NVidia GeForce GTS 250 graphics accelerator: specifications, specifications, reviews and tests

The graphic discrete accelerator of the middle class of 2009 with good technical specifications and acceptable performance is the NVidia GeForce GTS 250. Specifications This adapter, its capabilities, current cost and user feedback about this solution will be discussed in detail.

Niche of the graphics adapter

The predecessors of this video card by rightcan be considered 8800GTX and 9800GTX. Only if these two graphics accelerators belonged to the niche of premium solutions, then the hero of this review was positioned by the manufacturer himself, as an average accelerator. At the same time, the level of performance allowed almost all toys to run on PCs equipped with NVidia GeForce GTS 250. The price was really modest compared to its predecessors.

Hardware characteristics of the graphics chip

The code name in NVidia GeForce GTS 250 - G92b. This semiconductor solution included 754 million. transistor components and was produced according to the norms of 55nm. The core of the graphics accelerator operated at a frequency of 738 MHz. In this silicon chip, 128 modules were implemented for processing shaders, which operated at a fixed frequency of 1836 MHz. In turn, modules TMU was allocated in an amount of 64 pieces per conveyor. But such blocks as ROP, included only 16 pieces in the composition NVidia GeForce GTS 250. Features The program component of this product was full compliance with specifications DX modification 10.0 and technology support Open GL. The graphics accelerator itself was oriented to the installation in a slot PCI-E 16X version 2.0. The video outputs of this adapter were 3. One of them outputted the signal in analog format - this VGA. Its maximum resolution was declared at 2048 × X 1536 rx. And the other two are digital. They were HDMI and, of course, DVI. The latter, with a special separator, allowed to display the image directly on 2 monitors. In turn, the maximum resolution for these outputs was 2560px X 1600px.

Heat sink system, temperature and heat package

The power of this graphics chip waslevel of 150 watts. Accordingly, for its full functioning, it was necessary to connect an additional connector from the power supply, which compensated for a shortage of an additional 75 W. Also such a value led to the fact that such adapters were equipped with powerful active cooling systems that occupied 2 expansion slots inside the system unit. At 105 ⁰C the maximum possible value has been settemperature for the NVidia GeForce GTS 250. The characteristics of the same chip during the acceleration indicate that even after overclocking this value does not rise above 75 ⁰C. Therefore, the only case where it is possible to increase the temperature of the graphic accelerator to an alarm value is the failure of the cooling system.

Video buffer

On the use of standard microcircuits GDDR3 was targeted NVidia GeForce GTS 250. Reviews, first of all, the bus widthConnect the video buffer to the graphics processor, which was 256 bits. Even now, entry-level accelerators in this plan are losing to this "old man" for the reason that they have 128 or 192 bits implemented on the hardware level. The clock frequency of the memory chips was 1100 MHz, and the RAM size in this case could be 512 MB or even 1 GB. As a result, the bandwidth of the video memory subsystem in this case was 70GB / sec.

Analogues and comparison with them. Test results

NVidia GeForce GTS 250 graphics card was the main competitor of Radeon HD4770 from AMD. These adapters had a lot in common. But the level of performance was much better with NVidia's products. But the energy efficiency - the AMD solution. The key factor, due to which the products of the "red" company won in this case, was the technical process. If the GTS 250 chip was produced using 55 nm technology, then the AMD had a 40 nm chip. This made it possible to significantly reduce the size of the crystal and the power consumption of the adapter. But in gaming applications the situation was radically different. In the same Crysis with a resolution of 1280px X 1024px and at high settings the product NVidia could issue 27fps, and AMD only 24fps. Slightly better for solving AMD was the situation in the game Stalker (Clear Sky version). GTS 250 in this case could issue in the resolution 1600rx X 1200rx and, again, with maximum settings from 13-29fps, and HD4770 - 15-28fps. In any case, the preponderance in most toys was more on the side of the old NVidia flagship than AMD's budget solution. But this accelerator was also more affordable in terms of price.

Price and reviews of the owners

Due to the complete sale of existingit is already impossible to buy inventory in the new state of NVidia GeForce GTS 250. The price of supported solutions at various Internet auctions starts from 2000 rubles for a simplified version with 512 MB. Given that this graphics accelerator will pull GTA V, it's really a very modest cost. Also, the buffer width of the video buffer often appears in the reviews, which in this case is equal even to today's standards of a fantastic 256 bits. This is the "zest", which allows even now this accelerator to cope with most of the existing tasks. But the era of this accelerator is coming to an end. Now there are powerful integrated adapters, on equal terms with which the hero of this review will soon not be able to compete.

Outcomes

For its time, a decent mid-range accelerator was NVidia GeForce GTS 250. Features it, as well as the results of tests and feedback from owners, is an additional proof of this. And even one thing is that this product now, even at the most minimal parameters, can pull GTA 5 says that it really was veryand a very successful video card. But not far off is the moment when the speed of this product will start to lose to the integrated accelerators. This moment can be considered to be the end of an era GTS 250 and its predecessors, but so far they are still relevant.</ span </ p>