GeForce GTX 280 vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 280 and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce GTX 280 will be the best choice, for others Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5
Power consumption (TDP) 236 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 6-pin & 8-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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  • GeForce GTX 280 and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 have maximum RAM of 1 GB.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is used in Desktops, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 - with Maxwell.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 280 is 342 MHz higher, than Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5.
  • GeForce GTX 280 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is 3905 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 280.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 1−2 9−10
ultra / 1080p 0−1 5−6
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 12−14 21−24
medium / 1080p 3−4 12−14
The average gaming FPS of Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 150% more, than GeForce GTX 280.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 280 Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5
Architecture Tesla 2.0 Maxwell
Code name GT200 Surface Book
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 16 June 2008 1 October 2015
Pipelines 240 384
Core clock speed 1296 MHz 954 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 48.2 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 622.1 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Memory bus width 512 Bit 64 Bit
Memory clock speed 1107 MHz 5012 MHz
Memory bandwidth 141.7 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0
Shader Model 4.0
OpenGL 2.1
OpenCL 1.1
Vulkan N/A
CUDA + +
CUDA cores 240
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Optimus +
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