820M vs GT 540M

#ad
Buy
VS
#ad
Buy

Combined performance score

GT 540M
1.24

820M outperforms GT 540M by 4% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking998989
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.050.03
ArchitectureFermi (2010−2014)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameN12P-GSN15V-GM
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date6 January 2011 (13 years old)7 January 2014 (10 years old)
Current price$283 $490
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GT 540M has 67% better value for money than GeForce 820M.

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 cores9696
CUDA cores96no data
Core clock speed672 MHz775 MHz
Number of transistors585 million585 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)35 Watt15 Watt
Texture fill rate10.8 billion/sec10.00
Floating-point performance258.05 gflops240.0 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on GeForce GT 540M and GeForce 820M 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
Bus supportno dataPCI Express 2.0
InterfaceMXM-A (3.0)PCIe 2.0 x16

Memory

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 typeDDR3DDR3
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz1800 MHz
Memory bandwidth28.8 GB/s14.4 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 outputsNo outputs

Technologies

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

3D Blu-Ray+no data
3D Gaming+no data
GPU Boostno data2.0
Optimus++
GameWorksno data+

API support

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

DirectX12 API12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.54.5
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA++

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

GT 540M 1.24
GeForce 820M 1.29
+4%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 4% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GT 540M 480
GeForce 820M 500
+4.2%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 4% in Passmark.

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: 17%

GT 540M 4355
GeForce 820M 5106
+17.2%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 17% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GT 540M 888
GeForce 820M 1267
+42.6%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 43% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GT 540M 760
GeForce 820M 897
+18%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 18% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Benchmark coverage: 9%

GT 540M 2117
GeForce 820M 2741
+29.5%

820M outperforms GT 540M by 29% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GT 540M 7
GeForce 820M 7

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:

900p16
+0%
16−18
+0%
Full HD20
+25%
16
−25%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 1−2
Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 1−2
Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 1−2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Hitman 3 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 0−1 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 0−1 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%

This is how GT 540M and GeForce 820M compete in popular games:

900p resolution:

  • GeForce 820M is 0% faster than GT 540M

1080p resolution:

  • GT 540M is 25% faster than GeForce 820M

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 29 tests (100%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 1.24 1.29
Recency 6 January 2011 7 January 2014
Chip lithography 40 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 35 Watt 15 Watt

We couldn't decide between GeForce GT 540M and GeForce 820M. The differences in performance seem too small.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
GeForce GT 540M
NVIDIA GeForce 820M
GeForce 820M

Similar GPU comparisons

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

User ratings: view and submit

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


3.4 798 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.1 738 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce 820M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions and comments

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