NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250: A Rebadged 9800 GTX+
by Derek Wilson on March 3, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
FarCry 2 Performance
While the 4850 does lead the GTS 250 by a significant margine, the GTS 250 1GB edges out the 4850. As on board RAM seems to make a difference here, we'd like to see what happens with the 4850 1GB. This one again would be better suited to 1280x1024 or slightly reduced settings.
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Left 4 Dead Performance
The Radeon 4850 leads the GTS 250 in this benchmark, and it even edges out the 1GB variant at and below 1920x1200. Interestingly, all these cards remain playable at 2560x1600, but the Radeon 4850 drops to the bottom in performance at this resolution. With the minimal difference we see other variations in RAM make, it doesn't seem like the 1GB 4850 would fare any better. Of course, you never know until you try, so we won't make any definitive statements here.
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Race Driver GRID Performance
Across the board in this benchmark the Radeon 4850 leads both the GTS 250. The GTS 250 1GB catches up at 2560x1600 though. It does seem, however, that SLI scales better in this benchmark, and the GTS 250 1GB in SLI might post some decent numbers at 2560x1600 as well.
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SiliconDoc - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - link
The cheapest 4870 1G at the egg right now is 194.99 + shipping and they go up well over $200 from there -The cheapest GTX260/216 at the egg right now is 179.99 + shipping.
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Now let's look further - in order ! (second # after rebate)
4870 1g
199.99
199.99/169.99
199.99/179.99
214.99/194.99
234.99/209.99
239.99/214.99
GTC260/216
189.99/159.99
208.99/189.99
212.99/177.99
229.99/199.99
232.99/197.99
234.99/214.99
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Oh well, another red fantasiacal lie exploded all over the place, AGAIN.
Griswold - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
It goes like this:8800GTS 512 -> 9800GTX(+) -> GTS250
Weak, nvidia...
Nfarce - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
When Uncle Sam gives me some of my money back in a few weeks, it will be spent on a mid-range i7 build. For months I debated two things in my GPU build spec: the less headaches of going Nvidia but paying more for less performance vs. ATI's more driver/support headaches but paying less for more (or in a few cases generally equal) performance. To this day there are a lot of Catalyst issues, especially in Crossfire. Even so, articles like this have helped push me over to a first time ATI/AMD GPU buyer. :)earthshaker87 - Monday, March 9, 2009 - link
Dude just stick to Single GPU setup. Ive had 4 Cards from ATi now: 9550,X800GT,HD3850,HD4850. None of them gave me headaches at all. I think the drivers are working just fine for me. No one needs 2 GPUs, its a stupid buy really...you pay double for most of the time not double performance and get issues with it. Why do you need it if you can buy a perfectly capable Single Radeon 4850 for dirt cheap or if you got more cash get a GTX285 the top single GPU card, no problems and headaches or inconsistent FPS. Multi GPU splutions is just not perfect yet...Frallan - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
Please include the 4830 in some tests in the future - Im not personally interested but 2 or 3 of my friends and family has asked and i honestly dont know what to say. A 4830 is about 1k SEK in Sweden and a 4850 is around 1.4k (+40%) (also a Gigabyte 4850 with the Zalmann cooler is 1.6k SEK *sigh*).For me this segment is getting more imprtant as almost all ppl I know wants dedicated graphics but without splurging for the best.
frozentundra123456 - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
In a way this just shows how strong the last generation of nvidia cards was, in that they can still compete with AMD. I definitely think the AMD naming scheme is much more straightforward (honest) than that of nvidis though. I have more of a problem with nvidia renaming a weak card with the latest model numbers such as the 8600GT which became the 9500GT which is now the GT120 or something. Someone who is not informed could easily think this is a high performace part due to the new model number, which it is not.What we really need is a benchmark of some sort to give relative performance like the windows experience index. That benchmark is really not useful now because even a midrange card rates the max in the windows experience index. Granted the relative performance varies from game to game, but some sort of performance index would give somewhat of a way to measure relative overall performance.
Hrel - Thursday, March 5, 2009 - link
The test you're looking for is called 3D Mark, and I keep messaging them about that asking them to include that test in their articles. Come one, join me in messaging them every day till they start to include that test!Adjudicator - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
Although the 1 GB Version of the GTS 250 looks "Further refined" (Shorter card length and requiring only 1 6 pin connector instead of two), It is practically the same card as the 1 GB version of 9800 GTX+ sold by eVGA.http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P...">http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.a...p;family...
This shows that the "new" reference design was not really new after all; this design was already in existance before NVIDIA announced the release of the GTS250.
To those who enquire if there will be a 512 MB version of the GTS 250 that needs only one 6 pin:
eVGA had released a 9800+ 512 MB that uses the refined short PCB and 1 6 pin connector:
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=512-P...">http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.a...p;family...
Even Gigabyte had released a 1 GB version of the 9800 GTX+ on a shortened PCB with one 6 pin, although it uses a non-reference cooling solution:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_O...">http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_O....
After all this rebadging of the G92b, I will not be surprised if NVIDIA's next move will be to release a 9800+ GX2 / GTS 250 GX2 rebranded as the GTS 255.
SiliconDoc - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - link
I wonder if nvidia heard all the constant ragging women nagging endlessly about the names of their cards, and finally decided the line them up in the 100-200 etc nomenclature....And now, the bleeding, edgy, old, wrinkled, crybaby know it alls that demanded a proper naming scheme are getting the new name lineup and the very first thing they do is forget they are the ones that demanded it be done, and they whip out a supergigantic tampon and fill it full up to overflowing.
There's not much blood left, you're all white as ghosts, in fact, you've been zombies for quite some time now.
I hope you're enjoying it.
XiZeL - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
FAIL!!!by nVidia