but was nothing really hardcore.

[Anguille]

My man-cave is awesome, and I enjoy spending time within in.
Wife complained that I spent too much time in it.
We came to a compromise, and I purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, so I can play games on the couch and in the living room.
I receive the hardware; very smooth. 1.7ghz i7 processor, but overall doesn't run games very well.
While messing around I see an option on Steam to 'stream' games. What is this?
It turns out that my tablet will use the gaming rig in my office to run games, while using the tablet to view and control the games.
I'm basically running the game on my tablet.
I'm sitting on my couch running ArmA 3 on Ultra settings, using my tablet.

I'm not 'in touch' with technology, but I feel like this is some kind of scientific breakthrough. I'm also not sure which other tablets have this feature, but I find that its pretty awesome.

I remember to have read this when it was released. It's not tablet specific. I think it works on any computer device within the household.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3629-RIAV-1617&l=english

[Staggerwing]

I think Steam in-home streaming is only for Win7/8, Linux, OSx, and SteamOS client devices. The Surface should work if it is Win8 but the Steam client for Android and iOS probably won't. Anyone have a tablet w/ Windows RT to try?

[Apocalypse 31]

My man-cave is awesome, and I enjoy spending time within in.
Wife complained that I spent too much time in it.
We came to a compromise, and I purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, so I can play games on the couch and in the living room.
I receive the hardware; very smooth. 1.7ghz i7 processor, but overall doesn't run games very well.
While messing around I see an option on Steam to 'stream' games. What is this?
It turns out that my tablet will use the gaming rig in my office to run games, while using the tablet to view and control the games.
I'm basically running the game on my tablet.
I'm sitting on my couch running ArmA 3 on Ultra settings, using my tablet.

I'm not 'in touch' with technology, but I feel like this is some kind of scientific breakthrough. I'm also not sure which other tablets have this feature, but I find that its pretty awesome.

I remember to have read this when it was released. It's not tablet specific. I think it works on any computer device within the household.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3629-RIAV-1617&l=english

Not just Steam specific, either .

Load a game into Steam as a 'non Steam game' and you can still stream via mobile device.

[Nefaro]

Out of curiosity, I tried the Steam game streaming feature from a desktop to my notebook a few times awhile back.  Didn't need to but I wanted to see how it would look using the better vid card and processor in my desktop.

The graphics came across more blurry.  There was also an occasional hiccup freeze.  While it worked, I don't plan on using it again unless I really needed to.

[Swatter]

This sounds very cool, I have to look into it.

Edit- Let me modify my opinion some. Doing some research reveals these things run $800-$2000! Additions include a 100 and freaking 29 dollar keyboard. If you got all the accessories you might need, it would be close to $500 extra. For $2500 you can buy something from a high-end laptop builder made for gaming. I know that people talk about streaming gaming in this thread, but this thing is over-priced.

[Nefaro]

This sounds very cool, I have to look into it.

Edit- Let me modify my opinion some. Doing some research reveals these things run $800-$2000! Additions include a 100 and freaking 29 dollar keyboard. If you got all the accessories you might need, it would be close to $500 extra. For $2500 you can buy something from a high-end laptop builder made for gaming. I know that people talk about streaming gaming in this thread, but this thing is over-priced.

Yep.

That has always been my outlook on it.

I think people like the idea of using a touch screen on a large tablet, without the need to bother with accessories like a mouse.  I can see why that would be more convenient, but the price-to-performance just isn't there yet for gaming IMO.

[Apocalypse 31]

The graphics came across more blurry.  There was also an occasional hiccup freeze.  While it worked, I don't plan on using it again unless I really needed to.

I've noticed that network speed plays a huge factor. I haven't experienced problems, with the exception of when my wife was streaming something from her ipad onto the apple tv.

Also, if you have a large number of wireless devices in your house. i try to practice wireless conservation within the house by turning off the wifi from devices that are not in use.

[Staggerwing]

The Steam Home streaming guidelines actually suggest using a wired setup between client rig, router, and game rig. 'powerline' style LAN extenders are suggested as well. Note that these sometimes do not work if your house's electrical system is not all on one panel, and power strips also interrupt the powerline adapters' ability to connect to each other.

[mirth]

^dude. You're wicked smaht!