NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q vs MX250 – no chance for the latter

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Από: Nikolay Palaozov 24 Ιανουάριος 2020 / 06:30 0

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

Specs overview
GPU comparison table
Synthetic benchmarks
Gaming tests
Performance summary (gaming tests)
Verdict

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.

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-benchmarks

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

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