Gratuitous "X"

birthdaymonkey

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2010
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Have any of you ever wondered why the computer/gaming industry love to use and abuse the letter "X" so much? I have, and I decided to post about it just to see what others thought (and for fun of course). I chose this forum, as the phenomenon seems so prevalent in the video card world.

CrossfireX
PrecisionX (so ungainly!)
DirectX
GTX
XBox
XFX...

I'm sure I'm leaving out MANY examples. Can anyone think of more?
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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And how about those airline peanuts?


I saw a peanut get mugged the other day . . .

(puts on sunglasses)

. . . . it was a salted peanut.
 

birthdaymonkey

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2010
1,176
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I guess it's a little OT, but at least it's unlikely to devolve into an ATI/NV flamewar. :D

And...since when is hardware nomenclature not relevant to hardware?
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
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X1950XTX - man, what a card that was too! :p

EDIT: Also, 3x X - do I win? :awe:
 

birthdaymonkey

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2010
1,176
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X1950XTX - man, what a card that was too! :p

EDIT: Also, 3x X - do I win? :awe:

That's a tough one to beat. I wonder about ATI's marketing dept's thinking at the time: "How can we communicate the fact that this card is really awesomely powerful?" "Add some more X's."
 

notty22

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2010
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I bought a Oldsmobile Achieva SCX -1993, the saleswoman joked with my wife and I, that the model was sex with a C. We were like, OK ?
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,331
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The Ozzies also use X's for their beer....

XXXX.jpg
 

dma0991

Platinum Member
Mar 17, 2011
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I've always wondered what's up with the X suffix. It's as though they believe that adding X to the end of everything makes it better for some unknown reason.

SE_. :sneaky:
 

ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
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X1950XTX - man, what a card that was too! :p

EDIT: Also, 3x X - do I win? :awe:

XFX had all those XXX edition cards in the past. Just pick any of the GTX line and you have 6 Xs.


Phenom2 X4

Why stop at 4 when they went up to X6? Not to mention rumors of X8.

And yes, the Xs are to add excitement to lure the consumers. You don't see the Opterons labeled as X12 or X16.
 

Red Hawk

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2011
3,266
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Chemical X is the extra ingredient to the concoction that gives things ultra super powers. Don't you know that?