Is NVIDIA's rebranding strategy helpful?

[Megasty]

honestly i had no idea they were the exact same card. i figured there would be atleast a reorganized PCB.

That's why is so darn confusing. Usually I can tell by the base specs or if it seems like an OC for the new card. As for those 2 cards, the base specs are exactly the same so its no contest.

As for the 8800 GS, 9600 GSO, & GT 240 its not as obvious but in the end, they're all OCs of the latter. But there are still some that think they're completely different cards even though they have the same relative performance.

 

[eidairaman1]

only reason they are doing it is because of the overstock they have of the G200B core.

 

[btarunr]

But was the PCB custom, or just the cooling?

It's Palit's own-designed PCB as you can see below:

More about Palit's non-ref PCB designs here: http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-3985-view-Nvidia-8800-gs-video-card.html

When NVIDIA restricts partners from coming up with custom-designs, those restrictions cover the use of reference PCB with non-ref cooler (with exception of reference-PCB + water-block (in which case AICs pay the full cost of the PCB + ref. cooler)), but in 8800 GS' case, no restrictions applied. AICs were free to come up with custom-designed PCBs, coolers, memory configs (384 MB / 768 MB).

 

[Supreme0verlord]

No! I want real innovation that warrants a new name!
I am really sick of all of this re-branding crap. Just come up new a new card already!

 

[zCexVe]

Keep it renaming all you want to fool the customer.Better presentation doesn't work on us,eh?Its the real deal works on us.

 

[swaaye]

If there are people dumb/lazy enough to fall for it, then NVIDIA might as well go for it. Obviously either their partners want to be able to rename the chips or NVIDIA itself has discovered that it gets customers excited again.

 

[Champ]

NVIDIA has quite a history of reusing existing products and catapulting them into their latest and greatest lineups. The best example is the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT that got renamed to GeForce 9800 GT and now to GeForce GTS 240 (with a small alibi overclock).

What do you think about such a business practice?

Wow, that dirty. I was thinking about to give up in AMD and go all intel, but they probably do it on everything else including processors and boards. Well, I meant Nvidia, but Intel probably knows about it.

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

I think its a rip off....I just sold 2 8800 GT in the forums and was kind of hard to sell because everyone thinks its old tech.... But if i could slap a new 9800 GT or GTS 240 sticker on them they would sell like hot cakes even at a higher price!!

That is a very good point. Something to think about when considering resell values.

XFX are great for resell value (was incentive to go Nvidia), because of their double warranties, but now they are making ATI cards as well.

 

[Binge]

I don't think many people should base their opinions of rebranding on the potential resale value of their cards. Even if it were to make your card seem old... how physically new were the 8800s in question? Not that they won't perform, but some people don't want tech that's been used for more than X hours. Hard to sell is relative to the patience of the seller and rebranding has less of an effect on buying 2nd hand than things like say... the economy?

I hate defending a marketing trick to make old look new, but it's really harmless and you can use this to your advantage. Marketing a 9800 as a 9800 which is now the new 250 GTS!!! could net you a buyer.

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

I don't think many people should base their opinions of rebranding on the potential resale value of their cards. Even if it were to make your card seem old... how physically new were the 8800s in question? Not that they won't perform, but some people don't want tech that's been used for more than X hours. Hard to sell is relative to the patience of the seller and rebranding has less of an effect on buying 2nd hand than things like say... the economy?

I hate defending a marketing trick to make old look new, but it's really harmless and you can use this to your advantage. Marketing a 9800 as a 9800 which is now the new 250 GTS!!! could net you a buyer.

Yeah, but honestly, if you weren't totally up to date on the video card market, and you were asked if you would like an 8800gt or a 9800gt, of course you are going to go with the 9800, because its newer so it must be better... right?

When I sold my 8800gt back in the day it sold within an hour of me putting it up on ebay. Doubt you could do the same now with the number of new cards Nvidia has flooded the market with, even though the majority of cards are not that much greater than the good ol' 8800gt.

As for your idea about improving the chances of sale, that might work, but only if you said something like "why pay for a 250 gts, when you can get the same performance with this card for cheaper!!".

 

[DrPepper]

@armouredcavalry

In the UK they don't sell 8800GT's anymore only 9800GT's same card but since there is none of the former buyers won't get confused. Also when they start selling the GTS 240 or whatever it is they will stop buying 9800GT's and get the new one's and people won't get mixed up.

Now wether or not people think that the GTS out performs the same card is a different matter.

 

[Easy Rhino]

so the gts240 is the same as the 8800gt?

 

[ShadowFold]

Yea, and seeing how the GTS 250 went(same performance as 8800GTS/9800GTX) I don't think their future rebrands are gonna be any better or improved.

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

@armouredcavalry

In the UK they don't sell 8800GT's anymore only 9800GT's same card but since there is none of the former buyers won't get confused. Also when they start selling the GTS 240 or whatever it is they will stop buying 9800GT's and get the new one's and people won't get mixed up.

Now wether or not people think that the GTS out performs the same card is a different matter.

Yeah, pretty sure newegg phases out the older cards as well.

P.S. It is spelled Armored you darn brit! *shakes fists*

 

[OzzmanFloyd120]

No one that does any research will be duped. Furthermore, no one should be upgrading from a high end card from the privious generation to the mid-range of the current anyway, rebranding or not.

Logic plays a huge role in purchasing new technology though, logically you would think that any 7 series card would out-perform a FX5900, and we all know that's not the case. There have been problems with the naming scheme all along, rebranding aside, because logically you would figure that an 8600GTS would perform better than a 7800GTX, but again we all know that isn't the case.
NV (and ATi is at blame as well) defy logical thought process when naming their cards.

I'm not implying anything, I think I pretty much came out and said it. The regular 9800GTX(no +) outperforms the HD4850, and the 9800GX2 outperforms the HD4870. Hardly what I would consdier "crushing".

On the same token though you can't really compare a GX2 and a 4870 because the GX2 is out of production and getting harder and harder to find new.
(And yes, I know there's a BFG GX2 in stock on the egg right now. No need to post a link)

My own annalogy

GPU manufacturers rebranding is a lot like turning in the same essay for every writing assignment you're given and just changing the title of the paper, assuming that your professor won't notice.

 

[A_R_M]

I wud say tht they have been constantly using same cores and just diff freqs on their upcoming cards i mean atleast they cud do is come up with a new prossesor tht is faster thn 800mhz... after the produstion of gforce 8 and 9 series its always have been G82 or G84 G92 G94....sumthing prossesor in every nvidia card... how abt a new invention!!

 

[TruthTeller]

wheres the "Yes it helps nvidias bottem line" ?

think that about covers how i feel about it.

 

[BazookaJoe]

TIME FOR A NEW POLL

It's been nearly a whole month again - We should have a vote regarding the time-out period of Polls.

I recommend 2 weeks - It's enough time to discuss - but not long enough to get boring as heck..

 

[wolf]

Is NVIDIA's rebranding strategy helpful?

not only is it helpful (getting all GPU's under one naming scheme) its downright logical.

if you don't like it, untwist your panties and get over it. it is a good thing.