Surface Book GPU Confirmed 10/20/15 UPDATE

[randomhkkid]

Update 10/20/15

 

 

New info from Hothardware shows that the custom gpu has 32 texture mapping units and 16 render output units, up from the 24 and 8 on the 940m respectively.

 

Information from this post on reddit by user BullOak.

 

The OP got his hands on a dGPU Surface Book at a microsoft store. Using Nvidia control panel to see the specs he obtained this:

 

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit

DirectX version: 12.0

GPU processor: GeForce GPU

Driver version: 354.15

Direct3D API version: 12

Direct3D feature level: 11_0

CUDA Cores: 384

Core clock: 954 MHz

Memory data rate: 5010 MHz

Memory interface: 64-bit

Memory bandwidth: 40.08 GB/s

Total available graphics memory: 5081 MB

Dedicated video memory: 1024 MB GDDR5

System video memory: 0 MB

Shared system memory: 4057 MB

Video BIOS version: 82.08.4D.00.01

IRQ: Not used

Bus: PCI Express x4 Gen3

Device Id: 10DE 134B 00081414

Part Number: 2702 0001

 

From this we can see that the GPU is effectively a Maxwell 940m with half the normal amount of memory (1GB vs 2GB) but more than twice the bandwidth (5010mhz vs 2000mhz). Performance should therefore be between a 940m and a 950m with it being closer to the 940m in all but memory limited situations. Decent for pushing CAD at the high resolution but nothing earth shattering when it comes to games, unfortunately not the 960m a lot of people were hoping for. 

[LukaP]

Why would anyone in their right mind want a 960m in there? Or a dGPU of any kind. they shouldve waited to Iris Pro equipped Skylake-U and be done with it. more than enough power for CAD editing, 3d modelling or image manipulation

Edited October 18, 2015 by LukaP

[werto165]

Why would amypme om tjeor right mind want a 960m in there? Or a dGPU of any kind. they shouldve waited to Iris Pro equipped Skylake-U and be done with it. more than enough power for CAD editing, 3d modelling or image manipulation

And it was at this moment, LukaP died. amypme could tell you that. 

[qwertywarrior]

i wonder how much faster the 940 is over an IRIS GPU with DDR4

[AlexGoesHigh]

Well that's a bit disappointing given they have more that the average laptop space just to cool a dedicated graphics on that keyboard.

 

I mean they have the whole top of the keyboard for just that, instead of a traditional cpu and gpu combo.

[Bouzoo]

Why would amypme om tjeor right mind want a 960m in there? Or a dGPU of any kind. they shouldve waited to Iris Pro equipped Skylake-U and be done with it. more than enough power for CAD editing, 3d modelling or image manipulation

 

Because waiting for Skylake-U would postpone it for a while considering they need more tests. And the market doesn't always wait for you. The product had to be announced at their event is my take. 

[LukaP]

Because waiting for Skylake-U would postpone it for a while considering they need more tests. And the market doesn't always wait for you. The product had to be announced at their event is my take. 

I seriously hope they add a IP S-U SKU when the chips arrive. 

[randomhkkid]

Why would anyone in their right mind want a 960m in there? Or a dGPU of any kind. they shouldve waited to Iris Pro equipped Skylake-U and be done with it. more than enough power for CAD editing, 3d modelling or image manipulation

More power is always welcome, my cad models definitely need a dGPU to be workable. Iris Pro wouldn't allow the split of power between the two segments, in tablet form the battery life would have been abysmal. (The current ~3hrs is already pretty meh.)

[randomhkkid]

I seriously hope they add a IP S-U SKU when the chips arrive. 

IIRC Iris pro only adds an extra 64mb eDram, the iris 540 in the i7 models already have 64mb.

[werto165]

I seriously hope they add a IP S-U SKU when the chips arrive. 

So when my uni says that I need a xeon for running inventor, are they just talking out their ass? Because my i5 has been running it just fine until now, not that I have been doing anything demanding mind you. 

[patrickjp93]

So when my uni says that I need a xenon for running inventor, are they jsut talking out their ass? Because my i5 has been running it just fine until now, not that I have been doing anything demanding mind you.

That depends on project size. ECC is good to have for large projects since data errors in RAM increase in frequency with data size.

[manikyath]

Why would anyone in their right mind want a 960m in there? Or a dGPU of any kind. they shouldve waited to Iris Pro equipped Skylake-U and be done with it. more than enough power for CAD editing, 3d modelling or image manipulation

well... for all the hate we give nvidia's low-end garbage... if you know how to treat them you can get them to do some impressive stuff.

 

and i'm pretty sure they went the intel/nvidia combo here to do what intel/nvidia laptops have been somewhat doing for years: dont need the gpu? turn it off entirely. only this time, you can physically disconnect the GPU entirely, and use the device as a "low power" tablet.

 

 

So when my uni says that I need a xeon for running inventor, are they just talking out their ass? Because my i5 has been running it just fine until now, not that I have been doing anything demanding mind you. 

they're talking out of what the companies that sell them the software and hardware want them to believe. fun sidenote: quadcore xeons are the same chip as i5/i7.

[LukaP]

More power is always welcome, my cad models definitely need a dGPU to be workable. Iris Pro wouldn't allow the split of power between the two segments, in tablet form the battery life would have been abysmal. (The current ~3hrs is already pretty meh.)

The fuck kind of drawings are you editing that you cant just hide most components to make it workable?

 

IIRC Iris pro only adds an extra 64mb eDram, the iris 540 in the i7 models already have 64mb.

and twice the slices iirc

 

So when my uni says that I need a xenon for running inventor, are they jsut talking out their ass? Because my i5 has been running it just fine until now, not that I have been doing anything demanding mind you. 

Xeon* 

Yes and no. Inventor is only certified to run on Xeons and Quadros. That doesnt mean it wont run on your run of the mill i5, or that the Xeon version of that i5 will run it any better, just that its been tested to work on that, and not tested on consumer products.

 

A xeon is not inherently faster at CAD than a Core i. It all depends on the amount of cores and their speed.

[patrickjp93]

well... for all the hate we give nvidia's low-end garbage... if you know how to treat them you can get them to do some impressive stuff.

and i'm pretty sure they went the intel/nvidia combo here to do what intel/nvidia laptops have been somewhat doing for years: dont need the gpu? turn it off entirely. only this time, you can physically disconnect the GPU entirely, and use the device as a "low power" tablet.

they're talking out of what the companies that sell them the software and hardware want them to believe. fun sidenote: quadcore xeons are the same chip as i5/i7.

Correction: quad-core E3 Xeons are the same chips as their I5/I7 counterparts. The E5s and E7s that are quads are their own standalone design.

[LukaP]

well... for all the hate we give nvidia's low-end garbage... if you know how to treat them you can get them to do some impressive stuff.

 

and i'm pretty sure they went the intel/nvidia combo here to do what intel/nvidia laptops have been somewhat doing for years: dont need the gpu? turn it off entirely. only this time, you can physically disconnect the GPU entirely, and use the device as a "low power" tablet.

 

 

they're talking out of what the companies that sell them the software and hardware want them to believe. fun sidenote: quadcore xeons are the same chip as i5/i7.

no no, im not saying the GPU is crap, its a great thing to simulate your products on. but its not needed in a device like the surface book, which is meant as something you use on the ground when talking to engineers, showing them different parts of the assembly and such things. its not meant to be used to simulate, you have a workstation at work that does that.

[manikyath]

Correction: quad-core E3 Xeons are the same chips as their I5/I7 counterparts. The E5s and E7s that are quads are their own standalone design.

yeah, that. i forgot about E5 and E7.

[werto165]

That depends on project size. ECC is good to have for large projects since data errors in RAM increase in frequency with data size.

I've probably get plenty of time then, nothing first year is going to be too demanding I would imagine. What would be a good yet cheap processor to get into it when things get a bit more demanding?/what platform(I have never really looked into xeons so I feel a bit dumb). 

[manikyath]

no no, im not saying the GPU is crap, its a great thing to simulate your products on. but its not needed in a device like the surface book, which is meant as something you use on the ground when talking to engineers, showing them different parts of the assembly and such things. its not meant to be used to simulate, you have a workstation at work that does that.

well... this exact article has made me consider the surface book, if they manage to not let it throttle into oblivion, it may be a perfect upgrade for my samsung RC530

[LukaP]

well... this exact article has made me consider the surface book, if they manage to not let it throttle into oblivion, it may be a perfect upgrade for my samsung RC530

Id love it, if it were cheaper. This way, ill take my Y50. Faster, and still pretty damn portable

[manikyath]

Id love it, if it were cheaper. This way, ill take my Y50. Faster, and still pretty damn portable

yeah.. i'd probably have been rocking a surface already if they werent more expensive than a cruise ship...

[Geralt]

A maxwell Quadro maybe?

 

Definitely sounds like something that would be used for CAD applications rather than gaming.

[LukaP]

yeah.. i'd probably have been rocking a surface already if they werent more expensive than a cruise ship...

exactly. for that money id rather take a powerful laptop and a cheap windows tablet, and then just stream the screen to the tablet

[manikyath]

exactly. for that money id rather take a powerful laptop and a cheap windows tablet, and then just stream the screen to the tablet

or a desktop and stream that to the tablet

 

thats what my samsung has been doing mostly.

[LukaP]

A maxwell Quadro maybe?

 

Definitely sounds like something that would be used for CAD applications rather than gaming.

Meh, compute of maxwell is shit, so no use in that. rendering is single precision anyway, so a Geforce will do. what would be nice would be if this had 4GB of ECC on it

[LukaP]

or a desktop and stream that to the tablet

 

thats what my samsung has been doing mostly.

well i was thinking more "out in the field work" if i have a desktop close, id rather sit in a comfortable chair with a good mouse and keyboard and work off that anyway