Powercolor R7 250X 1GB GDDR5 Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

As we mentioned at the beginning this Powercolor R7 250X is as close to a reference design as you’ll get, thus it isn’t surprising we are seeing it stick to reference pricing of $100 at Newegg. In the UK we are seeing pricing of about £70~.

Overview

AMD’s R7 250X is an incredibly competitive graphics card for its price. For just $100 you get a graphics card that is significantly better than the GTX 650 and falls in between the GTX 650 and GTX 650 Ti. The R7 250X really is an amazing card because it is so capable of 1080p gaming at such a competitive price. For its performance the graphics card is relatively frugal on the power consumption but returns relatively high temperatures due to the high clock speed. Yet the high clock speed doesn’t limit overclocking potential and we actually saw our R7 250X narrow the gap with the GTX 650 Ti with overclocking which is always nice to see. AMD deserve kudos for the R7 250X because it absolutely knocks Nvidia out of the park at the $100 price point – the best Nvidia card you can buy for $100 or less is the GT 640, a GTX 650 at a push, and neither of those really come close.

Regarding what Powercolor have done with this card there isn’t a great deal to say. The cooling solution is pretty mediocre and it runs relatively hot given the high noise levels, though this is kind of expected given the price. However, observing the overall product leaves something to be desired – I know this is a budget graphics card but I would have liked to see a card that runs quieter and cooler and just oozes a bit more class. The rear I/O is lacking in DisplayPort which can run 60Hz 4K and support three outputs through an MST Hub….but I guess most users buying this card will be running cheap displays that can make use of VGA, HDMI (4K support at 30Hz) or up to 2560 x 1600 via DVI which is probably more than enough. Possibly I am expecting too much of this card – for $100 Powercolor did a solid job of bringing this card to market at all.  However, I just cannot be content with what Powercolor have done because at $100 I see most other vendors producing better R7 250Xs. HIS produce one with a better cooling solution, Gigabyte produce one with a higher out of the box clock speed. Powercolor should have opted for an overclock, a better cooling solution and a DisplayPort output, even if it meant adding $5-10 to the price.

Pros

• Class leading performance for the price point
• Viable 1080p gaming solution
• Low power
• Overclocks well
• CrossFireX support

Cons

• Runs quite hot
• Game bundles seem to be absent right now

“AMD’s R7 250X is the best $100 1080p gaming graphics card on the market. It’s value for money is unmatched; if you’re looking to build a gaming system on a tight budget then the R7 250X should be a top contender.“

Thank you to AMD for providing this review sample.