Radeon RX 540X vs GeForce FX 5900
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 | Rankine (2003−2005) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | NV35 | Polaris 23 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 12 May 2003 (21 year ago) | 11 April 2018 (6 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | 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 | no data | 512 |
| Core clock speed | 400 MHz | 1124 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1219 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 135 million | 2,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 130 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 3.200 | 39.01 |
| Floating-point processing power | no data | 1.248 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 4 | 16 |
| TMUs | 8 | 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 |
| Interface | AGP 8x | PCIe 3.0 x8 |
| Length | 218 mm | no data |
| Width | 1-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x Molex | 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 | DDR | GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 128 MB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 425 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 27.2 GB/s | 96 GB/s |
| Shared memory | no data | - |
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 DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video | No outputs |
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 | 9.0a | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | no data | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 1.5 (2.1) | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.2.131 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 12 May 2003 | 11 April 2018 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 128 MB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 130 nm | 14 nm |
RX 540X has an age advantage of 14 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 828.6% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce FX 5900 and Radeon RX 540X. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce FX 5900 is a desktop 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
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