What's up next? Well HardwareZone has put up a review on the ATI Radeon 9250. So what's new in the Radeon 9250? Some people initially assumed that the Radeon 9250 is a DirectX 9 compliant VPU of the existing Radeon 9200 but that is actually the furthest from the truth. Sadly, there aren't any new features or for that matter, improvement in clock speeds either.
As usual, there is a graphics card catered for every kind of user and it doesn't quite end once you've decided which graphics processor to adopt. Each vendor's product has a slightly varied offering that would once again require your attention to details before making the plunge. Ultra budget performance seekers would certainly dive straight for GeCube's Radeon 9250 128MB. Its higher clocked 270MHz core clock versus the standard 240MHz for all other cards in this shootout gave it a nice 10% performance boost - which is quite considerable when you consider that all Radeon 9250 cards have an overclock lock imposed in the BIOS. Those of you planning to integrate a Radeon 9250 in a crammed chassis or SFF, the Gigabyte GV-R925128VH could probably be your ticket since it was the coolest among all in the shootout and it comes with VIVO functions to boast. It isn't exactly a very low cost product but if you need an lternative lower cost VIVO capable Radeon 9250, check out the HIS Excalibur 9250 VIVO Platinum Pack. If you are going to setup a slim chassis computer system that would only accept half height expansion cards, you should seriously consider PowerColor's solution. ELSA's FALCOX 925L would have been a viable option if they had supplied a rear faceplate as well, but it wasn't included in the product package.
The Asus A9250 GE/TD was a rather constant performer with acceptable operating temperatures and a decent software package. What really grabbed our attention here was its exceptionally sharp and accurate display output. Although it wasn't leaps and bounds better than the competition, it was marginally better in higher resolutions and for that we give it credit. However, there are two reasons why we disliked this card and both are related to its price. Asus normally commands a premium for their graphics cards and on top of that, the A9250 GE/TD was a 256MB version, which boosted its price unnecessarily. The additional frame buffer memory brings you no additional benefits over the 128MB versions and this is why we stress that a 256MB frame buffer is totally wasted on an entry-level graphics card. Looking into the accessory pack, we wished that a higher quality S-Video to composite converter were supplied to keep image quality losses at a minimum.
Elsa's Falcox 925L was the only Radeon 9250 in our shootout that used a 64-bit memory bus and certainly performance was much lower than the other participants. Since the Radeon 9250 is officially available in both 128-bit and 64-bit DDR memory interfaces, Elsa's performance was very much inline for its specifications; hence, it wasn't penalized. It was also the only product in the roundup to feature a single monitor output as the graphics card was designed for the half height expansion slot. Ironically, the Elsa graphics card did not supply a half height rear-I/O bracket even though the PCB was designed for such a form factor. This limited its usability options and we have penalized it for this. On the other hand, PowerColor's Radeon 9250 256MB too was designed for this form factor but it managed dual monitor output ports with one of them attached via a cable and had a proper bracket for half height expansion slots too. This wasn't the only area where Elsa was penalized. Limited features, incomplete accessories, high operating temperatures and no software bundling are reasons why we felt the Elsa Falcox 925L was only an average graphics card. However with its specifications and price range, there are many other offerings that would have similar traits to the Elsa.
Both PowerColor and Sapphire Radeon 9250 graphics cards had 256MB frame buffers and that escalated their prices quite sharply. As we have iterated, 128MB of video memory is more than adequate and additional memory has no impact to the user whatsoever. So although the PowerColor Radeon 9250 had respectable performance, good image quality, interchangeable form factors and an excellent software suite, we were put off by its lack of a DVI-I to DB15 VGA converter, its high operating temperatures and finally its price point which is no thanks to its frame buffer.
The Sapphire Radeon 9250 on the other hand, wasn't able to perform to expectations, had a slightly lower image quality output, very high operating temperatures and the accessory/software section certainly needs work. We've got to admit that it was priced lower for a 256MB Radeon 9250, but that's still not enough of a reason to overshadow its demerits.
Earlier on, we mentioned that GeCube's Radeon 9250 128MB (GC-R9250-C3H) would appeal to ultra budget performance seekers with its superior performance and especially because of its reasonable price point. Other favorable characteristics of the card are its fan-based VPU cooler that resulted in a much lower overall operating temperature of the graphics card. Though there isn't any software to look forward to in the package, we believe its added performance advantage and cool operation more than makes up for it.
If you were looking for the most feature rich entry-level graphics card, it could not have been any other than Gigabyte's GV-R925128VH. This card has an ATI Rage Theater chip that allows video input streams for capturing analog videos. Provided in the package is a VIVO dongle and appropriate video capturing/editing software that allows one to make full use of the card's features out of the box. With a superior power delivery design like the Asus graphics card and fitted with an active cooler unit, the Gigabyte Radeon 9250 was considerably cooler than all the Radeon 9250 graphics cards. SFF users (or would-be owners) would most likely benefit from the Gigabyte's GV-R925128VH features as it is an ideal card for systems serving as a media center. Unfortunately, just like the GeCube, the Gigabyte card was also lacking a DVI-I to VGA converter and this isn't a very cheap accessory if required. A complete cable/accessory pack is an important aspect in our list and if not for this, the Gigabyte GV-R925128VH would have been almost perfect in our books. We say almost because its display quality isn't exactly on par with most other cards, but we are being very critical here to differentiate the graphics cards. Overall, you can bet that the Gigabyte GV-R925128VH won’t be very affordable, but for a 128MB graphics card, it is priced justifiably for the feature set it offers.
Finally, we have the HIS Excalibur 9250 128MB VIVO Platinum Edition which boasted a number of tempting attributes such as being VIVO enabled, has a nice software package, the best cable/accessory bundle, decent performance and display quality to boot. Operating temperature was not exactly desirable but neither was it terrible since HIS ranked right in the middle of the pack (as shown in the result chart). Still, we think a well-ventilated system should easily handle its heat output, thus, it's not too much for anyone to handle. Apart from this aspect where it stands neutral, the above-mentioned points are still quite substantial and factoring its rather reasonable SRP for its feature list, this is one noteworthy Radeon 9250 graphics card.
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