GeForce 5, or something else?

Games
1

NVIDIA is in the middle of deciding how they’re going to name NV30. The discussion is whether they should call it GeForce 5 and take advantage of the brand equity in “GeForce,” or name it something else entirely to promote the idea that this product is something amazingly new and different and not just “the same thing but moreso.”

What do you guys think? GeForce 5, or something else? What about other NVIDIA naming practices (like naming different speed grades with numbers ala "GF4 Ti 4600, 4400, 4200, GF3 Ti 500, Ti 200, and so on)? How should they proceed?

While I can’t describe NV30 to you, I should point out for the sake of this discussion that it has less in common with the GeForce 4 Ti cards than the GeForce 3 had with GF2 cards. It’s a pretty drastic change/improvement.

2

I’m in favor of a name change rather than the next numerical version.

-DavidCPA

3

Sure, you can tell us about it. Those NDAs are just “suggestions”.

I think a new name is in order, since the architecture is the first big change on the order of TNT2 -> GeForce.

GeForce 1 - T&L
GeForce 2 - faster, refined GeForce 1
GeForce 3 - faster, pixel shaders
GeForce 4 - faster, dual T&L, refined GeForce 3

I assume the new card is going to be a bigger change than any of these where.

4

Yeah, it’s pretty hard to get excited about another number. I think the branding focuse should be on the company name, not the product name.

5

Watch. They’ll call it Geforce 5. You don’t f*ck with a brand. :)

Peter

6

nVidia GeForce DoomBlaster.

7

Aren’t they legally required to put in an Xtreme when they call it a Blaster of some sort?

8

They should call it “Zoltar” or “7-Zark-7.”

9

‘They should call it “Zoltar” or “7-Zark-7.”’

You gotta listen to name suggestions from a guy named, Gatchaman. :)

10

Didn’t nVidia get the GeForce brand name from a contest they ran before the product debuted? Do I remember this, or am I halucinating it? I just know there’s some guy out who got a free GeForce 1 card as payment for something a consulting firm would have charged millions for. I think I even entered myself. The name I came up with was “Prose”. Oh, and I’d name the NV30 “Gravity”.

11

They should call it "buy this P.O.S, which will not have programs effectively using its features until at least 2 years in the future (cause we need good quarterly revenue’s) and the versions of it can be: FUCK the consumer 1, 2 etc.

btw when is this supposed to be released? I will need to upgrade my ge4 4600 immediatly…cant let theez n00bz b more l33t then me!!!

12

Didn’t Nvidia buy out 3dfx? They should use the Voodoo name for their MX cards to give a better idea of the differences in their two lines.

13

Riva 129!

14

TNT3: The Reckoning

  • Balut
15

Riva 129… heh heh heh… that’s a good one.

16

GeForce5: Electric Boogaloo

Or simply label it (optimistically) “This Card Will Run Doom 3”

17

Yeah, there was a contest. And since the GeForce 256 was a “geometry accelerator” and was a “256-bit chip,” GeForce 256 fit.

Now that they’ve moved beyond geometry acceleration as a selling point, and on to complex shaders, programmability, and so on, I personally think a name change is in order.

But when considering the whole market, OEMs and such, is the GeForce brand maybe what the majority of computer buyers are looking for? There’s a lot of recognition for that name. Then again, a lot of general consumers recognize NVIDIA just as much. If they Dell slapped “NVIDIA xxxxx” on their product, would it be as strong a selling point?

Gravity is a pretty good name, by the way. And almost surely not something they’d get past legal. :?

18

Wasn’t there some story about some Taiwanese chipmaker securing the rights to the name ‘586,’ and then Intel promptly switching over to the ‘Pentium’ naming convention?

<insert Shakespeare quote about a ‘rose’ and ‘any other name,’ etc.>

  • Alan
19

The nVidia nVigorator, of course!

20

“neVitably nFerior n the next V months”