Radeon 540X vs RX Vega M GL / 870

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 and Radeon 540X, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

RX Vega M GL / 870
2018
4 GB HBM2, 65 Watt
13.83
+270%

RX Vega M GL / 870 outperforms 540X by a whopping 270% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking377712
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency14.675.16
ArchitectureVega (2017−2020)GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code nameVega Kaby Lake-GLexa
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date7 January 2018 (7 years ago)5 September 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 cores1280512
Core clock speed931 MHz980 MHz
Boost clock speed1011 MHz1046 MHz
Number of transistorsno data2,200 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)65 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rateno data33.47
Floating-point processing powerno data1.071 TFLOPS
ROPsno data16
TMUsno data32

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 sizemedium sizedno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone

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 typeHBM2GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB2 GB
Memory bus widthno data64 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1500 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data48 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 Connectorsno dataNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX12_112 (12_0)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data2.0
Vulkan-1.2.131

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.

RX Vega M GL / 870 13.83
+270%
Radeon 540X 3.74

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.

RX Vega M GL / 870 9862
+141%
Radeon 540X 4097

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.

RX Vega M GL / 870 7329
+164%
Radeon 540X 2779

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

RX Vega M GL / 870 38812
+156%
Radeon 540X 15167

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

RX Vega M GL / 870 2072
+160%
Radeon 540X 797

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:

Full HD44
+132%
19
−132%
1440p28
+300%
7−8
−300%
4K15
+275%
4−5
−275%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+200%
9
−200%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+350%
10−11
−350%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+243%
7
−243%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+238%
8−9
−238%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+143%
23
−143%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+140%
15
−140%
Metro Exodus 44
+175%
16
−175%
Red Dead Redemption 2 48
+153%
19
−153%
Valorant 47
+488%
8−9
−488%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+350%
10−11
−350%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+380%
5
−380%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+238%
8−9
−238%
Dota 2 27
+3.8%
26
−3.8%
Far Cry 5 37
+94.7%
19
−94.7%
Fortnite 75−80
+271%
21−24
−271%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+180%
20
−180%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+620%
5−6
−620%
Grand Theft Auto V 41
+173%
15
−173%
Metro Exodus 30
+275%
8
−275%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 129
+163%
49
−163%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16
+33.3%
12−14
−33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+223%
12−14
−223%
Valorant 30
+173%
11
−173%
World of Tanks 180−190
+233%
55
−233%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+350%
10−11
−350%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+500%
4
−500%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+238%
8−9
−238%
Dota 2 50−55
+13.6%
44
−13.6%
Far Cry 5 51
+168%
19
−168%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+229%
17
−229%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+620%
5−6
−620%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+206%
30−35
−206%
Valorant 55−60
+600%
8−9
−600%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
+567%
3−4
−567%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 62
+138%
24−27
−138%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+300%
3−4
−300%
World of Tanks 95−100
+273%
24−27
−273%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+600%
4−5
−600%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Far Cry 5 32
+300%
8−9
−300%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+750%
4−5
−750%
Forza Horizon 5 21−24
+320%
5−6
−320%
Metro Exodus 27
+286%
7−8
−286%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+157%
7−8
−157%
Valorant 30−35
+209%
10−12
−209%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
Dota 2 29
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%
Grand Theft Auto V 29
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 30
+173%
10−12
−173%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+333%
3−4
−333%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Dota 2 24−27
+56.3%
16−18
−56.3%
Far Cry 5 15
+275%
4−5
−275%
Fortnite 14−16
+650%
2−3
−650%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Forza Horizon 5 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Valorant 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%

This is how RX Vega M GL / 870 and Radeon 540X compete in popular games:

  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is 132% faster in 1080p
  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is 300% faster in 1440p
  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is 275% faster in 4K

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

  • in Dota 2, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the RX Vega M GL / 870 is 900% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RX Vega M GL / 870 is ahead in 59 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 13.83 3.74
Recency 7 January 2018 5 September 2018
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 2 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 65 Watt 50 Watt

RX Vega M GL / 870 has a 269.8% higher aggregate performance score, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

Radeon 540X, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 7 months, and 30% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon 540X in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870
Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870
AMD Radeon 540X
Radeon 540X

Other comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


1.5 118 votes

Rate Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.8 319 votes

Rate Radeon 540X on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.