Gigabyte GV-N250OC-1GI

Packaging and Accessories

Gigabyte’s box is slimmer but wider than the one with EVGA’s GeForce GTS 250 Superclocked. It is embellished with a picture of a war robot that is meant to symbolize the huge might of this graphics card.

The type and amount of graphics memory are indicated correctly. The text on the box also mentions that the GV-N250OC-1GI belongs to the Ultra Durable VGA series in which Gigabyte focuses on quality and reliability ensured through the use of top-class components such as polymer capacitors, low RDS(on) MOSFETs, select memory chips, etc. The 2oz Copper PCB technology needs a special mention, but we will discuss it in more detail later on, following the course of this review. The text “GDDR3 OverClock 1.1GHz” is somewhat incomprehensible because the memory frequency of 1100 (2200) MHz is actually standard for the GeForce GTS 250.

There is a white cardboard box inside the colorful wrapper. The graphics card is fixed within a foam-rubber tray. The following accessories are placed nearby:

• HDMI → DVI-I adapter
• 2x4-pin Molex → 1x6-pin PCIe adapter
• S/PDIF connecting cable
• User’s manual (multilingual)
• User’s manual (French)
• CD disk with drivers and utilities

Like with the EVGA GeForce GTS 250 Superclocked, the accessories are far from gorgeous but sufficient considering the S/PDIF cable. The HDMI→DVI-I adapter is necessary due to the card’s having all the three standard output interfaces: DVI-I, HDMI and D-Sub/VGA. This product seems to be positioned by Gigabyte as a universal solution suitable for both inexpensive gaming stations and advanced multimedia HTPCs.

Besides drivers, the included disc contains Gigabyte’s Gamer HUD Lite utility that is similar to EVGA Precision in functionality. The full version of that tool offers the option of fine-tuning the GPU voltage while the Lite version only allows to optimize the power consumption of the card in 2D mode by reducing the clock rates and voltage of the graphics core. Anyway, this is still a full-featured tool for overclocking and monitoring the GPU.

So, the packaging of the Gigabyte GV-N250OC-1GI does not look as good as the box with the EVGA GeForce GTS 250 Superclocked. The picture of the robot is just too trivial and boring. However, this packaging offers more protection and contains somewhat better accessories than what you get with the EVGA product. And as these properties are more important than the exterior design, Gigabyte wins this round.