nVidia playing silly buggers with names again

divine · 04-03-2009, 16:49

What's that you see appeared at various shop fronts?

The GTS250? That sounds good, I might upgrade from my 9800, should be pretty nice. Oh wait, what's that? It's the same card? tut tut.

As if it wasn't bad enough that they're now effectively selling the 8800 under a third name, they're seemingly refusing to send review samples to places that dare mention this fact.

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/03...ts-250-review/

Makes fairly interesting reading.

Briggykins · 04-03-2009, 16:53

As a member of the PC Gaming Alliance, surely nVidia must have realised (or been told) that all this messing about with names just turns people off PCs and eventually will hit their profits. I love PC gaming and buy everything on the PC if I can, but this kind of stuff just annoys me and it must confuse the hell out of the average consumer (it certainly confuses me). What was wrong with the GeForce 1, 2 etc progression?

(Can't say ATI are blamesless either tho, looking at their naming convention)

Garp · 04-03-2009, 19:21

I came across this the other day and started seeing red. I'd seen a pretty decent priced Gateway system but didn't recognise the GPU in it a "GT120" After a fair bit of digging around I discovered that's a 9500GT.
So we are seeing 9x00 series boards branded as both 1xx and 2xx? Whatever happened to the idea of the first number defining the generation of hardware in it?

iCraig · 04-03-2009, 19:28

I used to be able to logically tell the tiered performance of the cards. A 9800 would beat a 9600 for example. But now, I have to consult Toms Hardware to actually see, in real world terms, what cards are better than others. Buying PC hardware is already a minefield for the average consumer, now you really do need to do your homework more than ever, to avoid getting ripped off.

divine · 04-03-2009, 19:29

Most of the 9 series is just a rebrand.

In fact, I think the only cards in it that aren't are the 9600GT and 9500 down.

The 9600GSO is a rebranded 8800GS (that over doubled in price with its rebrand) and the 9800s are all 8800s.

Now seemingly they are rebranding some again.

What is worst, is that the 'new' cards always seem to be more expensive, rather than cheaper. So not only might some people be duped into a pointless upgrade, they might even be paying over the odds to do so.

I think at the moment, nVidia just can't keep pace with ATi's developments. Their new 40nm process isn't getting good yields I don't think and they've only managed the stupidly high end GTX series as any sort of new tech at all.

Garp · 04-03-2009, 19:36

I wonder.. would my 8800GTS SLI nicely with one of the rebranded ones or would it be seen as too different a chip?

divine · 04-03-2009, 19:45

I wondered a similar thing with my 8800GS and a 9600GSO but I was told not, as the BIOS is different. Would also depend on what GTS you had, as the 320/640 ones were rubbish compared to the 512 ones but were also entirely incompatible from an SLI POV.

To be fair, I wouldn't bother with SLI anyway, it's usually more cost effective and less hassle to just buy a faster single card as then you don't have to worry about ensuring nVidia provide support for specific games etc.

Zirax · 04-03-2009, 19:57

Those are my thoughts with Nvidia SLI as well. IIRC ATI SLI is meant to work better (non matched cards) and scales more. This was a while back so things could have changed.

It really is getting silly with the Nvidia cards and their renaming. It pains me to think of people shelling out for the safe gfx card as me (8800GTS) and paying more almost 1.5 years after I brought it. It is still holding up well though, haven't really found anything that I couldn't play at a decent res and detail yet. With the trend for console ports at the moment I can't see this changing either.

I always went through reviews though, mainly to check who was ahead in ATI vs Nvidia war and get the winning card.

edit:- Just had a quick look on Wikipedia. The G82 core 8800's came out November 2006, the G90's were Nov 2007.

divine · 04-03-2009, 20:13

The core that keeps getting reused is the G92, which is now present in:
(clock speeds are core / shader / memory)

8800GS
550 1375 1600

8800GT
600 1500 1800

8800GTS-512
650 1625 1940

9600GSO
550 1375 1600

9800GT
600 1500 1800

9800GTX
675 1688 2200

9800GTX+
738 1836 2200

GTS240
600 1500 1800

GTS250
738 1836 2200

A Place of Light · 04-03-2009, 20:28

I recently bought an 8800.
You just never know when it's the right time to buy, lol.

04-03-2009, 16:49	#1
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	nVidia playing silly buggers with names again What's that you see appeared at various shop fronts? The GTS250? That sounds good, I might upgrade from my 9800, should be pretty nice. Oh wait, what's that? It's the same card? tut tut. As if it wasn't bad enough that they're now effectively selling the 8800 under a third name, they're seemingly refusing to send review samples to places that dare mention this fact. http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/03...ts-250-review/ Makes fairly interesting reading. __________________

04-03-2009, 16:53	#2
Briggykins Vodka Martini Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Exeter Posts: 753	As a member of the PC Gaming Alliance, surely nVidia must have realised (or been told) that all this messing about with names just turns people off PCs and eventually will hit their profits. I love PC gaming and buy everything on the PC if I can, but this kind of stuff just annoys me and it must confuse the hell out of the average consumer (it certainly confuses me). What was wrong with the GeForce 1, 2 etc progression? (Can't say ATI are blamesless either tho, looking at their naming convention) __________________ Last edited by Briggykins; 04-03-2009 at 16:57.

04-03-2009, 19:21	#3
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	I came across this the other day and started seeing red. I'd seen a pretty decent priced Gateway system but didn't recognise the GPU in it a "GT120" After a fair bit of digging around I discovered that's a 9500GT. So we are seeing 9x00 series boards branded as both 1xx and 2xx? Whatever happened to the idea of the first number defining the generation of hardware in it? __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

04-03-2009, 19:28	#4
iCraig iCustom User Title Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,250	I used to be able to logically tell the tiered performance of the cards. A 9800 would beat a 9600 for example. But now, I have to consult Toms Hardware to actually see, in real world terms, what cards are better than others. Buying PC hardware is already a minefield for the average consumer, now you really do need to do your homework more than ever, to avoid getting ripped off. __________________

04-03-2009, 19:29	#5
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	Most of the 9 series is just a rebrand. In fact, I think the only cards in it that aren't are the 9600GT and 9500 down. The 9600GSO is a rebranded 8800GS (that over doubled in price with its rebrand) and the 9800s are all 8800s. Now seemingly they are rebranding some again. What is worst, is that the 'new' cards always seem to be more expensive, rather than cheaper. So not only might some people be duped into a pointless upgrade, they might even be paying over the odds to do so. I think at the moment, nVidia just can't keep pace with ATi's developments. Their new 40nm process isn't getting good yields I don't think and they've only managed the stupidly high end GTX series as any sort of new tech at all. __________________

04-03-2009, 19:36	#6
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	I wonder.. would my 8800GTS SLI nicely with one of the rebranded ones or would it be seen as too different a chip? __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

04-03-2009, 19:45	#7
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	I wondered a similar thing with my 8800GS and a 9600GSO but I was told not, as the BIOS is different. Would also depend on what GTS you had, as the 320/640 ones were rubbish compared to the 512 ones but were also entirely incompatible from an SLI POV. To be fair, I wouldn't bother with SLI anyway, it's usually more cost effective and less hassle to just buy a faster single card as then you don't have to worry about ensuring nVidia provide support for specific games etc. __________________

04-03-2009, 19:57	#8
Zirax Goes up to 11! Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 4,577	Those are my thoughts with Nvidia SLI as well. IIRC ATI SLI is meant to work better (non matched cards) and scales more. This was a while back so things could have changed. It really is getting silly with the Nvidia cards and their renaming. It pains me to think of people shelling out for the safe gfx card as me (8800GTS) and paying more almost 1.5 years after I brought it. It is still holding up well though, haven't really found anything that I couldn't play at a decent res and detail yet. With the trend for console ports at the moment I can't see this changing either. I always went through reviews though, mainly to check who was ahead in ATI vs Nvidia war and get the winning card. edit:- Just had a quick look on Wikipedia. The G82 core 8800's came out November 2006, the G90's were Nov 2007. Last edited by Zirax; 04-03-2009 at 20:11.

04-03-2009, 20:13	#9
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	The core that keeps getting reused is the G92, which is now present in: (clock speeds are core / shader / memory) 8800GS 550 1375 1600 8800GT 600 1500 1800 8800GTS-512 650 1625 1940 9600GSO 550 1375 1600 9800GT 600 1500 1800 9800GTX 675 1688 2200 9800GTX+ 738 1836 2200 GTS240 600 1500 1800 GTS250 738 1836 2200 __________________

04-03-2009, 20:28	#10
A Place of Light Absinthe Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,247	I recently bought an 8800. You just never know when it's the right time to buy, lol.