AMD Radeon HD 6790 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

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Combined performance score

GTS 250
1.55

Radeon HD 6790 outperforms GeForce GTS 250 by 169% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking921644
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money0.050.33
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameG92BBarts
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date4 March 2009 (15 years old)4 April 2011 (12 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $149
Current price$131 (0.7x MSRP)$184 (1.2x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6790 has 560% better value for money than GTS 250.

Technical specs

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 cores128800
CUDA cores128no data
Core clock speed738 MHz840 MHz
Number of transistors754 million1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology55 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt150 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate47.2 billion/sec33.60
Floating-point performance387.1 gflops1,344.0 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length9" (228.6 mm) (22.9 cm)198 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors6-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options+no data

Memory

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 typeGDDR3GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount1 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1100 MHz1050 MHz
Memory bandwidth70.4 GB/s134.4 GB/s

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsTwo Dual Link DVI2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API support

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.1 (10_0)11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model4.05.0
OpenGL3.04.4
OpenCL1.11.2
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+no data

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.

GTS 250 1.55
HD 6790 4.17
+169%

Radeon HD 6790 outperforms GeForce GTS 250 by 169% in our combined 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%

GTS 250 602
HD 6790 1616
+168%

Radeon HD 6790 outperforms GeForce GTS 250 by 168% in Passmark.

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:

900p18−20
−189%
52
+189%
Full HD21−24
−190%
61
+190%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 1.55 4.17
Recency 4 March 2009 4 April 2011
Cost $199 $149
Chip lithography 55 nm 40 nm

The Radeon HD 6790 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
GeForce GTS 250
AMD Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 6790

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User ratings: view and submit

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.5 1517 votes

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Questions and comments

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