Radeon HD 7970 vs Radeon RX 540

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 7970 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 7970 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 7970 Radeon RX 540
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 65 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 361% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon RX 540 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX 540 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 540 - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 7970 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 540 - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 540 is 4625 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 14−16
ultra / 1080p 21−24 8−9
QHD / 1440p 16−18 3−4
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 30−33
medium / 1080p 40−45 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 140% more, than Radeon RX 540.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 7970 Radeon RX 540
Architecture GCN Polaris
Code name Tahiti XT Polaris 12
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 22 December 2011 21 March 2017
Pipelines 2048 512
Boost Clock 925 MHz 1219 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 118.4 39.01
Floating-point performance 3,789 gflops 1,248 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 1375 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 264 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12.0
Shader Model 5.1 5.0
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
FreeSync + +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
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