GeForce 6800 XT vs Radeon 540

Place in the ranking	717	1307
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.10	no data
Power efficiency	5.00	no data
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	Curie (2003−2013)
GPU code name	Lexa	NV42
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	20 April 2017 (7 years ago)	30 September 2005 (19 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$79	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	384	no data
Core clock speed	1183 MHz	450 MHz
Boost clock speed	1124 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,200 million	202 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	110 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	28.39	5.400
Floating-point processing power	0.9085 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	16	8
TMUs	24	12

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	AGP 8x
Length	145 mm	no data
Width	1-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x Molex

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	GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	256 MB
Memory bus width	32 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1500 MHz	600 MHz
Memory bandwidth	24 GB/s	38.4 GB/s

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

2x DisplayPort 1.4a

1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	9.0c (9_3)
Shader Model	6.7	3.0
OpenGL	4.6	2.0 (full) 2.1 (partial)
OpenCL	2.1	N/A
Vulkan	1.3	N/A

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.

Radeon 540 3.59
+1022%

6800 XT 0.32

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.

Radeon 540 1383
+1024%

6800 XT 123

Gaming performance

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

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.59	0.32
Recency	20 April 2017	30 September 2005
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	256 MB
Chip lithography	14 nm	110 nm

Radeon 540 has a 1021.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 685.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon 540 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 6800 XT in performance tests.

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