GeForce GT 540M vs 9800M GT SLI

Place in the ranking	887	1042
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	1.07	2.43
Architecture	G9x (2007−2010)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	NB9E-GT2	GF108
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	15 July 2008 (16 years ago)	5 January 2011 (13 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	192	96
Core clock speed	500 MHz	672 MHz
Number of transistors	1508 Million	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	65 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	35 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	10.75
Floating-point processing power	no data	0.258 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	4
TMUs	no data	16

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop size	large	large
Interface	no data	MXM-A (3.0)
SLI options	+	-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	GDDR3	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	28.8 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors

no data

No outputs

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

3D Blu-Ray	-	+
3D Gaming	-	+
Optimus	-	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	10	12 API
Shader Model	no data	5.1
OpenGL	no data	4.5
OpenCL	no data	1.1
Vulkan	-	N/A
CUDA	+	+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

9800M GT SLI 2.03
+63.7%

GT 540M 1.24

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

9800M GT SLI 6271
+44%

GT 540M 4355

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p	24−27 +50%	16 −50%
Full HD	30−35 +50%	20 −50%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5
+33.3%

3−4

−33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 +21.4%	14−16 −21.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +6.1%	30−35 −6.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Battlefield 5	1−2	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 +21.4%	14−16 −21.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +9.1%	10−12 −9.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +6.1%	30−35 −6.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +25%	4−5 −25%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 +21.4%	14−16 −21.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +9.1%	10−12 −9.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +6.1%	30−35 −6.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5
+100%

2−3

−100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+25%

4−5

−25%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

This is how 9800M GT SLI and GT 540M compete in popular games:

9800M GT SLI is 50% faster in 900p
9800M GT SLI is 50% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the 9800M GT SLI is 300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

9800M GT SLI is ahead in 43 tests (91%)
there's a draw in 4 tests (9%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.03	1.24
Recency	15 July 2008	5 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	2 GB
Chip lithography	65 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	35 Watt

9800M GT SLI has a 63.7% higher aggregate performance score.

GT 540M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 62.5% more advanced lithography process, and 271.4% lower power consumption.

The GeForce 9800M GT SLI is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 540M in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.