Hardware Compare

GeForce GTS 250 1GB vs Radeon HD 5770

Intro

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB features core speeds of 738 MHz on the GPU, and 1100 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Compare that to the Radeon HD 5770, which has core clock speeds of 850 MHz on the GPU, and 1200 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 800(160x5) SPUs along with 40 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Game Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were conducted by various review sites. Click the 'source' link with any game benchmark to see the original article for more information.

F.E.A.R. 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Unknown (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		74 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		48 FPS
	Difference: 35%

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		68 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		66 FPS
	Difference: 3%

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		70 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		56 FPS
	Difference: 20%

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		42 FPS
Radeon HD 5770		37 FPS
	Difference: 12%

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		28 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		19 FPS
	Difference: 32%

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		54 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		38 FPS
	Difference: 30%

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 5770		66 FPS
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		44 FPS
	Difference: 33%

Power, Temperatures and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption

Radeon HD 5770		108 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		145 Watts
	Difference: 26%

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 5770 should theoretically be just a bit superior to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 5770		76800 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 8%

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 1GB is much (about 28%) more effective at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 5770. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 1GB		47232 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 5770		34000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28%

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon HD 5770 is superior to the GeForce GTS 250 1GB, though not by far. (explain)

Radeon HD 5770		13600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 1GB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13%

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords, and might not be the exact same card listed on this page.

GeForce GTS 250 1GB

Radeon HD 5770

Specifications

Model	GeForce GTS 250 1GB	Radeon HD 5770
Manufacturer	nVidia	ATi
Year	March 3, 2009	October 13, 2009
Code Name	G92a/b	Juniper XT
Fab Process	65/55 nm	40 nm
Bus	PCIe x16 2.0	PCIe 2.1 x16
Memory	1024 MB	1024 MB
Core Speed	738 MHz	850 MHz
Shader Speed	1836 MHz	(Unknown) MHz
Memory Speed	1100 MHz	1200 MHz
Unified Shaders	128	800(160x5)
Texture Mapping Units	64	40
Render Output Units	16	16
Bus Type	GDDR3	GDDR5
Bus Width	256-bit	128-bit
DirectX Version	DirectX 10	DirectX 11
OpenGL Version	OpenGL 3.1	OpenGL 3.2
Power Consumption	145 watts	108 watts
Shader Model	4.0	5.0
Bandwidth	70400 MB/sec	76800 MB/sec
Texel Rate	47232 Mtexels/sec	34000 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate	11808 Mpixels/sec	13600 Mpixels/sec

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.