GeForce GT 540M vs Radeon R9 M280X

Place in the ranking	870	1040
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	no data	2.47
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	Saturn	GF108
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	5 February 2015 (9 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	896	96
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	672 MHz
Number of transistors	2,080 million	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	no data	35 Watt
Texture fill rate	61.60	10.75
Floating-point processing power	1.971 TFLOPS	0.258 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	4
TMUs	56	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
Bus support	Not Listed	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	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	Not Listed	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	0 MB	2 GB
Memory bus width	Not Listed	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	96 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.

FreeSync	+	-
HD3D	+	-
PowerTune	+	-
DualGraphics	+	-
ZeroCore	+	-
Switchable graphics	+	-
3D Blu-Ray	-	+
3D Gaming	-	+
Optimus	-	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 API
Shader Model	6.3	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.5
OpenCL	Not Listed	1.1
Vulkan	-	N/A
Mantle	+	-
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.

R9 M280X 2.11
+70.2%

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.

R9 M280X 813
+70.1%

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.

R9 M280X 4698
+429%

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.

R9 M280X 9222
+112%

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.

R9 M280X 3498
+360%

GT 540M 760

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	27−30 +68.8%	16 −68.8%
Full HD	26 +30%	20 −30%
4K	18 +80%	10−12 −80%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6
+66.7%

3−4

−66.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Battlefield 5	13 +85.7%	7−8 −85.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +28.6%	14−16 −28.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30 +275%	8−9 −275%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +9.1%	30−35 −9.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Battlefield 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +28.6%	14−16 −28.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	39 +255%	10−12 −255%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +9.1%	30−35 −9.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Hitman 3	7−8 +16.7%	6−7 −16.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20 +28.6%	14−16 −28.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 +25%	8−9 −25%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9 −22.2%	10−12 +22.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +9.1%	30−35 −9.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+150%

2−3

−150%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +100%	1−2 −100%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	6−7 +50%	4−5 −50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 +100%	6−7 −100%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

5−6
+25%

4−5

−25%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	0−1
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

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

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

This is how R9 M280X and GT 540M compete in popular games:

R9 M280X is 69% faster in 900p
R9 M280X is 30% faster in 1080p
R9 M280X is 80% faster in 4K

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the R9 M280X is 350% faster.
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GT 540M is 22% faster.

All in all, in popular games: