Radeon HD 6850 vs Radeon RX 540

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 6850 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 6850 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 6850 Radeon RX 540
Power consumption (TDP) 127 Watt 65 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6850 has 95% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon RX 540 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon RX 540 has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6850.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon RX 540 - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon RX 540 - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 540 - by 14 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 14−16
ultra / 1080p 5−6 8−9
QHD / 1440p 0−1 3−4
low / 720p 21−24 30−33
medium / 1080p 12−14 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon RX 540 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 50% more, than Radeon HD 6850.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 Radeon RX 540
Architecture TeraScale 2 Polaris
Code name Barts Polaris 12
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 21 October 2010 21 March 2017
Pipelines 960 512
Boost Clock 1219 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 37.20 39.01
Floating-point performance 1,488.0 gflops 1,248 gflops
Length 198 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s 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 AGP
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 139 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
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