What I want to know is, will they be releasing any dedicated physics cards, and if not then how comparable is the sw version of the physics card going to be, when incorporated onto the graphics cards, with what would otherwise have been a hw physics card?

It looks like given the specs of the todays graphics cards they won't have too much trouble incorporating the equiv. of the (existing) hw physics cards onto them - but I want to know exactly what the plans are. Might we be seeing say, a dual card with one two-GPU graphics, and the second card as a physics card? Just curious. In a good way, not in a 'tell me so I can ruin it before it happens' kind of way.

I'm thinking the naming schieme could simplified by having the names focus on the series and type (target market).

Kind of like the older codes leaked out that nVidia used before, 9600GT was said to be known as D9M while the upcoming 9900GTX is said to be D9E. So why not just call 9900GTX a "GeForce D9E"? 

Just teach people that E is for enthusiast, P for performance, M for mainstream, and V for value. keep it simple and to the point.

Like someone else mentioned, if you're not willing to take the time to research this, you're in no position to purchase them. But, it's their money and their perogative. All we can hope is that they learn.

I can understand the NVidia ones fine. Its the ATI cards that I have real trouble understanding :( At least from what I can see, NVida has some sort of logic behind its numbering.

...The naming scheme just needs to be "turned around", i.e. put the "series" on the end and "power" in front.

The 8800, 8600 and 8400 would then become 8080, 6080 and 4080 (I'm allowing for half-numbers like 8580 here...), while the next series would be 8090, 6090 and 4090.

Of course this system wouldn't satisfy the marketing department as they would fear that an improvement of only "10 unit" (from 8080 to 8090) wouldn't seem obvious enough on a product shelf.

I think that whilst some people here have made a reasonable point that things like a new 335i are infact a 3 litre with a turbo on it are true, what they are missing is one major thing.

a 330i performs like you would expect, and a 335i also performs as you would expect.

You start selling a 8450gs and nobody knows what you selling. Its performance jsut isnt as predicatable as an engine capacity, so copying bmw's naming convention just won't work.

i thought gs for ages was AGP cards!!

you also have to remember that bmw have stuck to their naming convention rigidly.

where you have nvidia producing the same "car" with multiple names, some are cut down versions (x5>x3), and the 8800gt, then its a 9600gt, but no thats a different chip, and then they make a dual engine card, but slower clocks, it all gets stupidly confusing.

bmw have a subset of names, e30 (the best sorry), e36, e46, e90 and what not, that even 90% of their customer know about.

so you have about 5>6 generations of 325i, and everybody knows the difference.

cars are easier to relate to for the majority of people. Mind you the eu have done a good job of cocking things up wiuth psi now being quoted by some for engine output, and hp by others, then we 0>62 and 0>60!!!

If the buyer isn't researching his video card purchase, then he's probably not in any position to tell the difference. So let the people who care read the reviews and analyze the benchmarks, and for everyone else: who cares?

Nvidia and ATI/AMD have both gone the way of street fighter 2.
Next one of them'll have something
with "Super Turbo Championship Edition 5
New Fighters Deluxe 3 Incorporated LTD" after it or some crap.

Also, why do they even sell the low-end models?
They support all this new eye candy,
but they're not even fast enough to run any of it.

DAAMIT has got it right with it's range nice and simple done away with the 5 million suffixes.


I'd say if it comes after the word, then it's a suffix. So GS et al should either come before the number, or be called suffixes.

Hehe, good one Chris :)

about the naming schemes, i have no problems with the current one...so that makes me a kinda of a geek :P

Oh, come on! It's not that complicated... Maybe, if they just decided on a naming scheme and ******* STUCK to it, things would be simpler.

I mean, it used to be like this with the — otherwise meaningless — prefixes :

GS < GT < GTS < GTX < Ultra

Sure, it's neither simple nor obvious, but it's understandable. Now, with the 8800 series, we've got this :

GS < GTS 320 < GTS 640 < GT < < GTX < GTS 512 < Ultra

Except, as you increase the resolution and the anti-aliasing, you get :

8800 GTS 512 < 9800 GTX < 8800 GTX < 8800 Ultra

Of course noone understands anything, IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!

If nVidia did something like this on the actual box for the adverage consumer put the full series name and then card number.

Geforce Series 7 - 7600
GeForce Series 8 - 8600

From that they could say well Series 8 is better than Series 7. Unless that adverage consumer thinks it's a TV show hmmmm Series 8 better than 7 but series 4 was the bomb..... You know where I'm going with this.

GT, GS, etc. are suffixes not prefixes. Prefix would be GT8800.

They should go for a new naming scheme that really makes it easy for everyone to understand.

8400 = C.R.A.P
8600 = G.O.O.D.Value
8880GT = V.G.O.O.D
9800 GX2 = U.R.N.O.W.P.O.O.R

lol, I went to Nv's emeai marketing meeting of death last year and most of the people don't even understand naming conventions themselves.

luckily, I don't work there anymore.

Why is the fact that a 7800 can be more powerful than an 8400 nonsensical? Did you know a BMW 540 is more powerful than a 730?

You can't create a model numbering system that satisfies both nerds and dummies at the same time, so I'd suggest Nvidia carry on as they are.

The only numbering scheme which makes perfect sense to all consumers (including the majority of BMW owners) is the price tag. 

Cheers.

... you sort of shoot yourself in the foot there a bit with the BMW example. :) You state that they used a BMW style system for the model numbers, and yet state that a 7800 being faster than an 8400 makes no sense.

With a BMW it would, either because we a: know anyway or can b: ask someone, but not because BMWs model numbers are simple and denote engine capacity as you state. For example, a *35i isn't a 3500cc engine, but is a 3000cc engine with turbocharging, for example. Pretty much exactly the same as having the **50 range of cards I guess?

So just as we know that with regards BMWs, most people know that with NVs cards... but for those that don't, it would be as simple as some basic education on how it works.

I do agree though that with the letters on the end of card names things are frolicking around in the silly pond a little too much... but then... 318i... 318is... 530td... 530tds...

My God! Nvidia IS BMW!

Nicely figured out, in an accidental kind of way :)