Ultra, Pro, XT, EZ, SE...so long as its marked

[suntzucanadia]

So, I keep a spread sheet of all graphics cards and approvimate performance-- unfortunately, I have found many unsatisfactory "in between" cards-- cards on Pricewatch that are advertised incorrectly, or BS involving underclocked core or RAM clocks that aren't clearly marked.

I suppose it comes with the territory on PW., but I wish ATI and Nvidia would put out more pressure to have card models more clearly marked.

I propose the following-- numbers are the exclusive way to designate products, higher numbers reflect superior performance...9500 v. 9600, or GF4 MX v GF3 v FX5200 v god knows what). All terms after the number represent the specified number's position relative to refrence specs-- and all cards bear this identification. So, exceeding refrence specs gains you the title of "PRO" and reducing those specs earns the title "SE/EZ/ whatever" . I guess marketing may dictate otherwise, but a more uniform system would be appreciated... my spreadsheet is far too long.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

You recommendation is EXACTLY the way ATI is doing it now, which obviously causes problems too.

The R9600 DOES beat the R9500. But the R9500pro usualy beats the R9600pro.

So the naming strategy fits you guidelines but the R9600Pro ebing better than the R9600 doesn't push it above the R9500Pro which is better (in most cases) than the R9600pro.

You also still end up with the SEs at the bottom of the list and an R9800 being better than an R9600, but and R9800SE 128bit memory being worse than an R9600Pro.

The main thing is to research before any purchase.

There will be no easy way to classify them.

You could classify them by Architecture and features,'


Like R350/128/256/380/340 would be the R9800pro, but would that make it any easier with R350/128/256/350/310 being the XL and R350/128/256/325/310 being the R9800 plus R350/128/256/325/290 and R350/128/128/325/250 being the SEs (256bit , 128bit). Does that make it less confusing?

Perhaps they should just put the 3Dmark score, because of course that's never confusing.
Just imagine the R9600P would become the ATI 3228 and the R9700Pro would be the ATI 4509.

As for the card makers ATI and nV don't want to change that because they have good relationships with their OEM-partners and putting any restrictions on them would pi$$ them off. The fact that Sapphire wants to make a Fireblade version of the R9600Pro with higher memory speeds, or that other mfrs want to put better memory on the R9600XT than ATI is a good thing not a bad thing. People just need to do research, and why not? With the internet, it's not that difficult really.


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