ATI RADEON 9250
With a majority of the market focusing their attention on high-end graphics cards, many forget about the consumers who are seeking a low-cost upgrade or replacement part. These consumers are often willing to sacrifice performance when looking for cards with price points that are substantially lower than enthusiast-class boards. Yet they seek performance levels which are adequate for the occasional death-match. This is where ATI's mid-range card, the Radeon 9250, steps in. Taking into consideration the values of the mid-range demographic, ATI has tried to produce a card which offers a rich list of specifications, yet is easy on the not-so-padded wallet.
Offering four pixel-pipeline, AGP 8x support and 128MB of DDR RAM, the ATI Radeon 9250 rounds off the tail end of ATi's product line. Though there are no swank fans with blinking LED's to be found, the eye-catching cutaway on the PCB board clearly distinguishes this card from the rest of pack. In the following pages we will be covering an overview of the card itself, followed by benchmarks with comparison to Diamonds S100 and S110, overclocking ability and lastly, our final thoughts. So, let's not waste anymore time and fire this card up...
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Specifications
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Physically, ATi's Radeon 9250 does not sport anything out of the ordinary (cutaway aside). Located in the center of the card, there is a black anodized aluminum heatsink which is attached to the green PCB by two spring clips and thermal epoxy. Though the use of epoxy does ensure the heatsink will stay in place, it does present an inconvenience for those consumers who wish to alter the stock cooling solution. Although, we doubt potential buyers would buy this card with the intent of modifying it. Surrounding the VPU are the eight (four on the front, four on the back) standard DDR SGRAM 16Mx16 chips (16MB each x 8 chips = 128MB). The inclusion of VGA, S-Video and composite connections provides the user with a wide variety of connectivity options. However, we where a bit disappointed to see the absence of a DVI port which could potentially discourage some LCD using consumers from buying this card.
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