Conclusions (Gigabyte & Sparkle)
Conclusions
Considering that before this roundup came to fruition, we hadn’t reviewed a single GTS 250 card I didn’t really know what to expect. Granted, specs-wise the GTS 250 is nothing more than a rebadged 9800 GTX+ but because of this, Nvidia’s board partners can be adventurous in the way they go about designing their cards. They already knew what was and wasn’t possible with the G92b architecture and have used this opportunity to put forward some damn interesting designs. Power consumption also seems to have been lowered over the 9800 GTX+ even though in this article we flashed the older card to a GTS 250. This also goes to prove that a mere BIOS flash will not magically lower the power consumption of older cards.
Naturally, the GTS 250 is in tough against the HD 4850 with both cards retailing for approximately the same price. However, we feel that the Nvidia 1GB card seems to have a slight edge over its equally-equipped competitor.
As much as possible, we have tried to make sure that this roundup has focused less on pitting one GTS 250 against another and looking at each card separately. Naturally there are some which excel in certain areas but when push comes to shove we wouldn’t hesitate in recommending most of the four cards featured in this roundup. They all offer a good amount of performance for your hard earned buck and there isn’t really much more to ask for other than that. With that in mind, let’s get on to the individual evaluations.
GIGABYTE GTS 250 1GB OC
GIGABYTE really hit the nail on the head with this card by flexing their engineering know-how to good effect. We see this with additional efficiency through the use of their Ultra Durable VGA initiative. Its Zalman heatsink performed above and beyond the call of duty by cooling the core to some pretty impressive levels. We have seen some complaints about fan noise but we didn’t hear it above the noise of our other fans. That coupled with the fact that it was also the shortest card of the bunch and carries all of the necessary outputs and connectors for HDMI video and audio makes it a perfect card for an HTPC. Let me tell you, a GTS 250 1GB like this should definitely be considered by those of you are looking to put some serious gaming muscle in your home theatre PC system.
If we would stop right here and now, GIGABYTE would probably win our Dam Good Award but there is one thing that stops us from giving it out: the fact that this card isn’t overclocked as claimed. To us, honesty to consumers comes before everything else and that includes performance. Thus, when you claim to have overclocked memory on the front of your box, in your marketing materials and throughout retailer listings, you better be damn sure of what the reference clocks are. Unfortunately for GIGABYTE, that wasn’t meant to be. While this may have been a simple misunderstanding on GIGABYTE’s part, a claimed overclock can and will change a customer’s perception of a product and that is unacceptable in this case. This is all compounded by the fact that GIGABYTE’s site is completely lacking in any reference to clock speeds so the consumer really does go into this purchase blind.
Overall, we highly recommend the GIGABYTE GTS 250 1GB OC to those of you looking for an all-round great performer that has amazing cooling potential. Even though it features a high-end heatsink, extremely good efficiency and a perfect selection of connectors, it actually carries the lowest average price of all the cards featured here. For that reason, it gets our Dam Good Value Award.
Sparkle Calibre GTS 250 512MB X250
Being the only 512MB card in this roundup meant that the Calibre GTS 250 X250 had an uphill battle from the very first benchmark. Having the highest clock speeds of all the competitors meant incredibly impressive results through many of the tests where it routinely bested the EVGA 1GB Superclocked card. Unfortunately, that 512MB came back a few times to bite the Calibre card in its butt. There were many situations at higher resolutions where its performance dropped to the earth like a meteor due to the memory bottlenecking the GPU.
Its Dual Fly cooling system did prove to be quite effective at cooling off the card at its pre-overclocked speeds but once we began longer gameplay sessions, its limitations came into focus. Stability wasn’t an issue at all but judging from the 80% speed the fans were running at and the 78°C core temperature after an hour of testing, we believe that the heatink was very close to its threshold. If you are using a case without much airflow, you may want to keep a close eye on temperatures.
I think what surprised me most was how quiet this card was even with its fans running near their maximum speeds, it was nothing more than a background whisper. Another pleasant surprise came after realizing that Sparkle’s claims of an elevated heatsink reducing temperatures was more than just window dressing; the heat really was lowered.
If you are looking for gaming at or under 1920 resolution, then you should seriously consider looking at this card. Due to its unique (and quiet) cooling solution, its amazing performance for a 512MB product and all the outputs anyone could want, we give the Sparkle Calibre GTS 250 X250 our Dam Good Award. The only thing I find myself wishing for is better availability so the price can come down.