Mobility Radeon HD 4250 vs Radeon HD 3000

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 4250

2010Core: 700 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Radeon HD 3000

2011Core: 750 MHz
Similar parts
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Mobility Radeon HD 4250 vs Radeon HD 3000 Performance Spectrum

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

Mobility Radeon HD 4250 vs Radeon HD 3000: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

Mobility Radeon HD 4250

2010

Why buy it

  • Draws 50W instead of 186W, a 136W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • 2010 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • 100% HIGHER MSRP
    $100 MSRPvs$50 MSRP
  • Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 1.0 vs 1.9 G3D/$ ($100 MSRP vs $50 MSRP).

Radeon HD 3000

2011

Why buy it

  • Costs $50 less on MSRP ($50 MSRP vs $100 MSRP).
  • Delivers 95.9% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 1.9 vs 1.0 G3D/$ ($50 MSRP vs $100 MSRP).
  • More future proof: TeraScale 3 (2010−2013) on 40nm with a newer platform for upcoming games.

Trade-offs

  • 2011 hardware with 512 MB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • 272% higher power demand at 186W vs 50W.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Mobility Radeon HD 4250 is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 2.1% in PassMark G3D (98 vs 96), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
Mobility Radeon HD 4250 is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
Radeon HD 3000 makes the most sense to buy today. It is $50 cheaper on MSRP at $50 vs $100, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 95.9% (1.9 vs 1.0), which is enough to swing the recommendation its way. If you are mainly targeting 1080p and some 1440p, Radeon HD 3000 is the easier value choice. If you care more about 1080p and some 1440p headroom, Mobility Radeon HD 4250 has the stronger long-term case.

Mobility Radeon HD 4250 vs Radeon HD 3000 Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 4250

The Mobility Radeon HD 4250 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 7 2010. It features the TeraScale 2 architecture. The core clock speed is 700 MHz. It has 800 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 50W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 98 points.

AMD

Radeon HD 3000

The Radeon HD 3000 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in December 1 2011. It features the TeraScale 3 architecture. The core clock speed is 750 MHz. It has 1280 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 186W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 96 points. Launch price was $180.

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 4250 scores 98 and the Radeon HD 3000 reaches 96 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 2.1% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 4250 is built on TeraScale 2 while the Radeon HD 3000 uses TeraScale 3, both on a 40 nm process. Shader units: 800 (Mobility Radeon HD 4250) vs 1,280 (Radeon HD 3000). Raw compute: 1.12 TFLOPS (Mobility Radeon HD 4250) vs 1.92 TFLOPS (Radeon HD 3000).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4250Radeon HD 3000
G3D Mark Score
98+2%
96
Architecture
TeraScale 2
TeraScale 3
Process Node
40 nm
40 nm
Shading Units
800
1280+60%
Compute (TFLOPS)
1.12 TFLOPS
1.92 TFLOPS+71%
ROPs
16
32+100%
TMUs
40
80+100%
L1 Cache
80 KB
320 KB+300%
L2 Cache
256 KB
512 KB+100%
Frame Generation
FSR upscaling
FSR upscaling

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4250Radeon HD 3000
Upscaling Tech
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
AMD Anti-Lag
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 512 MB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 4250 and 128-bit on the Radeon HD 3000. L2 Cache: 256 KB (Mobility Radeon HD 4250) vs 512 KB (Radeon HD 3000) — the Radeon HD 3000 has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4250Radeon HD 3000
VRAM Capacity
0.5 GB
0.5 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth
Unknown
Unknown
Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
L2 Cache
256 KB
512 KB+100%
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 4250 draws 50W versus the Radeon HD 3000's 186W — a 115.3% difference. The Mobility Radeon HD 4250 is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 4250) vs 350W (Radeon HD 3000). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs 1x 6-pin.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4250Radeon HD 3000
TDP
50W-73%
186W
Recommended PSU
350W
350W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
1x 6-pin
Length
1mm
Slots
0
Perf/Watt
2.0+300%
0.5
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 4250 came in at $100, while the Radeon HD 3000 launched at $50. On MSRP, Radeon HD 3000 was 50% cheaper ($50 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 1.0 (Mobility Radeon HD 4250) vs 1.9 (Radeon HD 3000) — the Radeon HD 3000 offers 90% better value. The newer card here is Radeon HD 3000 (2011 vs 2010).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 4250Radeon HD 3000
MSRP
$100
$50-50%
Performance per Dollar
1.0
1.9+90%
Codename
Broadway
Cayman
Release
January 7 2010
December 1 2011
Ranking
#846
#598

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