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ZOTAC GeForce GTS250 AMP! Edition

New name but does it offer refreshed performance?

PRICE: $199
CONTACT: +9714 351 7666
WEB: www.zotac.com

NVIDIA could be called a refresh master as its GTS250 isn't a new GPU but rather a refresh of one that has been around for two years. The GTS250 is based on the GeForce 9800 GTX, which was derived from the GeForce 8800 GTS 512.

With the latest refresh, changes can be seen before booting the card because the GTS250 boasts a smaller PCB, requires only one power connector - thanks to a lower power draw - and produces less heat. Another difference is that NVIDIA has used a gigabyte of memory rather than 512Mbytes.

Since our Zotac GeForce GTS250 is an AMP! Edition card, it doesn't follow NVIDIA's reference specs in terms of clock speeds. Here the GPU runs at 750MHz, whilst the shader and memory tick along at 1890MHz and 1150MHz.

When we got down to testing, we found the AMP! Edition offered reasonable performance though it struggled to outpace the US $89 less expensive Radeon HD 4770. In World In Conflict, the GTS250 scored 49fps and 33fps in 1024 x 768 pixels and 1680 x 1050 pixels to the 4770's 42fps and 27fps. The Zotac left the Radeon 4770 in the dust in Company of Heroes though NVIDIA cards have always been stronger in this test.

In use we found the GTS250's cooling solution became audible after running through all three tests of our H.A.W.X benchmarks. The only time the card became quite was after we had finished testing.

Performance: 4/5

Features: 4/5

Value for Money: 4/5

Verdict: A decent, midrange DirectX 10 buy that offers solid gaming performance numbers at a price that's also quite reasonable.

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