AMD · Radeon RX 500 Series

AMD Radeon RX 540

The AMD Radeon RX 540 is a graphics card released on April 18, 2017, built on the GCN architecture. It has 512 shading units, 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, 96.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth and a boost clock of 1.22 GHz. It scores 2,174 in the PassMark G3D benchmark. It supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5 and OpenCL 2.0.

GCNPolaris 12

9/10 key specs recorded · 75 facts

Depth: 44 recorded fields, 12 features, 5 PassMark workloads

Specification data last verified October 1, 2026 against PassMark Videocard Benchmark, AMD.com Specifications and Wikipedia GPU list tables (wikigrid-2026-09). Coverage: 9 of 10 tracked specifications recorded.

PassMark Videocard Benchmark AMD.com Specifications Wikipedia GPU list tables (wikigrid-2026-09)PassMark Videocard Benchmark

Shading units

512cores

8 compute units

Memory

4 GB

GDDR5 · 128-bit

Boost clock

1.22 GHz

1.12 GHz base

Board power

n/a

Performance

The AMD Radeon RX 540 scores 2,174 in the PassMark G3D benchmark, higher than 67.6% of the 2,658 GPUs benchmarked (PassMark rank #939), measured across 77 submitted results. Its PassMark G2D score is 320.

PassMark G3D Mark

2,174

Rank #939
Faster than 67.6% of 2,658 GPUs
77 samples

0relative to the fastest GPU on record (41,928)

PassMark workload tests

DirectX 9 41 fps

reference: fastest recorded 526 fps · faster than 53.9% of 1,675 GPUs

DirectX 10 9 fps

reference: fastest recorded 231 fps · faster than 48.4% of 1,602 GPUs

DirectX 11 18 fps

reference: fastest recorded 362 fps · faster than 48.5% of 1,430 GPUs

DirectX 12 10 fps

reference: fastest recorded 213 fps · faster than 35.8% of 1,274 GPUs

GPU Compute 760 ops/s

reference: fastest recorded 26,591 ops/s · faster than 39.5% of 1,447 GPUs

Averages of PassMark PerformanceTest submissions; frames/sec are PassMark test-scene rates, not game FPS. Tests PassMark does not report for this card are omitted. PassMark listing

In the PassMark workload tests the AMD Radeon RX 540 averages DirectX 9 41 fps, DirectX 10 9 fps, DirectX 11 18 fps, DirectX 12 10 fps and GPU Compute 760 ops/s, across 77 submitted results. Frames per second are PassMark test-scene rates, not game frame rates.

Theoretical throughput

FP32 (single precision) 1.2 TFLOPS stated by AMD

Pixel fill rate 19.5 GPixel/s stated by AMD

Texture fill rate 39.01 GTexel/s stated by AMD

AMD states a peak of FP32 (single precision) 1.2 TFLOPS, Pixel fill rate 19.5 GPixel/s and Texture fill rate 39.01 GTexel/s for the AMD Radeon RX 540.

As stated by PassMark

Category Desktop

Bus interface PCIe 3.0 x8

Max memory 4 GB

Core clock 1219 MHz

Memory clock 1500 MHz

DirectX 12

OpenGL 4.5

First benchmarked 2017-12-27

Samples 77

PassMark listing (collected 2026-10-01)

PassMark's own listing for the AMD Radeon RX 540 states the PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, up to 4 GB of memory, a core clock of 1219 MHz, DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.5, first benchmarked on 2017-12-27. These are PassMark's figures, shown separately from the specification tables above.

Not to be confused with

This page covers the AMD Radeon RX 540 specifically. It is a different product from AMD Radeon RX 540X, which have their own specifications. Check the exact model name before comparing figures.

Graphics processor

Architecture GCN

Codename Polaris 12

Chip Not recorded

Process node Not recorded

Transistors 2,200 M

Die size 101 mm²

The AMD Radeon RX 540 is based on the GCN architecture, uses the Polaris 12 graphics processor, contains 2,200 million transistors and has a die size of 101 mm².

Shader configuration

Shading units 512

Compute units 8

Streaming multiprocessors Not recorded

Execution units Not recorded

Texture units (TMUs) Not recorded

Render output units (ROPs) 16

Ray tracing cores Not recorded

Tensor / AI cores Not recorded

XMX engines Not recorded

Infinity cache Not recorded

The AMD Radeon RX 540 has 512 shading units, 8 compute units and 16 render output units.

The AMD Radeon RX 540 does not use XMX engines; those are specific to Intel Arc graphics. Feex has no recorded ray tracing core count for the AMD Radeon RX 540.

Clock speeds

Base clock 1.12 GHz

Boost clock 1.22 GHz

Game clock Not recorded

Memory clock Not recorded

Effective memory clock Not recorded

The AMD Radeon RX 540 runs at a base clock of 1.12 GHz and boosts to 1.22 GHz.

Memory

Size 4 GB

Type GDDR5

Bus width 128-bit

Bandwidth 96.0 GB/s

The AMD Radeon RX 540 is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, uses a 128-bit memory bus and delivers 96.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Board and power

The AMD Radeon RX 540 it connects over PCIe 3.0 x8.

Board power (TDP) Not recorded

Total board power Not recorded

Suggested PSU Not recorded

Power connectors Not recorded

Slot width Not recorded

Length Not recorded

Width Not recorded

Height Not recorded

Cooler Not recorded

Max temperature Not recorded

Bus interface PCIe 3.0 x8

Market

Launched April 18, 2017

Launch price Not recorded

Status Not recorded

Form factor Not recorded

Segment Laptop

Series Radeon RX 500 Series

The AMD Radeon RX 540 was released on April 18, 2017.

Benchmarks

PassMark G3D 2,174

PassMark G2D 320

Rank #939

Samples 77

Graphics and compute APIs

The AMD Radeon RX 540 supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5 and OpenCL 2.0.

DirectX 12

OpenGL 4.5

OpenCL 2.0

CUDA is an NVIDIA technology and does not apply to the AMD Radeon RX 540. Feex has no recorded Vulkan version for the AMD Radeon RX 540.

Features

The AMD Radeon RX 540 has 4 supported features recorded outside the media engine. A feature that no source mentions is shown as not listed, never as unsupported.

Display features

Supported: AMD FreeSync

Support for AMD's variable refresh rate technology, which syncs compatible displays to the GPU to reduce tearing and stutter.
Supported: HDMI 4K output

The vendor states the GPU can drive a 4K display over HDMI.

Not listed (6)

No source Feex holds states whether the AMD Radeon RX 540 supports Stereoscopic 3D, 10-bit color output, VR ready, 8K display output, HDR output and 12-bit color output. That is silence, not a statement that they are unsupported.

The AMD Radeon RX 540 supports AMD FreeSync and HDMI 4K output under Display features.

Software and drivers

Supported: Radeon Chill

AMD driver feature that lowers frame rate when there is little on-screen action to cut power use and heat.
Supported: Radeon ReLive

AMD's built-in tool for recording and streaming gameplay.

Not listed (6)

No source Feex holds states whether the AMD Radeon RX 540 supports Enhanced Sync, Image sharpening, Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Boost, Radeon Super Resolution and AMD Fluid Motion Frames. That is silence, not a statement that they are unsupported.

The AMD Radeon RX 540 supports Radeon Chill and Radeon ReLive under Software and drivers.

Media engine

The AMD Radeon RX 540 provides hardware encode for H.264 (AVC) and HEVC (H.265) and hardware decode for H.264 (AVC) and HEVC (H.265).

AMD Unified Video Decoder SupportedAMD's older dedicated video-decoding block found on many GCN-era and earlier Radeon GPUs.

AMD Video Coding Engine SupportedAMD's older dedicated video-encoding block found on many GCN-era Radeon GPUs.

Hardware video codec support of the AMD Radeon RX 540
Codec	Encode	Decode
H.264 (AVC)4K H.264: encode supported, decode supported	Supported	Supported
HEVC (H.265)	Supported	Supported

supported explicitly not supported not stated by the vendor

Not listed: AV1 and VP9. No source Feex holds states whether the AMD Radeon RX 540 supports these codecs; that is silence, not a statement that they are unsupported.

Media engines recorded for the AMD Radeon RX 540: AMD Unified Video Decoder and AMD Video Coding Engine.

Display outputs

The AMD Radeon RX 540 offers outputs DisplayPort 1.4 HDR, HDMI 4K60 Support and DisplayPort 1.4.

Outputs DisplayPort 1.4 HDR, HDMI 4K60 Support

DisplayPort 1.4

Naming and aliases

The AMD Radeon RX 540 is also known by other names: PassMark also lists it as AMD Radeon(TM) RX540, Radeon RX 540 Series and Radeon RX 540.

Other names (PassMark) AMD Radeon(TM) RX540; Radeon RX 540 Series; Radeon RX 540

Frequently asked questions

How much VRAM does the AMD Radeon RX 540 have?

The AMD Radeon RX 540 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. Its memory bandwidth is 96.0 GB/s.

How fast is the AMD Radeon RX 540?

The AMD Radeon RX 540 scores 2,174 in the PassMark G3D benchmark, higher than 67.6% of the 2,658 GPUs benchmarked. Its PassMark rank is #939. In the PassMark DirectX 12 test it averages 10 fps.

What bus interface does the AMD Radeon RX 540 use?

The AMD Radeon RX 540 connects over PCIe 3.0 x8.

When was the AMD Radeon RX 540 released?

The AMD Radeon RX 540 was released on April 18, 2017.

Corrections to this record

After an audit, 1 value on the AMD Radeon RX 540 record was corrected. Each change is listed with its old value, new value, rule and sources.

Launch date: ~~2017-11-01~~ → 2017-04-18. Rule: Two independent sources agree. 2 independent sources agree on 2017-04-18 and contradict the stored 2017-11-01. Sources: Wikipedia: List of AMD graphics processing units (revision 1376670003); AMD product specifications.

The audit log is public: all changes for this GPU, the corrections overview and the method.