Radeon R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) vs GeForce GTS 250

Place in the ranking	980	808
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.08	no data
Power efficiency	0.71	no data
Architecture	Tesla (2006−2010)	GCN (2012−2015)
GPU code name	G92B	Kaveri Spectre
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	4 March 2009 (15 years ago)	14 January 2014 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$199	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

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	720 MHz
Number of transistors	754 million	no data
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	no data
Maximum GPU temperature	105 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	44.93	no data
Floating-point processing power	0.3871 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	16	no data
TMUs	64	no data

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	no data
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	no data
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	no data
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	no data
Memory bus width	256 Bit	no data
Memory clock speed	1100 MHz	no data
Memory bandwidth	70.4 GB/s	no data
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 data
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	S/PDIF	no data

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_0)	12 (FL 12_0)
Shader Model	4.0	no data
OpenGL	3.0	no data
OpenCL	1.1	no data
Vulkan	N/A	-
CUDA	+	-

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

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Metro Exodus	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Valorant	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Dota 2	6 +0%	6 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Fortnite	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	9 +0%	9 +0%
Metro Exodus	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Valorant	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
World of Tanks	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Dota 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Valorant	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
World of Tanks	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry 5	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Valorant	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Fortnite	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	0−1	0−1
Forza Horizon 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Valorant	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

This is how GTS 250 and R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) compete in popular games:

R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) is 88% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 58 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.49	2.68
Recency	4 March 2009	14 January 2014
Chip lithography	55 nm	28 nm

R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) has a 79.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon R7 384 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250 in performance tests.

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