DECIPHERING AND UNDERSTANDING NVIDIA’S GFORCE NUMBER CODING

nVidia, now the world’s leading high end video card maker, has announced that they are going to simplify their product line. I think this stems from the fact that many people don’t understand what the number codes of their video cards mean and they want to simplify their product line, and of course the numbering will be affected too.

I have used nVidia’s GForce video cards more often than ATI’s line of video cards, and so this guide is solely based on my personal experience and opinion of what I think about their number coding. So far, I’ve recommended and sold so many cards, for different uses and applications, and I am rarely wrong when it comes down to it, so I’m quite confident about what I will say here. Also this means that I am not as familiar with ATI’s lines as with nVidia. Although I have a pretty good idea on how ATI’s number coding works, I cannot personally vouch for its accuracy, that’s why it won’t be discussed it in this blog.

nVidia uses 4 numbers followed by 2 to 3 letters, and sometimes by the word Ultra. Examples are: 4400MX, FX5200, 5700LE, 6800GT, 7600GS, 7950GX2, 8800GTX Ultra, etc.
The first digit is what I call the series number. When applied this way, the 6800GT is a series 6, the 7600GS is a series 7, and so on. I believe that this first digit is more closely, not exactly but very nearly, related to the DirectX version of the card. I can’t quite remember the exact DirectX version of older video cards, but DirectX 10.0 is the version of series 8 video cards, 9.0 for series 7 and some series 6 video cards, 8.0 for series 6 video cards, and so on.

The second digit, in my opinion again, is connected to the overall speed and performance of the video card. When the number is higher, the video card performs faster or better. With that knowledge, it is easy to see that a 6800 video card is faster than a 6200 video card. If the first digit is different it doesn’t matter. Example, 7600 vs 6600 video card, the 7600 and 6600 should have almost the same speed and power but the 7600 will have an advantage because of the newer DirectX version and of course the processor will be a bit faster because it’s newer. How about a 6800 vs a 7600 video card? I’ll go for the 6800 because I know that it is the fastest and at the top of its line, and they’re both DirectX 9.0. If you want a series 7 video card that can outperform the 6800, go for the 7900 or 7950, the 7800 will have about the same speed.
The letters after the four digit code are also very important to consider when you get an nVidia video card. I ranked them here from best to worst:
ULTRA – Meaning it is factory over-clocked
GTX – All features in with maxed out performance and more
GT – All features in and performance is maxed out
GS – Some features are not included and performance is slower
LE – No features and poor performance
DDR3 – Ultra fast RAM, specifically designed for graphics acceleration

As a rule of thumb, I always advice NEVER to get anything below a GT! Don’t forget that advice. Getting a GT means your video cards processor and settings are all functional and turned on. If you get a GS you might notice that you don’t have some features installed, even if your processor speed is faster, but processor speed is not everything. Example, when comparing a 6600GT versus a 7600GS, I would rather go for the GT because I know that it will run anything my pc throws at it. The GS might ignore some DirectX commands and not run your applications as it should.

The series 8 and series 9’s are in a different ballpark, but only if you have Vista installed, since these are already DirectX 10.0 video cards. If you run series 8 or 9 video cards in XP, reconsider using series 7 instead, because it will perform better. The 8500GT is much slower than a 7600GT, I have both cards, but if I use the 8500GT in XP it performs badly. In a Vista computer, the 8500GT can run circles around and blow the 7600GT out of the roof. I attribute the performance boost to DirectX 10.0, that’s why I recommend gamers to go for Vista if they have games that run in DirectX 10.0.

The fastest gaming video card in the world today is the nVidia 8800GTX Ultra! If you have this card you don’t need to upgrade it to any of the series 9’s because they are slower than this video card. ATI’s fastest video card is slower than the 8800GTX, and nVidia might not release a faster video card until ATI beats it first. That said, none of the series 9 video cards can outperform the 8600 series and up video cards.