Do the numbers on video cards make a difference as to their performance?

Im stuck between thinking if buying a Nvidia 7800GS and 7600GT and an just wondering if those numbers mean anything. If you look on game packages they say which of those numbers are compliant and i dont know if i should pick up the 7800 cuz its a bigger number even though the 7600 clearly got better reviews. Anyone have a suggestion?

Do the numbers on video cards make a difference as to their performance?
It is quite complicated:





The first digit is kind of "generation" number:


There were GeForce 5000, Geforce 6000, 7000 and the latest one is 8000.


Then next 3 digits represent placement of the card in generation: 200 or 300 are usually entry level cards - they have all the features but they are usually too slow for games.


so, 800, is a high-end while 600 is mid-range.


The last step are the letters - LE is the slowest, GS is the next slowest, then GTS, then GT, then GTX and the fastest is ULTRA .. actually, I'm some unsure about LE and GTS placement...





The funny part is that high-end older generation may be faster than mid-range new card, such as 7950 GT is an awesome card while 8600GT is decent, but not that exciting.





The same logic is true for ATI (AMD) - there were 9000, X000, X1000, HD2000 series and old X850 XT can compete with newest mid-range HD2600 Pro... they using different letters though - most common are Pro and XT, XT is faster.





I found a review with both cards compared, it looks like that 7800GS is up to 20% faster. In some games they perform the same though: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/xfx_...
Reply:the bigger number 7800gs is the newest one out on the market.


if the 7600gt has better reviews,i would do a little research on both,newer is not always better perforamce wise.


i would check out each one on the internet reviews etc.and then decide which to buy .


the higher number the newer,nvidia is a good choice.