MSI N250GTS-2D512-OC GeForce GTS 250 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Pros: Very QUIET once drivers (nVidia website) installed.
It runs so quiet that only case fans can be heard, which are very quiet.
Runs cool though - 37 idle (@25 ambient) to 60 load.
Energy EFFICIENT - in power saving state takes no more than 100 W (all system) while gaming up to 320 W.

Cons: Probably none so far.

Other Thoughts: Good increase from GF 8600 GT, although I was expecting more...


System AMD BE-2400 (2.3GHz), 4.0 GB@800 MHz, 250 GB, MSI K9N2G Neo-FD, 480 W Antec.

Pros: Card is fast , runs very cool (faster and cooler then my old SLI 8800 gts) Card was worth the $99.00 I paid for it. Rebate will just be icing on the cake.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: System:
AMD Phenom II X3 720 (OC to 3.6 Ghz)
MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum Mobo
MSI GTS 250 OC SLI
Kingston HyperX 4 Gb
WD 500 Gb

Pros: Cheap, factory overclocked, the cooler is awesome. The core idles at 40 degrees C and loads at 53 degrees C (In my well-ventilated case)!

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: FYI, according to GPU-Z, MSI's GTS 250 is not using the 55nm G92b GPU, but the old 65nm G92 GPU.

Pros: Runs most games on high settings even at 1920x1200 resolution. Runs at idle 40 degrees in my Cooler Master Centurion case and mid 50s at full load. Much better than my old 8800GTS card in performance and temps. If you have an nVidia motherboard and install the performance aspect of the control panel then this card will drop it's speed way down to like 300 mhz while idle, further reducing temps, great if you are just surfing the web or doing light computing.

Cons: Rebates. At 1920 resolution don't expect to be running AA at all, you need a lot more graphics RAM for that, not a con for me but just mentioning it. 1920 resolution really doesn't need AA IMO.

Other Thoughts: I didn't buy this expecting the rebate, if I do, then it's an even better deal. I am still running it in PCI Express 1 on my motherboard until Wednesday when my new Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P board comes in... gonna pair that up with an AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz and see what we get!

Pros: Faster than i thought, I bought this at $99 expecting worse performance than a 9800gtx+ currently running everything i try on the highest setting through my HDTV, 1366x768 res which looks awesome to me. running smooth as can be. AA 4-8x

Cons: nothing so far

Other Thoughts: on a side note, i'm running this on a Dell XPS 420 with a 375w PSU. working perfect and holding strong under tests. though time will tell that. but so far no random restarts funny smells or low performance. Get this card if you're looking for something that'll play current games on high settings.

Pros: First one was DOA and have to shipped back to Newegg for exchanged.

Cons: Sent in the Rebate immediately after received the second card from Newegg's RMA. Registered the rebate onlines....check last week status was Initial....and just check again ...NO RECORD Found...so what happened to the rebate..it's been 6 weeks..MSI scams? Paid $130 for this ...not worth if no rebate...should have buy EVGA or XFX...which I owned 3 of the cards with rebates no problems. So don't think of the rebates..if u want to buy from MSI.

Pros: I have had bad luck in the past with MSI products. So far this card has held up for 2 plus months. 4 Stars for the card, minus 3 Stars for the rebate issue.

Cons: I bought this over XFX & EVGA because of the $30.00 rebate otherwise the price would've been same. I never buy MSI if I can help it. Its been over 2 months and MSI rebate website still has it listed in "Initial" status ! Google and you'll see many complaints !

Other Thoughts: So MSI was able to "steal" a sale from a competitor by giving a bogus rebate. Not very ethical if you ask me. If you buy this card, don't bother factoring the rebate. Looks like I ain't the only one having problems getting a rebate from MSI

Pros: Plays everything smoothly. Can run Fallout 3 on Ultra settings, Crysis on High, Red Alert 3 Maxed, Unreal Tourney Maxed, HL2, etc. Usually runs games 35-40+ FPS 1080P

Cons: When I engage AA or AS filtering, things start slowing down pretty bad. usually run 30-35 FPS on crysis w/o, but with AA, it drops to high teens, low 20s. I usually see a 15-20% drop in FPS on other games. But for this price range, it's to be expected. Does not come with OC-ing software like Catalyst Control.

Other Thoughts: Running on Core I7 920 w 6GB DDR3. Best computer I ever owned.

Pros: FYI MSI is not answering my phone calls for my rebate, I left a message in the answer machine, that is all I got.

Cons: I'm done with MSI

Other Thoughts: I'm going back to xfx

Pros: Factory overclocked, fairly fast, quiet under desktop, great memory chips rated for 1200MHz (2400MHz operation).

Cons: Fan spins up under gaming or any GPU load, This particular card is the old 65nm part, not the new 55nm (I thought every GTS 250 was 55nm, guess not), aluminum heat sink is not efficient at dissipating heat (gets to 80C under gaming).

Other Thoughts: This card is a mix of good and bad. The Good: Memory is Hynix H5RS5223CFR N2C, so it is rated for 1200MHz (2400MHz effective) operation. The bad: fan sink is aluminum (with some copper in the middle, but no heatpipe and card gets very hot during gaming, even though fan is spinning at 70% or so), under FurMark burn in, I could smell something burning after one minute, so I shut it off. It functions fine, but was scary, as temp was climbing and I have no idea what max temp is for this GPU. Stock nVidia heatsink is actually better than this one. Again, this is the 65nm part, as was indicated by GPU-Z. So, don't expect high overclocks on this one.