The Microsoft Surface Book Review
by Brett Howse on November 10, 2015 8:00 AM ESTCompute with the Surface Book
When discussing Ultrabooks, the word Compute doesn’t get thrown around very often, and for good reason. Even the MacBook Pro 13 only comes with Intel Iris graphics (no GT3e yet) and although Intel’s GPUs have been a priority over the last couple of generations, just like in gaming there is only so much you can do when your TDP is shared with the processor.
With Surface Book, there is more of an opportunity here. If you opt for the model with the NVIDIA GPU, you gain access to CUDA, which is NVIDIA’s parallel computing platform. Quite a few applications that need strong parallel processing have CUDA available as an option. Adobe, for instance, has CUDA support in many of their professional products like Photoshop, After Effects, Premier Pro, and more. NVIDIA lists hundreds of applications on their site which can benefit from GPU compute power, and there are also OpenCL applications as well which would benefit from the more powerful dGPU.
Expectations need to be put in check of course, because the GPU available in the Surface Book is not a workstation class GPU, so we shall see how it compares on these types of tasks. This is not an area where we have an extensive database of other devices, and normally compute is not a heavy focus for Ultrabook reviews, but I feel the Surface Book may find a niche with content creators so it’s worth examining.
Compubench
From the makers of GFXBench is Compubench, and like GFXBench, there are a number of tests which can be completed with either the CPU only, or by choosing a GPU.
The results are a bit mixed. Some of the tests respond very well to having the NVIDIA GPU, but some of the others don’t get as much of a benefit. But where the GPU helps, it can help a lot. Several of the tasks are 50% faster, and the Video Composition sub-test is 212% faster on the discrete GPU.
Agisoft Photscan
This software performs photogrammetric processing of images, and it has an option to use the GPU or just standalone with the CPU. Of the entire benchmark, only one section actually leverages the GPU functions so that test has been highlighted.
Even the one accelerated test still only shows a 5% decrease in time with the GPU being used. This highlights that even though a task may be accelerated with the GPU, the overall impact may not always be what you are expecting, since not all tasks can be done in parallel.
Using the Surface Book NVIDIA GPU for Compute
There is no doubt that if you are performing work that supports CUDA, the NVIDIA option on the Surface Book is going to make an impact. The question of course is how much. Applications such as those from Adobe do leverage CUDA, but it’s not for all tasks. This is kind of the issue with considering the GPU for compute. If you are someone who uses Adobe Premiere on the go, and need something smaller than a typical workstation class notebook, the GPU is going to help out, but since it doesn’t get leveraged for all tasks, it is very dependent on the exact task that you are performing.
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DanNeely - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Thanks. Now that I know where they are, I can see them in a few other reviews pictures; but for the most part they're almost as hidden in the shadow as in Brett's pictures here.I'm surprised that single line of holes is it if the clipboard has them all the way around.
tipoo - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Seems like more than enough given the lack of throttling. The keyboard part only has to worry about the GPU in isolation; the tablet part has to worry about both the CPU and integrated GPU getting engaged at once I guess, plus it has that large passive copper heat block, so some of the side holes are more for passive ventilation than direct fan output/input I would guess.It's actually quite the thermal marvel really.
DanNeely - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Admittedly we don't have TDP numbers for the GPU; but it's similar to a 940M which is a 36W part. That's twice the TDP of the CPU and probably half again as much as the entire slate half runs at; I'd've expected it to have significantly more cooling built in; so seeing it with less than half the ventilation holes is surprising.tipoo - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
I read 30W for the custom one, but you're right, it does have higher TDP. But I think some of the vent holes in the top part are either aesthetic or for passive cooling, look at the MBP design that does it all through a similar keyboard vent.Or maybe it can change the airflow direction like older Surfaces could due to how you were holding it? Then it would make sense for the top to have added slots.
In either case this is mostly academic, as the cooling seems to prevent throttling at all.
pixelpusher - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
You can see them in this picture....http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/1...
pixelpusher - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
The tablet part has to deal with thermals that change as the tablet is rotated. Early pc tablets did not use a butterfly design so could get hot as the user placed it in portrait mode for instance.Teknobug - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Had my hands on one of these last Friday, my goodness makes me want one even more. But gonna have to wait til after New Years.Jumangi - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
If their are going to be some issues I'd rather they be software than hardware. Updates can fix the issues this has, a hardware flaw is their forever.Appanage - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
Better yet, how about none to begin? These are the PITAs that add up to a huge waste of time and constantly being ticked when your device is incapable of working as it should.tipoo - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link
I'm curious how the Skylake Iris not-Pros with 64MB eDRAM will compare to this GPU. If they come close, the keyboard GPU loses some appeal. I think there's a SP4 coming with it too.I hope they offer upgraded GPUs down the line with the swappable keyboard, good opportunity there.