Radeon RX 540X vs HD 7950 Mac Edition
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2012−2020) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | Tahiti | Polaris 23 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 7 March 2013 (12 years ago) | 11 April 2018 (7 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $449 | 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 | 1792 | 512 |
| Core clock speed | 800 MHz | 1124 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1219 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 2,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 200 Watt | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 89.60 | 39.01 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.867 TFLOPS | 1.248 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 16 |
| TMUs | 112 | 32 |
| L1 Cache | 448 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 Cache | 768 KB | 512 KB |
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 size | no data | large |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |
| Length | 279 mm | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | None |
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 | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 384 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1250 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 240.0 GB/s | 96 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort | No outputs |
| HDMI | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| FreeSync | - | + |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 1.2.131 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 7 March 2013 | 11 April 2018 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 3 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 200 Watt | 50 Watt |
HD 7950 Mac Edition has a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount.
RX 540X, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 5 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 300% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition and Radeon RX 540X. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition is a desktop graphics card while Radeon RX 540X is a notebook one.
Other comparisons
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
