Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 vs NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

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Combined performance score

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
3.64

Iris Plus Graphics 640 outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) by 5% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking673662
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for moneyno data0.84
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Gen. 9.5 Kaby Lake (2015−2017)
GPU code nameSurface BookKaby Lake GT3e
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 October 2015 (8 years old)3 January 2017 (7 years old)
Current priceno data$669
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores38448
Core clock speed954 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speed993 MHz1050 MHz
Number of transistorsno data189 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data15 Watt
Texture fill rateno data52.80

Size and compatibility

Information on Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Iris Plus Graphics 640 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x1

Memory

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 typeGDDR5DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4
Maximum RAM amount1 GB32 GB
Memory bus width64 Bit64/128 Bit
Memory clock speed5012 MHzSystem Shared
Shared memory-+

Video outputs and ports

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 dataNo outputs

Technologies

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

Optimus+no data
Quick Syncno data+

API support

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

DirectXDirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.012 (12_1)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.1
Vulkanno data1.1.103
CUDA+no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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) 3.64
Iris Plus Graphics 640 3.84
+5.5%

Iris Plus Graphics 640 outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) by 5% in our combined benchmark results.


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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2577
+8.3%
Iris Plus Graphics 640 2379

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Iris Plus Graphics 640 by 8% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 2076
+48.9%
Iris Plus Graphics 640 1394

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Iris Plus Graphics 640 by 49% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 11380
+1.2%
Iris Plus Graphics 640 11248

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Iris Plus Graphics 640 by 1% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) 123411
Iris Plus Graphics 640 145481
+17.9%

Iris Plus Graphics 640 outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) by 18% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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
+27.3%
22
−27.3%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Metro Exodus 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−14.3%
8−9
+14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Far Cry 5 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+100%
4
−100%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 0−1 1−2

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Iris Plus Graphics 640 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 27.3% faster than Iris Plus Graphics 640

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 (940M, GDDR5) is 100% faster than the Iris Plus Graphics 640.
  • in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Iris Plus Graphics 640 is 100% faster than the Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5).

All in all, in popular games:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is ahead in 1 test (3%)
  • Iris Plus Graphics 640 is ahead in 15 tests (39%)
  • there's a draw in 22 tests (58%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 3.64 3.84
Recency 1 October 2015 3 January 2017
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 32 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm

We couldn't decide between Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Iris Plus Graphics 640. The differences in performance seem too small.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
Iris Plus Graphics 640

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Questions and comments

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