"NVidia ____ or better" "Update your Motherboard drivers" WHAT?!

I really never understand what the heck it means when they show stuff like this.



I mean, I don't know what's better than an 8800GT. I don't imagine it's based on the higher number, cause if it is, mine must really suck. I have an NVidia GeForce GT230, which is able to run most games I've legally gotten up to this point, except Starcraft II probably. Is there any chart or something to check this?

Also, I have no idea what my Motherboard is, because I bought it premade by Acer, and I wouldn't know where to go to update the drivers for it. Any help with that too?

 

Nvidia's numbering system is not (or was not?) directly "higher = better".

I lost the simple explanation of the older 4 digit numbering system, but from what I remember:
The "Thousands" digit was the series. 7XXX, 8XXX, 9XXX, etc.
The "Hundreds" digit was the key on how powerful it was, dealing with the internals, X2XX, X4XX, X6XX, X8XX.

I believe the 8800s were more powerful than the 9600s, for example.

The newest models have reverted to 3 digits, but I still think the pattern holds (but I cannot say with 100% certainty). that the Hundreds digit is the series and the tens digit is a representation of the power, 460, 480, etc.

You can refer to the wiki article on Nvidia cards for more info if you really wanted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units

Edit:
Just a note, the 8800 was a good card, and still will play many games. But modern graphics processors are much better than it. I believe a single 480 is more powerful than two 8800s working in SLI mode. (Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Great, so apparently I have a really crappy card. Well, I guess it's about time to save up for a new PC. Thanks. But then... how can my 230 run something that requires an 8800?

 

It's not a crappy card, it's just over 3 years old. This is technology we are talking about, it's constantly improving. What ever you buy to replace your 8800, even if it's top of the line, will be dwarfed by it's successor in a few months.

Series changes aren't completely meaningless, they do upgrade things. The general numbering scheme doesn't translate well between the XXXX and XXX series I believe. And the 8800 and 230 models are like, two years apart (230 being the newer card).