GeForce RTX 4090 vs GTS 250M
Aggregate performance score
RTX 4090 outperforms GTS 250M by a whopping 6893% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 953 | 1 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.09 | 15.20 |
| Architecture | GT2xx (2009−2012) | Ada Lovelace |
| GPU code name | N10E-GE | AD102-300-A1 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 15 June 2009 (14 years ago) | 20 September 2022 (1 year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $1,599 |
| Current price | $230 | $1756 (1.1x MSRP) |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
RTX 4090 has 16789% better value for money than GTS 250M.
Detailed specifications
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 96 | 16384 |
| CUDA cores | 96 | no data |
| Core clock speed | 500 MHz | 2235 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 2520 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 727 million | 76,300 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 28 Watt | 450 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 16.00 | 1,290 |
| Floating-point performance | 240 gflops | no data |
| Gigaflops | 360 | no data |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on GeForce GTS 250M and GeForce RTX 4090 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Laptop size | large | no data |
| Bus support | PCI-E 2.0 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 304 mm |
| Width | no data | 3-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | no data | 1x 16-pin |
| SLI options | + | no data |
| MXM Type | MXM 3.0 Type-B | no data |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | DDR3, GDDR3, GDDR5 | GDDR6X |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | Up to 2000 MHz | 21000 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 51.2 GB/s | 1,008 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | HDMIVGALVDSSingle Link DVIDisplayPortDual Link DVI | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |
| HDMI | + | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | 2048x1536 | no data |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| Power management | 8.0 | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 6.6 |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.3 |
| CUDA | + | 8.9 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
RTX 4090 outperforms GTS 250M by 6893% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
RTX 4090 outperforms GTS 250M by 6891% in Passmark.
3DMark Vantage Performance
3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
RTX 4090 outperforms GTS 250M by 3649% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.
Gaming performance
Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.
Average FPS across all PC games
Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:
| Full HD | 28
−857%
| 268
+857%
|
| 1440p | 2−3
−10300%
| 208
+10300%
|
| 4K | 2−3
−7500%
| 152
+7500%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
−5525%
|
225
+5525%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 0−1 | 235 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 3−4
−5467%
|
160−170
+5467%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
−5450%
|
222
+5450%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
−1886%
|
130−140
+1886%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 0−1 | 160−170 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5283%
|
300−350
+5283%
|
| Hitman 3 | 4−5
−3650%
|
150−160
+3650%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 12−14
−3238%
|
434
+3238%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
−6100%
|
120−130
+6100%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 10−11
−5330%
|
543
+5330%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 0−1 | 221 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 3−4
−5467%
|
160−170
+5467%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
−5250%
|
214
+5250%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
−2014%
|
148
+2014%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 0−1 | 85 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5283%
|
300−350
+5283%
|
| Hitman 3 | 4−5
−3650%
|
150−160
+3650%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 12−14
−3262%
|
437
+3262%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
−6100%
|
120−130
+6100%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 10−11
−4080%
|
418
+4080%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 4−5
−14225%
|
573
+14225%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 0−1 | 179 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 3−4
−5467%
|
160−170
+5467%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5
−5150%
|
210
+5150%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 7−8
−1886%
|
130−140
+1886%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 6−7
−5283%
|
300−350
+5283%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 12−14
−2931%
|
394
+2931%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 4−5
−7525%
|
305
+7525%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2−3
−6100%
|
120−130
+6100%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 2−3
−8200%
|
160−170
+8200%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 1−2
−14300%
|
140−150
+14300%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 0−1 | 90−95 |
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 4−5
−2700%
|
110−120
+2700%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
−15300%
|
154
+15300%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 2−3
−9200%
|
186
+9200%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 1−2
−28700%
|
280−290
+28700%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 5−6
−7660%
|
388
+7660%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 1−2
−26700%
|
268
+26700%
|
4K
High Preset
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
−2000%
|
126
+2000%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 1−2
−20900%
|
210
+20900%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 0−1 | 120 |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 0−1 | 120 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 1−2
−28400%
|
285
+28400%
|
| Metro Exodus | 4−5
−3525%
|
145
+3525%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 3−4
−3600%
|
110−120
+3600%
|
This is how GTS 250M and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:
- RTX 4090 is 857% faster in 1080p
- RTX 4090 is 10300% faster in 1440p
- RTX 4090 is 7500% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Forza Horizon 4, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4090 is 28700% faster than the GTS 250M.
All in all, in popular games:
- Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed GTS 250M in all 38 of our tests.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.43 | 100.00 |
| Recency | 15 June 2009 | 20 September 2022 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 24 GB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 28 Watt | 450 Watt |
The GeForce RTX 4090 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250M in performance tests.
Be aware that GeForce GTS 250M is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 4090 is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
