Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 vs Radeon HD 8790M

In this comparison between Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 and Radeon HD 8790M 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 Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8790M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 and Radeon HD 8790M are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 and Radeon HD 8790M are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 or Radeon HD 8790M here:

Main Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 Radeon HD 8790M
Interface MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 8790M has 1 GB more memory, than Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 8790M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is 104 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8790M.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 and Radeon HD 8790M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 is 512 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 3−4
ultra / 1080p 5−6 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 21−24 14−16
medium / 1080p 12−14 6−7
The average gaming FPS of Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Full Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book 940M GDDR5 Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name Surface Book Mars XTX
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 1 October 2015 16 November 2012
Pipelines 384 384
Core clock speed 954 MHz 850 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 21.60
Floating-point performance 691.2 gflops
Memory bus width 64 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 5012 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 64 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.6
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
CUDA +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Optimus +
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