AMD Radeon RX 540 Mobile vs AMD Radeon R9 280X

VS
Performance
Radeon RX 540 Mobile
4,6464% of 104,598
Radeon R9 280X132% better
10,79210% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 280X has 132% better performance than the Radeon RX 540 Mobile for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 540 Mobile
No data available
Radeon R9 280X
36.0922% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 280X has 22% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon RX 540 Mobile GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 540 Mobile is an end-of-life mobile graphics card that released in Q4 2017. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Lexa) and is manufactured on a 14 nm process.

Memory

The RX 540 Mobile has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,250 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 80 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RX 540 Mobile includes 512 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,046 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,219 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 32 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 16 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 50 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

Benchmark Performance

The RX 540 Mobile has the 258th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.44% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon R9 280X GPU

The AMD Radeon R9 280X is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q4 2013 with a MSRP of $299. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Tahiti) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The R9 280X has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,500 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 288 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The R9 280X includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 850 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,000 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The R9 280X occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 250 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The R9 280X has the 171st best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 10.32% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 10,792 score and $299 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 36.09. This is the 73rd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentMobileDesktop
Release DateQ4 2017Q4 2013
Launch Price (MSRP)--$299
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Anno 1800
Anno 1800
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The Division 2
Display FPS for Anthem
Anthem
Display FPS for Far Cry New Dawn
Far Cry New Dawn
Display FPS for Battlefield V
Battlefield V
Display FPS for Hitman 2
Hitman 2
Display FPS for Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Anno 1800
Anno 1800
Radeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
Low - 720p
54 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
18 FPS
--
High - 1080p
11 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
--
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 540 Mobile orRadeon R9 280X
GPUFrames Per Second
GeForce MX35020+82%
GeForce GTX 950M15.9+45%
GeForce GTX 960M15.8+44%
GeForce MX15014.5+32%
GeForce MX25013+18%
Radeon RX 540 Mobile11
Radeon 540X9.7-12%
GeForce MX3308.64-21%
Radeon 5306.4-42%
GeForce MX2304.9-55%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 540 Mobile orRadeon R9 280X
GPUCost Per Frame
Our database does not have enough data to compare the FPS per dollar with other GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon RX 540 Mobile
4,6464% of 104,598
Radeon R9 280X132% better
10,79210% of 104,598

The Radeon R9 280X has 132% better performance than the Radeon RX 540 Mobile for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 540 Mobile is ranked 258th with a score of 4,646, and the Radeon R9 280X is ranked 171st with a score of 10,792.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 540 Mobile
No data available
Radeon R9 280X
36.0922% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 280X has 55% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

Radeon R9 280X's 36.09 performance per dollar ranks it 0th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 540 Mobile or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 165013,645+194%
Radeon R9 38012,191+162%
Radeon R9 280X10,792+132%
GeForce GTX 96010,767.5+132%
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5+120%
GeForce MX3304,834+4%
Radeon R9 M280X4,698+1%
Radeon RX 540 Mobile4,646
GeForce MX2504,633-0%
Radeon RX 550 Mobile4,559-2%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 540 Mobile orRadeon R9 280X
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce GTX 96054.11+50%
GeForce GTX 95052.52+46%
GeForce GTX 97048.73+35%
Radeon R9 390X41.83+16%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti36.09+0%
Radeon R9 280X36.09
GeForce GTX 98032.07-11%
GeForce GTX 76031.98-11%
Radeon R9 FURY31.95-11%
Radeon R9 290X29.45-18%

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
787
2,210
(+180.81%)
3DMark Time Spy Score
869
2,393
(+175.37%)
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
24,170
52,117
(+115.63%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
3,686
8,343
(+126.34%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
4,664
10,241
(+119.58%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
76.4
--
PassMark G3D Mark
--
6,178
PassMark G2D Mark
--
686
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
31.2
95.2
(+205.13%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 OpenGL
17.3
--
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
CodenameLexaTahiti
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Process Size14 nm28 nm
Transistors2,200 million4,313 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
Memory Size2 GB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth80 Gb/s288 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,250 MHz1,500 MHz
Memory Interface128 bit384 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache512 KB768 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
Slots--2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)50 W250 W
Suggested PSU--600 W
Power Connectors--1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDevice DependentDVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
Stream Processors (SP)5122,048
Compute Units (CU)832
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)32128
Render Output Units (ROP)1632
Core Clock Speed1,046 MHz850 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,219 MHz1,000 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
Pixel Fill Rate16.74 GPixel/s32 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate33.47 GTexel/s128 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,071 GFLOPS4.1 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance66.94 GFLOPS1,024 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon RX 540 MobileRadeon R9 280X
DirectX12 (12_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL2.12.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.76.5 (5.1)

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.