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AMD Instinct MI210 vs AMD Radeon 540X: Comparison
AMD Instinct MI210 and AMD Radeon 540X separate most on memory bus width: AMD Instinct MI210 at 4,096 bit, AMD Radeon 540X at 64 bit, 98% in favor of AMD Instinct MI210. Memory Bandwidth splits them by another 97%, again favoring AMD Instinct MI210.
Which is better, AMD Instinct MI210 or AMD Radeon 540X?
On paper, AMD Instinct MI210 has the edge on memory bus width, at 4,096 bit vs AMD Radeon 540X at 64 bit.
What is the main difference between AMD Instinct MI210 and AMD Radeon 540X?
The AMD Instinct MI210 is the stronger choice on paper: it has 33.3x the memory bandwidth (1,600 GB/s vs 48 GB/s), which feeds the GPU faster at high resolutions.
Specs and benchmarks
GPU Brand
- AMD Instinct MI210
- AMD
- AMD Radeon 540X
- AMD
Series
- AMD Instinct MI210
- Instinct MI200
- AMD Radeon 540X
- Radeon 500X Series
Board Partner
- AMD Instinct MI210
- AMD Reference (PCIe dual-slot card, data center/OEM only)
- AMD Radeon 540X
- AMD (Reference)
Memory Type
- AMD Instinct MI210
- HBM2E
- AMD Radeon 540X
- GDDR5Best
Boost Clock
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 1700 MHzBest
- AMD Radeon 540X
- 1219 MHz-28%
Architecture
- AMD Instinct MI210
- CDNA 2 (single Graphics Compute Die)
- AMD Radeon 540X
- GCN
Process Node
- AMD Instinct MI210
- TSMC 6nm
- AMD Radeon 540X
- Other
Compute Blocks
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 104
- AMD Radeon 540X
- 8
Memory Bus Width
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 4096 bitBest
- AMD Radeon 540X
- 64 bit-98%
Memory Bandwidth
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 1600 GB/sBest
- AMD Radeon 540X
- 48 GB/s-97%
Launch Date
- AMD Instinct MI210
- 2022-03
- AMD Radeon 540X
- April 2018
Which one should you pick?
Choose AMD Instinct MI210 if you want the higher boost clock (1700 MHz vs 1219 MHz), the higher memory bus width (4096 bit vs 64 bit) and the higher memory bandwidth (1600 GB/s vs 48 GB/s).
Choose AMD Radeon 540X if you already have it on hand or find it at a lower price.
Verdict
AMD Instinct MI210
7.3 / 10 Expert Rating
A practical, PCIe-slot-friendly way to get CDNA 2 compute into a standard server, useful for smaller HPC and AI deployments, but clearly the entry point of its generation next to the dual-die MI250X and now well behind the MI300 series.