CPU/GPU Specs, Why no info?

[kozak79]

So many people posting here that they had a chance to play with one at their local store, why didn't anyone think to right click on the desktop and click on properties to see which GPU is in the BOOK???

If I had a chance to play with one that's the first thing I would do.

 

[GreyFox7]

So many people posting here that they had a chance to play with one at their local store, why didn't anyone think to right click on the desktop and click on properties to see which GPU is in the BOOK???

If I had a chance to play with one that's the first thing I would do.

Assuming it's a custom GPU as the rumors and speculation indicate then the "G8" or whatever it says wont really tell us anything.

Or if its a cut down 960m and it says 960m-r2 we're still in the dark about how much its been modified. Did they cut out half of the GPU cores? A quarter? Change the clocks?

When it gets benchmarked by Anandtech is when we will know what's what.

 

[jnjroach]

It is a custom GPU, it will not give you specifics that you're hunting for as the Hardware IDs are unique to this device....

Mary Jo has confirmed this article from her MS contacts (as it is 3rd party and not me)

Microsoft Surface Book Comes With A Custom NVIDIA GPU - Microsoft News

 

[kozak79]

Assuming it's a custom GPU as the rumors and speculation indicate then the "G8" or whatever it says wont really tell us anything.

Or if its a cut down 960m and it says 960m-r2 we're still in the dark about how much its been modified. Did they cut out half of the GPU cores? A quarter? Change the clocks?

When it gets benchmarked by Anandtech is when we will know what's what.

When there is an Nvidia GPU, right clicking on the desktop gives you the option to open the Nvidia Control Panel, which will have Clocks, Cuda Cores, and Memory information. Like this:

 

[daniielrp]

When there is an Nvidia GPU, right clicking on the desktop gives you the option to open the Nvidia Control Panel, which will have Clocks, Cuda Cores, and Memory information. Like this:

Correction - when there is an nVidia gpu AND you have the nVidia software running on the machine. Surface typically do not come with any 3rd party software so you can't say for certain it will have this function, especially if it is a custom chip.

 

[unruledboy]

Microsoft Surface Book's Secret Nvidia GPU: What Is It? | Gizmodo Australia
Microsoft Surface Book's Secret Nvidia GPU: What Is It?

 

[kozak79]

Correction - when there is an nVidia gpu AND you have the nVidia software running on the machine. Surface typically do not come with any 3rd party software so you can't say for certain it will have this function, especially if it is a custom chip.

Not necessarily, my laptop has a Geforce GTX 660, and after a clean install, Windows Update installed the latest Microsfot Certified Nvidia drivers, with control panel. I can't imagine that Microsoft wrote their own driver for the Nvidia GPU. They never have in the past.

 

[nogridbag]

When there is an Nvidia GPU, right clicking on the desktop gives you the option to open the Nvidia Control Panel, which will have Clocks, Cuda Cores, and Memory information. Like this:

When I tried out the SB in the store (i5 model), I could not find the Nvidia control panel anywhere, even when I right clicked the desktop. I tried windows-key and then typing "nvidia" and it only gave me links to the app store. As I mentioned in my review, I think the model I demo'ed did not have a dGPU (I'm guessing it's pre-production since it was an i5 with 512GB of storage).

 

[jnjroach]

Microsoft doesn't even include the Intel Control Panel.... and since this is a custom GPU jointly developed by MS and NVIDIA we don't even know if the CP would recognize the GPU except as a Maxwell Core.

 

[kozak79]

When I tried out the SB in the store (i5 model), I could not find the Nvidia control panel anywhere, even when I right clicked the desktop. I tried windows-key and then typing "nvidia" and it only gave me links to the app store. As I mentioned in my review, I think the model I demo'ed did not have a dGPU (I'm guessing it's pre-production since it was an i5 with 512GB of storage).

You could have had the one without the Nvidia GPU, the lowest end Book will not have the Nvidia GPU.

 

[bangsters]

I'm on the phone with MS Store personnel. He's talking to their tech guy. From what he said the i7 is 6 cores... i5 is quad core.... again, I'm relaying info from what the guy at MS Store told me. He was talking to someone else for the specs, and he did mention those are official specs that he was getting....

... take with a grain of salt.

 

[GreyFox7]

I'm on the phone with MS Store personnel. He's talking to their tech guy. From what he said the i7 is 6 cores... i5 is quad core.... again, I'm relaying info from what the guy at MS Store told me. He was talking to someone else for the specs, and he did mention those are official specs that he was getting....

... take with a grain of salt.

Not 6 Cores. here's the full list of Intel Skylake CPUs announced to date and none have 6 cores.
Products (Formerly Skylake)

Haha maybe Microsoft and Intel made a custom CPU for the Surface... no way - didn't happen.

I should add that in the 15W range of "U" series CPU's none have 4 cores either. There's 25W "E" series CPU's with 4 cores but I cannot see them using that in an 8.x mm Surface, too much heat.