Could beyond 3D get to the bottom of the driver issues?

[YeuEmMaiMai]

I find it very strange when reading the reviews that nVidia cards are so fast when I take a look at the IQ shots between the Radeon 9800Pro and nVidia GforceF? 5900 ultra and see that nVidia's FSAA and overallimage quality looks inferior.


Anyone want to explain why Ati's max 6x/ansio mode is on average 300% faster and looks BETTER than the 5900Ultra's 8x/ansio mode?

 

[Tim]

I find it very strange when reading the reviews that nVidia cards are so fast when I take a look at the IQ shots between the Radeon 9800Pro and nVidia GforceF? 5900 ultra and see that nVidia's FSAA and overallimage quality looks inferior.


Anyone want to explain why Ati's max 6x/ansio mode is on average 300% faster and looks BETTER than the 5900Ultra's 8x/ansio mode?

Ati´s AA looks better because is has better patterns (see some of the reviews here at B3D) and support gamma corrected AA. 8x AA is very slow because the GF FX hardware only supports 4x AA in hardware and has to mix AA-modes to reach 8x.

The 4xS is the best looking AA-mode on nVidia cards.

 

[Arun]

Yeah. Gamma Correction for AA is really a big plus for ATI. It's sad nVidia doesn't have it, because it dramatically improves IQ - often more than simply changing the sampling patterns.
Not joking either.

Uttar

 

[BoddoZerg]

The sampling patterns are just as important as gamma correction though. With 4x ordered grid, you only get 2 gradients of horizontal and vertical edges, while ATi's sparse sampling will give you 4 gradients. It's no wonder nVidia's 4x ordered-grid AA looks like crap.

4xS is a big improvement, since it's skewed, but it still is not as optimal as ATi's pattern.

8x AA on the GeForce line is a joke; it uses 4x supersampling (VERY SLOW!) mixed with 2x multisampling. Because of the grid pattern, it's no better than ATi's 4x MSAA at most angles.

 

[Reverend]

I find it very strange when reading the reviews that nVidia cards are so fast when I take a look at the IQ shots between the Radeon 9800Pro and nVidia GforceF? 5900 ultra and see that nVidia's FSAA and overallimage quality looks inferior.


Anyone want to explain why Ati's max 6x/ansio mode is on average 300% faster and looks BETTER than the 5900Ultra's 8x/ansio mode?

Maybe it's strange because the shootouts are done on a "level playing field" that, well, are not level playing field at all?