Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 Review

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Product: GeForce GTS 250
Manufacturer: Galaxy
Supplied by: Galaxy
Price: 143USD/RM499
Launch Date: NA

Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 is the lowest end model from its 2xx series graphic card and basically this card is based on G92 GPU which is pretty similar with its predecessors; GeForce 9800GT/GTX with additional overclocked core speed. Let us find out how this Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 performs and whether is this one of the best value entry to mainstream graphic cards.

Company Profile

Long established since 1994. GALAXY was officially formed and is fully dedicated in the manufacturing / distribution of quality computer components. Head office in Hong Kong and ISO9001 certified manufacturing plant & facility in China, this combination of business structure enables us the leading advantages by our.

Business growth is enormous, in the early 2000, we have taken an major step by launching our own brands namely Glacier and Zeus, leading to today's GALAXY. The encouraging result and feedback confirmed our strategy of brand awareness to be a success, whilst gaining an extensive network around the globe through channel partner, reputable large scale chain stores and the hottest online e-tailers.

Features

Specifications

Package & Contents

Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 comes with similar packaging with its brother; GeoForce GTX 260+ where we have just reviewed few weeks ago. Both of these packaging are almost 95% identical and it only can be differentiated by checking the model name. Badaboom trial version is included for this graphic card which is a media converter that formats video files by using graphic processing unit.

Here are the complete components lists for Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 besides the graphic card; SPDIF audio cable for HDMI application, 2 x Molex to 6-pin PCI-E dongles, Xtreme Tuner CD & guide, driver & software CD, and quick start guide. Xtreme Tuner is a smart and intelligent overclocking software including BIOS recovering, temperature and fan speed monitoring.

For the previous version of Galaxy GeForce GTS 250, it still comes with S-Video to component adapter and a S-Video extend cable but since this Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 model doesn't come with S-Video so these accessories are not bundled. Anyway 2 x Molex to 6-pin PCI-E dongles are provided which are good for those are still using old type of PSU as most of these PSUs are either only come with single 6-pin PCI-E connector or none; so these dongles will be really useful for certain of users.

A Closer Look - Galaxy GeForce GTS 250

In term of technology, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 is quite similar with Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 such as PhysX, CUDA, 3-way SLI, PureVideo HD and etc but Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 is equipped with OpenGL 3.0 while it is OpenGL 2.1 for Nvidia GeForce GTX 260. Currently Galaxy is having three active selling GeForce GTS 250 graphic cards which are GeForce GTS 250, GeForce GTS 250 new cooler and GeForce GTS 250 cool. All these three GeForce GTS 250 models come with exact specifications but GeForce GTS 250 cool only has 512MB memory capacity option (requires 1 x 6-pin power) while there are two options for the rest of the GeForce GTS 250; 512MB and 1GB (requires 2 x 6-pin power).

Our review sample today is the GeForce GTS 250 new cooler which can be considered the highest end model compares with other two models. Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 is using own design PCB board as there are some obvious changes compare with original PCB board such as fan connector location, single 6-pin PCI-E connector becomes dual 6-pin PCI-E connectors and so on. The overall dimension of this Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 is around 111 x 228.6 mm.

The major difference between the new cooler version and standard version is the GPU cooler where the standard version is using the similar Nvidia reference GPU cooler while the new cooler version comes with smaller cooler but it looks more powerful; a big round aluminum heatsink with a blue 60mm fan on top of it. Anyway for the previous 1GB version, it came with Artic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo cooler which is a more advanced GPU cooler.

For the connectivity of Galaxy GeForce GTS 250, it comes with DVI, VGA and the latest connectivity; HDMI. This Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 doesn't come with S-Video port but since HDMI is available, it should able to solve the this issue by getting a HDMI to S-Video converter for older type of TV that doesn't come with HDMI port. Dual 6-pin PCI-E connectors are needed for Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 which is 1 additional 6-pin PCI-E connector than the Nvidia reference card; maybe due to additional power phase of this Galaxy GeForce GTS 250.

Here is the naked view of Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 and unlike GeForce GTX260, this lower end graphic card doesn't come with protective cap since it is only having with 300mm² die size; around half of the die size of GeForce GTX260. Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 is using G92 GPU which is same with GeForce 9800GT and 8800GT but GPU core speed is much higher for GeForce GTS250. Other specifications such as memory clock speed, shader speed of Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 are 1100MHz and 1836MHz.

However for the memory capacity, Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 comes with 512MB or 1GB memory capacity which is an advantage over its predecessor. For Galaxy GeForce GTS 250, there are total eight 0.8ns memory chips from Samsung K4J52324Qh-HJ08; 1.2GHz GDDR3. For 1GB Galaxy GeForce GTS 250, another eight memory chips will be located at the back of the PCB and both of these 512MB/1GB Galaxy GTS 250 cards are sharing same PCB for lowering down its product cost.

Unlike most of the GeForce GTS 250 graphic cards, Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 comes with dual fan power connectors; 2-pin and 3-pin. Such caring feature is good for certain of users especially those are planning to upgrade the GPU cooler. Same with Nvidia GeForce GTX 260, both 2-way and 3-way SLI can be supported where you will able to find two SLI connectors at the top of the graphic card PCB. The recommended PSU for Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 is 450W where the graphic card already consumes around 150W power during full load.

This 2-pin connector is the SPDIF audio cable for HDMI setup so that sound can be transferred through the HDMI cable together with video signal. Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 is having 5 power phases rather than four which gives additional stability for this graphic card especially during high load. Besides that Galaxy is using quality capacity for this GeForce GTS 250 graphic card to ensure its reliability as well as longer life span.

The fan of Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 is fastened on the aluminum cooler with three clips which can be disassembled quite easily. The blue fan is a 60mm cooling fan from Everflow with 0.32A but we can't find any noise and air flow information regarding this cooling fan. Anyway this cooler is a well built and high quality cooler where the heatsink is mixed of copper material at center for faster heat conduction while aluminum fins for greater heat dissipation.

Installation, Testing & Performance

Installation for Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 has nothing different with other graphic cards and since Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 doesn't come with giant size, we didn't encounter any installation issue with this graphic card during our testing. Although dual 6-pin PCI-E connectors are required but it should not a problem at all since dual Molex to PCI-E adapters are provided as well.

Here is the specifications screenshot of Galaxy GeForce GTS250. The default clock speed for GPU/Memory/Shader are 738/1100/1836 MHz which is much faster than its predecessors; Nvidia GeForce 8800GT/9800GT although they are made by same 65nm G92 GPU. Besides the stock speed of Galaxy GeForce GTS250, we also ran some quick tests to verify its overclocking ability and we are able to tweak its GPU/Memory/Shader to 800/1270/1980 MHz (the overclocked settings still need to be fine tuned for better stability).

Test Bed

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 @ 2.83GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3
Heatsink: Noctua NH-C12P
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR2 8500
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Galaxy GeForce GTS250
PSU: In Win Commander 750W
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Monitor: Dell 22" Wide Screen LCD
Speaker: Edifier R501
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Laser
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Microsoft XP Pro SP2/Vista Home Premium
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

Here is the performance comparison between Galaxy GeForce GTS250, GeForce 9800GT LP and GeForce GTX 260+. It is clearly shown that the performance of Galaxy GeForce GTS250 is right in between the rest of these two graphic cards which is absolutely matching with Nvidia product lineup. The price gap between Galaxy GeForce GTS250 and GeForce 9800GT LP are quite close so Galaxy GeForce GTS250 has advantage over the GeForce 9800GT LP. However if you look closely between Galaxy GeForce GTS250 and GeForce GTX 260+, the later one will be a better choice in term of value since both of these graphic cards are being sold at similar price range.

In term of cooling performance of Galaxy GeForce GTS250, this new cooler did a pretty good job here as the full load temperature is just around 67°C which is pretty low compares with other mainstream graphic cards nowadays. However in term of noise then this cooler is a bit noisy then its brother; Galaxy GeForce GTX260+ but the noise is still acceptable unless you are sleeping beside your rig then it could be a problem here.

Verdicts

Nvidia GeForce GTS250 is the lowest end graphic card among the rest of the 200 series graphic cards. However the performance of Galaxy GeForce GTS250 isn't that bad as it is still far better than its predecessor without any additional overclocked speed although most of the Galaxy products will come with such attractive pre-overclocking feature. If you are looking for a latest graphic card that will last you for couple of years without upgrading it then Galaxy GeForce GTS250 is not a bad choice but if you are willing to pay a little bit more than Galaxy GeForce GTX260+ is still a better card to go with.

Pros:

+ A better value card than its predecessors
+ Potential overclockable ability
+ 2-way/3-way SLI
+ Xtreme Tuner overclocking software
+ Comes with HDMI, VGA, DVI ports
+ Light weight

Cons:

- A bit noisy
- Requires 2 x 6-pins PCI-E power connectors

Thanks to Galaxy for providing this sample for us to review.