Nvidia to Rename GeForce Models at CeBIT
A leaked circular issued by Nvidia says that the company will display the upcoming GeForce GTS 250. It sure looks purdy!
EXPreview threw up a poll yesterday, asking its readers about whether renaming the G92 series is a wise decision or not. But what followed the poll was information based on a leaked circular authored by Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, claiming that the new GeForce GTS 250 graphics card will be officially announced on the first Tuesday of March during CeBIT 2009 in Hanover, Germany. However, the card isn't exactly new so to speak, and Nvidia's practice in rebranding versions of existing models is nothing new either.
“GeForce GTS 250 carries over the same specs and features of 9800 GTX+, and hence the same GPU, memory, board, PCB, and thermal solution," states Nvidia in the circular. "AIC’s should be confident in purchasing GPU’s, PCB’s, and other materials, since the only change is a new VBIOS to implement the new branding”
Originally released last year on July 11, the 9800 GTX+ featured improvement in processing and frequency over its predecessor, the 55 nm GeForce 9800GTX, and set its sights to compete with AMD/ATI's Radeon HD4850 graphics card. However, holding the circular to its word, the new GTS 250 should be identical to the 9800GTX+ save for an updated BIOS and different packaging. Additionally, the 8800GT will be renamed as well, sporting the new GTS 240 title.
Although renaming the series might indicate the company's focus on the mainstream and entry-level markets during economically hard times, some fear that the name change will only confuse customers.
CeBiscuit???? That's what comes to mind when I see it anyway
The last thing you want to do is make things confusing for the people who are trying to make a price/performance decision. That is exactly what they are doing. Is it enough to push them towards a competitor (ATI?)...probably not. What would be great is an explanation from nVidia as to the logic for the renaming scheme.
Die shrinks seem to be the new thing for incremental product advancements. Why not just add "40nm" to the products original design name? It makes the product name longer...but clarifies exactly what that product is instantly.
nVidia's NOT renaming this time..."
That was from my last post for the gt218... now we scratch it... don;t forget the price increase hairy
Game On!
GTS 240 was 8800 GT
GTS 250 was 9800 GTX+
GTS 260
GTS 280
GTS 290
GTS 295
8800GT, 9800GT, GTS 240.... three names for the same stupid video card.
nVidia needs to get a handle on their marketing department. This rebranding/renaming thing is an absolute joke. Sure it might be easier all around if they are all GTS ### to figure it out, but now you confuse folks who don't know what is what anymore.
It's okay though. Cause the GTS 250 will be faster than the 9800GTX+, cause it has a spoiler.....
Who would want to buy their next model GTX10.255? Or was it GTX23.677?
They had better gone to cardnames like X5 and X3.
This should give them enough room for improvement later on(hopefully).
all these numbers really make one go crazy;I mean does the last digit to GTX9800 even have a meaning?
Are there GTX9801 or 9805 versions out there?
I don't know but almost would bet not!
Their naming gets a little too puffed up!
I think the customer doesn't mind renaming, but then the renaming has to have a benefit!
In this case, just removing one digit is actually confusing.
They better had stripped off more then one letter by renaming them,or not rename them at all!
They must do sth about the size of the high end cards both nVidia and AMD/ATI. Today I was trying to reorganize my box to add some hard drives, (WD I am not getting Seagate/Maxtor again...) and the behemoth 8800GTS was standing in my way, it eats up a lot of space inside the box. Instead of renaming the cards they should be trying to improve the technology a bit, it is the most big part inside the box and makes moving things around really hard.
Nvidia needs to product cards that are shorter than 10". Just read 4870's review and see how many people mentioned that 4870s, at 9.5", barely fit into their case. By continues to make cards at 10.5”, I will continue to buy ATI as I plan to use this case for another 6 years. (Assuming ATX standard is still around)
Nvidia must be glad too, since they keep trying to sell it back to me, over and over and over again!
Pei-chen,
That's why I bought the Gigabyte 8800GT Zalman (512MB), because
it's a non-standard card size that's a good deal shorter than a
normal 8800GT, made it much easier to fit into a case that had
five 146GB 15K U320 disks. The custom Zalman cooler meant it oc'd
very well too, from 700/1715/920 to 790/1790/980.
But yes, the NVIDIA naming scheme is nuts. As an earlier poster
said, three different names for what is more or less the same
card.
It's worth having a look at toms' heirarchy summary chart; the
unbelievable plethora of different product names really does
beggar belief. Makes me wonder if one day soon they'll run out
of names, or just start using really OTT names because there's
no other choice... 8\
Ian.