EVGA nVidia GeForce GTS 250 1GB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card 01G-P3-1145-TR

I am disappointed with this video card, from its performance, to its design, and even its support. I am replacing a 8600GT XXX video card, thinking it was going to be huge upgrade, but its only marginally better.
-The first problem I noticed was that this card is a weaker version of the GTS 250 (G92). Normally, they are 738/1100Mhz core/shader, but this is 675/900Mhz core/shader. I didn't realize this until after I ordered it.
-The second problem is that the fan runs at 100%, so the fan is audible at all times.
-Third, if you try to use EVGA's overclocking utility to bump the frequencies, the OS will crash, it doesn't even reach 700/1000Mhz! I made sure to try correct versions of the utility and appropriate drivers from Nvidia.
-The fourth problem is that this card is excluded from the EVGA Step-Up program, which is really unfortunate.
-The fifth problem is the most important, it performs only slightly better than my 8600GT XXX card (G84, 256Mb,...Read more

I have this card in an ASUS mobo with an Athlon Phenom X4 955 chip. I've been playing StarCraft 2 for two weeks now on all Ultra settings without any problems.

The card actually looks much better in real life than the picture. The GPU fan is longer and covers almost the entire card whereas the picture makes it look tiny.

I agree with the previous post that stated the clock speed is only 675 mHz. However, most of the GTS 250 cards I looked at in this price range are only 675 mHz. All of the cards that were 700 mHz and higher are 30 to 50 dollars more expensive. So for the price, I think the 675 mHz card is a good deal. However, I knocked one star off because this isn't something that is made clear when you're comparing GTS-250 cards.

Overall, I think this is a great card for $102 after a mail-in rebate that supports HDMI.

I would recommend this card to other users.

The GTS 250 is not high-end, but is sufficient for standard gaming and HD video. I can run MS Flight Simulator at highest settings with no problems, and all Source engine games work beautifully. Three output ports as a standard is very useful for multiple monitors, and it supports Nvidia SLI, so is easily upgradeable when it inevitably becomes too weak to handle the current software.

Overall, a great card for the price, haven't had any problems yet after 6 months.