GeForce GTS 250

The "new product" is nothing more than a renamed GeForce 9800 GTX+ video card. It differs from its predecessor, the GeForce GTS 250, only in a shortened printed circuit board; the G92b video chip has not undergone any changes. This article could end here, but let's turn to the history of the G92 video chip. It was announced in the fall of 2007 as the GeForce 8800 GT video card. GPU This video card was made using the 65 nm process technology, it included 112 shader processors, 56 texture units, 16 rasterization units and support for a 256-bit memory bus. This video card became a legend, leaving no chance in games to its direct competitor from the red camp - Radeon HD 3870, based on the RV670 video chip. 

 

In December 2007, NVIDIA released the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb video card, based on the same G92 video chip. Unlike the GeForce 8800 GTS 640(320) Mb video card, which has the same name and is based on GPU G80, they had:

smaller memory bus width (256-bit versus 320-bit) and rasterization units (16 versus 24);
more shader processors (128 versus 96), texture units (64 versus 48) and higher core clock (650MHz versus 513MHz), shader domain (1625MHz versus 1188MHz), GDDR (1940MHz versus 1584MHz).

Due to the larger number of functional units and higher frequencies, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb easily outperformed the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb. Moreover, it was able to catch up to this point with the undefeated GeForce 8800 GTX 768 Mb. Thanks to this and its lower price, this video card became a real hit among gamers of the time.

In April 2008, NVIDIA released the GeForce 9800 GTX 512 Mb video card. It differed from the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Mb in a longer printed circuit board, an increase in the number of power connectors from one six-pin to two, and increased core/shader domain/video memory frequencies. Thanks to increased frequencies, the GeForce 9800 GTX 512 Mb managed to catch up in performance with the previous flagship GeForce 8800 Ultra 768 Mb.

At the same time, the entire 88xx line of video cards was rebranded:
GeForce 9800GT replaced GeForce 8800 GT;
GeForce 9800GTX replaced GeForce GeForce 8800 Ultra 768 Mb;
The GeForce 8800GTS 512 MB was discontinued so as not to create internal competition for the stronger GeForce 9800 GTX 512 MB video card.

In May 2008, the GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce GTX 280 graphics cards were announced. These graphics cards occupied the Hi-end market sector. The 98xx line moved to the middle-end sector.

At that time, NVIDIA dominated all sectors of the video card market, and it seemed that nothing threatened its position. AMD was in an unenviable position at that time: its processors were losing to Intel products on all fronts, and the situation with video cards was no better. The HD4xxx series of video cards based on the RV770 video chip were on the way. But no one believed in them, the reputation of the Radeon brand had suffered too much due to the failed HD2xxx and unsuccessful HD3xxx series.

But then came a bolt from the blue - the RV770 video chip, underestimated by NVIDIA, turned out to be quite successful. The younger Radeon HD 4850 was able to compete on equal terms with the GeForce 9800 GTX, and the older Radeon HD 4870 in many cases outperformed the GeForce GTX 260. At the same time, the prices for these video cards were almost twice lower than their competitors. Plus, AMD engineers completely redesigned the RV770 architecture and presented the world with a very powerful video chip. The most striking impression from these video cards was the forced full-screen antialiasing in games:
when forcing AA4, the video card performance dropped by only 20-25%;
forcing AA8 was generally considered practically free.

And these impressions were more vivid, considering that allx still had fresh memories of a twofold drop in the performance of HD2xxx/HD3xxx video cards even when boosting AA2.

The situation for NVIDIA is extremely difficult. It was urgently forced to reduce the prices of its products to competitive ones (many users should remember the twofold drop in the price of the GeForce 9800 GTX immediately after the announcement of the Radeon HD 4850).

However, NVIDIA was able to overcome this situation with honor. Already in the summer of 2008, it launched the 55nm G92b video chip and a video card based on it, the George 9800 GTX+, with increased core/shader domain/video memory frequencies. This accelerator managed to catch up and overtake the Radeon HD 4850.

And in the spring of 2009, NVIDIA again started rebranding, deciding to rename the GeForce 9800 GTX+ to GeForce GTS 250. Thus, NVIDIA fits the entire current lineup of video cards under one brand line.

Characteristics of NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

Name	GeForce GTS 250
Core	G92b
Process technology (µm)	0.055
Transistors (millions)	754
Core frequency	738
Memory operating frequency (DDR)	1100 (2200)
Bus and memory type	GDDR3 256-bit
Bandwidth (Gb/s)	70.4
Unified shader units	128
Unified shader unit frequency	1836
TMU on conveyor	64
ROP	16
Shader Model	4.0
Fill Rate (Mpix/s)	11808
Fill Rate (Mtex/s)	47232
DirectX	10.0
Memory Capacity	512,1024,2048
Interface	PCIe 2.0