GeForce GTS 250 - Is it good?

[gamer2]

I would like to know what a GeForce GTS 250 1GB is capable of. Some people say it really sucks and can barely play Runescape. Other's say it's great and can handle games such as Crysis Warhead on max, GTA4, etc, even next-gen games.

This is the computer I plan on getting; http://ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=69

w/ 500GB hard drive added, and the Quiet and Overclocking Proof Fan & Heatsink.

+if your familiar with ibuypower, is it reliable? I don't want to get it and it to having missing stuff etc.

Thanks, please post.

 

[lucuis]

It's getting on the weak side by today's standards, BUT it's definitely not a bad card. I'm still running an 8800gts 512 personally overclocked which is a bit faster then the gts250 and it can play crysis warhead pretty good. Not ALL max settings though, just most. And NOT without a small tolerance to loweish fps. About 15-30fps depending on the area, seems to keep about 20fps most the time.

Either way the GTS250 should keep your boat afloat provided you don't demand to much of it. Otherwise i'd see if you can find a deal with a bigger engine.

 

[Nashsafc]

I have a GTS 250 and i thought it was awsome. I'm getting up to 230 FPS on Call of Duty 4 no kidding and an average of 100 fps on a 1280 x 1024 resolution with a 19 inch monitor. I play with 4 anti-aliasing and 8 anistropic filtering. However the price of it seems to becoming very close to the ATI 4870. I saw at one time a 4870 was the same price as which i had bought my GTS 250. But no worries. The GTS 250 is meant to be the best card than runs on one PCI power connector. This is the xfx version which i have. If i were you don't buy the 1gb version, buy the 512mb version the 1gb only gives you 1-3 fps more and only in some games at much much higher resolutions. When anyway you would be getting poor performance and would need a gtx 260 or 275 instead of a 1gb gts 250. I think the 4870 is about 20 FPS faster, but then i'm thinking it doesn't even matter man since i'm getting 80 to 100 FPS average on games like Rainbow Six Vegas 2 anyway and 60 and above you can't tell the difference.

 

[Nashsafc]

i thought the GTS 250 aka the 9800GTX+ was better than the 8800GTS. And i thought it was only the 8800GTX and the ultra that were better. But those aren't on the market anymore and they wouldn't perform well in new games because they are getting outdates and their drivers aren't being updated?
But for Crysis yeah i am unsatisfied, would need something liek a ATI 4890 but then that costs alot more. Or Nvidia equivilant, i would like 2 ATI 4890s though to be honest. In a way i am really happy about my XFX GTS 250, it is actually a really small card, compared to all of the cards above it, it basicly is the 9800gtx+ put onto a smaller board, and with one pci power connector should be PSU friendly. It's a sensible gpu as well, while gaming it doesn't actually spin it's fan to 100 % and so i don't here massive noise while playing my game. It stays relatively cool as well even though it doesn't spin it's fans to 100% and it looks pretty cool, http://my.hardwarezone.com/img/data/nnews/2009/12906/Image/GTS%20250%20GS250XYDFC%20Box+Card.JPG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/df7f04907e.jpg

GTX 260>HD 4870>GTS 250>HD 4850>9800GT (possibly about the same the 4850 and GTS 250, the 4850 is a good card)

 

[gamer2]

i thought the GTS 250 aka the 9800GTX+ was better than the 8800GTS. And i thought it was only the 8800GTX and the ultra that were better. But those aren't on the market anymore and they wouldn't perform well in new games because they are getting outdates and their drivers aren't being updated?
But for Crysis yeah i am unsatisfied, would need something liek a ATI 4890 but then that costs alot more. Or Nvidia equivilant, i would like 2 ATI 4890s though to be honest. In a way i am really happy about my XFX GTS 250, it is actually a really small card, compared to all of the cards above it, it basicly is the 9800gtx+ put onto a smaller board, and with one pci power connector should be PSU friendly. It's a sensible gpu as well, while gaming it doesn't actually spin it's fan to 100 % and so i don't here massive noise while playing my game. It stays relatively cool as well even though it doesn't spin it's fans to 100% and it looks pretty cool, http://my.hardwarezone.com/img/data/nnews/2009/12906/Image/GTS%20250%20GS250XYDFC%20Box+Card.JPG http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/df7f04907e.jpg

GTX 260>HD 4870>GTS 250>HD 4850>9800GT (possibly about the same the 4850 and GTS 250, the 4850 is a good card)

According to this website they still sell them (ibuypower.com). The GTS 250, 9800GT, HD 4850 are all the same price. But you say the 4850 is better? Apparently they are energy hoarders.

What would you say this computer is capable of (with GTS 250).

http://ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=69

🙁 so your telling me the GTS can't play crysis good? Awhh.

 

[Nashsafc]

no the ati 4850 is not better, did i not say the gts 250 is slightly better. I think it's because NVIDIA drivers are slightly better than ATI. But i like the GTS 250. It has alright overclocking as well. Go for the GTS 250 or the ATI 4870. For about $30 more you can get about 20 fps more on some games compared to on the GTS 250 (Not Crysis). I'm talking about games like COD4 but you're going to own it anyway with a GTS 250. What monitor are you getting, to be honest, GTS 250 is great with a 19 inch 1280x 1024 resolution, for a screen size bigger get an ATI 4870. Build your own pc really to be honest, save money. It's easy and you enjoy the building of it. Probably better as well because you get the boxes and other components to admire lol.

 

[Nashsafc]

for Crysis i think you get like 45 fps average on medium settings with the gts 250.

 

[Nashsafc]

i'm saying i'm not satisfied because i would like 2 ATI 4890s LOL to play Crysis.

 

[gamer2]

It's getting on the weak side by today's standards, BUT it's definitely not a bad card. I'm still running an 8800gts 512 personally overclocked which is a bit faster then the gts250 and it can play crysis warhead pretty good. Not ALL max settings though, just most. And NOT without a small tolerance to loweish fps. About 15-30fps depending on the area, seems to keep about 20fps most the time.

Either way the GTS250 should keep your boat afloat provided you don't demand to much of it. Otherwise i'd see if you can find a deal with a bigger engine.

My budget is between $500 and $600 at the moment.

• AMD Athlon™ II X2 245 CPU
• 4GB DDR2-800 Memory
• nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB
• 320 GB HARD DRIVE
• 22X Double Layer DVD+/-RW

So, this can play games such as, let's say Combat Arms, easily, and can play Crysis, GTA4, Ghostbusters (new one), Command and Conquer, Etc on high or mid resolution?

 

[gamer2]

no the ati 4850 is not better, did i not say the gts 250 is slightly better. I think it's because NVIDIA drivers are slightly better than ATI. But i like the GTS 250. It has alright overclocking as well. Go for the GTS 250 or the ATI 4870. For about $30 more you can get about 20 fps more on some games compared to on the GTS 250 (Not Crysis). I'm talking about games like COD4 but you're going to own it anyway with a GTS 250. What monitor are you getting, to be honest, GTS 250 is great with a 19 inch 1280x 1024 resolution, for a screen size bigger get an ATI 4870. Build your own pc really to be honest, save money. It's easy and you enjoy the building of it. Probably better as well because you get the boxes and other components to admire lol.

Some people say the radeon is much better then Nvidea, others say the opposite. From what I know, nvidia uses less power yet radeon uses too much.

Back on topic; I'm probably only going to get something like a, 17" monitor for now, maybe later on I'll get something bigger.

Yeah I was thinking about buying all the stuff from newegg and building it myself but some say ibuypower is actually cheaper then newegg (especially in my case because the thing I'm getting has free shipping which takes $95 off + extra charges).

• AMD Athlon™ II X2 245 CPU
• 4GB DDR2-800 Memory
• nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB
• 320 GB HARD DRIVE
• 22X Double Layer DVD+/-RW

I think that's pretty good, for crysis and stuff don't you agree? I'll play more high-demanding games later on.

 

[gamer2]

i'm saying i'm not satisfied because i would like 2 ATI 4890s LOL to play Crysis.

Lol I think that's a little more then you need.

 

[gamer2]

for Crysis i think you get like 45 fps average on medium settings with the gts 250.

People said they have played crysis on a HD 4550.

with a GTS 250 they say they can play Crysis Warhead on max everything.

 

[Nashsafc]

OMG THE 4550 IS A NIGHTMARE. i had that on my old slimline which thank god i don't have now. Yes you can play Crysis on any graphics card, if it is 256mb. It all about it being enjoying - no lag rather than getting 1fps in your game. Drop the GTS 250 1GB, it costs a bit more than the 512mb version, the GTS 250 isn't powerful enough to harness 1gb, you'll get 3 FPS more in some rare games lol, no seriously, it is not worth at all and then you are getting closer to a 4870 which is better than the gts 250 altogether. Go and look at reviews comparing 1gb gts 250 to 512mb. Get the xfx version or one that comes with 1 pci power connection at least you can say i have the best graphics card for 1 pci connector. The 1gb has 2 i think, to make it more stable. Drop the athlon ii 250 and get a phenom ii 545. Which has 7mb cache as opposed to the athlon's 2mb. It doesn't cost much more at all. To be honest if that's your budget and you go slightly off, get a ATI 4850 i think it costs slightly cheaper. But if not stay with the GTS 250. You can max out settings with GTS 250 but it will struggle to play it smoothly. Command and conquer should be a piece of cake for the GTS 250. i don't get any lag what so ever, the frame rate is stuck to 30 fps which is what it is for RTS games.

 

[Nashsafc]

ATI is not much better and NVIDIA is not much better either. I got NVIDIA because my motherboard is an XFX geforce 8300 matx. I thought i wanted to try NVIDIA for a change, but unfortunately i'm stuck with amd still but that's ok since it is a good performing processor, possibly better than core 2 duo completely since it has 3 cores. If i upgrade my pc, i will get an ATI 4890, because 2 of it's power connections are at the front and it will fit in my case as opposed to the gtx 275 which has it's power connectors on the side. The dvd drive gets in the way.

 

[spentshells]

yes

 

[reconviperone1]

Nice case on that ibuypower, as far as the gts 250, works great for me, actually the 9600gt before it worked fine, personally i miss ati and would go for a 4870, but the gts 250 will serve you well

 

[dandy]

if u brought the card.2 or 3 month u maybe want to change the card again.bez dx11 games is coming out soon!safe some money for ati 5000 or nvidia 300.

 

[gamer2]

OMG THE 4550 IS A NIGHTMARE. i had that on my old slimline which thank god i don't have now. Yes you can play Crysis on any graphics card, if it is 256mb. It all about it being enjoying - no lag rather than getting 1fps in your game. Drop the GTS 250 1GB, it costs a bit more than the 512mb version, the GTS 250 isn't powerful enough to harness 1gb, you'll get 3 FPS more in some rare games lol, no seriously, it is not worth at all and then you are getting closer to a 4870 which is better than the gts 250 altogether. Go and look at reviews comparing 1gb gts 250 to 512mb. Get the xfx version or one that comes with 1 pci power connection at least you can say i have the best graphics card for 1 pci connector. The 1gb has 2 i think, to make it more stable. Drop the athlon ii 250 and get a phenom ii 545. Which has 7mb cache as opposed to the athlon's 2mb. It doesn't cost much more at all. To be honest if that's your budget and you go slightly off, get a ATI 4850 i think it costs slightly cheaper. But if not stay with the GTS 250. You can max out settings with GTS 250 but it will struggle to play it smoothly. Command and conquer should be a piece of cake for the GTS 250. i don't get any lag what so ever, the frame rate is stuck to 30 fps which is what it is for RTS games.

-I'm not sure if the 512mb has the 1 pci connector/xfx.

-They only sell AMD Phenom ii 550.

-The Radeon 4850 is the exact same price as the GeForce GTS 250 1GB.

-Oh and is 600 watt necisarry? Do I really need that much power for a GTS 250?

(Here's link again if you need it; http://ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=69 )

 

[gamer2]

ATI is not much better and NVIDIA is not much better either. I got NVIDIA because my motherboard is an XFX geforce 8300 matx. I thought i wanted to try NVIDIA for a change, but unfortunately i'm stuck with amd still but that's ok since it is a good performing processor, possibly better than core 2 duo completely since it has 3 cores. If i upgrade my pc, i will get an ATI 4890, because 2 of it's power connections are at the front and it will fit in my case as opposed to the gtx 275 which has it's power connectors on the side. The dvd drive gets in the way.

ATI Radeon series is much ahead of nvidea at the moment. Nvidea is coming out with some new graphics cards though.

 

[gamer2]

Nice case on that ibuypower, as far as the gts 250, works great for me, actually the 9600gt before it worked fine, personally i miss ati and would go for a 4870, but the gts 250 will serve you well

Is the 4870 that great? (and are you talking about 1GB or 512mb)

 

[gamer2]

Also would it be cheaper to get vista home premiem and get windows 7 that way or just wait eleven days and just buy windows seven then. hmm?

 

[Nashsafc]

Get windows 7 when it comes out. Buy the xfx GTS 250 or which ever one is cheaper. Wait your saying that the 1gb oc costs as much as the ati 4850 with 512mb of memory? How much more does the ATI 4870 cost? If it doesn't cost much more you must go for that one. If the 512mb gts 250 version costs cheaper than the 1gb version buy that then, it will still be better than the 4850. And with your 17 inch monitor you wil not see any perofrmance at all, it is still the same graphics chip. even with a bigger screen you will see at the most a 5 fps increase and no more by having a 1gb version of the GTS 250, seeing how the gts 250 not overclocked might be cheaper buy that. Won't make any difference really in games like Crysis, maybe 1 more fps. For the price don't buy it. Go for a gts 250 with one pci power connector and 512mb. Also look for a 19 inch monitor with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 rather than a 17 inch monitor. Try and look for a Dell ultrasharp monitor it's what i've got they are really good. And they look reasonably large.

Apparently you only will notice a difference when playing at a 1650 x 1200 resolution, but by then you'd be straining the graphics card and wouldn't get much perofrmance anyway. You'd need to have an ATI 4870 or 4890 to play nicely at those resolutions, do you see what i mean, GTS is best at playing on the 1280 x 1024 resolution, want a bigger monitor then get the ATI 4870 upwards.

 

[Nashsafc]

my system is an xfx gts 250
phenom ii 720 be
corsair 4gb 800mhz ram

i know about this stuff, and i know for sure that the xfx gts 250 512mb only requires one pci connector. It is the best graphics card on the market that works with one pci power connector, and most energy consuming for one pci power connector. That's why the 1gb version requires two pci connectors to make it stable to hold that much memory, but ultimately it is not faster than the 512mb version.

 

[Nashsafc]

If it's a good quality psu get a 550 true watt. Or 600watt is good because oyu have an upgrade futre. Just get the cheapest 4870 avialable which would be 512mb. Or get the GTS 250, over the ati 4850 since it is slightyl better. If not get the ATI 4850 is price of the gts 250 is not justified and you run out of funds. yes the phenom ii 550 be is good, do you want to save your money for the graphics card? i would buy the phenom ii 550 be as opposed to the e8400. I think it is almost as good as the e8400 and costs much less. You can overclock nicely with the 550 be as well, and it runs very cool. But try and go for the phenom ii 720, if you find it and buy it instead of the e8400, because it has 3 cores and you would be future safe.

 

[gamer2]

Get windows 7 when it comes out. Buy the xfx GTS 250 or which ever one is cheaper. Wait your saying that the 1gb oc costs as much as the ati 4850 with 512mb of memory? How much more does the ATI 4870 cost? If it doesn't cost much more you must go for that one. If the 512mb gts 250 version costs cheaper than the 1gb version buy that then, it will still be better than the 4850. And with your 17 inch monitor you wil not see any perofrmance at all, it is still the same graphics chip. even with a bigger screen you will see at the most a 5 fps increase and no more by having a 1gb version of the GTS 250, seeing how the gts 250 not overclocked might be cheaper buy that. Won't make any difference really in games like Crysis, maybe 1 more fps. For the price don't buy it. Go for a gts 250 with one pci power connector and 512mb. Also look for a 19 inch monitor with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 rather than a 17 inch monitor. Try and look for a Dell ultrasharp monitor it's what i've got they are really good. And they look reasonably large.

Apparently you only will notice a difference when playing at a 1650 x 1200 resolution, but by then you'd be straining the graphics card and wouldn't get much perofrmance anyway. You'd need to have an ATI 4870 or 4890 to play nicely at those resolutions, do you see what i mean, GTS is best at playing on the 1280 x 1024 resolution, want a bigger monitor then get the ATI 4870 upwards.

So it's cheaper to get windows 7 when it comes out rather then spend $130 on windows home premium?

The GTS 1GB is exact same price as the ATI HD 4850 (1GB). The 4870 is $24 more, 1GB version is $40 more. Oh and the 512mb version is only $13 cheaper. So basically get the 512mb because my monitor is smaller? And sorry I don't buy from dell monitors they're way overpriced.

So I take;

• AMD Athlon™ II X2 245 CPU
• 4GB DDR2-800 Memory
• nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB
• 320 GB HARD DRIVE
• 22X Double Layer DVD+/-RW

And turn it into;

• AMD Phenon II X2 550 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU
• 4GB DDR2-800 Memory
• nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB (I want 1GB for games other then Crysis)
• 500 GB HARD DRIVE
• 22X Double Layer DVD+/-RW

= Crysis on max?