AMD Radeon HD 6950M vs NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)

#ad
Buy
VS

Combined performance score

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
3.64
+3.1%

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 3% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking673679
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for moneyno data0.49
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameSurface BookBlackcomb Pro
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 October 2015 (8 years old)6 January 2011 (13 years old)
Current priceno data$338
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 cores384960
Core clock speed954 MHz580 MHz
Boost clock speed993 MHzno data
Number of transistorsno data1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data50 Watt
Texture fill rateno data27.84
Floating-point performanceno data1,113.6 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Radeon HD 6950M 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.

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Interfaceno dataMXM-B (3.0)

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB2 GB
Memory bus width64 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed5012 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data115.2 GB/s
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

API support

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

DirectXDirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.011.2 (11_0)
Shader Modelno data5.0
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno data1.2
Vulkanno dataN/A
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
+3.1%
HD 6950M 3.53

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 3% 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
+5.1%
HD 6950M 2452

Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 5% in 3DMark 11 Performance 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
+3.7%
27−30
−3.7%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+7.7%
12−14
−7.7%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+7.7%
12−14
−7.7%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
Metro Exodus 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
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
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

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
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

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 0−1

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 HD 6950M compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 3.7% faster than HD 6950M

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

  • in Far Cry 5, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is 20% faster than the HD 6950M.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) is ahead in 6 tests (16%)
  • there's a draw in 32 tests (84%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 3.64 3.53
Recency 1 October 2015 6 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm

We couldn't decide between Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) and Radeon HD 6950M. 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)
AMD Radeon HD 6950M
Radeon HD 6950M

Similar GPU comparisons

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

User ratings: view and submit

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.7 3 votes

Rate NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
5 1 vote

Rate AMD Radeon HD 6950M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.