GeForce MX250 vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

Place in the ranking	717	585
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	no data	43.02
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code name	Surface Book	GP108B
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 October 2015 (9 years ago)	20 February 2019 (5 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	384	384
Core clock speed	954 MHz	937 MHz
Boost clock speed	993 MHz	1038 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	1,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	10 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	24.91
Floating-point processing power	no data	0.7972 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	16
TMUs	no data	24

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	no data	large
Interface	no data	PCIe 3.0 x4
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None

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	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	5012 MHz	1502 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	48.06 GB/s
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 data

Portable Device Dependent

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.

DirectX	DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	no data	6.7 (6.4)
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.3
CUDA	+	6.1

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 3.70

GeForce MX250 6.25
+68.9%

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2577

GeForce MX250 4633
+79.8%

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2076

GeForce MX250 3660
+76.3%

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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 11380

GeForce MX250 21545
+89.3%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 123411

GeForce MX250 235421
+90.8%

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

28
+21.7%

−21.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −70%	17 +70%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −50%	30−33 +50%
Fortnite	21−24 −66.7%	35−40 +66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −70.6%	29 +70.6%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −66.7%	55−60 +66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 −133%	28 +133%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −80%	18 +80%
Dota 2	10−12 −264%	40 +264%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −100%	40 +100%
Fortnite	21−24 −76.2%	35−40 +76.2%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −29.4%	22 +29.4%
Grand Theft Auto V	10−12 −155%	28 +155%
Metro Exodus	8−9 −50%	12 +50%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −130%	76 +130%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +50%	8 −50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −53.8%	20−22 +53.8%
World of Tanks	60−65 −54.7%	95−100 +54.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −30%	13 +30%
Dota 2	10−12 −418%	57 +418%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −45%	29 +45%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 +6.3%	16 −6.3%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −57.6%	50−55 +57.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −61.5%	21−24 +61.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite

21−24

−66.7%

35−40
+66.7%

1440p
High Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

−150%

5−6
+150%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −150%	10−11 +150%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −62.5%	12−14 +62.5%
Forza Horizon 4	4−5 −200%	12−14 +200%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite

7−8
−42.9%

10−11

+42.9%

4K
High Preset

Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −6.3%	16−18 +6.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −6.3%	16−18 +6.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Dota 2	16−18 −6.3%	16−18 +6.3%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −75%	7−8 +75%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	10−11 −60%	16−18 +60%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite

2−3

−50%

3−4
+50%

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	14 +0%	14 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5 +0%	5 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	16 +0%	16 +0%
Metro Exodus	21 +0%	21 +0%
Valorant	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	5 +0%	5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Valorant	14 +0%	14 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Valorant	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
World of Tanks	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Valorant	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Fortnite	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Valorant	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and GeForce MX250 compete in popular games:

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 22% faster in 1080p

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

in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 50% faster.
in Dota 2, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GeForce MX250 is 418% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
GeForce MX250 is ahead in 28 tests (44%)
there's a draw in 34 tests (53%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.70	6.25
Recency	1 October 2015	20 February 2019
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	14 nm

GeForce MX250 has a 68.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce MX250 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.