News Nvidia officially launches GeForce GTS 250

Fair enough if you don't agree on the rebranding and power consumption, I don't think anyone has hard facts so we're all just stating our opinion. But at least in terms of architecture, is there really a need for NV to release a new product? PC enthusiasts always complain about the lack of longevity in their hardware, or state that there's no such thing as "futureproof" in PCs. Yet, instead of being happy that a graphics card (of all things) has lasted this long with minor changes and still remains competitive in every aspect, everyone complains about not having a new product. That's kinda hypocritical, right? But that's how it is with "enthusiasts" isn't it? For some people hardware isn't an instrument to achieve a purpose, but the purpose it's self. Personally, I'm sick of drooling over chips and PCBs.

They've just switched fabrication process so these aren't overstock chips, these are brand new ones.

What happened to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

 

its the same fab, not the new fab so most likely most is overstock chips but they probably are producing some news ones, either way nothing is "new" about this and its nVidia pulling a sucker punch to its customers.

 

Yap... There lots of chinese people with their fingers ruined from scratching the old sticker and puttin a new one...

 

Ok, that's it! I'm changing my dog's name from Gidget to Smidget when it comes back from the groomers. Even though it is the same dog on the inside, on the outside it will smell better and not have any dreadlocks or dingleberries. Better yet, when I get back from getting my hair cut I will change my name and my driving record will vanish. If only that was how it worked in the real world...

 

I'm building a new system soon, and had actually been looking at the 9800GTX+, so there's a good chance I'll grab a 250 instead. Depends how the pricing works out.

In other words, for building a brand new system, naming convention changes aren't a big deal, and are usually more helpful than not. But for upgrading a part in an existing system, you'd better know your stuff.

 

If you're going by the logic of "newer generation means faster card" then yes, you will be dissapointed. However, if the card was still called 8800 GTS 512, using that exact same logic, a buyer would think "The 8800 GTS has been out 4 years. The 4850 costs the same but it's a brand new model, so it must be much faster!". Obviously this isn't true since the cards are on par, so again you would be mislead (but in the other direction) and nVidia would lose sales when that very same product is in fact better than ever. In other words this logic is flawed, at least when it comes to graphics cards.

Don't forget that the 8800 GTS cost ~£230 when it was released. The 9800GTX+ costs £120. The target group is different. If you bought a high end product innitially, why would you opt for a midrange product as an upgrade? Common sense would suggest that you should go for the new high end product (GTX260).

People keep accusing nVidia for their ethics and not releasing a new product when ATI hasn't been able to release a single GPU card to compete with NV's flagship single gpu card for years. Maybe if Ati wasn't still competing with a 4 year card NV would be forced to change it.

Looking back, the HD3870 was only a slight improvement (performace wise) over the HD2900XT, yet vastly improved in terms of power consumption and also much cheaper than the HD2900XT (using 256bit mem as opposed to the 512bit mem of the 2900 and smaller fabrication process and priced to compete with the GTS). Everyone loved that card. Nobody saw it as a rebadged 2900XT since it solved such major flaws of the old card, despite the fact that performance was on the same level.

 

On the same note this logic is flawed as well, because ATI isn't trying to compete with Nvidia for the top dog of flagship single gpu cards. Go back and look at the pricing a year ago for that HD3870 as it compared to Nvidia's flag ship card.

 

It was competing with the GTS 512 price and performance wise. I don't see what you mean. I wasn't suggesting any particular logic, I was simply justifying NV's actions because they really don't need to do anything in the midrange since Ati hasn't yet offered anything to flat out blow this 4 year old card out of the waters.

 

WARNING: Nvidia Fan Boi Alert ~_~

 

Since when is G80 four years old?t

 

Come on guys, the 250 is a good number for the card, and is any manufacturer going to call it "The card formally known as 9800 GTX+ formally known as the 8800 GTS"?

Yes, some people are going to get confused, but an equal number will now be less confused than before.

It was a mess before, it's now a different mess

 

the point I think most people are making is they shouldnt make the card at all or if they have to sell it as that name then make it the same price as the 9800GTX+ not screw over its "not as educated" customers by charging more for the same card.

 

The only problem i have of late with this is that they keep on changing the card itself, not the name(the low end segment here.)

Original 8800GS: 92 SP.
9600GSO : 92SP
9600GSO 768mb DDR2..>_>..: 92SP
9600GSO 512mb 128bit: 48SP.

What gives?

 

Sorry to dissapoint but I'm not a "fanboy" of any company. I've used Ati, NV, Intel and AMD and always been happy with my purchases. The only criterion when choosing my hardware is price/performance.

The reason I don't object to NV's decision is because the card is perfectly matched against the competition in terms of price and performance, so let them call it whatever they want.

from guru3d:

The price looks pretty good to me. They are targeting the same price/performance group that the 9600GT did a year-or-so ago. It's not like their trying to sell a midrange product at high end prices to a high end market. They're selling a midrange product at midrange prices to the midrange market.

Fair enough, ~3 years old give or take a few months. My mistake.

 

It started already... I had a friend that wants to trade a 8800GTS for the new GTS250... lol... I showed this, and he was... wtf??
Almost another duck buying a rebranded nvidia card...

 

Why doesnt nvidia jsut release a full line of cards like ATI does? I could understand a GTS250 being really a GT200 series GPU with some stream processors locked or something but cmon dont tell the world that you are using a older GPU in your "new" card. They could at least take the time to rename the G92 or something. Granted the G92 is still good and powerful and what not it just looks sad to me that there isnt a full GT200 series (GT200 GPU's) to compete with a HD 4000 series(RV700's).

 

Well, despite my dissent against the damn thing early in the thread, i've actually managed to get a hold of one for review. I'll give you guys a candid opinion on how it performs against a 4850 and 4870 / 4870 CF when it comes in.

 

add a 4830 to that list....