Now jump forward several years (or perhaps at least a couple decades for the older ones in the crowd). Let's play that game again, just for a minute. Now, who likes graphics cards? I do! Right then, let's spot the differences between a GeForce GTS 250 and a 9800GTX+. Specifically, an ECS GTS 250 1GB to be exact. Only a single PCI-e power connector instead of two? Correct! Shorter card, not nearly as long? Correct! Different cooler? Correct! Water cooled? Oh sorry, so close. Better performance? Yes, great comeback!

Yes, ECS's GTS 250 1GB is a video card that gives an eerie sense of deja vu that we've seen this type of thing before. Yes we have, sorta. But not quite. You see, if you lift up its skirt, the GeForce GTS 250 still has the same plumbing but it's oddly a bit different. Truth be told, it is essentially a slightly improved, rebadged 9800GTX+, which was a slightly retuned 9800GTX, which was.....you get the point.

Today we're looking at ECS's card that has indeed been tweaked from the stock Nvidia card, sporting a nice little cooler and 1GB of DDR3, not to mention a die shrink to 55nm from the 65nm on the 9800GTX. It looks like ECS is really pushing the entry-level market with this card, showing a few enhancements that promise some very good performance for the price.
Yes, there are some important differences to spot here, so let's take a closer look and see what it means in terms of your gaming satisfaction.

Thanks go to our friends at ECS for supplying us with the review sample.

ECS, the Elitegroup Computer Systems, has been a pioneer in designing and manufacturing computer motherboards since 1987. With its 21 years of experience in designing and manufacturing motherboards, the building block of many of today's personal computers, ECS is expected to remain as one of the major contributors in the IT industry. The company is very fortunate to work very closely with many major chip designers in the PC industry on the design, development and manufacture of future IT innovations. Together with its business partners and its team members around the world, ECS is ready to provide a rich variety of new products and great services to its customers in the years to come.