Radeon 540 vs GeForce GTX 1050

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1050 and Radeon 540, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 1050
2016
2 GB GDDR5, 75 Watt
12.55
+264%

GTX 1050 outperforms 540 by a whopping 264% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking394726
Place by popularity13not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation10.940.10
Power efficiency11.994.94
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameGP107Lexa
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date25 October 2016 (8 years ago)20 April 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$109 $79

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

GTX 1050 has 10840% better value for money than Radeon 540.

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 cores640384
Core clock speed1290 MHz1183 MHz
Boost clock speed1392 MHz1124 MHz
Number of transistors3,300 million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Watt50 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature97 °Cno data
Texture fill rate58.2028.39
Floating-point processing power1.862 TFLOPS0.9085 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs4024

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).

Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x8
Length145 mm145 mm
Height4.38" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot1-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)300 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneNone
SLI-no data

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit32 Bit
Memory clock speed1752 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth112 GB/s24 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 ConnectorsDP 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, Dual Link-DVI2x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI+-
HDCP2.2-
G-SYNC support+-

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GPU Boost3.0no data
VR Ready+no data
Ansel+-

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
Shader Model6.46.7
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan1.2.1311.3
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.

GTX 1050 12.55
+264%
Radeon 540 3.45

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

GTX 1050 5028
+264%
Radeon 540 1383

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.

GTX 1050 17469
+184%
Radeon 540 6158

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:

Full HD42
+320%
10−12
−320%
1440p21
+320%
5−6
−320%
4K23
+283%
6−7
−283%

Cost per frame, $

1080p2.60
+204%
7.90
−204%
1440p5.19
+204%
15.80
−204%
4K4.74
+178%
13.17
−178%
  • GTX 1050 has 204% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • GTX 1050 has 204% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • GTX 1050 has 178% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 11
+267%
3−4
−267%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+271%
7−8
−271%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 40−45
+330%
10−11
−330%
Counter-Strike 2 6
+500%
1−2
−500%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+271%
7−8
−271%
Forza Horizon 4 53
+279%
14−16
−279%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+278%
9−10
−278%
Metro Exodus 41
+310%
10−11
−310%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+267%
9−10
−267%
Valorant 39
+290%
10−11
−290%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 36
+300%
9−10
−300%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+283%
6−7
−283%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+271%
7−8
−271%
Dota 2 77
+267%
21−24
−267%
Far Cry 5 56
+300%
14−16
−300%
Fortnite 70−75
+311%
18−20
−311%
Forza Horizon 4 35
+289%
9−10
−289%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+278%
9−10
−278%
Grand Theft Auto V 53
+279%
14−16
−279%
Metro Exodus 26
+271%
7−8
−271%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 95−100
+304%
24−27
−304%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9
+350%
2−3
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+300%
10−11
−300%
Valorant 50−55
+271%
14−16
−271%
World of Tanks 250
+285%
65−70
−285%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 29
+314%
7−8
−314%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+283%
6−7
−283%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+271%
7−8
−271%
Dota 2 112
+273%
30−33
−273%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+308%
12−14
−308%
Forza Horizon 4 31
+288%
8−9
−288%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+278%
9−10
−278%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 95−100
+304%
24−27
−304%
Valorant 28
+300%
7−8
−300%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 7
+600%
1−2
−600%
Grand Theft Auto V 7
+600%
1−2
−600%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+296%
27−30
−296%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
+267%
3−4
−267%
World of Tanks 90−95
+283%
24−27
−283%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+271%
7−8
−271%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Far Cry 5 30−33
+275%
8−9
−275%
Forza Horizon 4 18
+350%
4−5
−350%
Forza Horizon 5 20−22
+300%
5−6
−300%
Metro Exodus 25
+317%
6−7
−317%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+325%
4−5
−325%
Valorant 30−35
+300%
8−9
−300%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Dota 2 24
+300%
6−7
−300%
Grand Theft Auto V 24
+300%
6−7
−300%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+280%
10−11
−280%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
+300%
2−3
−300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24
+300%
6−7
−300%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+300%
3−4
−300%
Counter-Strike 2 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Dota 2 47
+292%
12−14
−292%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+300%
4−5
−300%
Fortnite 14−16
+367%
3−4
−367%
Forza Horizon 4 11
+267%
3−4
−267%
Forza Horizon 5 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Valorant 14−16
+367%
3−4
−367%

This is how GTX 1050 and Radeon 540 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1050 is 320% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 1050 is 320% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 1050 is 283% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 12.55 3.45
Recency 25 October 2016 20 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 50 Watt

GTX 1050 has a 263.8% higher aggregate performance score, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

Radeon 540, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 5 months, and 50% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1050 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 540 in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
GeForce GTX 1050
AMD Radeon 540
Radeon 540

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


3.6 5992 votes

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Questions & comments

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