Radeon RX 9070 XT vs 540
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon 540 and Radeon RX 9070 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
RX 9070 XT outperforms 540 by a whopping 1830% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 735 | 25 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.10 | 60.91 |
| Power efficiency | 4.97 | 15.77 |
| Architecture | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) | RDNA 4.0 (2025) |
| GPU code name | Lexa | Navi 48 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 20 April 2017 (7 years ago) | 6 March 2025 (recently) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $79 | $599 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
RX 9070 XT has 60810% 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 cores | 384 | 4096 |
| Core clock speed | 1183 MHz | 1660 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1124 MHz | 2970 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,200 million | 53,900 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 14 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 50 Watt | 304 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 28.39 | 760.3 |
| Floating-point processing power | 0.9085 TFLOPS | 48.66 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 16 | 128 |
| TMUs | 24 | 256 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 128 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 64 |
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 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |
| Length | 145 mm | 267 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | 2x 8-pin |
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 | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 16 GB |
| Memory bus width | 32 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1500 MHz | 2518 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 24 GB/s | 644.6 GB/s |
| Resizable BAR | - | + |
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 HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1a |
| HDMI | - | + |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| DLSS | - | + |
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.
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.
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 HD | 10−12
−2040%
| 214
+2040%
|
| 1440p | 6−7
−2117%
| 133
+2117%
|
| 4K | 4−5
−2025%
| 85
+2025%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 7.90
−182%
| 2.80
+182%
|
| 1440p | 13.17
−192%
| 4.50
+192%
|
| 4K | 19.75
−180%
| 7.05
+180%
|
- RX 9070 XT has 182% lower cost per frame in 1080p
- RX 9070 XT has 192% lower cost per frame in 1440p
- RX 9070 XT has 180% lower cost per frame in 4K
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 268
+0%
|
268
+0%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 296
+0%
|
296
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 250−260
+0%
|
250−260
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 180−190
+0%
|
180−190
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 239
+0%
|
239
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Valorant | 350−400
+0%
|
350−400
+0%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 270−280
+0%
|
270−280
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 285
+0%
|
285
+0%
|
| Fortnite | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 250−260
+0%
|
250−260
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 180−190
+0%
|
180−190
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 193
+0%
|
193
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 497
+0%
|
497
+0%
|
| Valorant | 350−400
+0%
|
350−400
+0%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 270
+0%
|
270
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 250−260
+0%
|
250−260
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 146
+0%
|
146
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 276
+0%
|
276
+0%
|
| Valorant | 350−400
+0%
|
350−400
+0%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 190−200
+0%
|
190−200
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 500−550
+0%
|
500−550
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 130−140
+0%
|
130−140
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 110−120
+0%
|
110−120
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Valorant | 400−450
+0%
|
400−450
+0%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 160−170
+0%
|
160−170
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 90−95
+0%
|
90−95
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 260
+0%
|
260
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 220−230
+0%
|
220−230
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 116
+0%
|
116
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 212
+0%
|
212
+0%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 150−160
+0%
|
150−160
+0%
|
4K
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 85−90
+0%
|
85−90
+0%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 150−160
+0%
|
150−160
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Metro Exodus | 70−75
+0%
|
70−75
+0%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 174
+0%
|
174
+0%
|
| Valorant | 300−350
+0%
|
300−350
+0%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 120−130
+0%
|
120−130
+0%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 85−90
+0%
|
85−90
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 45−50
+0%
|
45−50
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 152
+0%
|
152
+0%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 170−180
+0%
|
170−180
+0%
|
| Hogwarts Legacy | 68
+0%
|
68
+0%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 95−100
+0%
|
95−100
+0%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Fortnite | 75−80
+0%
|
75−80
+0%
|
This is how Radeon 540 and RX 9070 XT compete in popular games:
- RX 9070 XT is 2040% faster in 1080p
- RX 9070 XT is 2117% faster in 1440p
- RX 9070 XT is 2025% faster in 4K
All in all, in popular games:
- there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 3.51 | 67.75 |
| Recency | 20 April 2017 | 6 March 2025 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 16 GB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 50 Watt | 304 Watt |
Radeon 540 has 508% lower power consumption.
RX 9070 XT, on the other hand, has a 1830.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 180% more advanced lithography process.
The Radeon RX 9070 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 540 in performance tests.
Other comparisons
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