NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250: A Rebadged 9800 GTX+
by Derek Wilson on March 3, 2009 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
In the beginning there was the GeForce 8800 GT, and we were happy.
Then, we then got a faster version: the 8800 GTS 512MB. It was more expensive, but we were still happy.
And then it got complicated.
The original 8800 GT, well, it became the 9800 GT. Then they overclocked the 8800 GTS and it turned into the 9800 GTX. Now this made sense, but only if you ignored the whole this was an 8800 GT to begin with thing.
The trip gets a little more trippy when you look at what happened on the eve of the Radeon HD 4850 launch. NVIDIA introduced a slightly faster version of the 9800 GTX called the 9800 GTX+. Note that this was the smallest name change in the timeline up to this point, but it was the biggest design change; this mild overclock was enabled by a die shrink to 55nm.
All of that brings us to today where NVIDIA is taking the 9800 GTX+ and calling it a GeForce GTS 250.
Enough about names, here's the card:
You can get it with either 512MB or 1GB of GDDR3 memory, both clocked at 2.2GHz. The core and shader clocks remain the same at 738MHz and 1.836GHz respectively. For all intents and purposes, this thing should perform like a 9800 GTX+.
If you get the 1GB version, it's got a brand new board design that's an inch and a half shorter than the 9800 GTX+:
GeForce GTS 250 1GB (top) vs. GeForce 9800 GTX+ (bottom)
The new board design isn't required for the 512MB cards unfortunately, so chances are that those cards will just be rebranded 9800 GTX+s.
The 512MB cards will sell for $129 while the 1GB cards will sell for $149.
While the GPU is still a 55nm G92b, this is a much more mature yielding chip now than when the 9800 GTX+ first launched and thus power consumption is lower. With GPU and GDDR3 yields higher, power is lower and board costs can be driven down as well. The components on the board draw a little less power all culminating in a GPU that will somehow contribute to saving the planet a little better than the Radeon HD 4850.
There's only one PCIe power connector on the new GTS 250 1GB boards
Note that you need to have the new board design to be guaranteed the power savings, so for now we can only say that the GTS 250 1GB will translate into power savings:
These are the biggest gains you'll see from this GPU today. It's still a 9800 GTX+.
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SiliconDoc - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - link
That's nice, the 4870 512 top core DDR5 ati best they have for core and memeory speed can beat the 2 year old renamed a thousand times Nvidia g92b. Gosh what a GREAT CARD(err... MEMORY ONLY) ati has there... what "awesome technology".... what "efficient core!!! ( WRONG! IT'S ALL THE DDDR5 MEMORY ! THAT'S WHY THE 4850 IS THE SAME CORE WITH DDR3 AND IS UNDER THE GTS250 (g92b / reworked stale ol tired core that ATI has just barely matched ! )Don't feed me any crap anymore - ANYONE about "the great ati core ! " --
It is the same as the g92b (4850) unless you slap DDR5 on it.
I can hardly wait - or rather I certainly HOPE nvidia slaps DDR5 on that "rebranded piece of crap g80/g92/g92b " !
My golly, it would be GREAT to see the ten thousand jaws of the red rooster propaganda boys DROP TO THE FLOOR when it matches and spanks the 4870 ...
PLEASE NVIDIA ! PLEASE DO IT ! DO IT NOW !
Hrel - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - link
why isn't the HD48701Gb in this review? I just noticed that.Totally - Thursday, March 5, 2009 - link
Why isn't the GTX 285 in this review? I just noticed that.Hrel - Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - link
my guess would be cause it's an overpriced piece of crap that is matched in many cases by the HD4870 1GB.DerekWilson - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link
4870 is ~$175 right now, which is much more than the $130 for the GTS 250. It would hold an advantage over the GTS 250 1GB if the end user is willing to spend the extra cash.Jansen - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link
Ahem...http://www.dailytech.com/Radeon+4870+Gets+50+Price...">http://www.dailytech.com/Radeon+4870+Ge...4850+Wil...
SiliconDoc - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - link
Did you read the follow on link that was out quite a while ago where the ati board partners told ati to "go shove it!" - because ati wanted the board partners to "take a lot of the loss" and only offered a partial "reimbursement" for the lower price scheme they cooked up ?BOY I HOPE YOU DO.....
So, ati wanted it's board partners to TAKE A LOSS - while the little red fans slopped up the savings and praised ati "for almost destrpying nvidia, again!" - yes.... very, very underhanded and evil.
Well, the board partners told them to go blow.
And the price stayed the same, in fact it went up at our fave egg with the usually the very lowest prices around widely known.
So, so much for that for now.
The day will come eventually... unless inflation from the monetary crisis whips us all.
Roland00 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link
several news sites that aren't Anandtech are saying there is a 4870 price drop coming this week to $149.99 for the 512mb version.It isn't true yet, but if it is ATI is much faster for dollar spent.
Matt Campbell - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link
There are several models at Newegg now that are falling below $165, and one Powercolor that is $149.99 after mail in rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...Competition is making for a great market right now for gamers :)
Roland00 - Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - link
Currently Newegg has the Asus 4870 512mb model for184.99-50 dollar promo code=134.99 with a 30 dollar rebate on top of that (104.99 after rebate).
The problem is as very soon as they posted this deal they sold out. Deal is good till the 8th but are they going to get anymore in by then?