Radeon 540X vs GeForce GTX 280M SLI

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 280M SLI and Radeon 540X, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 280M SLI
2009
2 GB GDDR3, 150 Watt
3.44

540X outperforms GTX 280M SLI by a small 8% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking728708
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency1.575.11
ArchitectureG9x (2007−2010)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameN10E-GTXLexa
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date2 March 2009 (15 years ago)5 September 2018 (6 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 cores256512
Core clock speed585 MHz980 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1046 MHz
Number of transistors1508 Million2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rateno data33.47
Floating-point processing powerno data1.071 TFLOPS
ROPsno data16
TMUsno data32

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 sizelargeno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed950 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data48 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 Connectorsno dataNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX1012 (12_0)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.0
Vulkan-1.2.131
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 280M SLI 3.44
Radeon 540X 3.73
+8.4%

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.

GTX 280M SLI 9435
Radeon 540X 11545
+22.4%

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 HD16−18
−18.8%
19
+18.8%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−50%
9
+50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−60%
16
+60%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−500%
12
+500%
Battlefield 5 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−15.8%
21−24
+15.8%
Hitman 3 8−9
−37.5%
11
+37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−8.3%
24−27
+8.3%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−360%
23
+360%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−138%
19
+138%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−7.7%
14−16
+7.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−5%
40−45
+5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Battlefield 5 6−7
−33.3%
8−9
+33.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−15.8%
21−24
+15.8%
Hitman 3 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−8.3%
24−27
+8.3%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−240%
17
+240%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−75%
14
+75%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−53.8%
20
+53.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−5%
40−45
+5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−15.8%
21−24
+15.8%
Hitman 3 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−8.3%
24−27
+8.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−30.8%
17
+30.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+50%
10
−50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−5%
40−45
+5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−50%
12
+50%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 3−4
Hitman 3 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 20−22
−15%
21−24
+15%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%

4K
High Preset

Metro Exodus 0−1 0−1

This is how GTX 280M SLI and Radeon 540X compete in popular games:

  • Radeon 540X is 19% faster in 1080p

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 280M SLI is 50% faster.
  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the Radeon 540X is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 280M SLI is ahead in 1 test (2%)
  • Radeon 540X is ahead in 45 tests (73%)
  • there's a draw in 16 tests (26%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.44 3.73
Recency 2 March 2009 5 September 2018
Chip lithography 55 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 50 Watt

Radeon 540X has a 8.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 292.9% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce GTX 280M SLI and Radeon 540X.


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

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M SLI
GeForce GTX 280M SLI
AMD Radeon 540X
Radeon 540X

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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

Community ratings

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


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Questions & comments

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