GeForce GT 540M vs Quadro K4000M

Place in the ranking	634	1042
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	3.41	2.43
Architecture	Kepler (2012−2018)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	GK104	GF108
Market segment	Mobile workstation	Laptop
Release date	1 June 2012 (12 years ago)	5 January 2011 (13 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	960	96
Core clock speed	601 MHz	672 MHz
Number of transistors	3,540 million	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	35 Watt
Texture fill rate	48.08	10.75
Floating-point processing power	1.154 TFLOPS	0.258 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	4
TMUs	80	16

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	large	large
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	MXM-A (3.0)

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	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	700 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	89.6 GB/s	28.8 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

No outputs

Supported technologies

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

3D Blu-Ray	-	+
3D Gaming	-	+
Optimus	+	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 (11_0)	12 API
Shader Model	5.1	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.5
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
Vulkan	+	N/A
CUDA	+	+

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.

K4000M 4.98
+302%

GT 540M 1.24

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.

K4000M 1917
+301%

GT 540M 478

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.

K4000M 3466
+290%

GT 540M 888

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.

K4000M 15362
+253%

GT 540M 4355

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.

K4000M 2199
+189%

GT 540M 760

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

K4000M 5827
+171%

GT 540M 2149

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

K4000M 22
+214%

GT 540M 7

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:

900p	60−65 +275%	16 −275%
Full HD	43 +115%	20 −115%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

8−9
+167%

3−4

−167%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Battlefield 5	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +367%	3−4 −367%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +1500%	2−3 −1500%
Hitman 3	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +129%	14−16 −129%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +600%	2−3 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +125%	8−9 −125%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +42.4%	30−35 −42.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Battlefield 5	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 +367%	3−4 −367%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +1500%	2−3 −1500%
Hitman 3	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +129%	14−16 −129%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%
Red Dead Redemption 2	14−16 +600%	2−3 −600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +125%	8−9 −125%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +42.4%	30−35 −42.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +133%	6−7 −133%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +1500%	2−3 −1500%
Hitman 3	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +129%	14−16 −129%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +125%	8−9 −125%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +42.4%	30−35 −42.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16
+600%

2−3

−600%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	9−10 +800%	1−2 −800%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +500%	1−2 −500%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%
Hitman 3	9−10 +28.6%	7−8 −28.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Metro Exodus	3−4	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +433%	6−7 −433%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
+125%

4−5

−125%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4	0−1
Hitman 3	1−2	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +700%	1−2 −700%
Metro Exodus	2−3	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	2−3	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	4−5	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7
+100%

3−4

−100%

This is how K4000M and GT 540M compete in popular games:

K4000M is 275% faster in 900p
K4000M is 115% faster in 1080p

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the K4000M is 1500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, K4000M surpassed GT 540M in all 47 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	4.98	1.24
Recency	1 June 2012	5 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	35 Watt

K4000M has a 301.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GT 540M, on the other hand, has 185.7% lower power consumption.

The Quadro K4000M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 540M in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro K4000M is a mobile workstation card while GeForce GT 540M is a mobile workstation one.

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