Radeon HD 6950 vs Radeon RX 540

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon RX 540. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon RX 540. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

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 6950 Radeon RX 540
Power consumption (TDP) 500 Watt 65 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6950 has 669% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Radeon HD 6950 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon RX 540 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon RX 540 has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6950.
  • Radeon HD 6950 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX 540 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 6950 is build with TeraScale 3 architecture, and Radeon RX 540 - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 6950 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 540 - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 540 is 4750 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6950.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 14−16 14−16
ultra / 1080p 8−9 8−9
QHD / 1440p 3−4 3−4
low / 720p 27−30 30−33
medium / 1080p 16−18 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 540 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 7% more, than Radeon HD 6950.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6950 Radeon RX 540
Architecture TeraScale 3 Polaris
Code name Cayman Polaris 12
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 14 December 2010 21 March 2017
Pipelines 1408 512
Boost Clock 800 MHz 1219 MHz
Transistor count 2,640 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 70.40 39.01
Floating-point performance 2,252.8 gflops 1,248 gflops
Length 267 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1250 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 96 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12.0
Shader Model 5.0 5.0
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.0 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 244 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
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