Front-page Editorial 

PC gaming on the go - GPD Win 3 first impressions

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GPD are really a company that need no introduction. Making their name in handheld PC gaming where few have successfully tread, the Win 3 is the latest and greatest to grace the hands of their customers. Having ordered my system back in January and it arriving just a few weeks ago, I'm here to give you my initial thoughts on this PC gaming marvel.

win1.jpg

Unboxing the system was a joy. Everything felt premium and it was packaged magnificently. Taking the system from its box, I finally got an idea for its scale and weight. I'd seen comparisons made to the Switch Lite, and while that's not too far off, the Win 3 has a thickness and heft I couldn't really anticipate. It feels well-put together and the weight isn't uncomfortable, but it does take a bit of getting used to.

Before I could dive in and enjoy myself, I did have a few things to do first. At the top of the list: formatting the device. As I had been keeping up to date with shipping and developments in the GPD Discord, I had noticed talk of a virus being shipped with devices, likely finding its way in during the QA process. Not wanting to take any chances, I went ahead with a fresh install of Windows 10 Home and installed the drivers GPD provide on their website. It was a simple enough process, which is good to know should any users want to upgrade from the 1tb NVMe SSD GPD provide.

win4.jpg

win2.jpg win3.jpg​

Windows freshly in place, I got to work downloading my games. Leaving the system in the included dock overnight while Steam was grabbing a few hundred gigabytes of content, I was pleasantly surprised to feel how cool the system was in the morning. Committing much of my life over the past months to watching every Win 3 video I could find online, I had heard how good the cooling was, but seeing this translate to the finished retail product was really quite nice. Featuring a large grill at the top akin to a Switch, as well as vents on the back, the system does a great job at staying cool even during intense sessions. The fan is relatively strong too, leading me to use it as a hand fan of sorts due to how my setup has it pointing towards me.

We've talked about how the system feels enough for now anyway, I can go into more detail in the full review. The hot topic of the day is gaming, and exactly how far we can push this handheld when it comes to modern titles and high end emulation. To save me describing each game in excruciating detail, I've put together a few videos to give you a clearer idea of how things run. Note this footage was recorded using an AverMedia Portable 2 Plus so as not to impact system performance.

For this first look, I'll be showing off my handheld configuration. Here, the games are running at 720p with a TDP of 15W, which should give around two hours of play time as a worst case scenario. You can find time stamps for the games tested below. First up is PC games!

​

  • 00:00 - Final Fantasy XV
  • 19:37 - Dark Souls 3
  • 21:38 - Ace Combat 7
  • 29:46 - Monster Hunter World
It's somewhat incredible to me just how well some of these games run. Dark Souls 3 on the go is something I've wanted since playing the Switch port of Dark Souls Remastered. It isn't all good though. Because my OpenGL version is apparently 1.1, any game that solely runs on this just refuses to work. It's a huge shame because it rules out even simpler titles such as Luck be a Landlord, which I had genuinely been looking forward to playing on the go. I have seen videos of people playing OpenGL games on the Win 3 online, and I think this may have something to do with me formatting my system. Since reinstalling Windows, GPD have uploaded a new firmware file, so I'll likely be resetting my system again using that before I get to the full review. With some luck, things will be improved.

Next is emulation using the same setup:

​

  • 0:00:00 - Zelda Breath of the Wild (Cemu)
  • 0:39:32 - Zelda Wind Waker HD (Cemu)
  • 0:54:03 - Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Cemu)
  • 1:03:02 - Persona 5 (RPCS3)
  • 1:06:06 - Project Diva F 2nd (RPCS3)
  • 1:10:29 - Monster Hunter (PCSX2)
  • 1:19:46 - Shadow of the Colossus (PCSX2)
  • 1:30:23 - Ape Escape 2 (PCSX2)
  • 1:34:27 - New Super Mario Bros Wii (Dolphin)
  • 1:39:09 - Fortune Street (Dolphin)
  • 1:44:05 - Xenoblade Chronicles (Dolphin)
  • 1:51:10 - Zelda Wind Waker Randomizer (Dolphin)
  • 1:57:12 - Super Monkey Ball 2 (Dolphin)
Emulation, Cemu in particular, really impressed me. A part of me wants to cheer at the ability to play Breath of the Wild on the go, but it's not as though this is something new with it being on the Switch. What I was genuinely happy to see however was Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate running flawlessly. It's a game I love, and having the non-240p version easily accessible on the go is absolutely amazing to me. It is worth reiterating that all the footage in the above videos are running on 15W as a reasonable balance between performance and power consumption. You can get more out of the system if you're willing to compromise on battery life, which is ideal for some kind of docked setup, you can get more out of it. I'll be showing this off along with eGPU performance in the full review to see just how far the device can be pushed.

win5.jpg

Outside of the hassle of reinstalling Windows as soon as I received the device and my OpenGL woes, the Win 3 has been a dream come true. With solid performance on the go and great potential as a PC Switch using different settings while plugged in, it's a fantastic system that has since become my main PC.

I'm still in the process of writing up the full review, which will likely feature further emulation and PC game tests in one of a 15W, 35W, and 35W with an eGPU setup. If there are any games you want to see tested from my Steam library, please let me know and I'll try my best to tailor the review. You can see all the games I have available to my via my Steam profile below.

:arrow: My Steam Library
 
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pedro702

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Scarlet said:
If you watch the emulation video that's the first comment I make lol. I guess BotW is a decent emulation benchmark, but beyond that I don't understand the obsession with it. Just buy a Switch.
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yeah buying a expensive portable pc to play switch game son the go just seems stupid to me imo lol, the switch can do that and if you just care for that you can save 800$ and buy a switch then hack it and OC to get better resolutions/frame rate in portable and you just saved a huge amount of money imo.

This is for people that want more than play switch games imo, or else its just a bad choice.
 
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VinsCool said:
Damn, I need this???
That handheld destroys the specs of my current computer, lol
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I was using a Razer Blade Stealth with eGPU before so this really is just a direct upgrade for me lol. It's weird to be using what is basically a fancy game console as my main PC but hey it gets the job done. Being able to just dock it when I want to watch stuff with family etc is great too.
 
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pedro702 said:
you could always play botw on the go since switch day one release lol if that is why you want this then you dont need to pay 1000$ to emulate switch games on the go, they do that for themselves :P
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That was the joke. But yeah, maybe I didn't make it clear enough.

But for real, this thing blows my current laptop out of the water.
 
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I'd like it for you to comment on the build quality of the device. GPD's previous handheld gaming PCs have had big problems in this regard, with several posts on r/gpdwin about people's WIN 1's, WIN 2's, and WIN Max's having various things fall apart.

Another thing that could be cool, if it's practical, is, upon completion of your review, you and Prans switch (no pun intended) devices and give your opinions on the opposing devices each of you have reviewed!
 
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Silent_Gunner said:
I'd like it for you to comment on the build quality of the device. GPD's previous handheld gaming PCs have had big problems in this regard, with several posts on r/gpdwin about people's WIN 1's, WIN 2's, and WIN Max's having various things fall apart.

Another thing that could be cool, if it's practical, is, upon completion of your review, you and Prans switch (no pun intended) devices and give your opinions on the opposing devices each of you have reviewed!
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While I like the idea of device swapping for a feature, I paid too much for this for it to be lost in the mail lol.

As for the build quality, it seems good from what I've seen so far. The part that'll likely fail first is the slider though, given the difficult nature of getting it right first time. Triggers and buttons feel really good, and the joy sticks are much nicer than they look.
 
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Scarlet said:
While I like the idea of device swapping for a feature, I paid too much for this for it to be lost in the mail lol.

As for the build quality, it seems good from what I've seen so far. The part that'll likely fail first is the slider though, given the difficult nature of getting it right first time. Triggers and buttons feel really good, and the joy sticks are much nicer than they look.
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Ah, I was under the impression you both got review units! Which I'm not sure you two could swap to begin with, but it was an idea that hit me because while I love the idea of these devices, I'm not so in love with build quality problems on a device that costs about 2/3 of my biweekly paycheck, and like to have a variety of opinions when a purchase starts to become an investment for what is already a experimental device, whereas a laptop and its design is one that's been iterated on for a long enough period of time that problems aren't as much of a concern, tho unfortunately, errors still slip thru the cracks today.
 
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Not worth $1300 sorry. So many switch clones I'm not taking the credit away but once again if I have $1300 I can invest $1000 in an entry level gaming PC with more power and also have $300 for a switch
 
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gudenau said:
Can it play Minecraft?

Edit:
To be specific I don't mean the new crappy one I mean the Java version. Might be fun to throw some Fabric performance mods at it as well. Sodium, Lithium and Phosphor work pretty well.
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I can play minecraft on my original GPD win with optifine... It scrapes by, struggles to get more than 30fps at higher draw distances though.
This one should have no problem playing minecraft
 
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I'll be honest. I see absolutely no reason to exist for such a device. x86 devices are very power hungry per design. Rip battery life.

I find it difficult to justify such a system for emulation if you have many more, much cheaper option available (portable consoles, smartphones).

So the only reason IMO left is to play PC games with it. While pc has a vast library of games to choose from have fun in getting them running. Intel iGPUs are not only weak, they have also very shit drivers. I bet you'll have problems getting older games even to start because of Intel shitty implementation of instructions. The reviewer mentions opengl problems. How about Vulkan or backwards compatible dx9 instructions (pixel/vertex shader). Are they working properly? I bet not. This will lead at least to graphical glitches and app crashes. Since pc hardware is so fast outdated the next AAA titles will be barely playable on this device.

So ok. I'll try again. It is possible to use eGPU with it to countermeasure the lack of upgradeable hardware.
Don't ever go the eGPU route. It just works so shit.
I got a eGPU setup myself because of how FUN and EASY this technology is.
No it is not. You have software problems everywhere. Starting from your BIOS/UEFI bugs (S3/Shutdown problems), driver issues (BSODs with Intel/Nvidia/AMD interfering), up to software issues (Unreal Engine stuttering with eGPU when iGPU is enabled).
This is not fun. I have 3 years experience with Thunderbolt3 and my next setup won't be mobile anymore. Also don't expect any fix for this. Intel, Nvidia and AMD (+Manufacturer) are pointing at each other when it comes to issues with eGPU.

Let alone performance problems:
You have shit minFPS (down to single digits) which means your games will stutter a lot when they stream. And all openworld games today use streaming. Look at RDR2 it runs on medium settings with ~30fps on average with high end video cards on eGPU.

(Side note: TB4 does not improve anything at all compared to TB3 except MAYBE more bandwidth [involves DP bandwidth which is reserved on TB3 and TB4 could give it away]. There is ATM no TB4 eGPU dock available so no testing is done to prove this)

Nope. Sorry I don't see any use for this.
 
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