Radeon 780M vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Radeon 780M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
2015
1 GB GDDR5
3.69

780M outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) by a whopping 394% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking723315
Place by popularitynot in top-10063
Power efficiencyno data83.32
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)RDNA 3.0 (2022−2025)
GPU code nameSurface BookHawx Point
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 October 2015 (9 years ago)6 December 2023 (1 year 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 cores384768
Core clock speed954 MHz800 MHz
Boost clock speed993 MHz2700 MHz
Number of transistorsno data25,390 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data15 Watt
Texture fill rateno data129.6
Floating-point processing powerno data8.294 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data48
Ray Tracing Coresno data12

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).

Interfaceno dataPCIe 4.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 typeGDDR5System Shared
Maximum RAM amount1 GBSystem Shared
Memory bus width64 BitSystem Shared
Memory clock speed5012 MHzSystem Shared
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 Connectorsno dataPortable Device Dependent

Supported technologies

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

Optimus+-

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.012 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Modelno data6.8
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.1
Vulkan-1.3
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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 3.69
Radeon 780M 18.23
+394%

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
Radeon 780M 12785
+396%

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
Radeon 780M 7987
+285%

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
Radeon 780M 48112
+323%

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
Radeon 780M 429810
+248%

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 HD28
−25%
35
+25%
1440p3−4
−467%
17
+467%
4K2−3
−500%
12
+500%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
−454%
70−75
+454%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−463%
45
+463%
Fortnite 18−20
−389%
90−95
+389%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
−338%
70−75
+338%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 14−16
−327%
60−65
+327%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
−454%
70−75
+454%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 60−65
−243%
210−220
+243%
Dota 2 30−35
−219%
100−110
+219%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−413%
41
+413%
Fortnite 18−20
−389%
90−95
+389%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
−338%
70−75
+338%
Grand Theft Auto V 10−11
−340%
44
+340%
Metro Exodus 6−7
−383%
29
+383%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 14−16
−327%
60−65
+327%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
−360%
46
+360%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
−454%
70−75
+454%
Dota 2 30−35
−219%
100−110
+219%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−388%
39
+388%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
−338%
70−75
+338%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 14−16
−327%
60−65
+327%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
−190%
29
+190%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 18−20
−389%
90−95
+389%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 24−27
−381%
120−130
+381%
Metro Exodus 2−3
−1000%
21−24
+1000%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Far Cry 5 6−7
−350%
27
+350%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−425%
40−45
+425%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 7−8
−457%
35−40
+457%

4K
High Preset

Grand Theft Auto V 16−18
−31.3%
21
+31.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Dota 2 10−12
−445%
60−65
+445%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−200%
12
+200%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
−900%
30−33
+900%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 4−5
−325%
16−18
+325%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 4−5
−325%
16−18
+325%

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 49
+0%
49
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 32
+0%
32
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 39
+0%
39
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 39
+0%
39
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 26
+0%
26
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 31
+0%
31
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 23
+0%
23
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 25
+0%
25
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24
+0%
24
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 23
+0%
23
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Grand Theft Auto V 18
+0%
18
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Valorant 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16
+0%
16
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20
+0%
20
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 15
+0%
15
+0%
Valorant 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6
+0%
6
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Radeon 780M compete in popular games:

  • Radeon 780M is 25% faster in 1080p
  • Radeon 780M is 467% faster in 1440p
  • Radeon 780M is 500% faster in 4K

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

  • in Metro Exodus, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the Radeon 780M is 1000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Radeon 780M is ahead in 33 tests (49%)
  • there's a draw in 34 tests (51%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.69 18.23
Recency 1 October 2015 6 December 2023
Chip lithography 28 nm 4 nm

Radeon 780M has a 394% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, and a 600% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon 780M is our recommended choice as it beats the Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) in performance tests.

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NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
AMD Radeon 780M
Radeon 780M

Other comparisons

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

Community ratings

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