Radeon RX 540X vs ATI HD 5850
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 618 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.59 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 2.36 | no data |
| Architecture | TeraScale 2 (2009−2015) | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) |
| GPU code name | Cypress | Polaris 23 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 30 September 2009 (15 years ago) | 11 April 2018 (6 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $299 | 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 | 1440 | 512 |
| Core clock speed | 725 MHz | 1124 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1219 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,154 million | 2,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 151 Watt | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 52.20 | 39.01 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.088 TFLOPS | 1.248 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 16 |
| TMUs | 72 | 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 | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x8 |
| Length | 241 mm | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 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 | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1000 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 128.0 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 |
| HDMI | + | - |
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 | 11.2 (11_0) | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.0 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.2.131 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 30 September 2009 | 11 April 2018 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 151 Watt | 50 Watt |
RX 540X has an age advantage of 8 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 202% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon RX 540X. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 5850 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
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
