A few hours back I introduced the Forsa 9800GTX+ that was used in the hit article nVidia GeForce GTS 250, just another 9800GTX+? that was published just a few days go.
Now, the GTS 250! And yes, from Palit.
The Appearance
The card isn’t small, longer than the Forsa 9800GTX+ by about 1cm, comes in red PCB and sport this really nice cover.
Even the fan is a little transparent, I got hit by it a few times and it felt really light.
And as you can see from the photos so far, the case covering it is sleek and transparent.
What I like about Palit cards so far is that they seem to be the only brand I come by that actually still has a VGA output on the card. And instead of S-video like most other cards, they have HDMI. 🙂 I love this combo very much, spares the hassle of converters.
The PCI-E connectors to be more easily accessible, and yeah, it’s 2x PCI-E pin.
Back portion looks like any other graphic card.
The Bundle
– 1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor
– 1 x S-video to Composite cable
– 1 x Power cable
– Driver CD
Card Details
Here’s a summarized detail of the card.
| GPU | GTS 250 |
| GPU Code Name | G92b |
| Memory Type | DDR3 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 256-bit |
| Memory Capacity | 512MB |
| Core Clock | 745Mhz |
| Memory Clock | 1100Mhz (2.2Ghz DDR) |
| Shader Clock | 1848Mhz |
Pardon the GPU-Z for displaying the wrong details. It’s 55nm, not 65nm. 🙂 And G92b, which is an improved version of the G92 GPU.
More details at the official product page
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel Coreâ„¢2 Duo E7200 @ 3.4ghz (8.5×400) |
| RAM | 2x 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition |
| Motherboard | Albatron PXP35 |
| Cooler | Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer Heatsink |
| Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
| Power Supply | Gigabyte Odin 550 GT |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit |
| Driver Version | Forceware 182.08 |
The Performance
All tests were done with 4xAA. Alternatively you could view the stats at nVidia GeForce GTS 250, just another 9800GTX+? article as well. I’ve updated the content with Forceware 182.08 driver results.
F.E.A.R.
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| GTS 250 | 79 |
| 9800GTX+ | 82 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 83 |
World In Conflict
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| GTS 250 | 28 |
| 9800GTX+ | 29 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 20 |
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| GTS 250 | 40.3 |
| 9800GTX+ | 40.8 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 48.1 |
Lost Planet : Extreme Condition
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946
| Card | Snow (Average) | Cave (Average) |
| GTS 250 | 42.3 | 56.5 |
| 9800GTX+ | 45.1 | 58.1 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 49.6 | 59.6 |
Crysis
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| GTS 250 | 11.85 |
| 9800GTX+ | 10.77 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 14.11 |
Devil May Cry 4
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Scene 1 | Scene 2 | Scene 3 | Scene 4 |
| GTS 250 | 104.05 | 71.24 | 123.40 | 76.62 |
| 9800GTX+ | 107.86 | 75.35 | 128.76 | 79.34 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | N/A because I didn’t test with it. | |||
Furmark
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| GTS 250 | 7 |
| Forsa 9800GTX+ | 7 |
| ASUS EAH4850 TOP | 25 |
Operating Temperature
Furmark was used for graphic card stressing.
| Idle (°C) | Load (°C) | Stress (°C) | |
| Temperature | 50 | 64 | 74 |
Pretty hot but one thing good was that it’s silent. Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
– Load, Furmark was run for 1 minute at 1680×1050 with 4xAA.
– Stress, Furmark was run under the Stress Test mode for 5 minutes.
Power Consumption
Please note that the numbers below indicate the wattage for the entire system, not the graphic card alone.
| Idle (w) | Load (w) | |
| System Power Consumption | 81 | 143 |
Conclusion
Nice looking, nice performance. I still find it damn hard to give call these cards RECOMMENDED. It’s still a G92 from the 8800 series. 🙁
Yes, it’s the same comment from that of Forsa’s card. In my sign of disapproval of nVidia’s rebadging scheme, The only reason I’m awarding the RECOMMENDATION for this card is that it still holds well in performance and I believe offers better value than the 9800GTX+ cards.
The newer number and improvements practically made it pointless to buy 9800GTX+ cards. Blame nVidia for the stupid naming game they play.
You’re wrong, not GPU-Z.
It is a 65nm, because it is a in fact just a 9800gtx. Nvidia allowed companied to rebadge their old stock as gts 250s as long as it was 512mb. So basically you didn’t review a gts 250.
I’m not the only one who had GPU-Z reporting the wrong details, but i won’t debate on what you decide to believe. 🙂
hi i sow that this palit gts 250 default settings is higher that what my defaults are. mine are gpu- 705mhz. mem- 2000. sader- 1512. can someone give a rezone 4 this? and isit save for me to clock it to= gpu- 805mhz, mem- 2320mhz, shader- 1900?
so can i know which 1 is better? gts250 or 9800?
my system:
core 2 quad 9300 2.5ghz
ram 667 4gb
board ecs chipset 45
can i know what best GPU for my system…. for gamming?
ty
A lot of fantastic items on this page and really didn’t have a clue in relation to any of this previously so many thanks for that understanding