When Nvidia announced the release of the GTS 250 series of graphics cards, quite a buzz was created! It wasn't because it offered unprecedented performance features, a whole new level of gaming realism, or anything else that might be considered truly buzz worthy. The chatter was all about this being a refined version of a graphics chip that had already been reborn and that had seen numerous variations since its inception in the 8800 series and then the 9800 series.

At this point even the GTS 250 has lost its new car smell, but it remains popular due to the balance of pricing / performance, and because manufacturers continue to offer new versions with tweaks or extras thrown in here and there.



This review is going to take a look at a recent variation of the GTS 250 produced by ASUS. The specific model is the ENGTS250 1GB GTS 250 "Dark Knight" video card shown in the promotional image above. One of the more obvious changes to the reference design comes thanks to the unique cooler that uses four heatpipes to draw heat away from the GPU. We'll take a closer look at the card and how it performs, but first let's take a look at some published information on the card as taken from the official product page on the ASUS website.

Features:

» NVIDIA® GeForce GTS250
» PCI Express & PCI Express 2.0 support
» Microsoft DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 support
» OpenGL®2.1 support
» HDCP compliant
» NVIDIA PureVideo HD technologyâ€"Essential for the Ultimate HD Movie Experience on a PC
» NVIDIA Quantum Technologyâ€" Advanced Shader Processors architected for physics computation

Specifications:

Graphics Engine: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250
Bus Standard: PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory: DDR3 1024MB
Engine Clock: 740 MHz
Memory Clock: 2000 MHz ( 1000 MHz DDR3 )
Memory Interface: 256-bit
CRT Max Resolution: 2048 x 1536
DVI Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600
D-Sub Output: Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )
DVI Output: Yes x 2 (DVI-I)
HDMI Output: Yes x 1 (via DVI to HDMI adaptor x 1 )
HDTV Output (YPbPr): Yes
HDCP Support: Yes
TV Output: Yes (YPbPr to S-Video and Composite)
Adaptor/Cable bundled:
» 1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor
» 1 x DVI to HDMI adaptor
» 1 x HDTV-out cable
» 1 x Power cable
» 1 x S/PDIF cable
Software Bundled: ASUS Utilities & Driver
Note: Specifications may not be exactly as shown. Please confirm with dealer prior to purchase.