What's the difference between nVidia Geforce and ATI Radeon?

[Pseudonym]

Why is it that a nVidia Geforce 9800 graphics card has the number 9800 in it and ATI Radeon graphics card has something like 3450 in it? Are these two graphics cards equal in performance and cost? And what are two graphics cards from both brands, ATI Radeon and GeForce that can run Call of Duty 4 and Counter-strike:Source with no lag at all?

 

[airdogspace]

What was Ford called a care Focus, Why does Toyota call call its car a Camery, why does Sony call its the PS3. Why does intel call there processor Core 2 Duo. its just a model number, Each company can pick what ever name they want. usually with Graphic cards they have a certain chip set, and then build different versions around it. They probably are close to equal in performance, read reviews online and you well find more out then asking the question here (meaning did you search the web for that information) No lag? What does that mean? I can give you graphic cards that shouldn't have any lag, but there is more to a computer then just the graphic cards.

 

[When in Rome]

nVidia and ATi are competing companies and Geforce and Radeon are their graphics card lines. A nVidia Geforce 9800GTX is competitive with an ATi Radeon 4850. However, the 4850 is a better card all around and will give you the best performance. It is also probably cheaper or around the same price. Both will run CS:S with out any lag. For CoD4 they should run it fine as long as you arent using an 24"+ monitor on max resolution and max settings.Aditional: Here are some Benchmarks and articles.http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/11/summer-2008-graphics-performance-roundup/1http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341

 

[Rebirth Mishap]

XFX 8800 gtx 768 mb gddr3between 4 and 5 hundred bucks. can't be beat. and you dont need two of them in sli either.