Radeon HD 8970M vs Radeon RX 540

In this comparison between Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 540 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people Radeon HD 8970M will be the best choice, for others Radeon RX 540 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 540 are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 540 are only used in laptop graphics. They have 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 HD 8970M or Radeon RX 540 here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 540
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 65 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 8970M has 53% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 540.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon RX 540 have maximum RAM of 4 GB.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon RX 540 - with Polaris.
  • Radeon HD 8970M is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 540 - by 14 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 540 is 1200 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8970M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 20−22 14−16
ultra / 1080p 12−14 8−9
QHD / 1440p 6−7 3−4
4K / 2160p 5−6
low / 720p 35−40 30−33
medium / 1080p 24−27 18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 8970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 33% more, than Radeon RX 540.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 8970M Radeon RX 540
Architecture GCN Polaris
Code name Neptune Polaris 12
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 15 May 2013 21 March 2017
Pipelines 1280 512
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz 1219 MHz
Transistor count 2,800 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 14 nm
Texture fill rate 72.00 39.01
Floating-point performance 2,304 gflops 1,248 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 96 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_1) 12.0
Shader Model 5.1 5.0
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
FreeSync +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 273 Mh/s
Laptop size large large
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