GeForce RTX 4090 vs MX250

Place in the ranking	581	1
Place by popularity	not in top-100	6
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	18.83
Power efficiency	43.05	15.33
Architecture	Pascal (2016−2021)	Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code name	GP108B	AD102
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	20 February 2019 (5 years ago)	20 September 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$1,599

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	384	16384
Core clock speed	937 MHz	2235 MHz
Boost clock speed	1038 MHz	2520 MHz
Number of transistors	1,800 million	76,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	10 Watt	450 Watt
Texture fill rate	24.91	1,290
Floating-point processing power	0.7972 TFLOPS	82.58 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	176
TMUs	24	512
Tensor Cores	no data	512
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	128

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
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x4	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	304 mm
Width	no data	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 16-pin

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	GDDR5	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	1502 MHz	1313 MHz
Memory bandwidth	48.06 GB/s	1.01 TB/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	Portable Device Dependent	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.7 (6.4)	6.8
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	3.0	3.0
Vulkan	1.3	1.3
CUDA	6.1	8.9

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark 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.

GeForce MX250 6.24

RTX 4090 100.00
+1503%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

GeForce MX250 2400

RTX 4090 38452
+1502%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GeForce MX250 4633

RTX 4090 104598
+2158%

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.

GeForce MX250 16488

RTX 4090 137609
+735%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GeForce MX250 3660

RTX 4090 73447
+1907%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GeForce MX250 21545

RTX 4090 260357
+1108%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

GeForce MX250 235421

RTX 4090 771257
+228%

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	23 −1022%	258 +1022%
1440p	12−14 −1542%	197 +1542%
4K	8−9 −1688%	143 +1688%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	6.20
1440p	no data	8.12
4K	no data	11.18

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1414%	212 +1414%
Cyberpunk 2077	14 −1507%	225 +1507%
Elden Ring	15 −1560%	249 +1560%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	17 −588%	110−120 +588%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1436%	215 +1436%
Cyberpunk 2077	5 −2120%	111 +2120%
Forza Horizon 4	29 −1814%	555 +1814%
Metro Exodus	21 −748%	178 +748%
Red Dead Redemption 2	28 −457%	150−160 +457%
Valorant	18−20 −4247%	826 +4247%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18 −550%	110−120 +550%
Counter-Strike 2	5 −3880%	199 +3880%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −792%	107 +792%
Dota 2	40 −400%	200 +400%
Elden Ring	11 −4155%	468 +4155%
Far Cry 5	40 −273%	149 +273%
Fortnite	35−40 −732%	300−350 +732%
Forza Horizon 4	22 −2391%	548 +2391%
Grand Theft Auto V	28 −521%	174 +521%
Metro Exodus	12 −1425%	183 +1425%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	76 −183%	210−220 +183%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8 −1850%	150−160 +1850%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	20−22 −770%	170−180 +770%
Valorant	14 −5443%	750−800 +5443%
World of Tanks	95−100 −185%	270−280 +185%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	13 −800%	110−120 +800%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1221%	185 +1221%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −775%	105 +775%
Dota 2	57 −293%	224 +293%
Far Cry 5	29 −638%	210−220 +638%
Forza Horizon 4	16 −3300%	544 +3300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	50−55 −322%	210−220 +322%
Valorant	18−20 −3479%	680 +3479%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	6−7 −2600%	162 +2600%
Elden Ring	8−9 −4188%	343 +4188%
Grand Theft Auto V	6−7 −2583%	161 +2583%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 −373%	170−180 +373%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 −1760%	90−95 +1760%
World of Tanks	45−50 −1047%	500−550 +1047%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −770%	85−90 +770%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 −1589%	152 +1589%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1440%	77 +1440%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −1131%	160−170 +1131%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −4509%	507 +4509%
Metro Exodus	8−9 −1800%	152 +1800%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 −3643%	262 +3643%
Valorant	16−18 −3475%	572 +3475%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −1000%	187 +1000%
Elden Ring	3−4 −6500%	198 +6500%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −1000%	187 +1000%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −6750%	137 +6750%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18−20 −1061%	200−210 +1061%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −1500%	60−65 +1500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −1000%	187 +1000%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	5−6 −1720%	90−95 +1720%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −1900%	40 +1900%
Dota 2	16−18 −1235%	227 +1235%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1400%	100−110 +1400%
Fortnite	6−7 −1500%	95−100 +1500%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −4633%	284 +4633%
Valorant	6−7 −5967%	364 +5967%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2

166

+0%

166

+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2

150−160

+0%

150−160

+0%

This is how GeForce MX250 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:

RTX 4090 is 1022% faster in 1080p
RTX 4090 is 1542% faster in 1440p
RTX 4090 is 1688% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 4090 is 6750% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 4090 is ahead in 61 test (97%)
there's a draw in 2 tests (3%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	6.24	100.00
Recency	20 February 2019	20 September 2022
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	10 Watt	450 Watt

GeForce MX250 has 4400% lower power consumption.

RTX 4090, on the other hand, has a 1502.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 180% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce MX250 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce MX250 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.