Wednesday, February 25th 2009
GeForce GTS 250 Inches Closer Launch
Does the card in the picture below look familiar to you? GeForce 8800 GTS-512? Well yes, but that's also what the GeForce GTS 250 is going to end up looking like. The 3+1 phase design on the 8800 GTS-512 allowed the 65 nm G92 GPU to be clocked at a reasonable 650 MHz, but come 55 nm G92b, and NVIDIA will look to use the same card design to accommodate the higher-clocked GPU which shares its clock-speeds and other machinery with the GeForce 9800 GTX+. The new card is going to use the upcoming CeBIT event as its launchpad. Think of it as 9800 GTX+ after liposuction.
The GeForce GTS 250 is expected to come with identical clock speeds to those of the 9800 GTX+. 738 MHz for the core, 1,836 MHz for the shaders, and 1,100 (2.20 GHz DDR) for the memory. Speaking of memory, NVIDIA's reference design is expected to come in 512 MB and 1 GB flavours, with partners being given the freedom to carve out their own designs. Some partners even seem to be contemplating 2 GB models. It comes with 128 stream processors. The 9 inch long PCB and cooler visually bear some resemblance with the GeForce 8800 GTS-512. Apparently NVIDIA feels the single 6-pin PCI-E power input is a spoon big enough to feed the card, something EVGA and Galaxy did months earlier, with its rated power consumption at 150W. The GTS 250 accelerator is NVIDIA's next card to plough the fertile sub-$200 market. NVIDIA will lift the NDA over this card on March 3, following which the cards will reach retail channels by March 10.
The GeForce GTS 250 is expected to come with identical clock speeds to those of the 9800 GTX+. 738 MHz for the core, 1,836 MHz for the shaders, and 1,100 (2.20 GHz DDR) for the memory. Speaking of memory, NVIDIA's reference design is expected to come in 512 MB and 1 GB flavours, with partners being given the freedom to carve out their own designs. Some partners even seem to be contemplating 2 GB models. It comes with 128 stream processors. The 9 inch long PCB and cooler visually bear some resemblance with the GeForce 8800 GTS-512. Apparently NVIDIA feels the single 6-pin PCI-E power input is a spoon big enough to feed the card, something EVGA and Galaxy did months earlier, with its rated power consumption at 150W. The GTS 250 accelerator is NVIDIA's next card to plough the fertile sub-$200 market. NVIDIA will lift the NDA over this card on March 3, following which the cards will reach retail channels by March 10.
54 Comments on GeForce GTS 250 Inches Closer Launch
where will this stop. alrite let it come.
noob gpu buyers will see this and think its better than cheaper cards that are the exact same.
some 9800's still cost a good £20 more than 8800's
And we've gone from the GTS240 being a rebranded 8800GT/9800GT, to it being a redesigned card also.
Seems nVidia isn't just rebranding the older cards, they are actually improving them. Glad to see this.
If only everyone was in the loop of things.
GTS250: Seems to use a similar PCB and cooler to the 8800GTS 512MB, however we can't be sure, it is likely that it will use the same PCB as the GTS240 just as the 8800GTS 512MB used the same PCB as the 8800GT(there is no good reason to produce two different PCBs when one will do the job). Even if it is the same PCB as the 8800GTS 512MB, it will use the newer 55nm G92b. The change in PCB will reduce costs compared to the current 9800GTX+, and the cooler should be cheaper also. Which should lead to lower costs for the consumer.
Lower Prices=Win for the ConsumerI'm glad they are finally bringing all the cards into one unified naming scheme, it makes sense. It's not an easy thing to come up with names for cards that make sense, and give an idea about performance.
Why didn't Nvidia rename the 9600 GSO when they started making it with a completely different number of SPs?
ANd GSO will prob become GSO 200
oh and the 9800 GT will be 220? 230?
And nVidia didn't rename the 9600GSO when they started using the G94 core because their stupid. But I don't really see what that has to do with this discussion.I thought I read somewhere that they were renaming the 9600GT and GSO using the new naming scheme. I think they are supposed to make up the GT200 series(GT230 and GT220 maybe?).
And the 9800GT is essentially becoming the GTS240 already, though with a new PCB, a 55nm core, and higher stock clocks.
See the thing is I know a 9800 series is faster than the 8800 series but for a noob seeing the GTX260 might thing the card is slower because the number is lower.
Buying video card based on name alone is stupid, and if you do it, you won't know you got a weaker card anyway, so it doesn't matter.
FYI I think ATI should do the same thing with a graph on the box.
And the majority of at least semi-educated consumers have realized long ago that a higher number doesn't mean dick.
And a graph on the side of the box doesn't really help much. What happens when the consumer starts comparing ATi cards and nVidia card? Or should they just not do that? Should be forcing both companies to include the competitions previous 3 generations on their graphs as well? This is start to take up a lot of room on the box... Where are they going to put all the fancy marketting BS? If they have the graphs taking up the whole back of the box, how will they get the consumer to believe that the HD4550 or 8400GS is the best gaming card on the market?
And it isn't the Marketting Department's job to hold their hand, it is the marketting department's job to tug on their hand. Those are two very different concepts.
Holding their hand means giving them all the possible information they can to allow the consumer to make an educated decision.
Tugging their hand means taking a turd and making the consumer believe it is the greatest thing ever.
This is why it is the consumers responsibility to educate themselves, not the companies.