nVidia GeForce GTS 250 (mistakenly called GTX 250) is a mid-price video card released on the market at the end of 2008. At the moment, the graphics adapter is very outdated and does not meet all the requirements of modern games.

Technical specifications GTS 250

Only 128 unified processors are responsible for the performance of the graphics card, which at the moment is simply a ridiculous number; some integrated chips are superior to this video card in this regard.

The number of texture and rasterization units is at a normal level (64 texture units and 16 rasterization units). The GPU frequency reaches only 738MHz. Unlike modern video cards, the Nvidia GTS 250 shader units operate at a different frequency than the GPU. The shader unit frequency is 1836MHz.

The amount of video memory looks quite modest and reaches only 1 gigabyte. But the bus width is 256 bits, which even some modern graphics solutions cannot boast of. The video memory frequency is only 2200MHz, modern RAM works faster.

The video card's API support is very bad. She only supports a tenth DirectX version and OpenGL 3.3, which are hopelessly outdated APIs today.

The video card supports SLI technology, which allows you to combine two GTS 250 into one system. But due to the small amount of memory and lack of support even for DirectX 11, this gives it virtually no advantages.

Manufacturers

In total, the GTS 250 was produced by several third-party manufacturers: ECS, Gigabyte, Palit, Inno3D. Video cards differ in appearance, characteristics, cooling system and component base.

Reference version

This version of the video card is produced by Nvidia itself. The video card has a standard cooling system and standard characteristics, because Nvidia does not overclock its graphics chips directly from the factory.

ECS GTS 250

This video card differs from its reference brother only in the modified cooling system and appearance. Otherwise, this is the good old Nvidia GTS 250 with the same technical characteristics.

Gigabyte GTS 250

The version of the video card from Gigabyte got rid of the protective casing present on the reference model. The cooling system now looks like a piece of aluminum with a large cooler in the center. Gigabyte tried to make the video card very similar to a single-slot solution, but it is not. Due to the large heatsink, the graphics adapter will take up two slots on the motherboard.

Inno3D GTS 250

The Inno3D company has released a frankly stripped-down version of this graphic solution. The video card has lower clock speeds, which negatively affected overall performance.

Palit GTS 250

Palit has become famous for its low-quality and constantly overheating video cards. With the GTS 250, Palit is also not going very smoothly. The company has released a version of the video card labeled “Green”, which has reduced characteristics and reduced power consumption. The absurdity of the situation is added by the presence of several such versions of the video card, differing not only in frequency, but also in memory capacity. Because of this, it was difficult for users to understand when choosing the GTS 250 from Palit.

Comparison with competitors

The Radeon HD4870 is considered a direct competitor to the GTS 250. And the GTS 250 loses to its competitor in the overwhelming majority computer games. Both video cards do not support DirectX 11 or latest version OpenGL.

Compared to the previous generation, the GTS 250 will be slightly more powerful than the GeForce 9800 GT. They have exactly the same characteristics, with the exception of one parameter - the amount of memory. The GTS 250 has twice as much.

Overclocking

Overclocking capabilities directly depend on the video card manufacturer. The GTS 250, released by ECS or Gigabite, races very well and allows you to get a noticeable increase in performance.

Strange solutions from Palit cannot be overclocked at all. The driver immediately starts crashing, and graphic artifacts appear in games. Palit distinguished themselves as usual, and low power consumption played a cruel joke on the graphics adapter, not allowing it to be overclocked properly.

Tests in benchmarks and games

Testing was carried out together with the top Intel Core 2 Quad and four gigabytes random access memory. More powerful iron It makes no sense to use it in conjunction with such a video card.

3DMark06

In this benchmark, the GTS 250 scores 16100 points, which is approximately equal to the result of its competitor (HD 4870) and slightly higher than the GeForce 9800GT.

3DMark Vantage

And in this benchmark, the Nvidia GTS 250 frankly fell behind its direct competitor, scoring only 8403 points. The Radeon HD 4870 was able to pull away strongly, scoring 9673 points.

Crysis

In the game Crysis at FullHD resolution and almost maximum settings graphics (with the exception of anti-aliasing, it is set to medium settings) the GTS 250 cannot produce a stable frame rate, not even reaching 30 fps. Still, Crysis is capable of giving a light to many video cards.

Crysis Warhead

It's even worse with this game. Now the frame rate counter does not always reach even 20 fps, which is why it is very uncomfortable to play.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Of the more or less modern games, GTA 5 is probably the only popular project that does not require DirectX 11 support from the video card (although it is needed for maximum settings). In FullHD resolution, the game works normally only on standard (minimum) graphics settings.

Where are the new items?

And all new games do not run on the GTS 250 because they require DirectX 11, nothing can be done about it. There are software hacks that allow you to get around the requirements, but they are incredibly crooked.

Conclusion

Previously, the GTS 250 was a very good video card, but today it is hopelessly outdated. Its only possible use is office work, it will not cope with modern games.

Introduction As you know, hardly anyone would dare to call the first launch of the Nvidia GeForce 200 architecture a success. Having relied on maximizing the complexity and performance of a monolithic core, Nvidia seemed to have lost when ATI responded to the release of the G200 with its “secret weapon” - the relatively uncomplicated and significantly less expensive RV770 processor. Solutions based on Nvidia G200, already expensive due to the monstrous complexity, instantly became unprofitable when the company was forced to sharply reduce prices in an attempt to make them competitive. And even such a step had little effect on their attractiveness - the fact is that the chip, which consisted of almost one and a half billion transistors and was produced using 65-nm technological standards, by definition could not work on high frequencies. In the older model of the new family, Nvidia barely managed to reach GPU frequencies up to 600/1300 MHz, and the younger one was even slower, and, as a result, could not compete with the Radeon HD 4870, which, moreover, was noticeably cheaper.

But time passed, and as time passed, Nvidia gradually managed to, as they say, “pick up its tails.” First, the company increased the performance of the younger model of the family, GeForce GTX 260, unlocking some of the functional blocks of the GPU, as a result of which the new product, which received the addition “Core 216” to its name, was able to successfully compete with the ATI Radeon HD 4870. Then, later, it also became a testing ground on which it was tested for the first time a new version the G200 core, transferred to the use of a 55-nm process technology, and also tested a new, significantly simplified, and therefore lower cost, printed circuit board design, which, under conditions of severe pressure from ATI, solutions based on the G200 needed like air. The design of the GeForce GTX 285 was just as radically simplified, but thanks to a more advanced technical process, the frequency potential of the G200b was significantly increased, as a result of which the successor to the GeForce GTX 280 in some cases was able to compete on an equal footing with the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2. In addition, the presence of a 55-nm version of the G200 in the arsenal allowed Nvidia to finally strike back at ATI in the sector of the most powerful dual-processor gaming solutions, and the GeForce GTX 295, announced on January 8, 2009, really easily dethroned the king 3D graphics ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2.

However, in the sector of less expensive solutions, things are not so rosy for Nvidia: the monstrous G200, even in its new, 55-nm incarnation, is not at all suitable for creating such cards, due to its complexity and high cost, and the company does not yet have a new budget core. All it has at the moment is the 55-nm version of the G92, which was chosen as the basis for the creation of a new mass-produced graphics adapter designed to complement the GeForce 200 line from below. But the company didn't just rename the GeForce 9800 GTX+, and we should explain why.

To begin with, it’s worth making a digression and reminding readers that even the G200 is not a revolutionary chip, essentially differing from the G92 only in the number of functional units and the organization of the ALU, which was discussed in the corresponding review. The G92 itself, in turn, traces its lineage back to the G80, announced in November 2006, essentially differing from its ancestor only in the architecture of its texture processors.

Thus, by the standards of the computer industry, the current Nvidia architecture breaks all longevity records. On the one hand, this can be considered as a retrograde, but on the other hand, as evidence of the maturity of the architecture itself. In fact, solutions based on the G92 can easily be included in the GeForce 200 family, and there will be nothing reprehensible or illogical in this, since there are no fundamental differences between this core and the G200. Of course, this thesis does not negate the natural question of what the Nvidia development department has been doing all this time, but it is beyond the scope of this review, although we still already know something about the future generation of Nvidia graphics cores.

So, created on the basis of the 55-nm G92b core, the GeForce 9800 GTX+ turned out to be a good rival for the “people's video adapter” represented by the Radeon HD 4850, but here, in addition to creating confusion in the names of Nvidia product lines, more significant pitfalls were discovered. The fact is that this card inherited the design of the printed circuit board from the GeForce 9800 GTX, which was originally created as the flagship of the GeForce 9 line, designed to replace the GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra. For solutions with a recommended cost of less than $150, such a complex and therefore expensive design was, to put it mildly, not the best fit. Something had to be done.

Nvidia GeForce GTS 250: birth and technical characteristics

It must be said that Nvidia had a suitable board design at its disposal for quite a long time, starting from the end of 2007 - we are talking about the GeForce 8800 GT/GTS 512 family, which also used the G92 chip, however, for an unknown reason, the company decided not to use it. having developed a new PCB for the GeForce GTS 250 from scratch. The reasons for such a decision are completely unclear to us, since developing a new board always means additional time and financial expenses, which, in this case, could have been completely avoided.

It is possible that Nvidia was prompted to take such a step by the desire to avoid unnecessary criticism, but even the use of a new board does not make the GeForce GTS 250 a unique product - the new product, in fact, remains the same GeForce 8800 GTS 512 with increased clock speeds and doubled in one of the options the amount of local video memory! One way or another, it must be admitted that Nvidia did not present anything new to the public, once again offering customers old candy in a new wrapper. We will refrain from moral assessments of this action, since, despite its advanced age, the GeForce 8/9 architecture copes well with the tasks assigned to it, however, we note that the use of the “GTS” suffix still creates some confusion. In our opinion, in order to finally unify the names of their products, Nvidia should have followed in the footsteps of ATI, completely abandoning the use of letter suffixes, but perhaps they were retained for a clearer separation of solutions based on the G200 and G92 - GTX for the former and GTS for the latter . It is possible that we will soon see the GeForce 9800 GT under the name GeForce GTS 240 or 230, although, according to the latest information, video card manufacturers consider such a renaming unnecessary.

So, GeForce GTS 250. How does the “new” Nvidia solution compare to its rivals from the “red” camp?

As already mentioned, nothing new, with the exception of the increased local video memory in one of the GeForce GTS 250 variants - from 512 to 1024 MB. In fact, we are still looking at the same GeForce 9800 GTX+, and, accordingly, there can be no talk of any noticeable changes in gaming performance, although in some cases a more expensive option may benefit somewhat due to the presence of 1 GB of memory on board.

All the innovations announced by Nvidia, such as support for CUDA and PhysX, are purely software and, in fact, are “implemented” by unlocking them at the driver level.

However, precisely because the GeForce GTS 250 does not differ in its technical characteristics from the GeForce 9800 GTX+, it does not look inferior to the Radeon HD 4850, except for features that are not directly related to the field of gaming 3D, namely - a less advanced video processor, unable to fully decode the VC-1 format in hardware, as well as the lack of a built-in audio core with stream output to the HDMI interface.

The recommended price of the new product at the time of the announcement was $149 for the version with 1 GB of video memory and $129 for the version with 512 MB of video memory; in addition, there are references to a model costing $169, equipped with 2 GB of local memory, but this option is unlikely to become any popular, since such a volume is not used by modern games, and even more so, it is meaningless in the case of an inexpensive mass solution. In theory, such a card could find its way into low-cost GPGPU systems, but Nvidia's current architecture has problems with double-precision (FP64) performance, and single-precision (FP32) is in many cases insufficient for serious applications.

In practice, at the time of writing this article, cards based on the GTS 250 in Moscow retail cost 6-7 thousand rubles, depending on the amount of memory.

As for specific products, this review we will talk about an unusual version of the GeForce GTS 250, presented by Palit Microsystems.

Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB: packaging and accessories

The described product is packaged in a regular cardboard box of standard sizes, and the packaging design can hardly be called successful, at least in our opinion:

The color scheme used by Palit designers, which includes black and yellow colors, does not look very aesthetically pleasing, especially in combination with the design depicting a frog in an armored suit, which we have previously seen on the packaging of Palit GeForce 9800 GTX+ cards.

The described packaging also has a positive feature - it is informative. Although the sticker in the lower right corner does not indicate clock speeds, it correctly indicates the type and amount of video memory, and also mentions that this product contains GDDR3 chips with an access time of 0.8 nanoseconds. Together with the inscription “Play It, Tweak It, Get More Out of It” and the low price, this indicates that this product is aimed at overclocking enthusiasts on a budget.

The package is quite modest, but includes everything necessary for the full operation of this video adapter:

HDMI → DVI adapter
2×PATA → PCIe adapter
S/PDIF connecting cable
Quick Start Guide
CD with drivers

It’s not rich, but a buyer focusing on this price category is unlikely to chase a lot of additional accessories that will only make the product more expensive. Note that Palit has taken care of both owners of two monitors with a DVI interface, as well as those who plan to use the card to output audio via HDMI to an external receiver, providing their product with the appropriate adapters and cables. A little unusual to see included in the package HDMI adapter→ DVI, but in this case its presence is due to the fact that the described version of the GeForce GTS 250 has only one “native” DVI-I port, and the second one is an HDMI connector.

In general, the packaging and equipment of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB fully correspond to the price category to which it belongs this product. However, we think that more attention should be paid to the packaging design, since in its current form it does not look very attractive.

Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB: PCB design and technical specifications

This version of the GeForce GTS 250 uses a non-standard PCB design that has nothing in common with the reference design developed by Nvidia specifically for the new mass-produced video adapter. The Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB PCB is in many ways identical to the one described in the review “ Brothers in arms: two Palit GeForce 9800GTX+ video cards", although there are a number of differences, especially on the left side of the board, which is due to the double-sided arrangement of memory chips, as well as the configuration of the interface connectors with which this product is equipped.

In comparison with the reference GeForce 9800 GTX+ (board length 267 mm), the Palit design has one advantage - a shorter board length, however, if you compare it with the Nvidia reference design for the GeForce GTS 250, also shortened to 244 mm, then instead of an advantage you immediately find enough significant drawback: the need to connect two power connectors instead of one. Considering that the G92b's power consumption level is about 80 W, the presence of two six-pin PCIe 1.0 power connectors looks like an obvious overkill that has no practical basis.

The GPU power supply system itself is identical to that used in one of the versions of the Palit GeForce 9800 GTX+ and is a four-phase stabilizer with three power MOSFETs in each phase, controlled by ON Semiconductor NCP3488 drivers. The NCP5388 chip is used as a controller.

The Anpec APW7068 chip, which is a PWM controller operating at a frequency of 300 KHz, is responsible for controlling the memory power supply stabilizer.

The board has 16 GDDR3 Samsung K4J52324QH-HJ08 chips with a capacity of 512 Mbit (16Mx32), designed for a supply voltage of 2.05 V. Half of the chips are located on the back side of the board and covered with an aluminum heat spreader plate. The total amount of local video memory is 1024 MB, and the width of the access bus is 256 bits.

The suffix in the memory marking actually indicates an access time of 0.83 ns, which means the ability of these chips to operate at a frequency of 1200 (2400) MHz. According to Nvidia specifications, the GeForce GTS 250 memory should operate at a frequency of 1100 (2200) MHz, but running GPU-Z revealed that in the Palit variant its frequency is only 1000 (2000) MHz. Thus, in some tests one should expect a slight lag from the reference card, even if equipped with half the amount of video memory.

The graphics core has a slightly different marking than that installed on the Palit GeForce 9800 GTX+ - “G92-428-B1” versus “G92-420-B1”, although the revision number is the same and indicates that this is a G92b, produced using 55- nm technological standards. The area of ​​the crystal also speaks about this. This copy was produced in the second week of this year, that is, at the beginning of January. It is curious that the marking itself is made in a different, wider font than in older copies of G92/G92b.

Like the memory frequency, clock speeds GPUs differ from the official specifications: if the reference values ​​for the GeForce GTS 250 are 738/1826 MHz for the main and computing domains, respectively, then in the Palit version these units operate at frequencies of 745/1848 MHz, which to some extent can compensate for the higher low frequency memory. The graphics core configuration is standard and includes 128 universal shader processors, 64 texture processors and 16 RBE units.

Among other features characteristic of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB, it is worth noting the non-standard configuration of interface connectors: instead of the usual two DVI-I ports, supplemented by a universal analog video output port, the card has one DVI-I port, one analog D-Sub and one HDMI. A somewhat strange decision for 2009: currently there is no serious need for a separate D-Sub connector, since the corresponding connection can be easily organized using a cheap DVI-I → D-Sub adapter. But connecting a second monitor with a DVI interface in this configuration will have to be done via an HDMI → DVI adapter, the reliability of which raises some concerns - theoretically, it is possible that under the weight of the connected cable this adapter could fall out of the socket, because the HDMI port does not have an equally reliable system screw fixation, like a DVI connector. In our opinion, the optimal connector configuration would be “2xDVI-I + 1xHDMI”, since the presence of a dedicated HDMI port is much more important nowadays than the presence of an analog video output connector.

Other connectors present on the board include two standard “combs” of the MIO interface, which serves to combine two or three cards into an SLI or Triple SLI system, respectively, as well as a two-pin S/PDIF connector designed for broadcasting an audio stream to HDMI.

In general, Palit's use of a non-standard board design for the GeForce GTS 250 seems to us a dubious undertaking: perhaps its cost does not exceed the cost of the Nvidia reference design, but the described design is clearly less convenient to use due to the need to connect two power connectors instead of one.

Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB: cooling system design

The GeForce GTS 250 reference cooling system is another variation on the GeForce 8800 GTX cooler, not being a record holder, but combining acceptable cooling efficiency with a low noise level. However, Palit decided to go its own way in this matter, equipping its version of the GeForce GTS 250 with a non-standard cooling system - most likely, only in order to stand out from a number of cards of the same type in appearance.

However, she does not represent anything extraordinary; Moreover, its design is such that it immediately allows one to question the thermal efficiency of the design used. In itself, it is very simple, and, in fact, is a low heatsink made of thin aluminum plates, connected to a copper base by two heat pipes and blown from above by a fan mounted on the casing.

You can immediately see two main drawbacks of the system: firstly, the radiator area itself is relatively small, and secondly, the use of an axial fan at such a radiator height does not allow us to hope for the efficiency of blowing the latter, since we are talking about a 90-degree turn of the air flow at a distance of about one and a half centimeters. In addition, a significant part of the air flow directed to the sides of the fan is completely wasted, because, unlike the GeForce 7900 GTX cooling system, there is no additional sections radiator using these flows. The slots in the card mounting strip with this arrangement of the cooling system play mainly a decorative role - outward from system unit a small amount of air is blown through them

The system uses an Everflow R128015BH fan, which has an impeller diameter of 80 mm, a height of 15 mm and a power consumption of 3.84 W. At maximum speed the fan is quite noisy, but more on that below.

As in the Gainward HD 4850 1024MB GS, a layer of light gray thermal interface is applied to the copper base of the heat exchanger, which has a very dry consistency and literally glues the base to the GPU crystal. The heatsink is attached to the board using four screws, which is not a problem due to its low weight and the presence of a protective metal frame on the GPU packaging, which prevents fatal distortion of the heat exchanger. The memory chips located on the front side of the board are covered by an L-shaped aluminum plate, and the chips installed on the back side are covered by another plate with a larger area. The plates are secured with six screws; Elastic thermal pads are used as a thermal interface.

This design is made with claims to high cooling efficiency coupled with a low noise level, however, it has a number of drawbacks visible to the naked eye that cast doubt on the legitimacy of these claims; however, the last word will remain with the test results, which we will talk about in the next chapter of our review.

Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB: power consumption, thermal conditions, noise and overclocking

Despite the fact that the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB uses a non-standard printed circuit board design and power system circuitry, we still measured its power consumption level using a dedicated test stand with the following configuration:

Processor Intel Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz, LGA775)
DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G motherboard (ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200)
Memory PC2-5300 (2x512 MB, 667 MHz)
Hard drive Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD (36 GB)
Chieftec ATX-410-212 power supply (rated power 410 W)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit
Futuremark PCMark05 Build 1.2.0
Futuremark 3DMark06 Build 1.1.0

According to the established methodology, to create a load in 3D mode, the first SM3.0/HDR test of the 3DMark06 package was used, run in a cycle at a resolution of 1600x1200 with forced FSAA 4x and AF 16x. Emulation of the “peak 2D” mode was carried out using the “2D Transparent Windows” test, which is part of PCMark05. The last test is relevant in light of the fact that the Aero window interface is the main gaming operating system- Windows Vista - uses the capabilities of the graphics processor.

As already mentioned, the presence of two power connectors is overkill for this video adapter, since even in 3D mode its power consumption level does not exceed 81 W, and each of these connectors, capable of supporting up to 75 W, accounts for a load of only about 28-29 W . Such reinsurance seems absolutely unnecessary, and all that Palit managed to achieve with its help was to complicate the lives of owners of inexpensive power supplies equipped with only one six-pin graphics card power connector.

Despite the controversial design of the cooling system, it managed to demonstrate very good results:

Under load, the temperature of the graphics core did not exceed 65 degrees Celsius, which is 5 degrees lower than that of the reference cooling system GeForce 9800 GTX+. The idle mode was also pleasing, despite the fact that the core temperature in it was still higher than that of the more powerful GeForce GTX 260 Core 216. Thus, our skepticism regarding the effectiveness of the low-profile radiator was dispelled, although we should not forget that the obtained indicators were largely due to the cost-effectiveness of the 55nm version of the G92. All that remains is to look at the noise characteristics:

Contrary to expectations, the Palit cooling system did not fail here either - the noise level at a distance of a meter from a working test system turned out to be comparable to the performance of the reference GeForce 9800 GTX+ cooling system and only slightly exceeded the background value of 43 dBA. Unfortunately, the described cooler also has a drawback: before loading the operating system and driver, the fan runs at high speeds and is quite noisy, but after loading the noise level returns to normal, and the card becomes almost silent. However, we should not forget that the test platform we use is quite noisy in itself due to the Enermax Galaxy DXX EGX1000EWL power supply it uses.

An attempt to overclock the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB did not bring any special surprises, but it was not a failure either:

Without using any extreme means, it was possible to raise the core clock speeds to 800/1984 MHz, and the memory to 1150 (2300) MHz, while maintaining complete stability. In this mode, the card passed the full testing cycle without any problems, as a result of which we considered it necessary to publish the results obtained along with the results shown by the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB in normal mode, when operating at factory frequencies.

Zotac GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition: reference design card

We noted above that Palit took the path of least resistance, modifying an existing board from the previously released 9800 GTX+ video card. This design differs from NVIDIA's reference design, which will no doubt be the basis for most GTS 250 graphics cards.

Fortunately, we also got our hands on the Zotac GeForce GTS 250 AMP video card! Edition, equipped with 1024 MB of memory and made according to the reference design, with the exception of slightly increased operating frequencies - up to 750/2300 MHz. Although we only had the card in our hands for a couple of days, so it was not possible to put it through a full range of tests, we will say a few words about the appearance and design features - but the performance in practice will only differ slightly from the Palit card discussed in detail in this review .

Externally, the Zotac GeForce GTS 250 resembles the good old GeForce 8800GTS/512, the second card based on the G92 chip - the first was the less powerful 8800GT with a single-slot cooling system. Compared to cards based on the 9800GTX+, the GTS 250 is reduced in length to 244 mm, which allows it to be easily installed in the vast majority of cases.

The card uses the now classic NVIDIA cooling system, which is very effective and at the same time one of the quietest among all cooling systems installed on modern video cards. It consists of a large aluminum platform, which contacts the memory chips and power system transistors through white soft heat-conducting pads, a copper pad pressed to the GPU chip through a layer of thermal paste, and heat pipes that ensure uniform heat distribution across the radiator fins. The system is blown by one turbine with a 4-wire connection.

Although the Zotac GeForce GTS 250 AMP! The Edition also comes with 1024 MB of memory, but there are no memory chips on the underside of the board.

On the top side of the board there are eight Hynix H5RS1H23MFR GDDR3 chips, each with a capacity of 1 Gbit. However, from the buyer’s point of view, something else is more interesting: the card has only one 6-pin power connector.

In Zotac GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition uses the G92-428-B1 chip, just like the Palit card.

In fact, video cards based on the GTS 250 chip, made according to the reference design, which includes the Zotac GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition have two advantages over the Palit GeForce GTS 250: firstly, they have one 6-pin power connector, and secondly, the NVIDIA cooling system exhausts all the hot air outside the case, unlike the Palit cooling system. The latter is especially important for owners of compact microATX cases, in which new video cards, thanks to the reduced length of the printed circuit board, can be easily installed.

Test platform configuration and testing methodology

A comparative study of the performance of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB was carried out on a test platform with the following configuration:

Processor Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition (3.2 GHz, 6.4 GT/s QPI)
System Asus board P6T Deluxe (Intel X58)
Memory Corsair XMS3-12800C9 (3x2 GB, 1333 MHz, 9-9-9-24, 2T)
Hard drive Maxtor MaXLine III 7B250S0 (250 GB, SATA-150, 16 MB buffer)
Power supply Enermax Galaxy DXX EGX1000EWL (power 1 kW)
Monitor Dell 3007WFP (30”, maximum resolution 2560x1600@60 Hz)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
Nvidia GeForce 182.08 WHQL for Nvidia GeForce
ATI Catalyst 9.2 for ATI Radeon HD

Graphics card drivers have been tuned to provide the highest possible quality of texture filtering while minimizing the impact of default software optimizations. Transparent texture antialiasing has been enabled. As a result, the list of ATI Catalyst and Nvidia GeForce driver settings took the following form:
Nvidia GeForce:

Texture filtering - Quality: High quality
Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization: Off
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: Off
Vertical sync: Force off
Antialiasing - Gamma correction: On
Antialiasing - Transparency: Multisampling
Multi-display mixed-GPU acceleration: Multiple display performance mode
Set PhysX GPU acceleration: Enabled

ATI Catalyst:

Smoothvision HD: Anti-Aliasing: Use application settings/Box Filter
Catalyst A.I.: Standard
Mipmap Detail Level: High Quality
Wait for vertical refresh: Always Off
Enable Adaptive Anti-Aliasing: On/Quality
Other settings: default

The package of test applications included the following games and synthetic tests:

3D first-person shooters:

[**]Call of Duty: World at War
Crysis Warhead
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Far Cry 2
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Left 4 Dead
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

3D shooters with third person view:

Devil May Cry 4
Prince of Persia

RPG:

Fallout 3
Mass Effect

Simulators:

Race Driver: GRID
X³: Terran Conflict

Strategies:

Red Alert 3
World in Conflict

Synthetic tests:

Futuremark 3DMark06
Futuremark 3DMark Vantage

Each of those included in the test set software The game was configured in such a way as to provide the highest possible level of detail, and only the tools available in the game itself to any uninitiated user were used. This means a fundamental refusal to manually modify configuration files, since the player is not required to be able to do this. Exceptions have been made for some games, each of which is mentioned separately in the appropriate section of the review.

In addition to the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB, the following graphics cards were included in the testing:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 (G200b, 576/1242/2000 MHz, 216 SP, 72 TMU, 28 RBE, 448-bit memory bus, 896 MB GDDR3)
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 512MB/GeForce 9800 GTX+ (G92b, 738/1836/2200 MHz, 128 SP, 64 TMU, 16 RBE, 256-bit memory bus, 512 MB GDDR3)
ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB (RV770, 750/750/3600 MHz, 800 SP, 40 TMU, 16 RBE, 256-bit memory bus, 1024 MB GDDR5)
ATI Radeon HD 4850 (RV770, 625/625/2000 MHz, 800 SP, 40 TMU, 16 RBE, 256-bit memory bus, 512 MB GDDR3)

Testing was carried out in resolutions of 1280x1024, 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. Whenever possible, standard 16x anisotropic filtering was supplemented with 4x MSAA anti-aliasing. Activation of anti-aliasing was carried out either by the game itself, or, in their absence, it was forced using the appropriate settings of the ATI Catalyst and Nvidia GeForce drivers.

To obtain performance data, we used the tools built into the game, with the obligatory recording of original test videos if possible. If the built-in testing tools allowed, data was recorded not only on average, but also on minimum performance. In all other cases, the Fraps 2.9.8 utility was used in manual mode with a three-fold test pass, fixing the minimum values ​​and then averaging the final result.

Game tests: Call of Duty: World at War

As expected, the new GeForce GTS 250 did not demonstrate a noticeable advantage over the GeForce 9800 GTX+, since, in fact, it is, and 1 GB of video memory in World at War is clearly overkill. The miniscule lag in the 1920x1200 resolution is due to a slightly lower memory frequency. Compared to the Radeon HD 4850, the new product looks good, demonstrating approximately the same level of average and minimum performance.

Game tests: Crysis Warhead

Games based on the Crysis engine, on the contrary, are quite sensitive to the amount of video memory, especially in high resolutions. However, even at 1280x1024 the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is noticeably superior to the model with 512 MB of video memory on board and successfully competes with the Radeon HD 4850, and at 1920x1200 it even outperforms it. But we should not forget that the obtained figures are largely theoretical in nature, since the overall level of average, and even more so, minimum performance is too low for the practical use of cards of this class in such modes.

Game tests: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

To obtain more complete data on the performance of graphics cards in Quake Wars, the built-in average limiter was disabled via the game console. Since testing uses the game's internal capabilities, there is no minimum performance information available.

Despite the fact that the game uses ultra-high-resolution textures (MegaTexture technology), the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB does not receive any advantage over the GeForce 9800 GTX+ and, accordingly, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB. Moreover, at a resolution of 1920x1200, the Palit version is noticeably inferior to the reference one due to the lower memory frequency. In general, the new product is not a revelation, continuing to demonstrate performance comparable to that of its direct competitor, the ATI Radeon HD 4850.

Game tests: Far Cry 2

At maximum graphics quality settings, Far Cry 2 is less demanding than Crysis Warhead, and the presence of the appropriate amount of video memory on board the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB gives not only theoretical results - in resolutions of 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 its influence allows you to overcome the barrier of minimal comfort and provide acceptable levels of average and minimal performance. Oddly enough, we did not detect a similar effect in the case of the Radeon HD 4850, equipped with the same amount of local memory. Perhaps the release of ATI Catalyst 9.3 will make changes to the current balance of power.

Game tests: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

The effect of doubling the amount of video memory is also noticeable in F.E.A.R. 2, but in this game it is most clearly manifested in low resolutions; for example, at 1280x1024 the increase in average performance is approximately 18%, while at 1920x1200 it drops to 4-5%. There is also a significant increase in minimum performance, and although it does not open up new opportunities for the player, the results of the new mainstream Nvidia card look impressive, especially compared to the frankly modest results of the Radeon HD 4850.

Game Tests: Left 4 Dead

The game is based on the Source engine and has built-in testing tools, which, unfortunately, do not provide information about minimum performance.

Due to the relatively old engine, the game does not have increased requirements for video memory, and the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is on par with the GeForce 9800 GTX+, whose new name is GeForce GTS 250 512MB. Thus, for fans of games on the Source engine, there is no point in paying extra for an additional half a gigabyte of video memory. Essentially, in this case, the choice between the Radeon HD 4850 and both GeForce GTS 250 models is completely equivalent.

Game tests: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

To ensure an acceptable level of performance in this game, it was decided to abandon the use of FSAA, as well as such resource-intensive options as “Sun rays”, “Wet surfaces” and “Volumetric smoke”. During testing, the “Enhanced full dynamic lighting (DX10)” mode was used; for ATI cards, the DirectX 10.1 mode was additionally used

Despite how demanding this game is, the effect of having 1 GB of video memory on board the graphics card under study is not very significant and appears only at a resolution of 1920x1200, where the resulting increase in average performance is only 10%. Not bad, but not enough to provide an acceptable level of performance; However, even at a resolution of 1280x1024, the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is slightly lacking in the minimum speed, unlike the Radeon HD 4850, which can take advantage of the DirectX 10.1 support implemented in Clear Sky.

Game tests: Devil May Cry 4

It seems that the frequency of video memory, and therefore its bandwidth, has a greater impact on the performance of the GeForce GTS 250 than its volume or GPU frequency - in two out of three resolutions, the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is noticeably inferior to the reference card, equipped with 512 MB of local memory. This is not a problem, since the overall level of performance remains very high, however, the negative effect of the “under-overclocking” of the memory undertaken by Palit is obvious.

Game tests: Prince of Persia

As is the case with two Radeon HD 4850 models that differ in the amount of video memory, there is no effect from doubling it, and the performance of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is even slightly lower than that of the reference card equipped with 512 MB of memory due to its lower operating frequency. Also, at resolutions up to 1680x1050 inclusive, there is a very significant advantage in minimum performance over the Radeon HD 4850.

Game tests: Fallout 3

The GeForce GTS 250 model, equipped with 1 GB of memory, is ahead of the model with 512 MB on board, but very slightly - the difference does not exceed 2.5-6%. Only overclocking the core to 800 MHz and the memory to 1150 (2300) MHz allows the new product to reach the level of the Radeon HD 4850.

Game Tests: Mass Effect

The Palit product behaves in approximately the same way in Mass Effect, but even maximum overclocking does not allow achieving stable minimum performance above 24 frames per second - of the cards presented in this review, only the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 can do this.

Game tests: Race Driver: GRID

Both versions of the GeForce GTS 250 demonstrate almost identical results, successfully competing on equal terms with the Radeon HD 4850, but overclocking the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB allows you to achieve a solid, about 16-18%, increase in average performance, which puts this card on the same level with more expensive GeForce GTX 260 Core 216.

Game tests: X³: Terran Conflict

Another case where the difference in performance between two almost identical cards, differing only in the amount of video memory, is minimal. However, we should not forget about the reduced memory frequency of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB, without which the gain could have been a little greater. However, we doubt that this would allow it to catch up with the Radeon HD 4850 - the game clearly prefers the ATI Radeon HD architecture.

Game tests: Red Alert 3

The game contains a permanent average performance limiter, fixed at 30 frames per second.

Nvidia solutions still experience serious performance problems in this game with FSAA 4x enabled, which even the maximum overclocking of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB does not help. Note that the presence of a large amount of video memory provides a noticeable increase in the average speed, but a lower memory frequency compared to the reference value leads to a slight drop in minimum performance.

Game tests: World in Conflict

The amount of video memory has no visible effect on the performance of different GeForce GTS 250 variants in World in Conflict. It is also obvious that at nominal frequencies their minimum performance is below the acceptable level, but overclocking makes it possible to compensate for this and, thus, provide comfortable performance at a resolution of 1280x1024.

Semi-synthetic tests: Futuremark 3DMark06

Despite using a resolution of 1280x1024, the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB is ahead of the GeForce GTS 250 512MB by an amount that clearly exceeds the measurement error. The results of individual groups of tests revealed that the greatest performance increase was observed in the SM2.0 tests, while in the SM3.0/HDR tests there was practically no gain, and even some lag was observed due to the slightly lower memory frequency.

Semi-synthetic tests: Futuremark 3DMark Vantage

To minimize the impact central processor, when testing in 3DMark Vantage, the “Extreme” profile is used, using a resolution of 1920x1200, FSAA 4x and anisotropic filtering. To complete the performance picture, individual test results from this point on are taken across the entire resolution range.

The conditions created for the graphics subsystem by 3DMark Vantage tests are more consistent with current realities, therefore, there is a benefit both from the presence of 1 GB of video memory on board the video adapter under study, and from additional overclocking. In the latter case, the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB manages to significantly outperform the Radeon HD 4850, at least the version equipped with 512 MB of memory.

Although in the overall standings it was possible to observe an almost linear increase in performance, the results of individual tests show that complex overclocking of the GPU and memory gives a significantly greater effect than increasing the amount of video memory from 512 MB to 1 GB, at least in resolutions up to 1920x1200.

Conclusion

As expected, the GeForce GTS 250 did not make a splash - and what could you expect from a graphics adapter, which is essentially a renamed GeForce 9800 GTX+, made on a shortened board? Of course, we can talk for a long time about the moral and ethical aspects of Nvidia’s action, which once again offered customers the old architecture under a new name, however, if we approach the issue pragmatically, it is obvious that it is too early to write off this architecture, since with its direct responsibilities, and namely ensuring acceptable performance in modern games, she's doing pretty well. It is helped in this by the 55 nm process technology, which has significantly increased the frequency potential of the G92 core.

Alas, in light of the recent price reduction undertaken by ATI, the situation does not look so rosy - at the same price, the GeForce GTS 250 will be difficult to compete on equal terms with the Radeon HD 4870. However, let’s look at the situation with the performance of the new products in detail:

At a resolution of 1280x1024, there are no real advantages from having a GB of video memory on board one of the GeForce GTS 250 models - the average performance increase is only 4%, and in some cases there is even a slight lag. The latter, however, is a drawback of the particular Palit model, which has a memory frequency below the nominal one.

If we compare the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB with the Radeon HD 4850, then, in general, we can talk about parity, although such a statement is comparable to the comic concept of “average temperature in a hospital.” It all depends on the specific game: if in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin or Prince of Persia, the advantage is clearly on the side of the Nvidia solution, then, for example, in X3: Terran Conflict the brainchild of ATI is in the lead by a significant margin.

But in the case of the Radeon HD 4870, the picture looks rather bleak - the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB lost to it in almost all tests, so the average lag was about 22%. We're talking about the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, but we don't think that's the case with the Radeon HD 4870 512MB, whose official price was recently reduced to $149 (real retail price is about 8 thousand rubles, but as you understand, this is only a matter of time), the situation would have improved significantly. Nvidia will clearly have to reduce prices for the new family in order to ensure its competitiveness in the market.

As for the effect of overclocking, it varies between 4-29%, averaging about 12%. Quite a good increase, achieved, moreover, with “little blood.”

At a resolution of 1680x1050, the picture does not change: the performance increase relative to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB/GeForce 9800 GTX+ is about 4-5%, the situation with the Radeon HD 4850 should be considered separately for each game, and the average lag compared to the Radeon HD 4870 1GB increases to 24%. The effect of overclocking the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB also increased slightly, amounting to an average of 13.5%.

Using the 1920x1200 mode in conjunction with FSAA 4x already seriously loads the memory subsystem so that its volume begins to have a noticeable impact on performance. On average, the gain of the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB over the GeForce GTS 250 512MB increased to 6.5%, and in some cases, such as Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2, it significantly exceeded 20%. However, in some other games, in particular, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Devil May Cry 4, the lower memory frequency affected and the Palit product was inferior to the Nvidia reference card with half the amount of local memory on board.

The situation in the confrontation between Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB and Radeon HD 4850 has not changed: in a number of games (Crysis Warhead, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin) the former showed better performance, while in others (for example, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars or Fallout 3) for the buyer the second one looks preferable.

It is useless to fight the Radeon HD 4870 at this resolution, since it is equipped with ultra-fast GDDR5 memory, which provides it throughput at 115.2 GB/sec. vs. 70.4 GB/sec. GeForce GTS 250. In this case, the average loss of Nvidia's new product was almost 30%.

conclusions

At first glance, the Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 family looks good, and, despite the use of an architecture that is not new by modern standards, it can successfully compete with the extremely popular “people's video adapter” represented by the ATI Radeon HD 4850. However, the GeForce GTS 250 already costs 500 -1000 rubles more than the Radeon HD 4850, and in the near future the cost of the latter may fall even more - recently the official price of the ATI Radeon HD 4870, a card noticeably more powerful than the GeForce GTS 250, was reduced to 149 dollars. Thus, it all depends on strategy that Nvidia will choose, and if the prices for the GeForce GTS 250 decrease at the same pace as the prices for the Radeon HD 4850, these cards will have a chance to gain some popularity among players with a limited budget. Otherwise, ATI will have a clear advantage.

As for the specific model of the new graphics adapter, described in detail in this review, the Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB, at first glance, looks quite attractive, combining good performance, low level noise and fairly high cooling efficiency. It also has disadvantages, in particular, the need to connect two power connectors, despite the fact that there is only one connector left in the reference design.

Palit GeForce GTS 250 1GB: advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

Quite a high level of performance
Outperforms ATI Radeon HD 4850 in a number of tests
Availability of 1 GB of local video memory
Wide range of FSAA modes
Minimal impact of FSAA on performance
Excellent anisotropic filtering quality
Supports hardware HD video decoding
Support S/PDIF audio output via HDMI
Low power consumption
Low noise level
Availability of a separate HDMI port

Flaws:

Video memory frequency is below the reference value
Increased noise level before driver loading
Lack of support for DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1
Incomplete support for VC-1 decoding
Lack of built-in sound core
Requires two power connectors

Check the availability and cost of video cards based on GeForce GTS 250

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A month ago, NVIDIA announced a “new” GeForce GTS 250 video card. Long before this event, it was known that this “new product” was nothing more than a renamed GeForce 9800 GTX+ video card. The only difference from its predecessor GeForce GTS 250 is its shortened printed circuit board, the G92b video chip has not undergone any changes.

At this point we can finish this article, but let's turn to the history of the G92 video chip. It was announced in the fall of 2007 in the form of the GeForce 8800 GT video card. The GPU of this video card was made using a 65 nm process technology and included 112 shader processors, 56 texture units, 16 rasterization units and support for a 256-bit memory bus. This video card has become a legend, leaving no chance in games for its direct competitor from the red camp - the Radeon HD 3870, based on the RV670 video chip.

In December 2007, NVIDIA released the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb video card, based on the same G92 video chip. Unlike the similarly named GeForce 8800 GTS 640(320) MB video card, based on the G80 GPU, they had:

• smaller memory bus width (256-bit versus 320-bit) and rasterization units (16 versus 24);
• more shader processors (128 versus 96), texture units (64 versus 48) and higher core clock (650MHz versus 513MHz), shader domain (1625MHz versus 1188MHz), GDDR (1940MHz versus 1584MHz).

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Due to more functional units and higher frequencies, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb easily outperformed the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb. Moreover, it was able to catch up to this point with the undefeated GeForce 8800 GTX 768 Mb. Thanks to this and its lower price, this video card became a real hit among gamers of the time.

In April 2008, NVIDIA released the GeForce 9800 GTX 512 Mb video card. It differed from the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb in a longer printed circuit board, an increase in the number of power connectors from one six-pin to two, and increased core/shader domain/video memory frequencies. Thanks to the increase in frequencies, the GeForce 9800 GTX 512 Mb managed to catch up in performance with the previous flagship GeForce 8800 Ultra 768 Mb.

At the same time, the entire 88xx line of video cards was rebranded:

• GeForce 9800GT replaced GeForce 8800 GT;
• GeForce 9800GTX replaced GeForce GeForce 8800 Ultra 768 Mb;
• The GeForce 8800GTS 512 MB was discontinued so as not to create internal competition for the stronger GeForce 9800 GTX 512 MB video card.

In May 2008, the GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280 video cards were announced. These video cards occupied the Hi-end sector of the market. The 98xx line has moved to the middle-end sector.

At that moment, NVIDIA dominated all sectors of the video card market, and nothing seemed to threaten its position. AMD was then in an unenviable position: processors were inferior to Intel products on all fronts, and the situation with video cards was no better. On the way were video cards of the HD4xxx line, based on the RV770 video chip. But no one believed in them; the reputation of the Radeon brand suffered too much due to the failed HD2xxx and unsuccessful HD3xxx lines.

GeForce GTS 250 video card test – the rebirth of the phoenix. Specifications gts 250 nvidia, pci e GeForce GTS250 video card performance. Buy pci video card nvidia. Buy a video card, reviews Palit gts 250 prices. The well-known GeForce 9800 GTX+ video adapter in the new look of GeForce GTS 250.

The birth of the GTS 250 video card has its own backstory. It all started on December 11, 2007, on that day it was officially announced GeForce video card 8800 GTS 512 MB. Which subsequently became the graphic foundation for further modifications of high-performance video cards for games. Nvidia is the first step towards the GeForce GTS 250. At the beginning of 2008, in response to the release of the ATI Radeon HD 3850 and Radeon HD 3870 video cards, Nvidia launched the 9th series of graphics adapters.

Video cards appear on the scene: GeForce 9800 GT (with the new G94 core) and the flagship of the new GeForce 9800 GX2 line. For some time, the place of the most productive single-chip video card of the 9 series remains vacant. Nvidia marketers decided to close the gap with a new modification of the GeForce 8800 GTS video card. The most powerful graphics card in the 9 series is the GeForce 9800 GTX.

It should be noted that the 9800 GTX is not a 100% clone of the 8800 GTS graphics adapter and has a number of new technical features. characteristics and capabilities. The main innovations include: built on a new PCB, the GeForce 9800 GTX video card received support for 3-Way SLI, support for Hybrid Power technology (2D mode switches to an integrated video card motherboard, saving energy), a dual-slot cooling system, increased frequency of the graphics processor and memory (675 MHz / 2200 MHz). And as a result of the above, the GeForce 9800 GTX receives a noticeable performance increase.

Comparison of video cards, test Geforce GTS 250 characteristics.

Characteristics	GeForce GTS 250	GeForce 9800 GTX+	GeForce 9800 GTX	GeForce 8800 GTS
Video chip - core	G92b	G92b	G92	G92
Technological process / nm	55 nm	55 nm	65 nm	65 nm
GPU frequency / MHz	738 MHz	738 MHz	675 MHz	600 MHz
Type memory capacity	GDDR3 1GB/512MB	GDDR3 1GB/512MB	GDDR3 / 512 MB	GDDR3 / 512 MB
Memory frequency	2200 MHz	2200 MHz	2200 MHz	1900 MHz
Pixel Perc.	128 pcs.	128 pcs.	128 pcs.	128 pcs.
Texture blocks	64 pcs.	64 pcs.	64 pcs.	64 pcs.
Memory bus/bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit
Test 3DMark06	16425 / 16328(512)	16287 / 16198(512)	14258	1329

Nvidia - step two towards the GeForce GTS 250. The game of catch-up between Nvidia GeForce and ATI Radeon continued, and Nvidia's next move in strengthening its position was to transfer the G92 core from 65 nm to 55 nm. The video chip was named G92b and marked the beginning of the release of the updated GeForce 9800 GTX+ video card. The video adapter appeared on the market in two versions: gf 9800 GTX+ with 1 GB of video memory and gf 9800 GTX+ 512 MB. A change in the technical process made it possible to raise the GPU frequency to 738 MHz, while the memory value remained the same.

Nvidia - step three GeForce GTS 250. Summer 2008, new players appeared on the graphics adapter market: GeForce 200 series video cards from Nvidia and representatives of ATI / Radeon HD 4870 video card. And as always happens, consumers began to form an unjustified, biased opinion that The GeForce 9800 GTX+ video card is outdated and cannot compete with the new 4 series Radeon. An erroneous opinion, and for many it was based on only one thing, namely, the phrase “new model.”

But the decisive factor is not the name, but the ratio of the price of the video card and performance. And in terms of performance, the gf GTS 250 comes very close to and leaves far behind the Radeon HD 4850, and if you take the price into account, then there is only one choice. But convincing someone is a thankless task, and the company’s marketers made a knight’s move - they renamed the GeForce 9800 GTX+ video adapter. This is how it was born Nvidia video card GeForce GTS 250.

I am not a fan of this or that company and always try to choose the best components in my price category. Any company has its “freaks”, as well as unique time-tested things. When choosing computer components, you should take into account the price of the product and performance. And that’s why I think that the GeForce GTS 250, which has a long track record, deserves attention and claims to be a leader in inexpensive, gaming computers. Video card gts 250 characteristics.

For those who are more demanding on graphics, I suggest considering a more expensive option for graphics solutions. Test - review with video cards of the Nvidia GeForce GTX family. .

I also advise you to get acquainted with alternative solutions - AMD video cards. Check out the capabilities of the new ATI Radeon video cards - advanced characteristics at a very reasonable price:

Best wishes
Denker.

Many people know that Nvidia is a company that is partly about stealth and marketing gimmicks to attract the attention of buyers. Moreover, it has been doing this for a long time, trying to take over the market and get ahead of AMD. The “red” manufacturer, in turn, is more practical, although it is often inferior in performance to its competitor.

Sometimes, in the pursuit of superiority, Nvidia begins to lose to its rival. He is trying to “shut up” the market with vague models, working to get an updated model from an old video card. Another similar situation occurred in 2009.

Background

A year earlier, the company introduced the GT200 graphics processor and several models based on it. This option has become quite good and has been able to outshine competing models. This was not surprising, because its closest competitor, the Radeon HD 3800, received mediocre performance in principle, and after the release of new products it became even weaker.

Then AMD, then still ATI, presented an excellent RV770 GPU base and two video cards based on it. And although the Radeon HD 4870 did not immediately show unprecedented results, it nevertheless became strategically important for the dual-processor model to become a leader in the future.

Afterwards, the company develops mid-range and entry-level video cards. The Radeon HD 4830 is becoming an inexpensive but very productive model, and the mid-range segment has its own striking power.

Nvidia was in no hurry to release the GTS 250 for such success. It creates an accelerator in the high segment, followed by other models that can finally compete. Problems arise when it becomes clear that the 55 nm GT200 is too large and something more profitable needs to be invented.

Remember all

G92 was already known by 2009. This option initially turned out to be more successful and has already gone through a couple of updates. GeForce GTS 250 is a video card that turned out to be just another marketing ploy. Despite the new name, the buyer was faced with relics of the past.

First, the GeForce 8800 GTS was created, then it was overclocked, resulting in the GTX 9800, then the technical process for this model was updated and the GTX 9800+ was released. As a result, we have a rebranding of this chain - GTS 250.

Specifications

The design of the board for this card was known to the manufacturer back in 2007. That's when the G92 appeared in other models. But while developing a new product, the company for some reason decides to recycle the textolite. And he does it radically. If at first the motives for this alteration were unclear, then later it becomes clear: in order to avoid criticism and not present the buyer with an absolute clone, the manufacturer decides to do at least something, spending considerable money.

Nvidia GTS 250 looks good. It is developed on an outdated but powerful GPU G92, which was transferred to a 55 nm process technology. The crystal uses 754 million transistors and, unlike the GT200, is half the size. Also inside there were 128 unified stream processors, 64 texture units, and 16 rasterization elements.

The memory here is GDDR3. Various modifications have chosen their own volume for the accelerator. The buyer could purchase a 512 MB or 1 GB card. The memory bus width remains 256 bits.

The core frequency of the reference model was 738 MHz, shader units operate at a speed of 1836 MHz. The memory frequency was 1100 MHz. As a result, at the time of release the card cost $150, which was a good price compared to competing models of both its own production and the “red” company.

Modifications

As usual, the reference version of the Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 received modified versions. They stood out due to their appearance, partly due to their cooling system. Also, some options received increased frequencies and, in principle, became more productive. Despite the large number of modifications, the most striking are the models from Palit and GIGABYTE.

Palit

This modification was supplied in a bright branded box. Then the company presented its models in exactly this unified version. On the front there was information about the model and some technologies. Everything is quite minimalistic. There were, of course, users who were unable to evaluate color combinations, which Palit introduced, but at that time the packaging had not yet been created to be tactile and visually pleasing.

The equipment is very modest. Inside, in addition to “waste paper” and a disk with drivers, there was a pair of adapters for HDMI and 2xPATA. Despite the lack of generosity, it is still worth remembering that the model does not belong to the high price segment. Therefore, it was not worth waiting for additional accessories for such a price.

The appearance of the Palit GTS 250 is bright and attractive. The red PCB is covered with a plastic casing, in which a large fan can be seen. Below it is a small radiator. In general, the cooling system is not bad, although it is not entirely suitable for additional overclocking.

16 memory chips total 512 MB, but the total local volume reaches 1 GB. As in the reference version, the bus width is 256 bits. The memory frequency is higher than that of the reference model - 1200 MHz, which in total gives 2.4 GHz. But these numbers turned out to be only markings. In fact, it turned out that the modified version received only 2 GHz frequencies, which is less than the reference model.

The core frequencies have nevertheless become somewhat higher than those of the reference video card. On the one hand, this compensated for the reduced memory speed, but on the other, it was a very insignificant increase. As a result, the core frequency increased from 738 to 745 MHz.

Reviews about Palit

The GTS 250 modification received a good response from the buyer. Everyone was able to get everything they wanted from the reference model. We are, of course, talking about overclocking. Despite disappointing reviews about memory speed, additional overclocking helped improve core speed. As a result, it began to operate at a frequency of 800 MHz, and the shader domain - 1984 MHz. Users also noted that the situation with memory was successful. Despite the lag behind the reference model, we managed to catch up with these values ​​and even slightly exceed them - 1150 MHz.

GIGABYTE

This modification also turned out to be quite good. She got attractive appearance. First of all, thanks to its cooling system. The model was delivered in an interesting package that displayed all the characteristics. Inside were a pair of adapters for the GTS 250, drivers and a user manual.

The blue textolite is partially covered by a radiator with a built-in fan. The cooling system is efficient and looks nice. The board has all the necessary elements, and the interface panel has all the necessary connectors.

Interestingly, this GTS 250 video card is no different from the reference model in terms of specifications. As a result, the frequency is still 738 MHz, and the memory runs at 1100 MHz. Moreover, its volume is 1 GB.

This state of affairs makes it clear that you can’t do without overclocking, otherwise it’s easier to purchase a reference version. And in principle, additional overclocking shows excellent results. The core frequency increases to 792 MHz, and the memory increases to 1635 MHz.