GeForce RTX 4080 vs GTS 250M

Place in performance ranking	1002	3
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	38.14
Architecture	GT2xx (2009−2012)	Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code name	N10E-GE	AD103-300-A1
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	15 June 2009 (15 years ago)	20 September 2022 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$1,199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	9728
CUDA cores	96	no data
Core clock speed	500 MHz	2205 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2505 MHz
Number of transistors	727 million	45,900 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	28 Watt	320 Watt
Texture fill rate	16.00	761.5
Floating-point performance	0.24 gflops	48.74 gflops
Gigaflops	360	no data

Form factor & 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).

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	310 mm
Width	no data	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 16-pin
SLI options	+	-
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	16 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 2000 MHz	22400 MHz
Memory bandwidth	51.2 GB/s	716.8 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.

GTS 250M 1.43

RTX 4080 89.70
+6173%

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.

GTS 250M 553

RTX 4080 34617
+6160%

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.

GTS 250M 3659

RTX 4080 143194
+3813%

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 −764%	242 +764%
1440p	2−3 −8600%	174 +8600%
4K	1−2 −11000%	111 +11000%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5

−5675%

231
+5675%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −2950%	180−190 +2950%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −2900%	120−130 +2900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −5675%	231 +5675%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −5800%	110−120 +5800%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −6600%	200−210 +6600%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 −8800%	260−270 +8800%
Hitman 3	6−7 −2050%	120−130 +2050%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −2007%	300−350 +2007%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −6100%	120−130 +6100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −4950%	400−450 +4950%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −367%	150−160 +367%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −2950%	180−190 +2950%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −2900%	120−130 +2900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −5150%	210 +5150%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −5800%	110−120 +5800%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 −6600%	200−210 +6600%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 −8800%	260−270 +8800%
Hitman 3	6−7 −2050%	120−130 +2050%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −2007%	300−350 +2007%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −6100%	120−130 +6100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −6300%	512 +6300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −1773%	200−210 +1773%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −367%	150−160 +367%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −2950%	180−190 +2950%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 −2900%	120−130 +2900%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −4650%	190 +4650%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −5800%	110−120 +5800%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 −8800%	260−270 +8800%
Hitman 3	6−7 −2050%	120−130 +2050%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −2540%	396 +2540%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 −5900%	480 +5900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 −2255%	259 +2255%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 −397%	164 +397%

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	2−3 −5500%	110−120 +5500%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −11000%	110−120 +11000%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	80−85
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −12800%	129 +12800%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −4100%	80−85 +4100%
Hitman 3	7−8 −1771%	130−140 +1771%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 −6540%	332 +6540%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 −19000%	191 +19000%
Watch Dogs: Legion	7−8 −3329%	240−250 +3329%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−3125%

120−130
+3125%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

−6800%

65−70
+6800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 −8000%	80−85 +8000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −9900%	100 +9900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	50−55
Far Cry 5	0−1	50−55

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

−3600%

110−120
+3600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	262 +0%	262 +0%
Battlefield 5	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	217 +0%	217 +0%
Battlefield 5	240−250 +0%	240−250 +0%
Metro Exodus	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

189

+0%

189

+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla	153 +0%	153 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%
Metro Exodus	149 +0%	149 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	390 +0%	390 +0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Hitman 3	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Metro Exodus	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	187 +0%	187 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	63 +0%	63 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	190−200 +0%	190−200 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	195 +0%	195 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	87 +0%	87 +0%

This is how GTS 250M and RTX 4080 compete in popular games:

RTX 4080 is 764% faster in 1080p
RTX 4080 is 8600% faster in 1440p
RTX 4080 is 11000% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4080 is 19000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 4080 is ahead in 49 tests (71%)
there's a draw in 20 tests (29%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.43	89.70
Recency	15 June 2009	20 September 2022
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	28 Watt	320 Watt

GTS 250M has 1042.9% lower power consumption.

RTX 4080, on the other hand, has a 6172.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 13 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 700% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 4080 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 4080 is a desktop one.

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