The naming scheme for Intel graphics cards can be found on the web

In enthusiast circles, many can rave about product names for countless generations of products. The names are important for marketing the gadgets and since the principle “higher number is better” often prevails, companies often use similar nomenclature. AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper platform X399, for example, is fighting for the same HEDT customers as Intel’s X299, while prefixes 3, 5, 7 and 9 have become standard to mark the performance class for both Intel and AMD processors.

The naming of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards is not entirely different either, but documentation of misguided points indicates that Intel’s upcoming graphics cards take a clear step from the well-trodden path. As previously known, Arc will be Intel’s equivalent of Radeon and Geforce. The first generation cards become part of the a-series and the individual models are distinguished by three characters.

It’s the well known one Twitter profile “momomo_us” who searched correctly for an Intel-signed document, where resellers and system builders are instructed on how to write the product names. It states that “Intel Arc a ### GPU” is approved, but exactly what the three squares substitute for can only be speculated. A guess as good as any is that the company redundantly shows generation and performance level, through names like a130, a150, a170 and a180. The company can also go back to its roots and drive on a740 variants, or be inspired by integrated graphics with names in the style of a630.

In the Twitter post, “momomo_us” points out that the name scheme can make it easy to keep track of the generations, as the next generation has the code name “Battlemage” and can become the b-series. The C and D series follow with third and fourth generation cards, which officially have the code names “Celestial” and “Druid”. With Nvidia’s and AMD’s series, the exact generation is a little less clear, even though for some generations now it has been a matter of consistent increases in the first number of product names.

How would you name the cards? Tell us in the comments thread!