Maxwell GPU Surface Book vs Radeon HD 5970

When choosing between Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 5970, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 5970.

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

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 5970
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 5970 have maximum RAM of 1 GB.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 5970 - in Desktops.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 5970 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 229 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5970 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 1012 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 8−9 10−12
ultra / 1080p 5−6 6−7
QHD / 1440p 0−1 1−2
low / 720p 20−22 24−27
medium / 1080p 10−12 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 5970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 27% more, than Maxwell GPU Surface Book.

Full Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 5970
Architecture Maxwell TeraScale 2
Code name Surface Book Hemlock
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 1 October 2015 18 November 2009
Pipelines 384 1600
Core clock speed 954 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz
Transistor count 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 58.00
Floating-point performance 2x 2,320.0 gflops
Length 305 mm
Memory bus width 64 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 5012 MHz 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX DirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.0
OpenGL 4.4
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
Optimus +
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