GeForce GTX 280M SLI vs 940MX

Place in the ranking	691	721
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	11.88	1.59
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	G9x (2007−2010)
GPU code name	GM107	N10E-GTX
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	28 June 2016 (8 years ago)	2 March 2009 (15 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	512	256
Core clock speed	795 MHz	585 MHz
Boost clock speed	861 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	1,870 million	1508 Million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	150 Watt
Texture fill rate	27.55	no data
Floating-point processing power	0.8817 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	8	no data
TMUs	32	no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop size	medium sized	large
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	no data
Supplementary power connectors	None	no data

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	DDR3, GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1253 MHz	950 MHz
Memory bandwidth	40.1 GB/s	no data
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors

No outputs

no data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GPU Boost	2.0	no data
Optimus	+	-
GameWorks	+	-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 (11_0)	10
Shader Model	5.1	no data
OpenGL	4.5	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data
Vulkan	1.1.126	-
CUDA	+	+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GeForce 940MX 3.93
+14.2%

GTX 280M SLI 3.44

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GeForce 940MX 8549

GTX 280M SLI 9435
+10.4%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD	17 +21.4%	14−16 −21.4%
4K	10 +25%	8−9 −25%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

7−8
+16.7%

6−7

−16.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	11 +10%	10−11 −10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Battlefield 5	14 +133%	6−7 −133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Far Cry 5	11 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Forza Horizon 4	71 +274%	18−20 −274%
Hitman 3	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +12.5%	24−27 −12.5%
Metro Exodus	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	19 +46.2%	12−14 −46.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +5%	40−45 −5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14 +40%	10−11 −40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Battlefield 5	10 +66.7%	6−7 −66.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Far Cry 5	11 +57.1%	7−8 −57.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Forza Horizon 4	41 +116%	18−20 −116%
Hitman 3	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +12.5%	24−27 −12.5%
Metro Exodus	7−8 +40%	5−6 −40%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +15.4%	12−14 −15.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30 +100%	14−16 −100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +5%	40−45 −5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5 −100%	10−11 +100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Far Cry 5	8 +14.3%	7−8 −14.3%
Forza Horizon 4	12 −58.3%	18−20 +58.3%
Hitman 3	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn	11 −118%	24−27 +118%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +15.4%	12−14 −15.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7 −114%	14−16 +114%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 +5%	40−45 −5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11
+25%

8−9

−25%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +20%	5−6 −20%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5	0−1
Hitman 3	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Watch Dogs: Legion	24−27 +20%	20−22 −20%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9
+14.3%

7−8

−14.3%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Hitman 3	0−1	0−1
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+25%

4−5

−25%

This is how GeForce 940MX and GTX 280M SLI compete in popular games:

GeForce 940MX is 21% faster in 1080p
GeForce 940MX is 25% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GeForce 940MX is 274% faster.
in Horizon Zero Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 280M SLI is 118% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GeForce 940MX is ahead in 51 test (82%)
GTX 280M SLI is ahead in 4 tests (6%)
there's a draw in 7 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.93	3.44
Recency	28 June 2016	2 March 2009
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	150 Watt

GeForce 940MX has a 14.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 552.2% lower power consumption.

The GeForce 940MX is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 280M SLI in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.