nvidia rating scale

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mod-newbie

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hi all!

I have never owned anything but ATI video cards. But i plan to to buy an nForce4 or nForce4-ultra chipset based motherboard and I assume that an nvidia video card would be the optimal setup.

I am not buying a card right away because i am waiting for directX-10 compliant video cards to come out first.

what i need to know is how does the nvidia rating scale work? i assume that the higher the number then better, but what do the letters after the number mean? they change the price significantly so i was wondering what they mean?

thank you guys, this forum rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yes, generally larger numbers = better. The letters after the numbers are also "better". the X after GT ( Making GTX...) means that it is 512 MB and runs at a higher clock. I would strive for at least a 7800 GT if your planning to build a new system. 7950 cards are the special "Two-In-One" cards that would be great if you dont have a SLI motherboard. (Or good anyways for quad w/e that comes along..) Many people seem to dislike them from what I've read so far on the net. Complaining about lower clock speeds, heat, ect. But the benchmarks are good on them... so w/e.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2769&p=10
 
thanks for the reply, although i am still very confused.
what you are basically saying is that the more letters there are after the numbers the better the card is? i am sorry but that just does not seem accurate.

is there a guide that somebody could link to which provides a list of nvdia cards and all the model numbers along with the specs of each one? like in a spreadsheet form? that would be great!

believe me i googled/yahooed my **** off and came up with nothing.

(example) with ATI cards the letters SE after the model# signifies a 64bit memory interface (which sucks really really bad). i guess my main quiestion is do the letters on nvidia cards mean things like that as well?

what do they all mean????????????????????????????? it's driving me craaaazzzzzyyyyy!!!! aaaahhhh!!! :eek: :confused: :eek:
 
This will tell you everything about NVIDIA cards. However, it isn't really enough to tell exactly how well X card will perform in X game, since cards vary on how well they perform from game to game. But in a general sense, the further down the list you go the better (and more expensive) the card. Also note, that this is for the stock (regular) NVIDIA cards and does not show reference to any overclocked cards by companies (XFX, BFG, EVGA) that often factory overclock their cards (these overclocked cards sometimes outperform the stock card above them! – and are cheaper…)
If you want to pick a card then select a model. Say 7800 GTX, research that model and see the different types (overclocked versions) that that model comes in before you make a purchase, sometimes the overclocked versions of the same model are cheaper then the stock model.

Also note that the overclocked models are prone to have defects/problems since they are well… overclocked. Isn’t really a big issue since the manufactures often have a very good warranty on their cards. You will just have to go through the, sometimes long, RMA process. Contact the card maker if your videocard is defective and not NVIDIA.

Lastly…, have fun with your new videocard!
 
thanks shawn! you da man! :grinthumb That was exactly what I was looking for! i do not know why i could not find it :confused:

i still have one other question. since i want to get a nfroce4 chipset based mainboard do you think that a nvidia based grafix card will be better than an ati radeaon based grafix card or does it even matter? is there an advantage to having the mainboard chipset and gpu made by the same company?
 
Hmmm, of that I'm unsure since I have never tried it myself, nor have ever owned anything but NForce chipset motherboards. I believe it should not matter too much. However I recall reading an article a while back about the NForce 5 mobos with "LinkBoost" that speed up certain NVIDIA videocards and ram when combined. The performance increase was supposed to be around 20% or something like that, I forgot :confused:. But "Linkboost" is currently only supported by the best and most expensive hardware, I believe only 7900gtx (or better?) and on the top tier motherboards (NForce 590 According to NVIDIA LINK.) If you have tons of money to blow it may be worth it. However, I have not really looked up benchmarks to see if there really is a big performance boost tough... However, if your one of those people who wants to have it "just because it might do something (or it might do something in the future)" then by a means do so ;).
 
korrupt, both of those links do not work.

but i am not going to buy a video card yet anyways i said at the top of tis thread that im not gonna buy a new grafix card until i can buy a direct x 10 card. i was just trying to understand the confusing letter ratings at the end of each model number so that i know what to look for when i am ready to buy in a few more months. but thank you for the reply neways i appreciate it :hotbounce :bounce: :wave: i love all these smiley faces hehehehe
 
mod-newbie said:
thanks shawn! you da man! :grinthumb That was exactly what I was looking for! i do not know why i could not find it :confused:

i still have one other question. since i want to get a nfroce4 chipset based mainboard do you think that a nvidia based grafix card will be better than an ati radeaon based grafix card or does it even matter? is there an advantage to having the mainboard chipset and gpu made by the same company?


Nope doesn't matter
 
mod-newbie said:
korrupt, both of those links do not work.

but i am not going to buy a video card yet anyways i said at the top of tis thread that im not gonna buy a new grafix card until i can buy a direct x 10 card. i was just trying to understand the confusing letter ratings at the end of each model number so that i know what to look for when i am ready to buy in a few more months. but thank you for the reply neways i appreciate it :hotbounce :bounce: :wave: i love all these smiley faces hehehehe


i was thinking the exact same thing. dx10 all the way. for now, im stuck with the x300. OH WELL
 
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