Radeon R9 M385 vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon R9 M385, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book
2015
1 GB GDDR5
3.69

R9 M385 outperforms Maxwell GPU Surface Book by a considerable 45% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking712614
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)
GPU code nameSurface BookStrato
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 October 2015 (9 years ago)5 May 2015 (9 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 cores384896
Core clock speed954 MHz900 MHz
Boost clock speed993 MHz1100 MHz
Number of transistorsno data2,080 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Texture fill rateno data56.00
Floating-point processing powerno data1.792 TFLOPS
ROPsno data16
TMUsno data56

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 sizeno datamedium sized
Bus supportno dataPCIe 3.0
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB4 GB
Memory bus width64 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed5012 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data76.8 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 Connectorsno dataNo outputs
Eyefinity-+

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
PowerTune-+
DualGraphics-+
TrueAudio-+
ZeroCore-+
Switchable graphics-+
Optimus+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (FL 11_0)DirectX® 12
Shader Modelno data6.3
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno dataNot Listed
Mantle-+
CUDA+-

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
−25%
30−35
+25%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−27.3%
14−16
+27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−75%
14−16
+75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−71.4%
12−14
+71.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−50%
14−16
+50%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−61.9%
30−35
+61.9%
Hitman 3 9−10
−22.2%
10−12
+22.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−30.8%
30−35
+30.8%
Metro Exodus 6−7
−117%
12−14
+117%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−55.6%
14−16
+55.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−35.7%
18−20
+35.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−14.3%
45−50
+14.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−27.3%
14−16
+27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−75%
14−16
+75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−71.4%
12−14
+71.4%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−50%
14−16
+50%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−61.9%
30−35
+61.9%
Hitman 3 9−10
−22.2%
10−12
+22.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−30.8%
30−35
+30.8%
Metro Exodus 6−7
−117%
12−14
+117%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−55.6%
14−16
+55.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−35.7%
18−20
+35.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−20%
18−20
+20%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−14.3%
45−50
+14.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
−27.3%
14−16
+27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−37.5%
10−12
+37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−71.4%
12−14
+71.4%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
−61.9%
30−35
+61.9%
Hitman 3 9−10
−22.2%
10−12
+22.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−30.8%
30−35
+30.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−35.7%
18−20
+35.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−20%
18−20
+20%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−14.3%
45−50
+14.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−55.6%
14−16
+55.6%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−66.7%
10−11
+66.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
−550%
12−14
+550%
Hitman 3 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
−33.3%
12−14
+33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 21−24
−47.8%
30−35
+47.8%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−42.9%
10−11
+42.9%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
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
−50%
3−4
+50%
Forza Horizon 4 2−3
−150%
5−6
+150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 0−1
Metro Exodus 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

This is how Maxwell GPU Surface Book and R9 M385 compete in popular games:

  • R9 M385 is 25% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 M385 is 550% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 M385 is ahead in 61 test (90%)
  • there's a draw in 7 tests (10%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.69 5.35
Recency 1 October 2015 5 May 2015
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB

Maxwell GPU Surface Book has an age advantage of 4 months.

R9 M385, on the other hand, has a 45% higher aggregate performance score, and a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The Radeon R9 M385 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 R9 M385
Radeon R9 M385

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.


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5 1 vote

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Questions & comments

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