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NVIDIA GeForce 940MX

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX

The Nvidia GeForce 940MX is a mid-range laptop graphics card with DirectX 12 support (FL 11_0). It has been announced in the first quarter of 2016 and is the refresh of the GeForce 940M. Compared to the older card, the new one is based on the same chip but now supports faster GDDR5. Therefore, it is similar to the Maxwell GPU in the Microsoft Surface Book but with more memory and higher clock speeds. However, most notebook vendors will use the slower DDR3 version of the 940MX that clocks only a few percent faster than the old GeForce 940M (1122 versus 1072 MHz base clock e.g.). 

For the GDDR5 version of the 940MX there appears to be also a variant with the GM107-B chip with 512 shaders instead of the 384 but lower clock speeds. The 940MX in the Acer Aspire E5-774G e.g. featured 512 shader cores (GM107) clocked at 795 - 861 MHz. The Dell Inspiron 17 7778 version however had the GM108 chip with 384 shaders clocked at 1083 - 1189 MHz.

The performance greatly depends on the used graphics memory and chip. According to our benchmarks (see below), the DDR3 version is very similar to the old 940M (due to only minor increased clock rates). The GDDR5 version however pushes ahead 20% (even 30% if paired with a fast desktop quad-core, but we lack 940M reference scores). Therefore, demanding games from 2015 should run fluently in low to medium settings and WXGA resolution. 

The TDP of the card should be rated at about 15 to 30 Watt (depending on the version, clock speeds and memory). Therefore, the GPU is best suited for laptops from 13-inch and up.

GeForce 900M Series

GeForce 945M compare 512 @ 0.93 - 1.05 GHz128 Bit @ 2000 MHz
Maxwell GPU (940M, GDDR5) compare 384 @ 0.95 - 0.99 GHz64 Bit @ 5012 MHz
GeForce 940MX 384 @ 1.12 - 1.24 GHz64 Bit @ 4000 MHz
GeForce 940M compare 384 @ 1.07 - 1.18 GHz64 Bit @ 2000 MHz
GeForce 930MX compare 384 @ 0.95 - 1.02 GHz64 Bit @ 2000 MHz
GeForce 930M compare 384 @ 0.93 - 0.94 GHz64 Bit @ 1800 MHz
GeForce 920MX compare 256 @ 0.97 - 0.99 GHz64 Bit @ 1800 MHz
GeForce 920M compare 384 @ 0.95 GHz64 Bit @ 1800 MHz
GeForce 910M compare 384 @ 0.64 GHz64 Bit @ 2000 MHz
CodenameN16S-GTR-B/S
ArchitectureMaxwell
Pipelines384 - unified
TMUs42
ROPs16
Core Speed1122 - 1242 (Boost) MHz
Memory Speed4000 effective = 1253 MHz
Memory Bus Width64 Bit
Memory TypeDDR3, GDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory4 GB
Shared Memoryno
Memory Bandwidth40.1 GB/s
APIDirectX 12 (FL 11_0), Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.5
Power Consumption15-25 Watt
Transistor Count1.9 Billion
technology28 nm
PCIe3.0
FeaturesGPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, PhysX, CUDA, GeForce Experience, GameWorks
Notebook Sizemedium sized
Date of Announcement10.03.2016
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.geforce.com

Benchmarks

Performance Rating - 3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy
0.7 pt (2%)
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Score
min: 514     avg: 649     median: 710 (2%)     max: 737 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy Graphics
min: 456     avg: 577     median: 626 (1%)     max: 647 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics
min: 110748     avg: 147080     median: 147706 (15%)     max: 178806 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme Graphics
min: 26424     avg: 44072     median: 43341 (5%)     max: 67037 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Score
min: 5606     avg: 7905     median: 7674 (7%)     max: 11839 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
min: 8165     avg: 11087     median: 11513 (3%)     max: 14485 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Score
min: 1365     avg: 1773     median: 1834 (3%)     max: 2256 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
min: 1540     avg: 1955     median: 1996 (2%)     max: 2403 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Graphics
min: 21217     avg: 52400     median: 48564 (5%)     max: 84989 Points
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
min: 2205     avg: 2731     median: 2660.5 (3%)     max: 3428 Points
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
min: 2171     avg: 2582     median: 2556 (2%)     max: 3164 Points
3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +
3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +
3DMark 06
min: 10351     avg: 13093     median: 12843 (17%)     max: 15623 Points
SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 snx-01
min: 5.52     avg: 5.9     median: 5.9 (3%)     max: 6.21 fps
specvp11 tcvis-02 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 tcvis-02
min: 1.33     avg: 1.5     median: 1.5 (1%)     max: 1.75 fps
specvp11 sw-02 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 sw-02
min: 10.59     avg: 12.2     median: 12.2 (9%)     max: 13.8 fps
specvp11 proe-05 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 proe-05
min: 2.48     avg: 3.1     median: 3.1 (4%)     max: 3.77 fps
specvp11 maya-03 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 maya-03
min: 7.81     avg: 9.4     median: 9.4 (7%)     max: 10.94 fps
specvp11 lightwave-01 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 lightwave-01
min: 18.63     avg: 19.7     median: 19.7 (21%)     max: 20.8 fps
specvp11 ensight-04 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 ensight-04
min: 19.12     avg: 21.1     median: 21.1 (10%)     max: 23 fps
specvp11 catia-03 +
SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 catia-03
min: 10.7     avg: 12.3     median: 12.3 (6%)     max: 13.92 fps
SPECviewperf 12
specvp12 sw-03 +
specvp12 snx-02 +
specvp12 showcase-01 +
specvp12 mediacal-01 +
specvp12 maya-04 +
specvp12 energy-01 +
specvp12 creo-01 +
specvp12 catia-04 +
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit)
min: 3154     avg: 5792     median: 6321.5 (4%)     max: 8276 points
Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit
min: 38.34     avg: 51.9     median: 49.6 (16%)     max: 70 fps
Cinebench R15
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit +
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
min: 38.08     avg: 63.8     median: 64.5 (4%)     max: 81.6 fps
Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit +
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 OpenGL Ref. Match 64 Bit
min: 2.34     avg: 97     median: 99.6 (100%)     max: 99.6 %
GFXBench 3.1 - GFXBench Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen
min: 54.4     avg: 60.3     median: 60.3 (1%)     max: 66.2 fps
GFXBench 3.0 - GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan Offscreen
min: 67.5     avg: 73.5     median: 69.3 (3%)     max: 83.7 fps
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
GFXBench T-Rex HD Offscreen C24Z16 +
Emissions Witcher 3 Fan Noise +