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GTS 250 vs 9800 GTX+
On all the benchmarks I've found, they only compare the 1 GB GTS 250 to the 512 MB 9800 GTX+.
They were pretty much the same with the 1 GB GTS 250 being SLIGHTLY better in some cases.
What about the 512 MB GTS 250 compared to the 512 MB 9800 GTX+?
I understand the GTS 250 is a renamed 9800 GTX+ with slight improvements.
Comments
The improvements are supposedly only in thermal design and power consumption. They should benchmark basically the same, the extra ram of course will prevent performance hits at detail settings that push past 512mb.
I thought both these cards are rebranded 8800's, yes?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
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The 9800 GT is a rebranding of the 8800GT, the GTS250 is a rebranding of the 9800GTX+. The 9800GTX+ offering a slight performance bump so it competes with the HD4850.
What kind of settings would push past 512 MB? Like huge resolutions?
Yea, AA at high resolutions takes a lot of ram. High res textures take a bit too but those aren't something you would want to lower just to save memory and they don't keep scaling up in memory usage like AA does. I think at 2560x1600 4xAA or 1920x1080 8xAA you would need 1GB ram or it'll choke out in most games. Should be ok at 1920x1080 4xAA with 512MB but there's still a slight performance advantage in some games with 1GB. But a 250 would probably be too slow at the settings you would *really* need 1GB for anyway.
Anandtech's GTS 250 review compares 1gb to 512mb models which would be basically the same as comparing the GTS 250 1gb to the 9800 GTX+ 512mb. (edit: apparently Anandtech actually USED 9800 GTX+ for their benchmark and labeled it GTS 250)
Look at how they proces shaders, as that's where the future of games lies.
I personally don't look up Nvidia cards, but I think the gtx 250 should be better with shaders.
Just to give you an idea of how much shaders are used these days;
Grass, trees, bushes, etc. use shaders for their leaves/branches.
Water reflections (and that fancy soften shores DX10 offers) are done entirely with shaders.
Reflections on armour, weapons, etc. also shaders.
Basicly, everything that gives detail and eye-candy. Something which too mane games are focusing on lately..
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
Well, the GTS 250 and 9800 GTX+ process shaders the exact same way and speed because they're the same GPU. They're even clocked identical. The only differentiation is power consumption (so you might be able to overclock the 250 higher). You'd expect a new feature or something from a generation change but there isn't..