14 DAY TRIAL // About a week ago, NVIDIA was rumored to be renaming and re-branding some of its chips. As its roadmap seemed a little crowded and somehow messy, the renaming was supposed to bring a bit of light into the mist, and the news indicates that the company is ready to start the move in about a fortnight or so. The changes will affect the branding of the company's 9800 GTX and 9800GTX+ cards, as well as the 9600 and 9500 line ups.
The previous news suggested that the green graphics card manufacturer would rename its high-end series as GeForce GTX followed by a number, the same branding introduced with the GTX 280 and GTX 260 cards. The mainstream graphics solutions were said to become GeForce GT and a number while the entry boards were suggested to be branded as GeForce GS and a number.
An article published by Techconnect reveals that the GeForce 178.15 drivers are meant to shed some light on the matter. The G92, G94 and the G96 cards are getting new names for sure. The 178.15 .inf file shows that NVIDIA will have its G92 lineup (the 9800 cards) rebranded as GeForce GTS 1x0, while the G94 and G96 series (the current GeForce 9600 and 9500 boards) will become GT 1x0.
According to the article, the renaming is suggested by three lines sourced from the 178.15 release:
NVIDIA_G92.DEV_0615.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTS 150" NVIDIA_G94.DEV_0626.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 130" NVIDIA_G96.DEV_0646.1 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 120".
The renaming will come as a handy move for users at least, as there is little knowledge about the differences between cards under their current branding. The company made no official announcement regarding the new names, and hasn't published the new drivers on its site either, yet the GeForce 178.15 release is available for download on Softpedia for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit courtesy of Techconnect.