Nvidia video card nomenclature?

[BadMouth]

I lost track after the 9000 series.

Could someone explain to me the current numbering system for Nvidia cards?

Is a higher number better, or is the first digit the series and the rest the rank?
For example is a 620 better than a 590 or is it just a low model in the 600 series?

What are the current beasts if I want to run triple screens with maxed out video settings?

Looks like the 700's will be coming out in a couple months,
but I'd rather not pay the early adopter premium.

[404]

I lost track after the 9000 series.

Could someone explain to me the current numbering system for Nvidia cards?

Is a higher number better, or is the first digit the series and the rest the rank?
For example is a 620 better than a 590 or is it just a low model in the 600 series?

What are the current beasts if I want to run triple screens with maxed out video settings?

Looks like the 700's will be coming out in a couple months,
but I'd rather not pay the early adopter premium.

Basically nvidia just rebooted the numbering scheme without the thousand place holder. They still run with the G, GT, GTX and now the TI series

the number/ performance designation starts from lowest 2xx to the latest 6xx series. There are also sub designations like M and MX which are mobile processors.

Yes, the latest is the 6x series.

I too never pay the 'early adopter premium'

[Howard_Casto]

I'm not sure but aren't ATI/AMD cards the power houses at this point?  Back in the day NVidia was certainly faster, but I don't think this is the case anymore. 

Also the ati's are cheaper now that they allow third parties to use the chipsets. 

[kahlid74]

If you want to play games like Battlefield 3 on high you need at least 2 GB of memory.  Personally I wouldn't buy a card with less than 2 GB of memory right now.  As textures balloon, the more memory is crucial to smooth game play.  Read the reviews and look for slightly overclocked cards with heat pipes and other after market cooling systems.  The slight overclock can more often than not provide a good boost is performance (6-8% which is noticeable).

Be aware of the lettering like 404 said.  A 580GTX can be more powerful than a 620GT.  Look at the CUDA cores and processor speed.  Not all games make use of CUDA cores or core technology so it's still good to have a high clock speed (although most these days can make use of cores)

Bottom line is if you really want to game, you need more than 2 GB of memory on the card and you should be aiming for a Nvidia 670GTX or an AMD 7950.

[BadMouth]

Thanks guys.  I have a much better handle on it now.
Will probably go with a 670 or 680 with a factory overclock, depending on what pops on sale.
I might wait until the 700 series is introduced to see how much of a price drop there is.
(rather than watching it drop a month or two after buying it)

Not sure it relates to the most recent cards, but I'm sticking with Nvidia because they seem to have less issues with the oddball emulators and Taito Type X games.