Contemporary Graphics Card Naming Guide

by Igor Kozachenko
10/25/2005 | 04:00 PM

Before you go to the information provided in tables below, you should take into account the following. A lot of data that we provide in these tables, aren’t official data. Both leading graphics chip developers have always been very scarce when it came to revealing the technical details about their graphics solutions. And the farther on, the fewer details were shared with us.

Of course, the reasons behind this are quite understandable: the more things are unclear about the actual potential and power of the solutions, the higher is the probability that the potential customer will go for a more expensive product and the easier it is to mislead the users with such “pseudo-advantages” as twice as much onboard graphics memory, high bus bandwidth rates, DX version X.X support, and simply higher numeric index in the product name (and we all know pretty well, that high numeric index doesn’t always stand for higher performance). Not to mention especial cynical cases when the manufacturers add various suffixes to their card names, so that the users get totally lost and confused.

So, we had to resort to a lot of alternative unofficial sources to get some of the data for this guide. Of course, we do not provide you with any unverified info, however, errare humanum est, so you have to keep in mind that the sources may sometimes be mistaken either. Please, if you come across any uncertainties or mistakes, as you think, do not hesitate to point those things out to us in the Comments section for this guide or e-mail us about it.

ATI Graphics Solutions

Graphics card name	GPU	Process	Bus	Memory	Pixel pipes / textures per clock	Vertex pipes	DX	Chip / mem freq.	Mem bus
High-End graphics cards and their modifications
RADEON X1800 XT	R520	90 nm	PCI-E	256/512 MB GDDR3	16/16	8	9.0c	625/1500 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X1800 XL	R520	90 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	8	9.0c	500/1000 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition	R480	110 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	540/1180 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X850 XT	R480	110 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	520/1080 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X850 XT AGP	R481	110 nm	AGP	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	520/1080 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X850 Pro	R480	110 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	12/12	6	9.0	520/1080 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition	R423	130 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	520/1120 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XT	R423	130 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	500/1000 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition	R420	130 nm	AGP	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	520/1120 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XL	R4304	110 nm	PCI-E	512 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	400/980 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XL	R4304	110 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	400/980 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 XL AGP**	R4304	110 nm	AGP	256 MB GDDR3	16/16	6	9.0	400/980 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 GTO	R480/ R430/ R423	110/130 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	12/12	6	9.0	400/980 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 GTO	R480/ R430/ R423	110/130 nm	PCI-E	128 MB	12/12	6	9.0	400/700 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800	R4304	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB	12/12	6	9.0	400/700 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 Pro	R420	130 nm	AGP	256 MB GDDR3	12/12	6	9.0	475/900 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 GT	R480/ R423	110/130 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	8/8	6	9.0	475/980 MHz	256 bit
RADEON X800 GT	R480/ R423	110/130 nm	PCI-E	128 MB DDR	8/8	6	9.0	475/700 MHz	256 bit?
RADEON X800 SE	R420	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	6	9.0	425/700 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9800 XT	R360	130 nm	AGP	256 MB	8/8	4	9.0	412/730 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9800 PRO *	R350	150 nm	AGP	256 MB/ DDR II	8/8	4	9.0	380/700 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9800 PRO5	R350	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	4	9.0	380/680 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9800 *	R350	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	4	9.0	325/580 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9800 SE	R350	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	4 (8) / 4 (8)	4	9.0	380/680 or 325/580 MHz	256/ 128 bit
RADEON 9700 PRO *	R300	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	4	9.0	325/620 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9700 *	R300	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	4	9.0	275/540 MHz	256 bit
Mainstream graphics cards
RADEON X1600 XT	RV530	90 nm	PCI-E (AGP)8	128/256 MB GDDR3	12/4	5	9.0c	590/1380 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X1600 Pro	RV530	90 nm	PCI-E (AGP)8	128/256 MB	12/4	5	9.0c	500/780 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X700 XT3	RV410	110 nm	PCI-E	128/256 MB GDDR3	8/8	6	9.0	475/1050 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X700 Pro	RV410	110 nm	PCI-E	256/128 MB GDDR3	8/8	6	9.0	420/864 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X700 Pro AGP***	RV410	110 nm	AGP	256/128 MB GDDR3	8/8	6	9.0	420/864 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X700	RV410	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB DDR	8/8	6	9.0	400/700 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X600 XT	RV3801	130 nm	PCI-E	256/128 MB	4/4	2	9.0	500/740 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9600 XT	RV360	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/4	2	9.0	500/600 MHz	128 bit
RADEON X600 Pro	RV3801	130 nm	PCI-E	256/128 MB	4/4	2	9.0	400/600 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9600 Pro	RV350	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/4	2	9.0	400/600 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9600 SE	RV350	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/4	2	9.0	325/400 MHz	64 bit
RADEON 9600	RV350	130 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	2	9.0	325/400 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9500 PRO *	R300	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	8/8	4	9.0	275/540 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9500 *	R300	150 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/4	4	9.0	275/540 MHz	256 bit
RADEON 9500 *	R300	150 nm	AGP	64 MB	4/4	4	9.0	275/540 MHz	128 bit
Value graphics cards
RADEON X1300 Pro	RV515	90 nm	PCI-E (AGP)8	256 MB	4/4	2	9.0c	600/800 MHz	128 (64?) bit
RADEON X1300	RV515	90 nm	PCI-E (AGP)8	256/128 MB	4/4	2	9.0c	450/500 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON X1300 HyperMemory	RV515	90 nm	PCI-E	32-128 MB (256 MB)7	4/4	2	9.0c	450/1000 MHz	32/ 64/ 128 bit
RADEON X550	RV3702	110 nm	PCI-E	256/128/ 64 MB	4/4	2	9.0	400/500 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON X300 SE/256	RV370HM	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB (256 MB)7	4/4	2	9.0	325/296 MHz	64 bit
RADEON X300 SE/128	RV370HM	110 nm	PCI-E	32 MB (128 MB)7	4/4	2	9.0	325/296 MHz	64 bit
RADEON X300	RV3702	110 nm	PCI-E	256/128/ 64 MB	4/4	2	9.0	325/400 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON X300 SE	RV3702	110 nm	PCI-E	128/64 MB	4/4	2	9.0	325/400 MHz	64 bit
RADEON 9550	RV350	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	2	9.0	250/400 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON 9200 Pro *	RV280	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	275/550 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON 9200	RV280	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	250/400 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON 9250	RV280	150 nm	AGP	256/128/64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	250/4006 MHz	128/ 64 bit
RADEON 9200 SE	RV280	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	200/333 MHz	64 bit
RADEON 9100 *	R200	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/8	2	8.1	250/500 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9000 PRO *	RV250	150 nm	AGP	128/64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	275/550 MHz	128 bit
RADEON 9000 *	RV250	150 nm	AGP	64 MB	4/4	1	8.1	250/400 MHz	128/ 64 bit

* - These graphics cards are given only for comparison purposes. There are very few or none of them left in the market today.

** - This graphics card uses PCI-E/AGP Rialto bridge.

¹ – RV380 chip is a modification of RV360 chip with PCI Express support.

² – RV370 chip is a modification of RV360 chip with PCI Express support manufactured with 110nm technology (RV360 – 130nm).

³ – ATI decided not to release this graphics solution to the market.

⁴ – R430 chip is a modification of R423 chip manufactured with 110nm technology.

⁵ – Try to avoid suspiciously inexpensive “RADEON 9800 Pro” graphics cards! This is a cynical trick some of the vendors (even the world famous ones, not to mention the noname ones) use to sell the cut-down RADEON 9800 SE under a fake brand name!

⁶ – The frequencies can be lower than these. ATI doesn’t have any set recommendations here.

⁷ – The number in brackets is the overall size of the addressed frame-buffer, most of which is in the system memory.

⁸ – AGP is supported by adding the PCI-E/AGP bridge to the card.

NVIDIA Graphics Solutions

Graphics card name	GPU	Process	Bus	Memory	Pixel pipes / textures per clock	Vertex pipes	DX	Chip / mem freq.	Mem bus
High-End graphics cards and their modifications
GeForce 7800 GTX	G70	110 nm	PCI-E13	256 MB GDDR3	24/24	8	9.0c	430/1200 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 7800 GT	G70	110 nm	PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	20/20	7	9.0c	400/1000 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 6800 Ultra	NV40	130 nm	PCI-E	512 MB GDDR3	16/16 or 32/0	6	9.0c	400/1100 (1050) MHz	256 bit
GeForce 6800 Ultra	NV40/NV45	130 nm	AGP/ PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16 or 32/0	6	9.0c	400/1100 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 6800 GT	NV40/NV45	130 nm	AGP/ PCI-E	256 MB GDDR3	16/16 or 32/0	6	9.0c	350/1000 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 680011	NV41/NV42	130/110 nm	PCI-E	128/ 256 MB DDR	12/12 or 24/0	5	9.0c	325/700 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 6800	NV40	130 nm	AGP	128/256 MB DDR	12/12 or 24/0	5	9.0c	325/700 MHz	256 bit
GeForce 6800 XT15	NV41/NV42	130/110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB	8/8 or 16/0	4	9.0c	325/700 MHz?	256 bit
GeForce 6800 LE11	NV41/NV42	130/110 nm	PCI-E	128/ 256 MB DDR	8/8 or 16/0	4	9.0c	325/700 MHz12	256 bit
GeForce 6800 LE	NV40	130 nm	AGP	128/ 256 MB DDR	8/8 or 16/0	4	9.0c	325/700 MHz12	256 bit
GeForce PCX 5950 1*	NV38X	130 nm	PCI-E	256 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	475/950 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5950 Ultra	NV38	130 nm	AGP	256 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	475/950 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5900 Ultra *	NV35	130 nm	AGP	256 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	450/850 MHz	256 bit
GeForce PCX 5900 *	NV35X	130 nm	PCI-E	128 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	400/850 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5900 *	NV35	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	400/850 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5900 XT (Value)	NV35	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	390/700 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5900 ZT	NV35	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	325/700 MHz	256 bit
GeForceFX 5800 Ultra *	NV30	130 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR II	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	500/1000 MHz	128 bit
GeForceFX 5800 *	NV30	130 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR II	4/8 or 8/0	3	9.0	400/800 MHz	128 bit
Mainstream graphics cards
GeForce 6600 GT	NV43	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB GDDR3	8/8	3	9.0c	500/1000 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 6600 GT	NV43	110 nm	AGP	128 MB GDDR3	8/8	3	9.0c	500/900 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 66003	NV43	110 nm	PCI-E	512 MB GDDR3	8/8	3	9.0c	300/5502 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 6600	NV43	110 nm	PCI-E	128/256 MB DDR	8/8	3	9.0c	300/5502 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 66004	NV43	110 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR	8/8	3	9.0c	300/500 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 6600 LE14	NV43V	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB DDR	4/4	3	9.0c	300/500 MHz?	128 bit
GeForce 6200	NV43V	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB DDR	4/4	3	9.0c	300/500 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 62006	NV43V	110 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR	4/4	3	9.0c	300/500 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 62007	NV44	110 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR	4/4	2	9.0c	300/500 MHz	128/64 bit9
GeForce 62008	NV44A	110 nm	AGP	128 MB DDR	4/4	2	9.0c	300/500 MHz	128/64 bit9
GeForce 620010	NV44A?	110 nm	AGP	512 MB DDR?	4/4	2	9.0c	?/? MHz	128 bit?
"New" GeForceFX 5700 Ultra *	NV36	130 nm	AGP	128 MB GDDR3	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	475/950 MHz	128 bit
GeForceFX 5700 Ultra *	NV36	130 nm	AGP	128 MB GDDR	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	475/900 MHz	128 bit
"New" GeForceFX 5600 Ultra *	NV31	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	400/800 MHz	128 bit
"Old" GeForceFX 5600 Ultra *	NV31	130 nm	AGP	128 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	350/700 MHz	128 bit
GeForce PCX 5750	NV39	130 nm	PCI-E	256/ 128 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	425/550 MHz	128 bit
GeForceFX 5700	NV36	130 nm	AGP	256/ 128 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	425/550 MHz	128 bit
GeForceFX 5700 LE	NV36	130 nm	AGP	256/ 128 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	250/400 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForceFX 5600 *	NV31	130 nm	AGP	128/ 64 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	325/550 MHz	128 bit
GeForceFX 5600 XT *	NV31	130 nm	AGP	64/ 128/ 256 MB	2/4 or 4/4	2	9.0	235/400 MHz	128/64 bit
Value graphics cards
GeForce 6500	NV44	110 nm	PCI-E	128 MB GDDR2 (256 MB)5	4/4	2	9.0c	400/700 MHz2	64 bit
GeForce 6200 with TurboCache type 3	NV44	110 nm	PCI-E	64 MB (256 MB)5	4/4	2	9.0c	350/700 MHz	128 bit
GeForce 6200 with TurboCache type 2	NV44	110 nm	PCI-E	32 MB (128 MB)5	4/4	2	9.0c	350/700 MHz	64 bit
GeForce 6200 with TurboCache type 1	NV44	110 nm	PCI-E	16 MB (128 MB)5	4/4	2	9.0c	350/700 MHz	32 bit
GeForceFX 5200 Ultra *	NV34	130 nm	AGP	128/ 64 MB	2/4 or 4/0	1	9.0	325/650 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForceFX 5500	NV34	130 nm	AGP	256/ 128 MB	2/4 or 4/0	1	9.0	270/400 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForce PCX 5300 *	NV37	130 nm	PCI-E	128/ 64 MB	2/4 or 4/0	1	9.0	250/400 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForceFX 5200	NV34	130 nm	AGP	128/ 64 MB	2/4 or 4/0	1	9.0	250/400 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForce4 Ti4800 (4600-8x) *	NV28	150 nm	AGP	128/ 64 MB	4/8	2	8.0	300/650 MHz	128 bit
GeForce4 Ti4200-8x *	NV28	150 nm	AGP	128/ 64 MB	4/8	2	8.0	250/512 MHz	128 bit
GeForce PCX 4300 1*	NV19	150 nm	PCI-E	64 MB	2/4	-	7.0	275/512 MHz	128/64 bit
GeForce4 MX440-8x *	NV18	150 nm	AGP	64 MB	2/4	-	7.0	275/512 MHz	128/64 bit

* - These graphics cards are given only for comparison purposes. There are very few or none of them left in the market today.

¹ – These graphics cards were introduced last February. However, they disappeared from the list of NVIDIA’s products and have never got into the market.

² – This frequency is not strictly defined and depends on the manufacturer only.

³ – This graphics card doesn’t support SLI mode.

⁴ – This graphics card hasn’t been officially announced because the use of additional PCI-E/AGP bridge hasn’t been justified for a value graphics card. However, some vendors, such as MSI, for instance, are still offering this solution.

⁵ – The number in brackets is the overall size of the addressed frame-buffer, most of which is in the system memory.

^{6, 7} – These graphics cards are equipped with a PCI-E/AGP bridge.

⁸ – The chip on this graphics card features integrated AGP support.

⁹ – It is quite possible that all GeForce 6200 AGP graphics cards will feature only 64-bit memory access.

¹⁰ – Even though the graphics card has been officially announced, no specification details have been revealed except for the amount of supported onboard memory.

¹¹ – NV41 is a modification of NV40 with cut-down number of “physical” pipelines. NV42 is a modification of NV41 manufactured with 110nm technology.

¹² – The frequencies haven’t been strictly specified and are determined by the graphics card vendors.

¹³ – No AGP version of this graphics card is planned.

¹⁴ – The only difference between this graphics card and the old 6200 based on the cut-down NV43 chip modification is the SLI support. The recommended frequencies haven’t been specified.

¹⁵ – The only difference between this graphics card and the 6800 LE is the SLI support.