But as time went by, Nvidia was steadily correcting its errors. First of all, the company increased the performance of the junior GeForce GTX 260 by unlocking some of the GPU’s functional subunits. As a result, the card got a longer name by adding “Core 216†and got competitive against the ATI Radeon HD 4870. Later on, this very model became the first to use the new 55nm version of the G200 core together with a new, greatly simplified and cheaper-to-make design of the PCB. That was most important for G200-based solutions that had been under high pressure from ATI. The GeForce GTX 285 was simplified, too. Thanks to the improved tech process, the G200b chip boasted increased overclocking potential, making the successor to the GeForce GTX 280 competitive to the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 across many applications. Besides, the 55nm G200 chip helped Nvidia strike back in the sector of premium dual-processor solutions. Announced on January 8, 2009, the GeForce GTX 295 dethroned the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 indeed.
So, based on the 55nm G92b core, the GeForce 9800 GTX+ proved to be a worthy rival to the highly popular Radeon HD 4850, but there were pitfalls besides the confusion in Nvidia’s product nomenclature. The card’s PCB design was inherited from the GeForce 9800 GTX which had been developed as the flagship of the GeForce 9 series to replace the GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra. Such a complex and expensive PCB wouldn’t do for products with recommended prices of $129 and $149. Something had to be done about that.
People who buy products in this price category won’t mind the lack of additional accessories that would make the card more expensive. Note that Palit has provided the necessary adapters and cables for owners of two monitors with DVI interfaces as well as those who want to use the card to output audio over HDMI to an external receiver. The HDMI-to-DVI-I adapter looks somewhat odd but it is included because the described GeForce GTS 250 has only one native DVI-I port. The other is replaced with a HDMI connector.
Like on the Gainward HD 4850 1024MB GS, there is a layer of very dry light-gray thermal interface on the copper sole of the heat-exchanger. It actually glues the cooler with the GPU die. The heatsink is fastened to the PCB with four screws, which is quite safe due to its light weight. The GPU is also equipped with a protective metallic frame that prevents the cooler from misaligning. The memory chips on the face side of the PCB are covered with an L-shaped aluminum plate. The chips on the reverse side are cooled with a larger such plate. These plates are fastened together with six screws. Elastic thermal pads are used as thermal interface.
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 family looks pretty good at first glance and even though it is based on not very new architecture, it can very well compete against an extremely popular “people’s solution†– ATI Radeon HD 4850. However, to do so, it need to be selling at a comparable retail price that is way below $149, because this is where the official price of a much faster ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB cards is right now. And this solution is already beyond the depth of GeForce GTS 250. Everything depends on Nvidia’s strategy now, and if they lower GeForce GTS 250 prices quickly enough, these solutions may become pretty popular among gamers with limited budget. Otherwise, ATI will have a serious advantage.
