GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Maxwell GPU Surface Book

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 550 Ti and Maxwell GPU Surface Book 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 550 Ti will be the best choice, for others Maxwell GPU Surface Book will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Maxwell GPU Surface Book 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 here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 550 Ti Maxwell GPU Surface Book
Power consumption (TDP) 116 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors One 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI
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  • GeForce GTX 550 Ti and Maxwell GPU Surface Book have maximum RAM of 1 GB.
  • GeForce GTX 550 Ti is used in Desktops, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 550 Ti is build with Fermi architecture, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book - with Maxwell.
  • Core clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 54 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 550 Ti.
  • GeForce GTX 550 Ti is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Maxwell GPU Surface Book - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 5008 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 7−8 8−9
ultra / 1080p 4−5 5−6
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 18−20 20−22
medium / 1080p 9−10 10−12
The average gaming FPS of Maxwell GPU Surface Book in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 10% more, than GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 550 Ti Maxwell GPU Surface Book
Architecture Fermi Maxwell
Code name GF116 Surface Book
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 15 March 2011 1 October 2015
Pipelines 192 384
Core clock speed 900 MHz 954 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz
Transistor count 1,170 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 28.8 billion/sec
Floating-point performance 691.2 gflops
Length 8.25" (21 cm)
Memory bus width 192 Bit 64 Bit
Memory clock speed 4.1 GB/s 5012 MHz
Memory bandwidth 98.4 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_0) DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0
Shader Model 5.1
OpenGL 4.2
OpenCL 1.1
Vulkan N/A
CUDA + +
CUDA cores 192
Bus support 16x PCI-E 2.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 44 Mh/s
Optimus +
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