NVIDIA GeForce MX250

The NVIDIA GeForce MX250 is a Pascal-architecture mobile graphics solution designed for thin-and-light laptops, built on Samsung's 14 nm process with 1,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. It targets basic GPU acceleration and light gaming, but benchmark data shows it sits near the very bottom of the current GPU landscape, holding only the 14th percentile among all GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

The MX250's average benchmark score of 2449 places it in extremely close competition with several older or integrated solutions, rather than standing apart as a dedicated performer. The data shows a 1.1% lead over the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710M, which scores 2422, and a 1.2% edge over the NVIDIA GeForce 710M at 2419. These margins are effectively negligible, meaning the MX250 offers no meaningful generational improvement over those legacy parts. Against the Intel HD Graphics 510, which scores 2483, the MX250 is actually 1.4% slower, an awkward position for a discrete GPU when an integrated solution keeps pace.

More telling is the comparison to the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, which scores 2402, the MX250 leads it by 2%. That delta might look like a win on paper, but the RX 6750 GRE is a far more capable part in real-world workloads; the 2% figure here reflects the average across all benchmark types, not gaming or compute headroom. The practical takeaway is that the MX250 trades blows with parts from a completely different performance class, and its scores cluster tightly within a 3% band, indicating no decisive advantage in any direction.

Looking at individual tests, the MX250's best showing is in Passmark DirectX 9 with a score of 39, which suggests it handles older API workloads relatively better than modern ones. Passmark DirectX 11 scores 18, DirectX 12 drops to 12, and DirectX 10 falls to 9. This pattern indicates diminishing returns as API complexity increases, a typical trait for a low-end Pascal chip with limited resources. The Passmark G3D score of 2387 and GPU compute score of 1006 reinforce that this is a basic 3D accelerator, not a compute workhorse. Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores of 9309 and 9026, respectively, show moderate general-purpose and API-level performance, but neither approaches figures that would suggest smooth high-fidelity gaming.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The MX250 has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, so hardware-accelerated ray tracing is entirely absent from its feature set. API support includes DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which means it can run modern titles that rely on these APIs, but it will do so using traditional rasterization only. DirectX 12_1 support covers features like conservative rasterization and rasterizer-ordered views, but without RT cores, any ray-traced effects in games will either be disabled or fall back to software implementations, which is impractical on a chip with this performance level. Vulkan 1.4 support is a positive for compatibility with newer engines, but the lack of tensor cores also rules out DLSS or any AI-accelerated upscaling, leaving the MX250 reliant on raw rendering power that its 797.2 GFLOPS FP32 throughput simply does not provide. The texture rate of 24.91 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 16.61 GPixel/s are modest figures that cap fill-rate-heavy workloads, and FP16 performance of 12.46 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio confirms this is not designed for mixed-precision tasks.

Memory Subsystem

The MX250 comes with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 48.06 GB/s. The memory clock runs at 1502 MHz with 6 Gbps effective data rate. This configuration is the primary bottleneck for any modern gaming scenario. A 64-bit bus is narrow by any standard, and 2 GB of VRAM is insufficient for high-resolution textures or large scenes in contemporary titles. At 1080p, many games will exceed 2 GB of usage, causing the driver to swap data to system memory, which kills frame pacing. The 48.06 GB/s bandwidth is roughly a quarter of what mid-range GPUs offered even several years ago, so high-resolution rendering is not viable. For 720p or low-detail 1080p in older games, the memory subsystem can keep up, but any attempt to raise resolution or texture quality will saturate the bus quickly. The pixel rate of 16.61 GPixel/s further limits how much memory traffic can be effectively utilized, so the VRAM size is not the only constraint, the bandwidth is equally restrictive.

Who Should Consider It

Benchmark results indicate the MX250 is only suitable for users with minimal GPU demands. The 14th percentile ranking means it outperforms roughly one in seven GPUs, but that pool includes integrated graphics and very old discrete parts. For 720p gaming with low settings in esports titles or games from the early 2010s, the Passmark DirectX 9 score of 39 suggests acceptable performance, while the DirectX 12 score of 12 implies that modern AAA titles will be unplayable at any reasonable quality. Users who primarily need video playback, basic photo editing, or office productivity will find the MX250 adequate, but even then, the Intel HD Graphics 510 matching its average score shows that a discrete GPU is not strictly necessary for those tasks. For anyone considering this for 1080p gaming, the data does not support that use case; the 2 GB VRAM and 64-bit bus are simply too constrained. This is an end-of-life part, released on 2019-02-19, so it should only be considered in budget laptops where no alternative exists, and expectations must be set to legacy titles and low resolutions.

Power and Cooling

The MX250 has a TDP of just 10 W, which makes it an extremely power-efficient chip. This low power draw means it can be passively cooled or paired with a minimal fan solution, and it is designated as an IGP slot width, indicating it is integrated directly onto the motherboard rather than a removable card. It requires no power connectors, drawing all its power from the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus interface. The x4 interface is narrower than the standard x16, but given the 10 W TDP and modest bandwidth needs, this is not a practical limitation. No suggested PSU is listed, and given the 10 W draw, any laptop battery or standard mobile power delivery can handle it without issue. The lack of discrete power connectors also means no special cabling is needed, simplifying system integration. Cooling requirements are minimal, which is a genuine advantage for thin-and-light designs, but it also underscores that this is not a performance part, the low power envelope is a direct consequence of the limited compute resources.

FAQ

Q: How does the MX250 compare to the Intel HD Graphics 510?

A: The MX250 scores 2449 on average, while the Intel HD Graphics 510 scores 2483, making the MX250 1.4% slower. This means the integrated Intel solution matches or slightly beats the discrete MX250 in overall benchmark performance.

Q: Can the MX250 handle ray tracing?

A: No. The MX250 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, so hardware-accelerated ray tracing is not supported. It does support DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4, but ray-traced effects would require software fallbacks, which are impractical given its performance level.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the MX250?

A: It has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 48.06 GB/s. The memory runs at 1502 MHz with a 6 Gbps effective rate. This configuration is too limited for high-resolution gaming.

Q: Is the MX250 faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB?

A: According to average benchmark scores, the MX250 leads by 2%, 2449 versus 2402. However, this is misleading, as the RX 6750 GRE has far more VRAM and compute resources; the delta reflects the specific benchmark suite, not real-world gaming capability.

Q: What power connectors does the MX250 need?

A: None. The MX250 has a 10 W TDP and draws power entirely from the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus interface, making it suitable for systems without dedicated GPU power cables.

Q: What APIs does the MX250 support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This allows compatibility with modern game engines, but performance will be limited to basic settings and older titles.