Radeon RX 540 vs R9 290X
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon R9 290X with Radeon RX 540, including specs and performance data.
R9 290X outperforms RX 540 by a whopping 166% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 286 | 539 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 4.82 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 4.59 | 10.01 |
| Architecture | GCN 2.0 (2013−2017) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | Hawaii | Lexa |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 24 October 2013 (11 years ago) | 11 November 2017 (7 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $549 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 2816 | 512 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 1124 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 947 MHz | 1219 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 6,200 million | 2,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 250 Watt | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 176.0 | 39.01 |
| Floating-point processing power | 5.632 TFLOPS | 1.248 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 64 | 16 |
| TMUs | 176 | 32 |
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 |
| Bus support | PCIe 3.0 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |
| Length | 275 mm | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-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 | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 512 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1250 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 320 GB/s | 96 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 Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort | No outputs |
| Eyefinity | + | - |
| HDMI | + | - |
| DisplayPort support | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| AppAcceleration | + | - |
| CrossFire | + | - |
| FreeSync | + | + |
| HD3D | + | - |
| LiquidVR | + | - |
| TressFX | + | - |
| TrueAudio | + | - |
| UVD | + | - |
| DDMA audio | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 12 | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | + | 1.2.131 |
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.
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.
3DMark 11 Performance GPU
3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.
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.
3DMark Fire Strike Graphics
Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.
3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.
3DMark Ice Storm GPU
Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.
Unigine Heaven 3.0
This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.
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 | 86
+274%
| 23
−274%
|
| 4K | 49
+172%
| 18−20
−172%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 6.38 | no data |
| 4K | 11.20 | no data |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33
+173%
|
10−12
−173%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 40−45
+139%
|
18−20
−139%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35
+256%
|
9−10
−256%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 60−65
+200%
|
21−24
−200%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40
+160%
|
14−16
−160%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33
+173%
|
10−12
−173%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+246%
|
13
−246%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 50−55
+160%
|
20−22
−160%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 120−130
+150%
|
45−50
−150%
|
| Hitman 3 | 35−40
+164%
|
14−16
−164%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 90−95
+121%
|
40−45
−121%
|
| Metro Exodus | 65−70
+214%
|
21−24
−214%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55
+160%
|
20−22
−160%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65
+57.5%
|
40
−57.5%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 90−95
+66.7%
|
50−55
−66.7%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 40−45
+139%
|
18−20
−139%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35
+256%
|
9−10
−256%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 60−65
+200%
|
21−24
−200%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40
+160%
|
14−16
−160%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33
+173%
|
10−12
−173%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+350%
|
10
−350%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 50−55
+160%
|
20−22
−160%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 120−130
+150%
|
45−50
−150%
|
| Hitman 3 | 35−40
+164%
|
14−16
−164%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 90−95
+121%
|
40−45
−121%
|
| Metro Exodus | 65−70
+214%
|
21−24
−214%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55
+160%
|
20−22
−160%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65
+163%
|
24−27
−163%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 137
+523%
|
21−24
−523%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 90−95
+66.7%
|
50−55
−66.7%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 40−45
+139%
|
18−20
−139%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35
+256%
|
9−10
−256%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40
+160%
|
14−16
−160%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33
+173%
|
10−12
−173%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 45−50
+543%
|
7
−543%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 120−130
+150%
|
45−50
−150%
|
| Hitman 3 | 35−40
+164%
|
14−16
−164%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 90−95
+121%
|
40−45
−121%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65
+163%
|
24−27
−163%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 29
+314%
|
7
−314%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 90−95
+66.7%
|
50−55
−66.7%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55
+160%
|
20−22
−160%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 35−40
+164%
|
14−16
−164%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 27−30
+164%
|
10−12
−164%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 20−22
+186%
|
7−8
−186%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 16−18
+467%
|
3−4
−467%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 21−24
+200%
|
7−8
−200%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 10−12
+267%
|
3−4
−267%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 21−24
+175%
|
8−9
−175%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 100−110
+308%
|
24−27
−308%
|
| Hitman 3 | 21−24
+109%
|
10−12
−109%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 35−40
+160%
|
14−16
−160%
|
| Metro Exodus | 35−40
+350%
|
8−9
−350%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 35−40
+680%
|
5−6
−680%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 21−24
+267%
|
6−7
−267%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 110−120
+148%
|
45−50
−148%
|
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 30−35
+167%
|
12−14
−167%
|
4K
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 18−20
+217%
|
6−7
−217%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 14−16
+200%
|
5−6
−200%
|
| Hitman 3 | 14−16
+400%
|
3−4
−400%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 95−100
+330%
|
21−24
−330%
|
| Metro Exodus | 20−22
+400%
|
4−5
−400%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 28
+600%
|
4−5
−600%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 10−12
+175%
|
4−5
−175%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 10−11
+233%
|
3−4
−233%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 10−11
+233%
|
3−4
−233%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
+300%
|
1−2
−300%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 10−11
+150%
|
4−5
−150%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 24−27
+225%
|
8−9
−225%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 21−24
+950%
|
2−3
−950%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 8−9
+300%
|
2−3
−300%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 16−18
+143%
|
7−8
−143%
|
This is how R9 290X and RX 540 compete in popular games:
- R9 290X is 274% faster in 1080p
- R9 290X is 172% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 290X is 950% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- Without exception, R9 290X surpassed RX 540 in all 72 of our tests.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 19.25 | 7.23 |
| Recency | 24 October 2013 | 11 November 2017 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 250 Watt | 50 Watt |
R9 290X has a 166.3% higher aggregate performance score, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.
RX 540, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 4 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 400% lower power consumption.
The Radeon R9 290X is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 540 in performance tests.
Be aware that Radeon R9 290X is a desktop card while Radeon RX 540 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
