Very confused about ATi's numbering strategy...

[DevilsAdvocate]

So the 9000 and the 9000 Pro are inferior to the 8500...

When is the upgrade to my 8500LE 128MB coming out? Suckas gots to know...

 

[MournSanity]

Um...It's coming out within the next month. It's called the Radeon 9700...Or you can wait and get the 9500...

 

[HendrixFan]

The naming scheme is based on DirectX hardware compatibility. The 7000, 7200 and 7500 had hardare DX7 support, the 8500 and 8500LE had DX8 support (and the rumored 8800 never appeared, supposed to have been an overclocked 8500), and the new 9000 and 9700 (followed later by a underclocked 9500) have DX9 support.

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: HendrixFan
The naming scheme is based on DirectX hardware compatibility. The 7000, 7200 and 7500 had hardare DX7 support, the 8500 and 8500LE had DX8 support (and the rumored 8800 never appeared, supposed to have been an overclocked 8500), and the new 9000 and 9700 (followed later by a underclocked 9500) have DX9 support.

Once upon a time that's how it was..
Initially the first number indicated the level of DirectX hardware support, while the next three numbers indicated the relative performance within that generation.

Unfortunately ATi has seemingly decided to go the nVidia route in which the products naming has absolutely nothing to do with it's relative performance or feature set.

Evidence the Radeon 9000 which only supports DX8, and is slower then the Radeon 8500.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

That is what I thought...

I guess the 8500 will be in my system until the 9700 drops from the initial gotta-have-it-at-any-price highs.