The GeForce GTS 250 is a video card based on the G92 core, found on many of NVIDIA's cards including the GeForce 8800 series but also the GeForce 9800 series for that matter. The only difference between the GeForce 9800 GTX+ and the GeForce GTS 250 is a somewhat different PCB, but since both cards use the same core, the GeForce GTS 250 is nothing but a glorified GeForce 9800 GTX+ version. The core is built in 55nm and packs 754 million transistors. And lately Gainward has been releasing several Limited edition cards which come with an extra amount of frame buffer to set them apart from the competition. Which is surely nice to see, also due to their custom cooling solution. - FudZilla

Gainward GeForce GTS 250 2GB Special Card Review

NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTS 250 with 512MB and 1024MB of memory, but Gainward decided to go the extra mile and offer its GeForce GTS 250 card with 2GB of memory. Additional memory however couldn't fit on just the front of the PCB, so 1024MB was placed on each side of the PCB. The back of the PCB also houses a large metal plate used for cooling the memory chips. Now this Gainward GeForce GTS 250 Limited edition uses a non reference cooling, and it is a dual slot cooler with a fan in the middle, blowing air towards the heatsink. The fan is mounted on the plastic hood, and can be fully speed controlled.

The fan runs almost silent in idle mode, but in workload scenarios it unfortunately runs a bit louder than the reference GeForce GTS 250's fan. However, it's still not too loud, and we can't say we were bothered by it. The heatsink is quite large, and the cooling fins are partly touching the heatsink's copper base, and where they're not, the heatpipes are in charge of heat transfer. The card packs sixteen GDDR3 memory chips in total. The memory used is Hynix 0.8ns specced rated at 2400MHz. This board has 4+1-phase system for power regulation, although uses OnSemi voltage regulator with no software voltage change support.

Gainward didn't push the memory to its max, and so it runs at 2200MHz on the card, which is the GeForce GTS 250's reference memory clock. The core on the other hand got overclocked, albeit slightly, and it runs at 745MHz for the core and 1848MHz for shaders. Today we've seen results from a couple of Gainward's cards, and all in all we must say these results are great. As a common feature among these cards is the non reference cooling solutions, and they were efficient and quiet. Their Gainward GeForce GTS 250 Limited edition is a graphics card that is unique in its class due to the 2GB of GDDR3 frame buffer.

If you remember the emergence of 1GB cards, you know that it was at the time regarded as quite unneeded, but things have changed since. Depending on your gaming preference and detail and effects settings, some games will ask for more than just 512MB. The Gainward GeForce GTS 250 2GB unfortunately doesn't support any kind of clock switching, meaning higher power consumption. The fan isn't too loud in 3D operation, but it does get louder than the reference one. During operation the GPU temps are lower than on the reference GeForce GTS 250, but that's not the case in idle mode where is runs a bit hotter.

Although the Gainward GeForce GTS 250 comes with native HDMI out, choosing to splash out additional $50 for an extra 1GB of memory is not an easy decision. We have to congratulate Gainward on pushing the limits further and further on each card they make, but we'll have to recommend this card only to those who are positively sure they need a whole lot of memory and know where to put it to use. Alternatively, Gainward offers GeForce GTS 250 series cards with 512MB or 1024MB of memory.