Radeon 530 vs GeForce GTS 250

Place in the ranking	972	811
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.09	no data
Power efficiency	0.70	3.65
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	GCN 3.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code name	G92B	Weston
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	4 March 2009 (15 years ago)	18 April 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	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 cores	128	384
Core clock speed	738 MHz	730 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1024 MHz
Number of transistors	754 million	1,550 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	50 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	44.93	24.58
Floating-point processing power	0.3871 TFLOPS	0.7864 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	8
TMUs	64	24

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).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x8
Length	229 mm	no data
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	None
SLI options	+	-

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 type	GDDR3	DDR3/GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1100 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	70.4 GB/s	14.4 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 Connectors	Two Dual Link DVI	No outputs
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	4.0	6.3
OpenGL	3.0	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2.131
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.

GTS 250 1.54

Radeon 530 2.66
+72.7%

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.

GTS 250 594

Radeon 530 1026
+72.7%

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:

Full HD

8−9

−87.5%

15
+87.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

24.88

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	16 +0%	16 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8 +0%	8 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	10 +0%	10 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	12 +0%	12 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	35 +0%	35 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Metro Exodus	13 +0%	13 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	13 +0%	13 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18 +0%	18 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7 +0%	7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	32 +0%	32 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Metro Exodus	5 +0%	5 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9 +0%	9 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6 +0%	6 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

+0%

6−7

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Hitman 3	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

+0%

6−7

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

+0%

4−5

+0%

This is how GTS 250 and Radeon 530 compete in popular games:

Radeon 530 is 88% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 57 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.54	2.66
Recency	4 March 2009	18 April 2017
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	55 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	50 Watt

Radeon 530 has a 72.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.

The Radeon 530 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTS 250 is a desktop card while Radeon 530 is a notebook one.

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