Help with crazy nVidia naming?!

[Ease]

I've always been an Radeon boy. What won me over was the simple names, and easy way to tell which card was best. However, in current discussions about nVidia cards I'm finding that I'm on the brink of looking like an idiot. Could anyone explain their relative powers to me?

Also, which is better, the 9800 or the 8800? I looked at Toms Hardware for benchmarking, and they seem pretty identical. And what's with the letters after the name? Ultra, GT, GTX, GTS, GX2, GTX+, e.t.c?!

Many thanks for any help!

 

[Woody...!!!]

i have a 9800gx2 and the gx2 means 2x gpu's on one card

 

[mcalladine]

i have a 8800gt and had no problems so far with it but will most likly getting a new one soon so if you have enough money and are really into gaming id go for the gtx275

 

[Ch3m1c4L]

each series is denoted by the number, such as 8x00, then 9x00, now 2xx. The same way ati do it 2x00, 3x00, 4x00 etc. The letters go in this order: GSO>GTS>GT>GTX>GTX+>Ultra>GX2
GX2 denotes its a dual gpu card.

Current hardware is the GTS250>GTX260>GTX275>GTX285>GTX295

The 9 series is a die shrink refresh of the 8 series, and as such isnt particularly better, but it runs cooler and on less power.

 

[mcalladine]

thats for that

 

[Ease]

Thanks for that Ch3m1c4l, really helpful! mcalladine, what?! I'm good, I already have a great graphics card thanks.

 

[doiks14]

Oh, and they may have named GTX295 with a GTX prefix.. which kinda confuses matters. Its a dual GPU card.