Graphics cards and their numbers/letters, what do they indicate?

[UKTone]

I have a 1050-TI graphics card and I can't use VR, says it requires GTX 970 or higher, to me 1050-TI should be higher, but compared the two here http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-970-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/2577vs3649 and it's much better and the 970 is more expensive even though it's 2 years older. So I'm guessing the 9/10 is basically the gen and the last two are their tiers.

How is it for AMD products? Can AMD use VR? Can it use VR using NVidia? Freesync?

What exactly do all those numbers mean? Edit: I see they have grey ?s so i guess what I really want to know is what determines it's VR compatible... which is what I ask next to an extent lol.

How would you know if a GPU is VR compatible?

Please clarify anything that you think I may not be aware of as well, thank you.

Edit 2: I have a Freesync monitor, i don't really see myself getting a gsync monitor any time soon, should I go with AMD so I can utilize Freesync? Is it that good? Does it help with any other programs besides games?

 

[13thmonkey]

Typically at the higher end of the tiers the the previous generation is a tier higher than the current gen for the same performance. so 1060 is roughly similar to a 970, 1050ti is similar to a 960, it's a rule of thumb and it breaks down at the lower levels and the 1080/1080ti has nothing to compare it to.