AMD Radeon 540X vs NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS SLI

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VS
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Price now 149$
Games supported 57%
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS SLI
NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS SLI
Buy
  • Interface
  • Core clock speed 600
  • Max video memory 512 MB
  • Memory type GDDR3
  • Memory clock speed 800
  • Maximum resolution
AMD Radeon 540X
Radeon 540X
Buy
  • Interface PCIe 3.0 x8
  • Core clock speed
  • Max video memory 2048 MB
  • Memory type GDDR5
  • Memory clock speed 6000
  • Maximum resolution
Price now 421$
Games supported 61%

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance rating795616
Value for money0.254.53
ArchitectureG9x (2007−2010)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameNB9E-GTLexa
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date15 July 2008 (14 years old)12 August 2019 (3 years old)
Current price$149 $421
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

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  • 100
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  • 100

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores128512
Core clock speed600 MHzno data
Boost clock speedno data1219 MHz
Number of transistors1508 Million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm14 nm
Thermal design power (TDP)150 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rateno data33.47

Dimensions and compatibility

Information on GeForce 9800M GTS SLI and Radeon 540X compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizelargeno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
SLI options+no data

Memory

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

Memory typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount512 MB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed800 MHz6000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data112.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 Connectorsno data1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMIno data+

API support

APIs supported, including particular versions of those APIs.

DirectX1012 (12_0)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.0
Vulkanno data1.2.131
CUDA+no data

Benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. Note that overall benchmark performance is measured in points in 0-100 range.


Overall score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. 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 GTS SLI 1.90
Radeon 540X 3.62
+90.5%
  • 3DMark Vantage Performance

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.

Benchmark coverage: 16%

9800M GTS SLI 5663
Radeon 540X 11545
+104%

Radeon 540X outperforms GeForce 9800M GTS SLI by 104% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

Gaming performance

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

Average FPS

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

Full HDno data22

Popular games

  • Full HD
    Low Preset
  • Full HD
    Medium Preset
  • Full HD
    High Preset
  • Full HD
    Ultra Preset
  • 1440p
    High Preset
  • 1440p
    Ultra Preset
  • 4K
    High Preset
  • 4K
    Ultra Preset
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−433%
16
+433%
Battlefield 5 2−3
−1200%
26
+1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−100%
22
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−250%
7−8
+250%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1500%
16
+1500%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−175%
10−12
+175%
Hitman 3 2−3
−750%
17
+750%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−87.5%
15
+87.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 13
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−300%
12
+300%
Battlefield 5 2−3
−900%
20
+900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+22.2%
9
−22.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−250%
7−8
+250%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1400%
15
+1400%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−175%
10−12
+175%
Hitman 3 2−3
−250%
7
+250%
Metro Exodus 4−5
−50%
6
+50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−60%
8−9
+60%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
−50%
12
+50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 5−6
−220%
16
+220%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 4−5
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−133%
7−8
+133%
Battlefield 5 2−3
−800%
18
+800%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Far Cry 5 2−3
−250%
7−8
+250%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
−1300%
14
+1300%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−175%
10−12
+175%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 5−6
−100%
10
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 4−5
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Hitman 3 4−5
−75%
7−8
+75%
Horizon Zero Dawn 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Metro Exodus 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
−40%
7−8
+40%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−50%
6−7
+50%
Far Cry New Dawn 0−1 4−5
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 1−2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Hitman 3 2−3
−100%
4−5
+100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Red Dead Redemption 2 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 0−1 1−2
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2
−200%
3−4
+200%
Watch Dogs: Legion 0−1 1−2

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance rating 1.90 3.62
Recency 15 July 2008 12 August 2019
Memory bus width 256 64
Pipelines / CUDA cores 128 512
Chip lithography 55 nm 14 nm
Thermal design power (TDP) 150 Watt 50 Watt

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, Technical City recommends

AMD Radeon 540X
Radeon 540X

since it shows better performance.


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

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Competitors of GeForce 9800M GTS SLI by AMD

We believe that the nearest equivalent to GeForce 9800M GTS SLI from AMD is Radeon R7 M270, which is nearly equal in speed and is lower by 1 position in our rating.

AMD Radeon R7 M270 Radeon R7 M270
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Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce 9800M GTS SLI:

Competitors of Radeon 540X by NVIDIA

We believe that the nearest equivalent to Radeon 540X from NVIDIA is Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5), which is nearly equal in speed and higher by 1 position in our rating.

NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5) Maxwell GPU Surface Book (940M, GDDR5)
Compare

Here are some closest NVIDIA rivals to Radeon 540X:

Similar GPU comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

User rating

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


2.6 7 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS SLI on a scale of 1 to 5:

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3.9 267 votes

Rate AMD Radeon 540X on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.