In terms of performance, I don't expect the card to be faster than a vanilla 9800GTX+ as in fact this is the same card. Performance variations can be attributed to the use of the latest drivers from NVIDIA and not due to any architectural differences between the GTS 250 and 9800GTX+. PhysX was disabled to show performance with like settings.

Test System

• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 running 3.2GHz
• 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-2000MHz memory running at 1333MHz
• XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard running 15.53 Forceware
• XFX GeForce GTS 250 Core Edition running 182.50 Forceware drivers
• 2 74GB WD Raptor SATA HDDs in RAID 0 Mode
• Windows Vista 32-bit Business with SP1

Tests

DX9

• STALKER Shadows of Chernobyl 1280x1024, 1920x1200, 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS Walkthrough
• Enemy Territory QuakeWars 1280x1024, 1920x1200, 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS Walkthrough
• Unreal Tournament 3 1280x1024, 1920x1200, 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS Walkthrough
• Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: 1280x1024, 1920x1200, 4x AA 16x AF, Custom FRAPS Walkthrough
• 3DMark05/06 1280x1024, 1920x1200
• 3DMark Vantage
• SpecViewPerf 10

DX10

• Crysis Patch 1.2.1 1280x1024. 1920x1200 4x AA 16x AF Custom FRAPS walkthrough of first area
• Lost Planet latest version, 1280x1024, 1920x1200 4x AA 16x AF Performance benchmark
• 3DMark Vantage 1280x1024, 1920x1200 default benchmarks
• Bioshock DX10 1280x1024, 1920x1200 4x AA 16x AF, Custom FRAPS walkthrough