Maxwell GPU Surface Book vs Radeon HD 8870M

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 8870M. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 8870M. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 8870M are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 8870M 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 or Radeon HD 8870M here:

Main Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 8870M
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5, DDR3
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 8870M has 1 GB more memory, than Maxwell GPU Surface Book.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 8870M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 229 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8870M.
  • Maxwell GPU Surface Book and Radeon HD 8870M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Maxwell GPU Surface Book is 512 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8870M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 8−9 7−8
ultra / 1080p 5−6 4−5
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 20−22 18−20
medium / 1080p 10−12 9−10
The average gaming FPS of Maxwell GPU Surface Book in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 10% more, than Radeon HD 8870M.

Full Specs

  Maxwell GPU Surface Book Radeon HD 8870M
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name Surface Book Venus
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 1 October 2015 18 December 2012
Pipelines 384 640
Core clock speed 954 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 993 MHz 775 MHz
Transistor count 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 31.00
Floating-point performance 992.0 gflops
Memory bus width 64 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 5012 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 72 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) 107 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Optimus +
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