Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) vs GeForce GTX 980M SLI

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 980M SLI and Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5), covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 980M SLI
2014
2x 8 GB GDDR5, 200 Watt
24.58
+566%

GTX 980M SLI outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) by a whopping 566% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking220707
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency8.78no data
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)Maxwell (2014−2017)
GPU code nameno dataSurface Book
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date7 October 2014 (10 years ago)1 October 2015 (9 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 cores3072384
Core clock speed1038 MHz954 MHz
Boost clock speed1127 MHz993 MHz
Number of transistors2x 5200 Millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Wattno 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 sizelargeno data
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2x 8 GB1 GB
Memory bus width2x 256 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed5000 MHz5012 MHz
Shared memory--

Supported technologies

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

Optimus++

API compatibility

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

DirectX12_1DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0
Vulkan+-
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.

GTX 980M SLI 24.58
+566%
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 3.69

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 980M SLI 22006
+754%
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2577

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 980M SLI 18632
+798%
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2076

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 980M SLI 124076
+990%
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 11380

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:

900p135
+650%
18−21
−650%
Full HD106
+279%
28
−279%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+567%
6−7
−567%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+391%
10−12
−391%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+600%
6−7
−600%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+913%
8−9
−913%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+525%
8−9
−525%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+567%
6−7
−567%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+714%
7−8
−714%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+550%
10−11
−550%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+590%
21−24
−590%
Hitman 3 50−55
+614%
7−8
−614%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+613%
16−18
−613%
Metro Exodus 85−90
+608%
12−14
−608%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+611%
9−10
−611%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+500%
14−16
−500%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+636%
14−16
−636%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+391%
10−12
−391%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+600%
6−7
−600%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+913%
8−9
−913%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+525%
8−9
−525%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+567%
6−7
−567%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+714%
7−8
−714%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+550%
10−11
−550%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+590%
21−24
−590%
Hitman 3 50−55
+614%
7−8
−614%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+613%
16−18
−613%
Metro Exodus 85−90
+1317%
6−7
−1317%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+611%
9−10
−611%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+500%
14−16
−500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+260%
14−16
−260%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+636%
14−16
−636%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 50−55
+391%
10−12
−391%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+600%
6−7
−600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+614%
7−8
−614%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+567%
6−7
−567%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+714%
7−8
−714%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+590%
21−24
−590%
Hitman 3 50−55
+614%
7−8
−614%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+613%
16−18
−613%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80−85
+600%
12−14
−600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+260%
14−16
−260%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+636%
14−16
−636%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+611%
9−10
−611%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+571%
7−8
−571%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+660%
5−6
−660%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+767%
3−4
−767%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+700%
3−4
−700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+600%
4−5
−600%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+700%
2−3
−700%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+625%
4−5
−625%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+7000%
2−3
−7000%
Hitman 3 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+629%
7−8
−629%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+571%
7−8
−571%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+575%
8−9
−575%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Watch Dogs: Legion 140−150
+567%
21−24
−567%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+583%
6−7
−583%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+700%
3−4
−700%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Hitman 3 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
+606%
18−20
−606%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+600%
4−5
−600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+575%
4−5
−575%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+650%
2−3
−650%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+1200%
1−2
−1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+600%
2−3
−600%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7 0−1
Far Cry 5 14−16
+600%
2−3
−600%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+1600%
2−3
−1600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+650%
4−5
−650%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
+1000%
1−2
−1000%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

This is how GTX 980M SLI and Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) compete in popular games:

  • GTX 980M SLI is 650% faster in 900p
  • GTX 980M SLI is 279% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 980M SLI is 7000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 980M SLI is ahead in 28 tests (74%)
  • there's a draw in 10 tests (26%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.58 3.69
Recency 7 October 2014 1 October 2015

GTX 980M SLI has a 566.1% higher aggregate performance score.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5), on the other hand, has an age advantage of 11 months.

The GeForce GTX 980M SLI is our recommended choice as it beats the Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI
GeForce GTX 980M SLI
NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.3 53 votes

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Questions & comments

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