Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000), covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book
2015
1 GB GDDR5
3.69

RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book by a significant 22% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking711658
Place by popularitynot in top-10030
Power efficiencyno data20.92
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)Vega (2017−2020)
GPU code nameSurface BookVega Raven Ridge
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 October 2015 (9 years ago)26 October 2017 (7 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 cores384512
Core clock speed954 MHzno data
Boost clock speed993 MHz1200 MHz
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data15 Watt

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 typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount1 GBno data
Memory bus width64 Bitno data
Memory clock speed5012 MHzno data
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 (FL 11_0)12_1
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.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 3.69
RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 4.50
+22%

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 2577
RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 3557
+38%

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 2076
RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 2381
+14.7%

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 11380
RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 15770
+38.6%

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 123411
+9%
RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) 113247

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 HD24
+41.2%
17
−41.2%
4K8−9
−25%
10
+25%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9
+28.6%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−36.4%
15
+36.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−400%
10
+400%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−125%
18
+125%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−25%
10
+25%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9
+28.6%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−157%
18
+157%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−80%
18
+80%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−176%
58
+176%
Hitman 3 9−10
+0%
9
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−15.4%
30−33
+15.4%
Metro Exodus 6−7
−267%
22
+267%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−77.8%
16
+77.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−35.7%
19
+35.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−54.8%
65
+54.8%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−173%
30
+173%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−25%
10
+25%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+16.7%
6
−16.7%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−42.9%
10
+42.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−30%
13
+30%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−148%
52
+148%
Hitman 3 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−15.4%
30−33
+15.4%
Metro Exodus 6−7
−183%
17
+183%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−11.1%
10
+11.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−14.3%
16
+14.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−107%
31
+107%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−31%
55
+31%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+37.5%
8
−37.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
+14.3%
7
−14.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+40%
5
−40%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−9.5%
23
+9.5%
Hitman 3 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
+73.3%
15
−73.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+0%
14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+87.5%
8
−87.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−7.1%
45−50
+7.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−11.1%
10
+11.1%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
−300%
8−9
+300%
Hitman 3 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 21−24
−21.7%
27−30
+21.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−100%
4
+100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
−350%
9
+350%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Metro Exodus 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Metro Exodus 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 0−1 0−1

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book and RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) compete in popular games:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 41% faster in 1080p
  • RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) is 25% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 88% faster.
  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) is 400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is ahead in 6 tests (9%)
  • RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) is ahead in 50 tests (75%)
  • there's a draw in 11 tests (16%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.69 4.50
Recency 1 October 2015 26 October 2017
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm

RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) has a 22% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) is our recommended choice as it beats the Maxwell GPU Surface Book 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 Maxwell GPU Surface Book
Maxwell GPU Surface Book
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)

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.


3.2 6 votes

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3.5 1401 vote

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Questions & comments

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