Radeon RX 540X vs Sky 500
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 402 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 5.67 | no data |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2011−2020) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | Pitcairn | Polaris 23 |
| Market segment | Workstation | Laptop |
| Release date | 27 March 2013 (11 years ago) | 11 April 2018 (6 years ago) |
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 | 1280 | 512 |
| Core clock speed | 950 MHz | 1124 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1219 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,800 million | 2,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 150 Watt | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 76.00 | 39.01 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.432 TFLOPS | 1.248 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 16 |
| TMUs | 80 | 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 | 242 mm | no data |
| Width | 1-slot | no data |
| Form factor | full height / full length | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 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 | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1200 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 154 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 | 1x DisplayPort | No outputs |
| DisplayPort count | 1 | no data |
| Dual-link DVI support | + | - |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| FreeSync | - | + |
API compatibility
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 | 27 March 2013 | 11 April 2018 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 150 Watt | 50 Watt |
Sky 500 has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.
RX 540X, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 5 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon Sky 500 and Radeon RX 540X. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon Sky 500 is a workstation card while Radeon RX 540X 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.
