"Value check" this R7 250, for limited needs?

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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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I saw this MSI R7 250 available for $45 after rebate (and FS via a Premier trial membership) and the timing is propitious since I'm pretty sure my GT240 is (not only completely lame of course but actually) dying, albeit in fits and starts. (I've been getting increasingly frequent blue screens when running VLC and/or watching web videos. I haven't checked the dump logs yet, but the error code is generally GPU-related and the problem seems to have stopped since I turned off graphics acceleration in both of those programs.) But before I actually click "submit", I thought I'd do a quick check here to see if anyone happens to have seen a better deal for my purposes.

As should be obvious from the fact that I've been using the GT 240 all this time, I don't need much from a graphics card. I don't game - ever. I basically have any GC in the first place to be able to use dual monitors, though I do sometimes use the rendering program Luxrender, which can make use of a card for GPU acceleration (via OpenCL, so AMD is fine for that.) Everything else aside, the fundamental limiting factor is my 300W PSU (and no 6-pin connector, to boot.) I do have a 430W PSU in the closet somewhere, but since I'm (slowly) getting around to replacing this PC anyway, I'd just as soon not disturb the aging innards of this one that much until I actually have its replacement on hand...

Oh, and fwiw, I do know the R7 250's specs call for a 400W PSU, but given the rest of my specs and the card's actual 48W consumption, I think I'll be fine and in any event, I'm willing to give it a shot before giving in and replacing the PSU.
 
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LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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Seems like a good price to me, though I hate to recommend a DDR3 card.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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nerp said:
Isn't the 750Ti what everyone recommends for a card that doesn't need a power connector?

Also, there was a recently-announced GTX950 that does not require a 6-pin connector. ASUS GTX950-2G.


http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/New-ASUS-GeForce-GTX-950-2G-Requires-No-PCIe-Power
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Yeah, the 750 Ti is indeed the (sometimes well-considered, often knee-jerk) "usual" recommendation, but I don't need that much "oomph" and at more than twice the cost of the R7 250 I'm eyeing, it's not really what I'm looking for for this (Core2Duo/4GB maxed-out RAM) machine.

That new GTX 950-2G model looks pretty cool, generally speaking, but while it doesn't seem to available for sale at all just yet, I'm sure it'll also be more $$ than I want to spend, uses more power than I can give probably reliably give it with my current PSU and is certainly more graphics-power than I really need (though of course for the GPU-acceleration where a CPU bottleneck isn't even a real issue, there's no such thing as "too much power":D.)
 
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escrow4

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2013
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Mike64 said:
Yeah, the 750 Ti is indeed the (sometimes well-considered, often knee-jerk) "usual" recommendation, but I don't need that much "oomph" and at more than twice the cost of the R7 250 I'm eyeing, definitely don't want to throw $100+ at this (Core2Duo/4GB maxed-out RAM) machine.

That new GTX 950 model looks pretty cool, generally speaking, but I'm sure it's also more $$ than I want to spend, but uses more power than I can give probably reliably give it with my current PSU and is certainly more graphics-power than I really need (though of course for the GPU-acceleration, there's no such thing as "too much power":D.)
Click to expand...

That 950 is the only GPU that can properly hardware decode HEVC 8/10bit unlike Skylake's iGPU so in terms of a new box when you get one it will be pretty nifty. Although playing HEVC right now may give your box a heart attack. :sneaky:

The 750Ti has older decode support.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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escrow4 said:
playing HEVC right now may give your box a heart attack. :sneaky:
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LOL, yeah, I dare say! I can see the smoke pouring out its "ears" as I type...:D But I'm not really looking to buy with an eye on the the future new machine in any event because (a) who knows what will be available at what prices by the time it actually happens (remember, I said slowly:whiste:) and (b), I expect I'll keep using this machine for some or another secondary purpose, so I'll still want the card in it then, too...
 
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PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,732
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This is an alright card if power consumption is a large concern. I'd hesitate to call it hot, more like fair at this price. If power consumption isn't a big concern at this price range the used market or that 6950 that keeps selling for $50 is probably a better bet. The DDR3 means it doesn't perform up to the R7 250 you usually read about in reviews. I need to do more tests on mine, but I believe I was seeing about the performance of my old HD4850.

Some one claimed fry's had the regular ram one on sale for $60AR recently but I never tracked that down.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
2,108
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PingSpike said:
This is an alright card if power consumption is a large concern. I'd hesitate to call it hot, more like fair at this price. If power consumption isn't a big concern at this price range the used market or that 6950 that keeps selling for $50 is probably a better bet. The DDR3 means it doesn't perform up to the R7 250 you usually read about in reviews. I need to do more tests on mine, but I believe I was seeing about the performance of my old HD4850.

Some one claimed fry's had the regular ram one on sale for $60AR recently but I never tracked that down.
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First, power consumption is an issue. I'll have to double-check what the rest of my components add up to, but I am working with an aging 300W PSU that I'd rather not replace if I can help it. As for the 6950's pricing, are you talking about a used card for $50? I just did a couple of quick searches but couldn't find even a 1GB version anywhere near that... As for the memory speed, I do hesitate to go with the slower stuff, basically on principle, but do keep in mind that I will not be using for gaming (basically ever) and most likely not even that much for video >= 720p. Most of the videos I look at on the PC are general web stuff, not "movies." For GPU-based rendering purposes ("photographic", not real-time rendering that is), I guess I should check on this to make sure, but I think having more slower memory is more efficient than less faster RAM and fwiw, this review I just happened upon seems to suggest (at first glance anyway) that the performance difference between the memory types, even for gaming, isn't massive anyway...

As for the price of the MSI card, from what I've seen the base price itself is pretty good compared to other brands with similar specs, and the additional $15 discount brings it well below the others, let alone a DDR5 card with 2GB RAM. And maybe I'm being silly, but in general I think I'd just as soon stick with a new rather than used card.

ETA: Another possibility I just came across is this XFX R7 250 - at a significantly higher price than the MSI, but with 4GB RAM rather than 2. Hmm...
 
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Madpacket

Platinum Member
Nov 15, 2005
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Unless you're combining with an Kaveri+ APU with 384 SPU's there's zero reason to go for an R7 250 with DDR3.
 
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MrTeal

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
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LTC8K6 said:
I would go with a 1 or 2gb DDR5 card.

4gb is of no use on a low end card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=r7-250&N=100007709 600007797&isNodeId=1

XFX 250X card in that list for $85 AR
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Why would he spend twice as much on a DDR5 card? It's of no benefit to someone who doesn't game and just wants a cheap low power card to run dual monitors.

@OP, if you're not going to make the quite substantial step up (in price and performance) to a GTX950 in order to get the better video block, I would say the 250 you selected would work well for your needs.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
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MrTeal said:
Why would he spend twice as much on a DDR5 card? It's of no benefit to someone who doesn't game and just wants a cheap low power card to run dual monitors.

@OP, if you're not going to make the quite substantial step up (in price and performance) to a GTX950 in order to get the better video block, I would say the 250 you selected would work well for your needs.
Click to expand...

I said that earlier, he then suggested a more expensive $85 card with 4gb of ddr3. Try to read all of the posts, not just a few. :D
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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LTC8K6 said:
4gb is of no use on a low end card.
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Is that true even for GPU-accelerated computing purposes? I haven't had a chance to check on that, but I seem to remember reading that a lot of memory was very helpful for 3D rendering purposes (not real-time rendering) since it cuts down significantly on having to load new data points to work on (which of course comparatively slow hard drive or even, compared to RAM speed, SSD access times), whereas the GC's memory speed would presumably just knock a percentage off the total processing time. Since rendering is basically a start-it-up-then-walk-away for a few hours kinda thing, I'm not sure a "percentage" of time is that big an issue?
 
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MrTeal

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Dec 7, 2003
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LTC8K6 said:
I said that earlier, he then suggested a more expensive $85 card with 4gb of ddr3. Try to read all of the posts, not just a few. :D
Click to expand...

I did, and I also agree on not getting the 4GB. You did however not recommend a DDR3 based case and instead recommended a GDDR5 based one. Neither is a really good use of money on a system that old.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
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MrTeal said:
I did, and I also agree on not getting the 4GB. You did however not recommend a DDR3 based case and instead recommended a GDDR5 based one. Neither is a really good use of money on a system that old.
Click to expand...

Post #2...I said it was a good price.

But the 250X is also a good price... :)
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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Hmmm... My head is swimming a bit now that I'm at least vaguely considering spending quite a bit more money on a card... In addition to the question whether the 4GB would or wouldn't be a plus for my specific use-case, I see that the R7 250X needs a 6-pin connection, which I'd like to avoid lest my "ancient", late 2008-machine decide to just give up the ghost if I take it far enough apart to install a new PSU.

Another point I didn't bother to mention earlier is that I currently have only one slot worth of space for a card, though I'll have to check the order of the (Dell's measly 4) slots, and maybe ditch the eSATA card I very rarely use anway. (And if I can do that, it might just make the most sense to spend even a little more to go with a 750 Ti after all...) As far as throwing the money at this machine, I know it wouldn't make any sense for real-time video purposes, but the GPU-acceleration of the rendering is kind of a special case, since - at least at the level being discussed here - it wouldn't involve CPU bottlenecking...

Guess I have to make some time to do some checking, digesting, and a little more web searching in time to order the R7 250, if I end up going with it, early enough to be sure it invoices by midnight, to be able to get that rebate...
 
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PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
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Mike64 said:
First, power consumption is an issue. I'll have to double-check what the rest of my components add up to, but I am working with an aging 300W PSU that I'd rather not replace if I can help it. As for the 6950's pricing, are you talking about a used card for $50? I just did a couple of quick searches but couldn't find even a 1GB version anywhere near that... As for the memory speed, I do hesitate to go with the slower stuff, basically on principle, but do keep in mind that I will not be using for gaming (basically ever) and most likely not even that much for video >= 720p. Most of the videos I look at on the PC are general web stuff, not "movies." For GPU-based rendering purposes ("photographic", not real-time rendering that is), I guess I should check on this to make sure, but I think having more slower memory is more efficient than less faster RAM and fwiw, this review I just happened upon seems to suggest (at first glance anyway) that the performance difference between the memory types, even for gaming, isn't massive anyway...

As for the price of the MSI card, from what I've seen the base price itself is pretty good compared to other brands with similar specs, and the additional $15 discount brings it well below the others, let alone a DDR5 card with 2GB RAM. And maybe I'm being silly, but in general I think I'd just as soon stick with a new rather than used card.

ETA: Another possibility I just came across is this XFX R7 250 - at a significantly higher price than the MSI, but with 4GB RAM rather than 2. Hmm...
Click to expand...

Sorry, the 6950 had been on sale for the past 2-3 months for between $40-60AR. But it sucks power pretty bad so its not a good fit for your needs anyway. I don't think the original linked $45AR R7 250 is a bad card for your needs at all, I'm just commenting that its not quite as hot as it might first appear. And that new cards in the under $100 range seem to be pretty unexciting, to the point where in a lot of cases I think the used market is just a better bet if you can't put down $100 and don't need super low power usage.

I wouldn't buy that linked card at all. Its still DDR3. The extra ram doesn't make much of a difference as compared to ram speed and bus (bandwidth). Its the same trick they've been playing since the geforce2 days at least. And at $85 its no deal. If you've got $85 I think you can snag a 750ti for only a few bucks more these days and that's generally recommended as the low power performance card to go too in most cases.

If you're not doing any gaming, have you considered just going cheap and either trying to get the powercolor 5450 that goes on sale for $10AR or just buying a used one of the same card for $15 off ebay. The 5450 is super low power, and super lame gaming performance to match.

That's just my opinion on the matter.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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PingSpike said:
If you're not doing any gaming, have you considered just going cheap and either trying to get the powercolor 5450 that goes on sale for $10AR or just buying a used one of the same card for $15 off ebay.
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Well, I let the rebate-purchase-period go by without buying the R7 250, so it's back to the drawing board. (In no small part because I'm not feeling the need quite so urgently now that my computer has stopped blue-screening every 15 minutes since I turned off H/W acceleration in Firefox!) It's as much anti-Ebay prejudice as anything else (I've really come to dislike it at this point) but I do want to stick with a new card, but would consider a really cheap card with or without a rebate. But nothing's doing at the moment, with the cheapest one on Newegg, 5450 and otherwise (with at least 80/96 AMD/Nvidia "cores", anyway) running around $35. But either there are some new listings (or maybe I just didn't notice before) for a bunch of 750 Tis with rebates, so I'm starting to give one of those more serious thought.

Again, not really for its display capabilities, but for its utility for GPU-accelerated 3D rendering (which is mind-numbingly slow on my CPU alone, and only very slightly better using the GT240 as well, even before it started acting up...)
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
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GT240 was one of the first NVidia graphics cards with GDDR5 - although with only 512MB VRAM is not much of a gaming card.

However - I wouldn't recommend a R7 250 2GB DDR3 unless you are planning to use AMD Dual Graphics alongside an AMD A10-7850 / 70 / 90 APU.

Get a used 750Ti 2GB for better gaming performance or step up to a 950 2GB GDDDR5 for a 4K HEVC capable graphics card.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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nenforcer said:
I wouldn't recommend a R7 250 2GB DDR3
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Yeah. I have absolutely no need/use for a card particularly suited to gaming per se, but I wasn't looking at R7 250s in general, that particular listing just happened to catch my eye because of the price (with rebate, that has since expired.)
 
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xorbe

Senior member
Sep 7, 2011
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If you just need a spare card, check ebay?

But that new mini 950 with no power plug would make a nice "spare" card for hw junkies that have a parts shelf.
 
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Mike64

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2011
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xorbe said:
If you just need a spare card, check ebay?
Click to expand...
As I've mentioned a couple of times, I don't want to deal with the potential hassle of a Fleabay used card...

But that new mini 950 with no power plug would make a nice "spare" card for hw junkies that have a parts shelf.
Click to expand...
It does look pretty cool but will no doubt be pricey, and in any event, apparently hasn't actually been released for sale yet...
 
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