What do the letters after the video cards mean?

[civverguy]

In some graphics cards, they have the letter LE, GT, or GS after their names. e.g NIVIDIA 7300LE. What does it mean?

 

[taper]

Different revisions of base architecture. I think it goes SE, LE, GS, GT, GTX, increasing in power(and price). Similar to trim levels in cars.

 

[Speedo]

Different revisions of base architecture. I think it goes SE, LE, GS, GT, GTX, increasing in power(and price). Similar to trim levels in cars.

That's basically true for nVidia cards. ATI uses an entirely different lettering scheme, though. If in doubt, look up one of the many review sites which compare difference versions of various cards.

Generally, though, (for nVidia) anything below a GS isn't worth getting. Those models are typically so castrated that you can get significantly better performance at a similar or only slightly more expensive price by going with a higher-end, previous generation card.

 

[FriendlyFire]

In some graphics cards, they have the letter LE, GT, or GS after their names. e.g NIVIDIA 7300LE. What does it mean?

what they said marketing specifications

GT = top of the line with full pipes and shaders
GS = passive cooling
LE = Cards which failed there spec testing and thus underclocked. (disabled pipes/shaders)

 

[3 EMS]

Some nVidia cards will also have: x2
Meaning that they have two GPU's on one card.

 

[Speedo]

what they said marketing specifications

GT = top of the line with full pipes and shaders
GS = passive cooling
LE = Cards which failed there spec testing and thus underclocked. (disabled pipes/shaders)

No, not specifically.

In general terms of nVidia cards:
GTX is the top of the line wit the most pipes/shaders and best performance.
GT is the more midrange offering with less pipes/shader and somewhat lower performance.
GS is the budget midrange offering.
Everything else is generally so crappy it's not worth considering.

Like I said, don't worry about it - if you're shopping for a card you need to be looking at performance reviews & comparisons, and judge from them.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

What is (pixel) shaders?

Please explain like if I'm a 5-year old.

 

[Speedo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_shader