How does the geforce video card naming convention work now?

Question

It's been some time since I've purchased a geforce vid card. My best guess at the current naming convention is that the first digit of the 4 digits is the "generation" and the second digit is the "tier" or performance level within that generation. Therefore an 8800 is better performance, but older technology than a 9600 and the 9800 is the best, right? (Exclude the newest GTX260/280 that throws yet another naming convention change into the mix.)

Answer 1

The 8800's are better than the 9600's and the 9800's are the 8800's but shrunk down in size. So basically the 9000 series is not much different than the 8000 series. The GTX260/280 are expensive new cards.

Answer 2

Yeah the 8800 is supposed to outperform the 9600, while the 9800 outperforms both.

Answer 3

Gtx 260 is better than gts 240.