Sapphire Radeon R7 250 graphic card review

Written by Chad

November 20, 2015

radeon r7 250 (1 of 11)

If you are in a budget and wants to get a sweet deal in terms of performance and price, maybe this could be a better option.

The R7 250 may be a bit old as it was released two years ago, but it was still being recommend for low end PC builds, however some of the cards are just rebranded from previous HD 7000 models. Almost identical to the older HD 7730 card in terms of its configuration, the R7 250 has different variants and has different GPU clock configuration, the provided review unit is the 1050MHz variant with an attached fan. Before we start with the review, let us take a look at the specs of the graphic card.

GPU 384 Stream Processors
28 nm
Graphics Core Next (GCN)
1000 MHz  Engine Clock
1050 MHz Boost Engine Clock
Interface PCI-Express 3.0
Memory 128 bit Memory Bus
DDR3 Memory Type
2048 MB Size
Displays Maximum 2 Outputs
Output 1 x Dsub
1 x DVI-D
1 x HDMI
Resolution
API OpenGL® 4.3
OpenCL 1.2
DirectX® 12
Shader Model 5.0
Feature AMD CrossFire
AMD PowerTune
Universal Video Decoder (UVD)
Cooling Single fan
Form Factor 1.5 Part Slot Occupied
145(L)X95(W)X26(H) Dimension /mm
Power Consumption <75W

 

radeon r7 250 (3 of 11)

For this version of the R7 250, it has 2GB of memory of DDR3 that will ensure you can have enough memory for games and other video editing applications. Since it’s a low-end graphic card, the R7 250 has a small build even when mounted with a large fan, as most low-end card have a smaller mounted fans to provide a smaller space to consume that can fit to any small sized PCs. And since it is a small card, it does not consume much power as it just around or less than 75 watts.

In terms of video output options, it still has the standard VGA, single-link DVI and HDMI, so if you plan to use this with a multiple monitor set-up, it is compatible.

We tried to test select games that would fit to well to any low-end PC as well as benchmarking if it can run in 1080p resolution. As for some benchmark tests, the R7 250 can run at around 10 FPS with 1080p resolution and on high settings without Tesellation at the Unigine Heaven Benchmark. As for the 3D Mark benchmark, it can be compared almost close to a latest Notebook. Though is expected as this is a low-end graphic card afterall.

As for games, we tested out with some games from the consoles like Borderlands 2 and Transformers: Devastation and some lighter games such as Heroes of the Storm and Torchlight II. It can still managed to play Borderlands 2 with 1080p resolution with some adjustments on the graphics settings and it can run at a minimum of 24 fps and the highest at 35 fps, however with Transformers: Devastation it has some difficulty in running it with 1080p, as it can only run at 20 fps or below, setting it to 720p with a medium setting will remedy this as it finally run from 35 to 40 fps. Torchlight II can run smoothly at 50 to 60 fps with some adjustments on the settings, Heroes of the Storm may have to tone down the settings to medium to ensure a framerate of around 30 fps on 1080p resolution.

In regards to temperature, the single fan can handle the tremendous strain the card will take when running graphic-hungry games, it can maintain around 55 to 65 degrees Celsius when running for longer periods. And for the fan noise, it is very quiet even on higher temperature.

Overall, you cannot expect the R7 250 to run high-end games, but it can handle some recent games even on 1080p. This can definitely play some of the free-to-play games in the market with ease, but for high-end games, you may have to tone down the settings to get a better experience. As for its price, it is definitely worth it if you are on a budget.

Facebook Comments

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is Now Available

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is Now Available

Capcom released the highly anticipated action RPG Dragon’s Dogma 2 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. To celebrate the release, we have released a commemorative illustration and the latest trailer! Daigo Ikeno, the art director of this title, drew...

Unicorn Overlord Review: Deserving of a Crown

Unicorn Overlord Review: Deserving of a Crown

So, if anyone saw my video reviewing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. You would all know that I’m quite a fan of Vanillaware’s work. Odin’s Sphere, Grim-well, not that. Though Muramasa, Dragon’s Crown, and of course 13 Sentinels have a special place in my heart. That and the...