NVIDIA GeForce 940MX

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is a Maxwell-based mobile GPU from the GeForce 900M generation, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC with 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die. It targets entry-level laptops and ultraportables, with an average benchmark score of 5653, placing it in the 32nd percentile of all GPUs. This is not a card for gaming at high settings or high resolutions; it is a solution for light, older, or esports titles at modest settings, and for general desktop acceleration. The data shows a clear ceiling for its capabilities, making it a candidate only for specific, low-demand use cases.

Who Should Consider It

Given its benchmark scores, the 940MX is suitable for users who primarily need a discrete GPU for basic 3D acceleration, video playback, and light productivity tasks, rather than for modern AAA gaming. In Geekbench OpenCL it scores 6341, and in Vulkan it scores 4965; these numbers indicate that while the GPU can handle compute and some graphics workloads, its performance is modest. For gaming, this translates to 720p or 1080p at low to medium settings in less demanding titles, like older esports games or indie releases. Users attempting to play modern, graphically intensive games at high settings will find the GPU inadequate; the low pixel rate of 6.888 GPixel/s and texture rate of 27.55 GTexel/s create a hard bottleneck that prevents smooth frame rates in such scenarios.

The 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 8 ROPs, combined with a 64-bit memory bus and 40.10 GB/s of bandwidth, reinforce this assessment. The memory configuration of 2 GB GDDR5 is sufficient for the GPU's intended workload but will quickly become a limitation for games that require more than 2 GB of VRAM, even at lower resolutions. This GPU is also a candidate for users who need CUDA acceleration for light compute tasks, though the FP32 performance of 881.7 GFLOPS is not high. In short, the 940MX is for users who need a step up from integrated graphics for basic tasks, but who have no expectation of high-end gaming performance. It is also a viable option for a secondary or backup laptop where battery life and low power draw are more critical than raw performance, given its 23 W TDP.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The 940MX does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as these are absent from the fact pack data. This means the GPU relies entirely on traditional rasterization techniques for graphics rendering. It does not support hardware-accelerated ray tracing in any form, which is a significant limitation for modern games that feature this technology, as they will either run poorly or require software fallbacks. The architecture is Maxwell, which predates NVIDIA's RTX line, so there is no DLSS support either, as that requires tensor cores. For API support, the GPU is capable of DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This means it can run games that use these modern APIs, but the feature level for DirectX 12 is limited to 11_0, which restricts some of the advanced features available in newer titles. The Vulkan 1.4 support is more forward-looking, allowing for efficient draw call handling in titles that use it. The display outputs are portable device dependent, meaning the actual ports available (HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.) depend on the specific laptop manufacturer's implementation, not the GPU itself. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x8, which is a half-bandwidth connection compared to a full x16 slot, but this is unlikely to be a major bottleneck for a GPU of this performance class. The memory clock is 1253 MHz with a 5 Gbps effective data rate, which is the only memory speed data available.

Benchmark Performance

Benchmark results place the 940MX in a tight cluster of similarly performing GPUs, according to the nearestRivals data. Its average score of 5653 is virtually identical to the NVIDIA Quadro M500M, which scores 5665, a delta of -0.2%. This indicates that the two GPUs are performance equivalents in averaged workloads; any real-world difference would be imperceptible. Against the NVIDIA GeForce MX130, the 940MX scores 0.3% higher (5653 vs 5634), meaning it is marginally faster, but again this is within the margin of error for most testing. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300 is 1% ahead, with a score of 5712, which puts the 940MX slightly behind this integrated solution in average benchmarks, a notable finding for a discrete GPU. The NVIDIA Quadro K4000 is the strongest rival, scoring 5723, which is 1.2% higher than the 940MX.

The Geekbench OpenCL score of 6341 is the higher of the two benchmark results, while the Vulkan score of 4965 is lower. This gap suggests the GPU performs better in compute-oriented OpenCL workloads than in graphics-oriented Vulkan tasks, which is typical for an older architecture not optimized for modern graphics APIs. In practical terms, the 940MX is 1.2% behind the Quadro K4000, 1% behind the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300, 0.3% ahead of the MX130, and 0.2% behind the Quadro M500M. These deltas are all negligible, so the 940MX should be considered the performance peer of these four other GPUs. The percentile rank of 32 indicates that it outperforms only 32% of all GPUs in the database, placing it firmly in the entry-level segment. The FP32 performance of 881.7 GFLOPS, pixel rate of 6.888 GPixel/s, and texture rate of 27.55 GTexel/s are the raw numbers that dictate this performance level, and they are all consistent with a GPU that is not designed for high-end tasks.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the GeForce 940MX than the GeForce MX130?

A: The 940MX has an average benchmark score of 5653, while the MX130 scores 5634, making the 940MX 0.3% faster in averaged benchmarks. This difference is negligible in practice.

Q: Does the 940MX support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The fact pack lists no RT cores for this GPU, and it is based on the Maxwell architecture, which does not include hardware ray tracing support. It also has no tensor cores, so DLSS is not available.

Q: What is the maximum memory bandwidth of the 940MX?

A: The GPU has a memory bandwidth of 40.10 GB/s, which is derived from a 64-bit memory bus and a 5 Gbps effective memory speed. This is a low figure that limits performance in memory-intensive tasks.

Q: Can the 940MX run games with Vulkan API?

A: Yes, the GPU supports Vulkan 1.4. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, it scores 4965, which indicates it can run Vulkan-based titles, though performance will be modest.

Q: Is the 940MX faster than the Quadro M500M?

A: The 940MX scores 5653, while the Quadro M500M scores 5665. The delta is -0.2%, meaning the Quadro M500M is slightly faster, but the difference is not significant.

Q: What is the DirectX feature level of this GPU?

A: The 940MX supports DirectX 12, but with a feature level of 11_0. This means it cannot use some of the more advanced DirectX 12 features available in newer GPUs.

How It Compares

NVIDIA Quadro M500M: The 940MX and Quadro M500M are near-perfect performance twins. The M500M scores 5665, which is 0.2% higher than the 940MX's 5653. In a laptop, choosing between these two would come down to driver support and features, not raw speed, as the data shows they are effectively equal.

NVIDIA GeForce MX130: The 940MX is marginally ahead of the MX130 by 0.3%, with scores of 5653 and 5634 respectively. This is a negligible lead, meaning that in everyday use, users would not notice a performance difference between the two. The MX130 is a direct successor in the entry-level mobile segment, and the data confirms they are peers.

Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300: This is a competitive integrated solution from Intel, and it scores 5712, which is 1% higher than the 940MX. This is a surprising result, as it shows a high-end integrated GPU can match or slightly beat a discrete entry-level GPU in averaged benchmarks, likely due to the 940MX's older Maxwell architecture and limited memory bandwidth.

NVIDIA Quadro K4000: The Quadro K4000 is the strongest rival listed, with a score of 5723, which is 1.2% higher than the 940MX. This is still a very small margin, but it places the K4000 at the top of this performance cluster. The 940MX is not outclassed, but it is strictly the slower of the two in this comparison.

Power and Cooling

The GeForce 940MX has a TDP of 23 W, which is very low for a discrete GPU. This low power draw means that it does not require a dedicated power connector; the fact pack lists its power connectors as "None". The slot width is "MXM Module", indicating it is designed for modular laptop implementations, though this does not affect the end user's power setup. Because of the low TDP, cooling requirements are minimal, and most laptops with this GPU will use a simple heatpipe and fan solution. The suggested PSU field is null, meaning NVIDIA does not specify a power supply recommendation; this is because the GPU is powered through the laptop's main power adapter, and the 23 W draw is easily handled by any standard laptop charger. The data indicates that the GPU is end-of-life, with a release date of 2016-06-27, and it succeeded the GeForce 800M series, being replaced by the GeForce 10 Mobile series. The power efficiency is the primary advantage of this GPU, allowing for thin and light laptop designs without significant thermal management challenges.