Iris Xe MAX Graphics vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

Place in the ranking	710	621
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	no data	14.13
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	Generation 12.1 (2020−2021)
GPU code name	Surface Book	DG1
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 October 2015 (9 years ago)	31 October 2020 (4 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	768
Core clock speed	954 MHz	300 MHz
Boost clock speed	993 MHz	1650 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	10 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	25 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	79.20
Floating-point processing power	no data	2.534 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	24
TMUs	no data	48

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).

Interface

no data

PCIe 4.0 x4

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	LPDDR4X
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	5012 MHz	2133 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	68.26 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

No outputs

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	6.4
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.2
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 (940M, GDDR5) 3.69

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 5.11
+38.5%

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

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 8214
+219%

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

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 6333
+205%

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

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 36993
+225%

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

Iris Xe MAX Graphics 177442
+43.8%

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 +3.7%	27 −3.7%
1440p	12−14 −41.7%	17 +41.7%
4K	10−12 −60%	16 +60%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −145%	27−30 +145%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −350%	35−40 +350%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −188%	21−24 +188%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −286%	27−30 +286%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −220%	30−35 +220%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −262%	75−80 +262%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −267%	33 +267%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −164%	35−40 +164%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −145%	27−30 +145%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −350%	35−40 +350%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −188%	21−24 +188%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −286%	27−30 +286%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −220%	30−35 +220%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −262%	75−80 +262%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −617%	43 +617%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −256%	30−35 +256%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −136%	33 +136%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −93.3%	27−30 +93.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −145%	27−30 +145%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −25%	10−11 +25%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −286%	27−30 +286%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −20%	12−14 +20%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −262%	75−80 +262%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −20%	18 +20%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −33.3%	4−5 +33.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 −28.6%	9−10 +28.6%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −267%	10−12 +267%
Battlefield 5	6−7 −33.3%	8−9 +33.3%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −225%	12−14 +225%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 −33.3%	8−9 +33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −2600%	50−55 +2600%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −25%	5−6 +25%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −250%	7−8 +250%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	2−3 −650%	14−16 +650%

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

18−20

+0%

18−20

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	19 +0%	19 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Hitman 3	24 +0%	24 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Metro Exodus	57 +0%	57 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6 +0%	6 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Hitman 3	23 +0%	23 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	60−65 +0%	60−65 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Hitman 3	21 +0%	21 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	26 +0%	26 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	29 +0%	29 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Hitman 3	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Metro Exodus	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20 +0%	20 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

+0%

18−20

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%
Metro Exodus	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	11 +0%	11 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	11 +0%	11 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−12

+0%

10−12

+0%

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

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 4% faster in 1080p
Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 42% faster in 1440p
Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 60% faster in 4K

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 2600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Iris Xe MAX Graphics is ahead in 28 tests (39%)
there's a draw in 44 tests (61%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.69	5.11
Recency	1 October 2015	31 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	10 nm

Iris Xe MAX Graphics has a 38.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 180% more advanced lithography process.

The Iris Xe MAX Graphics 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.