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日本NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q vs MX250 – no chance for the latter
We thought that it’ll be a good idea to compare the least powerful NVIDIA GTX video card on the market with their top low-end GPU – MX250. The Max-Q version of the GTX 1050 has reduced frequencies and lower power limits so it’s slower than the regular GTX 1050 and maybe that makes it one step closer to MX250? No matter what, it’s still a good affordable GPU which doesn’t dissipate much heat, it’s power-efficient, and you can play every new gaming title with it.
As you may know from our previous articles, the MX250 is a decent low-end GPU that is able to provide acceptable FPS results at Low or Medium details (1080p). That’s why we want to compare it against the GTX 1050 Max-Q and to show you how big the performance gap is between those two budget-oriented graphics solutions.
See all configurations with GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q / GeForce MX250
Contents
Specs overview
The GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q and MX250 are Pascal GPUs. The 1050 Max-Q uses the GP107 chip, while the MX one is GP108-based.
The GTX video card has 640, shader units, 16 ROPs, 1139MHz/1328MHz base and boost frequencies, 7000MHz memory clock, and 128-bit memory bus.
Interestingly enough, the GeForce MX250 has some similar specs with its bigger rival – the same ROP count, the same memory frequency, GDDR5 memory, and it’s a 14nm GPU. The other specs – 384 shader units, and up to 4GB GDDR5 memory (with a 64-bit bus). The base and boost clocks are 1518 MHz to 1582MHz.
GPU comparison table
| GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q | GeForce MX250 | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Pascal | Pascal |
| GPU chip | GP107 | GP108 |
| Shader units | 640 (+67%) | 384 |
| ROPs | 16 | 16 |
| Base Clock (MHz) | 1139 | 1518 (+33%) |
| Boost clock (MHz) | 1328 | 1582 (+19%) |
| Memory clock (MHz) | 7000 | 7000 |
| Memory size (MB) | 2048-4096 | 2048-4096 |
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory bus width (bit) | 128 (+100%) | 64 |
| TGP (Total Graphics Power) | – -43W (+72%) | TDP: 10-25W |
| DirectX version | 12.1 | 12.1 |
| Technology | 14nm | 14nm |
| RTX capabilities | No | No |
| Release date | 01.2018 | 02.2019 |
| Detailed specs | Link | Link |
That’s enough, it’s time for benchmarks and gaming tests.
Synthetic benchmarks
The GTX GPU is far more superior in the synthetic benchmarks – a 55% difference is a big gap.
Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
| GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q over GeForce MX250 | 3Dmark Fire Strike (G) | Unigine Heaven 3.0 | Unigine Heaven 4.0 | Unigine Superposition | Average difference % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q | +43% | +46% | +54% | +76% | +55% |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX250 |
Gaming tests
We all know that the GTX 1050 Max-Q will be faster than the MX250 is our gaming test but let’s how big the difference between them is.
| CS:GO | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) | HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q | 176 fps (+49%) | 145 fps (+61%) | 106 fps (+61%) |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX250 | 118 fps | 90 fps | 66 fps |
At least in CS:GO the gap is very big. If you like to max-out the visuals the GTX 1050 Max-Q is able of 106FPS – a high FPS results in a dynamic shooter like CS is a very important thing. The MX250 is suitable for Medium or Low settings.
| DOTA 2 | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) | HD 1080p, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q | 103 fps | 86 fps (+8%) | 71 fps (+27%) |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX250 | 110 fps(+7%) | 80 fps | 56 fps |
The situation is a bit different in DOTA 2. Interestingly enough, the MX250 is able to outperform its bigger GTX sibling at Low settings with a 7% better result. The GTX 1050 Max-Q is a bit faster at Medium preset (8%) but if you want to crank up the setting it’ll show its hardware power with 27% more FPS than MX250.
Performance summary (gaming tests)
The GTX 1050 Max-Q is the faster graphics card in this comparison – the average difference is 33%.
| NVIDIA GTX 1050 Max-Q over MX230 | Full HD, Low | Full HD, Normal | Full HD, High | Average difference % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q | +21% | +35% | +44% | +33% |
| NVIDIA GeForce MX250 |
Verdict
Good results from both GPUs. Of course, the GTX one is faster. If you want to play some new and heavy games the GP107 GPU is a much better choice than MX250. It’s more future-proof too especially if you pick the 4GB variant.
The MX250 is a worthy competitor. Yes, it is not suitable for Max settings but if you don’t care much bout the graphics quality the GP108 GPU is a good choice for Medium and Low details. For example, the GTX 1050 Max-Q is able to achieve 106FPS in CS:GO at Max settings while MX250 can show 118FPS but at Low settings. If you always prefer FPS over visual quality – the MX250 is a good choice for you and you’ll save some bucks too.
Don’t forget the fact that the devices configured with the GTX 1050 Max-Q aren’t that far away from the MX250-based machines. If you can stretch the budget a bit more you can have a faster GPU that will serve you more time than the MX250 – and that is the NVIDIA GeForce 1050 Max-Q.
All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q
All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce MX250
