Renumbering ATI's products for fun and, well, no other reason really.

[zandor]

Ok, so I had a random thought and felt like sharing. For a while ATI had this "first digit = DX version" thing going on. Well, sort of.
Hindsight being clearer than foresight and a lot clearer than whatever marketing comes up with, I figure I'll renumber them. Just for fun, mind you. And please, feel free to move the X700 around as I'm a bit fuzzy on where I should put it in relation to the 9800s and add in the X1300 and X1600 cards.

First things first, DX8 card's shouldn't have 9xxx numbers.

9000 -> 8000
9100 never exists, just stays 8500.
9200 -> 8200
9250 -> 8250

Now for the "real" 9000 series cards. The 9600pro couldn't usually keep up with a 9500pro, so the 9600 gets a lower number. Also, the 9800 is mostly just a clock speed bump on the 9700. It's not substantially different.

9500 -> 9500
9600 -> 9400
9700 -> 9700
9800 -> 9750

The Xxxx cards are quicker of course and have more pipes. X300 and X600 are really just versions of a 9600, so we'll number those accordingly.

X300 -> 9300
X600 -> 9400 (yep, same number)
X700 -> 9600 (????... swap w/ 9700-9800/"9700-9750"?)
X800 -> 9800
X850 -> 9850

Now we've got the Xxxxx cards to deal with. I haven't been paying enough attention to knwo how quick they are aside from the X1800.

X1800 -> 9900

 

[tvdang7]

lol ok........................



but yea



x700 is more like a 9800

ati versions not ur new naming sheme

 

[DougLite]

I agree with you that the numbering doesn't make sense from a technical perspective, but it makes brilliant sense from a marketing perspective. For example, numbering 9000s and 92xxs as 9 series Radeons allows them to ride the coattails of the 9700/9800 series (which was the performance leader for its time) even though they are entirely different DX 8.1 vs DX9 parts. You can see this as well with the X series cards, the X300/X600 are nothing more than rehashed 9600s, but putting X in front of it allows to ride the X800's coattails, even though it is technically closer to the 9600/9800, on and on it goes.

The Radeon 9600 could have been the 9400, etc, but its the marketing people that pick the names, not the deisgners of the chips