Nvidia's renaming scheme revealed

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Zap
With socket AM2, AMD started with just their + numbers, then added "BE" and now has "B" (for "business class") and "e" models.

The BE chips are binned Brisbanes that run at lower voltages with a lower TDP.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Zap
Warming over and renaming chips has been done for years now by many companies. You guys are just catching on to it? Heck, I remember BITD when Cyrix magically "upped" their PR ratings on their chips. With socket AM2, AMD started with just their + numbers, then added "BE" and now has "B" (for "business class") and "e" models. Sheesh, they're all Brisbanes AFAIK. With NVIDIA, the Geforce 2 became the Geforce 4 MX (maybe with a die shrink) and with DX9 tacked on became the FX 5200, which is still sold today. Maybe.

You have a point.......

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Creig
Personally, I don't agree with either company doing this. If a particular card was released as X123, they should not change it to Y123 unless they make some significant changes to it. You can't simply rename a 2008 Ford F-150 as a 2009 Ford F-150 even if the two are completely identical. Video cards should be no different.

If they're worried about old stock not selling then they should adopt a naming convention that's based on some sort of performance rating. And they should leave enough room in the numbering to allow for new models to be inserted into the previous model lineup. That way, people can instantaneously get a good idea of what a particular card's performance level is simply based on the model number.

are you kidding?, auto makers have done this for years ... a few cosmetic changes - a LOT of hype - and 2008 Mustang GTX becomes 2009 GTX+
:roll:
at least that is what they did when "power" and luxury was their selling points; now it is "economy" and MPG .. they didn't really change the car drastically from year-to-year
- or we would see REAL improvements - not much has changed since the 50s .. there is nothing really revolutionary you can buy today that is not computer related - we should be flying by now if there was real progress; same 4 wheels and a gasoline internal combustion engine spewing pollution out the exhaust .. i'd say the video card makers have made much more progress in the 15 years of their existence. Auto making is stale

i would expect that Nvidia *intends* to make more money with this new naming convention
- we will have to see how it actually works out

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Zap
With socket AM2, AMD started with just their + numbers, then added "BE" and now has "B" (for "business class") and "e" models.

The BE chips are binned Brisbanes that run at lower voltages with a lower TDP.

And the B chips were to denote the initial lot of Agena chips that had fixed the TLB errata.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
No, it's a fucking marketingploy. It's going to throw of customers even more, customers who allready think that a 9500gt > 8800gt, while in fact the 9500gt< pretty much everything. Now a 1x0gt or whatever will be seen as superior to anything 8x00 or 9x00. And that with the allready confusing 8800gs, 9600gso, 8800gt and 9800gt. Bah, it's just ridiculous. With the move from the 7x00 series to the 8x00 series we at least knew a 8800gt would spank a 7800gt. Nowadays you need to dig through a dozen benchmarks and 500 enthusiast websites before you can be even remotely sure.

you just sit there and pout... my new 9600 gso is going to run circles around my buddy's 8800gs... because, it, um, er, has that, uh, magic driver and, um, stuff.

Thats right, you tell 'em!!!! I just installed my new 9600GSO and it's WAAAAY faster than my OLD 8800GTS 512, I can't believe anyone is still using those ancient "8" series cards.

Low end cards of newer generations often (if not always) have lower performance than high end cards of past generations.

You can really only consider the part number within current generation.

Yeah, that's right. My brand new 9800GT is faster than my friend's 8800GT because of the higher nomenclature and magic. u don't get it?! I don't understand why anyone still using those ancient 8 series cards either, even though the feature set is identical!!!

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Concillian
I'm pretty sure a good portion of selling strategy is to confuse people into buying something they otherwise wouldn't.

That's a general marketing ploy in every business ... life insurances, additional warranties, "As seen on TV" products, etc. When you think of it, only think you need is a room and food.

So what's gonna happen to their partners who have whole bunch of 9xxx ad 8xxx cards that are already in market, unsold? They'd have to join new naming and pray that old cards will eventually sell.

 

[MarcVenice]

No Keys, fits in here just fine. AMD/NVIDIA should both be sued for these kind of malpractices. There's an authority that can interfere with certain ads on television, right? If they are misleading and stuff? Why is there no such authority for this kind of stuff? It's misleading advertising.

Didn't AMD come up with some kind of scoring systen thing though? I think it was based on 3dmark06 and/or vantage, but it allowed for easy comparison... I think something like that has to be implemented. If Holland we have the consumers 'bond'. It's a organization that goes against malpractices of certain company's, like misleading advertising or just plain old abysmal service. They also review stuff, and give out awards like best buy etc. They should REALLY crack down on this kind of stuff.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
No Keys, fits in here just fine. AMD/NVIDIA should both be sued for these kind of malpractices. There's an authority that can interfere with certain ads on television, right? If they are misleading and stuff? Why is there no such authority for this kind of stuff? It's misleading advertising.

Didn't AMD come up with some kind of scoring systen thing though? I think it was based on 3dmark06 and/or vantage, but it allowed for easy comparison... I think something like that has to be implemented. If Holland we have the consumers 'bond'. It's a organization that goes against malpractices of certain company's, like misleading advertising or just plain old abysmal service. They also review stuff, and give out awards like best buy etc. They should REALLY crack down on this kind of stuff.

Will not happen in the US. Home of the "Grab a buck any way you can". It's like this from top to bottom. From the biggest corp, to the littlest mom and pop shop. Survival of the richest.
It's sick, I know.

 

[rjc]

Originally posted by: JPB
Fud Fud Fud
NVIDIA_G92.DEV_0615.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTS 150"
NVIDIA_G94.DEV_0626.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 130"
NVIDIA_G96.DEV_0646.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 120"

Ok so:
GTX 2XX enthusiast
GTS 1XX performance
GT 1XX mainstream
i think i also saw somewhere:
GS 1XX entry level

The difference between GT and GTS cause they are in the same number range is not so good, also the number of id's available if they stick to 1XX range is limited. If not and the future contains GT 2XX or GTS 3XX parts might be confusing with todays GTX 2XX parts. Should really explain whether the prefix or the number indicates performance , and not hint that both do.

At least they seem to only relabelling the 55nm products, it wasn't nice that the 65nm and 55nm were been sold under the same SKUs. So better in a way.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Zap
Warming over and renaming chips has been done for years now by many companies. You guys are just catching on to it? Heck, I remember BITD when Cyrix magically "upped" their PR ratings on their chips. With socket AM2, AMD started with just their + numbers, then added "BE" and now has "B" (for "business class") and "e" models. Sheesh, they're all Brisbanes AFAIK. With NVIDIA, the Geforce 2 became the Geforce 4 MX (maybe with a die shrink) and with DX9 tacked on became the FX 5200, which is still sold today. Maybe.

the fx 5200 is definitely still sold today, at least at the best buy in victoria. I saw one for the bargain price of $199 a few months ago

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
No Keys, fits in here just fine. AMD/NVIDIA should both be sued for these kind of malpractices. There's an authority that can interfere with certain ads on television, right? If they are misleading and stuff? Why is there no such authority for this kind of stuff? It's misleading advertising.

Didn't AMD come up with some kind of scoring systen thing though? I think it was based on 3dmark06 and/or vantage, but it allowed for easy comparison... I think something like that has to be implemented. If Holland we have the consumers 'bond'. It's a organization that goes against malpractices of certain company's, like misleading advertising or just plain old abysmal service. They also review stuff, and give out awards like best buy etc. They should REALLY crack down on this kind of stuff.

Will not happen in the US. Home of the "Grab a buck any way you can". It's like this from top to bottom. From the biggest corp, to the littlest mom and pop shop. Survival of the richest.
It's sick, I know.

yeah, I was at an HEB today and heard an ad for a product that makes you feel better "because it uses ions". nice.

 

[rjc]

Originally posted by: rjc
Ok so:
GTX 2XX enthusiast
GTS 1XX performance
GT 1XX mainstream
i think i also saw somewhere:
GS 1XX entry level

Oops! This is slightly wrong should be G 1XX for entry level parts. The first digit is the generation ie current 9XXX series is the '1' generation.

So in future there will be G 2XX, GT 2XX and GTS 2XX parts. Am guessing they will need to be careful with the second digit to keep them in line with their existing performance parts ie wouldnt want a G 270 or GT 290 as confusion will reign.

Unless of course they have a warehouse full of something really slow selling then can rename it something higher and "cash in" the naming scheme.

But as others have mentioned it has always been this way

 

[v8envy]

If you can't dazzle them with brililance then baffle them with bullshit!

We do know NV is having a bit of an inventory problem from their investor calls. Not a surprising move here.

What *YOU* can do -- recommend ATI's more slightly more sanely marketed products instead. If a co-worker asks you for hardware recommendations just go 'ATI 4850 or 4870' instead of giving them a lecture on the 1,337 identical NV SKUs and the imperceptible differences between them. Anyone choosing hardware by reading boxes at a retail store is beyond help, of course. But if they get burned enough times they just might start doing research and that's good for everyone.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: v8envy
If you can't dazzle them with brililance then baffle them with bullshit!

We do know NV is having a bit of an inventory problem from their investor calls. Not a surprising move here.

What *YOU* can do -- recommend ATI's more slightly more sanely marketed products instead. If a co-worker asks you for hardware recommendations just go 'ATI 4850 or 4870' instead of giving them a lecture on the 1,337 identical NV SKUs and the imperceptible differences between them. Anyone choosing hardware by reading boxes at a retail store is beyond help, of course. But if they get burned enough times they just might start doing research and that's good for everyone.

As a more knowledgeable person being consulted about this sort of thing I would never recommend a product based on my non-performance related opinions. I'd want to advise them to get the best bang for the buck card. No need for a lecture either... Just tell them, "If you have x dollars you should buy y card. Don't believe me? Check out Anandtech.com, etc..."

 

[VirtualLarry]

How do you all feel about ATI going with strictly numbers, and dropping the GT, Pro, SE, XT, XTX, etc., monikers?

 

[betasub]

Dropping all the meaningless letters FTW. Ironically the marketing depts have already tried using that TLA to name a gfx card.

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: nitromullet


As a more knowledgeable person being consulted about this sort of thing I would never recommend a product based on my non-performance related opinions. I'd want to advise them to get the best bang for the buck card. No need for a lecture either... Just tell them, "If you have x dollars you should buy y card. Don't believe me? Check out Anandtech.com, etc..."

I've done that. And you know what the result was?

The target audience remembered 'nvidia' 'geforce' and possibly the number '4'. You know what they came home with? A 440MX. "Well, you said nvidia, and it's the geforce 4 thingie. Doesn't seem that much faster than what I had before..."

There are only so many keywords a non-enthusiast can remember. Make and model is about the extent of it. A laundry list of those heavily modified by prefixes and suffixes differing in ONE LETTER is bad. We've been through this with the whole 'SE' and 'LE' mightmares, and thankfully ATI is seeming to step away from that abyss.

They've got obsolete stuff and the 48xx series. As long as the customer can remember one number they'll get the right product.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: v8envy

Originally posted by: nitromullet


As a more knowledgeable person being consulted about this sort of thing I would never recommend a product based on my non-performance related opinions. I'd want to advise them to get the best bang for the buck card. No need for a lecture either... Just tell them, "If you have x dollars you should buy y card. Don't believe me? Check out Anandtech.com, etc..."

I've done that. And you know what the result was?

The target audience remembered 'nvidia' 'geforce' and possibly the number '4'. You know what they came home with? A 440MX. "Well, you said nvidia, and it's the geforce 4 thingie. Doesn't seem that much faster than what I had before..."

There are only so many keywords a non-enthusiast can remember. Make and model is about the extent of it. A laundry list of those heavily modified by prefixes and suffixes differing in ONE LETTER is bad. We've been through this with the whole 'SE' and 'LE' mightmares, and thankfully ATI is seeming to step away from that abyss.

They've got obsolete stuff and the 48xx series. As long as the customer can remember one number they'll get the right product.

Guess I have smarter friends than you...

Seriously though, all you can do is give someone good advise. You can't make them listen. My point is that I'm not going to let a company's nomenclature decide what products I recommend.