NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti vs AMD Radeon RX 540

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Combined performance score

RX 540
7.19

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 968% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking5078
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money9.7214.16
ArchitecturePolaris (2016−2019)Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code namePolaris 12Ampere GA102
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date21 March 2017 (7 years old)27 January 2022 (2 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$1,999
Current price$166 $1251 (0.6x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3090 Ti has 46% better value for money than RX 540.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores51210752
Core clock speedno data1560 MHz
Boost clock speed1219 MHz1860 MHz
Number of transistors1,500 million28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Watt450 Watt
Texture fill rate39.01625.0
Floating-point performance1,248 gflopsno data

Size and compatibility

Information on Radeon RX 540 and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizelargeno data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data336 mm
Widthno data3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 16-pin

Memory

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount4 GB24 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed6000 MHz21000 MHz
Memory bandwidth96 GB/s1,008 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 outputs1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMIno data+

Technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

FreeSync+no data

API support

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

DirectX12.012 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.06.6
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkanno data1.3
CUDAno data8.6

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

RX 540 7.19
RTX 3090 Ti 76.81
+968%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 968% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

RX 540 2788
RTX 3090 Ti 29775
+968%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 968% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RX 540 4646
RTX 3090 Ti 69481
+1396%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 1396% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX 540 3686
RTX 3090 Ti 53110
+1341%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 1341% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX 540 24170
RTX 3090 Ti 246319
+919%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 919% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

RX 540 138197
RTX 3090 Ti 564087
+308%

GeForce RTX 3090 Ti outperforms Radeon RX 540 by 308% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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 HD24
−775%
210
+775%
1440p12−14
−1067%
140
+1067%
4K9−10
−1022%
101
+1022%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−1891%
219
+1891%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−673%
110−120
+673%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 9−10
−1678%
160
+1678%
Battlefield 5 31
−435%
160−170
+435%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−748%
170−180
+748%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−1727%
201
+1727%
Far Cry 5 19
−789%
160−170
+789%
Far Cry New Dawn 18
−672%
130−140
+672%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−768%
210−220
+768%
Hitman 3 16−18
−1171%
210−220
+1171%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−1107%
160−170
+1107%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−900%
130−140
+900%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 26
−919%
265
+919%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−1455%
171
+1455%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−673%
110−120
+673%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 9−10
−1433%
138
+1433%
Battlefield 5 29
−472%
160−170
+472%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−748%
170−180
+748%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−1473%
173
+1473%
Far Cry 5 21
−705%
160−170
+705%
Far Cry New Dawn 17
−718%
130−140
+718%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−768%
210−220
+768%
Hitman 3 16−18
−1171%
210−220
+1171%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−1107%
160−170
+1107%
Metro Exodus 10−11
−1680%
178
+1680%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−900%
130−140
+900%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 19
−1221%
251
+1221%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 11
−3482%
394
+3482%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−1300%
154
+1300%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−673%
110−120
+673%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 9−10
−1267%
123
+1267%
Battlefield 5 21
−690%
160−170
+690%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−1282%
152
+1282%
Far Cry 5 17
−894%
160−170
+894%
Far Cry New Dawn 16
−769%
130−140
+769%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−768%
210−220
+768%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7
−2657%
193
+2657%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−1082%
130
+1082%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−1182%
140−150
+1182%
Hitman 3 10−12
−1500%
170−180
+1500%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
−931%
130−140
+931%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−2400%
125
+2400%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−1460%
75−80
+1460%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−1740%
184
+1740%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
−1350%
85−90
+1350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−5300%
108
+5300%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−1725%
140−150
+1725%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−3367%
104
+3367%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−1245%
140−150
+1245%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−1130%
120−130
+1130%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
−1458%
180−190
+1458%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
−2350%
140−150
+2350%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−5300%
108
+5300%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−1680%
85−90
+1680%
Hitman 3 7−8
−1386%
100−110
+1386%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−1038%
90−95
+1038%
Metro Exodus 1−2
−8300%
84
+8300%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−1200%
50−55
+1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 3−4
−3433%
106
+3433%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
−4225%
173
+4225%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
−1475%
60−65
+1475%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−2333%
73
+2333%
Battlefield 5 3−4
−3367%
100−110
+3367%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−5200%
53
+5200%
Far Cry 5 6−7
−1467%
90−95
+1467%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−944%
90−95
+944%
Forza Horizon 4 7−8
−1914%
140−150
+1914%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
−6900%
70
+6900%

This is how RX 540 and RTX 3090 Ti compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is 775% faster than RX 540

1440p resolution:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is 1067% faster than RX 540

4K resolution:

  • RTX 3090 Ti is 1022% faster than RX 540

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

  • in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 3090 Ti is 8300% faster than the RX 540.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 3090 Ti surpassed RX 540 in all 68 of our tests.

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 7.19 76.81
Recency 21 March 2017 27 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 24 GB
Chip lithography 14 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 450 Watt

The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 540 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon RX 540 is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is a desktop one.


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

User ratings

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AMD Radeon RX 540
Radeon RX 540
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti

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Questions and comments

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