Radeon HD 4850 vs Radeon RX 540

When choosing between Radeon HD 4850 and Radeon RX 540, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Radeon HD 4850 and Radeon RX 540.

Radeon RX 540 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon RX 540 is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with Radeon RX 540 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 4850 Radeon RX 540
Power consumption (TDP) 110 Watt 65 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video
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  • Radeon HD 4850 has 69% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Radeon HD 4850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon RX 540 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 4850 has 508 GB more memory, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Radeon HD 4850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX 540 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 4850 is build with Terascale 1 architecture, and Radeon RX 540 - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 4850 is manufactured by 55 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 540 - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 540 is 5007 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 4850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 1−2 14−16
ultra / 1080p 0−1 8−9
QHD / 1440p 0−1 3−4
low / 720p 12−14 30−33
medium / 1080p 3−4 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 540 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 250% more, than Radeon HD 4850.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 4850 Radeon RX 540
Architecture Terascale 1 Polaris
Code name RV770 Polaris 12
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 25 June 2008 21 March 2017
Pipelines 800 512
Core clock speed 625 MHz
Boost Clock 1219 MHz
Transistor count 956 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 55 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 25.00 39.01
Floating-point performance 1,000.0 gflops 1,248 gflops
Length 246 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 993 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 63.55 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 10.1 (10_1) 12.0
Shader Model 4.1 5.0
OpenGL 3.3 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A
FreeSync +
Laptop size large
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