GeForce GTS 250M vs Radeon HD 7970

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970 with GeForce GTS 250M, including specs and performance data.

HD 7970
2011
6 GB GDDR5, 300 Watt
13.65
+848%

HD 7970 outperforms GTS 250M by a whopping 848% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking379999
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.46no data
Power efficiency3.773.55
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)
GPU code nameTahitiGT215
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 December 2011 (13 years ago)15 June 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$549 no data

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 cores204896
Core clock speedno data500 MHz
Boost clock speed925 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,313 million727 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)300 Watt28 Watt
Texture fill rate118.416.00
Floating-point processing power3.789 TFLOPS0.24 TFLOPS
Gigaflopsno data360
ROPs328
TMUs12832

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 sizeno datalarge
Bus supportPCIe 2.1 x16PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length274 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinno data
SLI options-+
MXM Typeno dataMXM 3.0 Type-B

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount6 GB1 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHzUp to 2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth264 GB/s51.2 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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortHDMIVGALVDSSingle Link DVIDisplayPortDual Link DVI
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
Power managementno data8.0

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1111.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.14.1
OpenGL4.62.1
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan-N/A
CUDA-+

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.

HD 7970 13.65
+848%
GTS 250M 1.44

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.

HD 7970 5248
+849%
GTS 250M 553

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.

HD 7970 24757
+577%
GTS 250M 3659

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:

900p105
+950%
10−12
−950%
Full HD92
+229%
28
−229%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.97no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+575%
4−5
−575%
Elden Ring 40−45
+4000%
1−2
−4000%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+2150%
2−3
−2150%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+575%
4−5
−575%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+511%
9−10
−511%
Metro Exodus 35−40 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+386%
7−8
−386%
Valorant 50−55
+980%
5−6
−980%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+2150%
2−3
−2150%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+575%
4−5
−575%
Dota 2 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Elden Ring 40−45
+4000%
1−2
−4000%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+364%
10−12
−364%
Fortnite 75−80
+1183%
6−7
−1183%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+511%
9−10
−511%
Grand Theft Auto V 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Metro Exodus 35−40 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−105
+567%
14−16
−567%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+386%
7−8
−386%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+486%
7−8
−486%
Valorant 50−55
+980%
5−6
−980%
World of Tanks 212
+607%
30−33
−607%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+2150%
2−3
−2150%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+167%
9−10
−167%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+575%
4−5
−575%
Dota 2 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+364%
10−12
−364%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+511%
9−10
−511%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−105
+567%
14−16
−567%
Valorant 50−55
+980%
5−6
−980%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Elden Ring 21−24 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+1089%
9−10
−1089%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14 0−1
World of Tanks 95−100
+1100%
8−9
−1100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+1250%
2−3
−1250%
Counter-Strike 2 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+540%
5−6
−540%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+1000%
3−4
−1000%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+867%
3−4
−867%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+467%
3−4
−467%
Valorant 30−35
+386%
7−8
−386%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 9−10 0−1
Dota 2 24−27
+50%
16−18
−50%
Elden Ring 9−10 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+60%
14−16
−60%
Metro Exodus 9−10 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40−45
+900%
4−5
−900%
Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+60%
14−16
−60%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+1200%
1−2
−1200%
Counter-Strike 2 9−10 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Dota 2 24−27
+50%
16−18
−50%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1600%
1−2
−1600%
Fortnite 14−16
+1400%
1−2
−1400%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+850%
2−3
−850%
Valorant 14−16
+1300%
1−2
−1300%

This is how HD 7970 and GTS 250M compete in popular games:

  • HD 7970 is 950% faster in 900p
  • HD 7970 is 229% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Elden Ring, with 1080p resolution and the Low Preset, the HD 7970 is 4000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 7970 surpassed GTS 250M in all 44 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 13.65 1.44
Recency 22 December 2011 15 June 2009
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 28 Watt

HD 7970 has a 847.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

GTS 250M, on the other hand, has 971.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970 is a desktop card while GeForce GTS 250M is a notebook one.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon HD 7970
Radeon HD 7970
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M
GeForce GTS 250M

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


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Questions & comments

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