GeForce FX 6800Ultra -previews thread

VtC said:
Pixel crawl is most noticeable when you're moving through a scene and concentrating on the opening to a hallway or something. Having to ignore the movement along the edges of the "solid" walls while looking for the movement of an enemy is distracting. Then, there's the joy of watching pixels race across the horizon while you're moving towards it.

I almost never notice aliasing at higher resolutions when I'm sitting still, but it's still annoying when I'm moving.
Click to expand...

Joe DeFuria said:
I'm sure I would notice it. (Because I notice aliasing at 1600x1200 with 4X AA). Particularly in real time, because the "smoother" the frame rate is, the easier it actually is to notice aliasing effects.

And btw, I don't buy $500 cards to run CPU limited games, having untapped GPU power which could be tapped....if onlyit supported better AA. ;)
Click to expand...

Points well made and well taken :oops: Given ATI's 6x mode and Nvidia's pretty much unplayable 8x mode what could Nvidia have done to fill the gaping hole between their 4x and 8x modes given what we know of NV40s architecture.
 
Overall I'm very impressed with the 6800ultra.

The only things I don't like...


AA wasn't improved enough.

AF had been downgraded to ATI style.

Hot air from the card is blown into the case instead of out. Hot air in the case is a bit more acceptable if the card is a single slot solution, but for a dual slot+ solution it should be taken outside the case. I suspect there will be enough variations from card vendors to fix this problem.

The card requires a bit too much power.

The only other problem I see is that much of the power of the new round of video cards will be wasted on my Athlon 3000.

I was really hoping to avoid another mobo processor upgrade before the move to PCIe but that looks to be un avoidable now if I want to use the new cards' additional power.

I guess the good news is that my 9800XT seems to be pretty well matched to my current system.


Looks like I'll have some tough decisions to make in the coming months. :(
 
Deathlike2 said:
Those guys who complain about ATI's adaptive aniso really should shut up now though...
Click to expand...

That might be something that you can choose though. And i'll be very disapointed if you can't.
 
trinibwoy said:
Given ATI's 6x mode and Nvidia's pretty much unplayable 8x mode what could Nvidia have done to fill the gaping hole between their 4x and 8x modes given what we know of NV40s architecture.
Click to expand...

Well, the hope was, that NV40 would have been "architected" to at least match the R300 in AA quality. That is, offer the following:

1) Rotated or sparse sampled grid support for MSAA modes
2) Add gamma correction
3) Increase MSAA sample numbers to greater than 4X

They managed 1 out of 3. Good start, but not as far as we'd like to see.

Given that the highest end cards will offer double the memory footprint of last generation, I was (am) hoping for someone to offer and 8x sparse sampled MSAA mode.
 
That might be something that you can choose though. And i'll be very disapointed if you can't.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a no... for ATI, you would need to use a 3rd party app to be able to remove this optimization.. I think...

Of course, NVidia should let the option become available though (either by coolbits or available by default)
 
Deathlike2 said:
Of course, NVidia should let the option become available though (either by coolbits or available by default)
Click to expand...

Couple reviewers alluded to the HQ mode being the regular Euclidean calculation for AF but that it had not been exposed by the beta drivers. Guess we'll have to wait and see......
 
Sxotty said:
Ailuros said:
But other than that the card looks like a freakin' wet dream...
Click to expand...


I'll remain perfectly dry, until I see what the competition has in store.
Click to expand...

This simply goes to show you are a fan of ATI and not technology. When I see a huge jump like that I of course get excited, and like I said in the news post that doesn't mean I run out and preorder, that means I wait patiently to see what ATI releases...
Click to expand...

If I could be accused of having a preference, then it would be entirely irrelevant to what both IHVs release. I buy hardware from both of them, yet only after I see what each of them has to offer.

Oh you're waiting too; so what exactly differentiates your mindset from mine? Instead of throwing around idiotic accusations you might want to read between the lines next time.
 
Oh BTW did everybody see that :?:
Futuremark has reviewed the ForceWare 60.72 drivers for the launch of the GeForce 6800 Series graphics cards at NVIDIA's specific request. We found that the 60.72 drivers used with the GeForce 6800 Series fulfill the optimization guidelines for 3DMark03 Build 340. Please note that the ForceWare 60.72 drivers are approved only for the GeForce 6800 Series graphics cards, and any future approved WHQL drivers will replace the 60.72 non-WHQL drivers.
Click to expand...
http://www.futuremark.com/community/drivers/?approved
 
Certainly good to know. But i think that it's a bit pathetic unless they also remove the cheats for the NV3X. It'll be a bit to much "we like 3D Mark, but only when we have cards that like 3D Mark".
 
how many non-cybernetically enhanced people can notice the difference between 4x and 8x AA @ 1600x1200 in real time? I don't buy games to stare at screenshots.
Click to expand...

I notice it quite easily at 1280*1024 which is what I play all my games at. I even notice the difference with ATi's 4* & 6*.
 
Bjorn said:
Certainly good to know. But i think that it's a bit pathetic unless they also remove the cheats for the NV3X. It'll be a bit to much "we like 3D Mark, but only when we have cards that like 3D Mark".
Click to expand...
I think we will have to wait till NV4* product line is available from high end to low end, and then many of the cheats will be removed.

But well, it's good to know that there's no cheat for NV40.
 
Evildeus said:
I think we will have to wait till NV4* product line is available from high end to low end, and then many of the cheats will be removed.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that that'll be the case also. Remove the cheats when nobody really cares about the NV3X anymore, well, expect for the people that bought them that is.
 
Current NV40 driver 8x mode is somewhat broken. It does 4xOGSS + 2xRGMS. It should be 4xRGMS + 2xOGSS. That's why it takes such a huge hit. 4x shader hit vs 2x hit. When an 4xMS+2xSS mode gets added, it should be more usable.

Also, GCAA isn't neccessarily impossible to implement. I outlined some ways how to do it in another thread. Certain hardware architectures are more amenable to the techniques I suggested.
 
DemoCoder said:
Current NV40 driver 8x mode is somewhat broken. It does 4xOGSS + 2xRGMS. It should be 4xRGMS + 2xOGSS. That's why it takes such a huge hit. 4x shader hit vs 2x hit. When an 4xMS+2xSS mode gets added, it should be more usable.
Click to expand...

The 8X mode looked really good though. And it'll probably be usable in a lot of games also. But of course, a 6X MSAA mode would have been a really nice addition.
 
Here's the problem with 1600x1200..... I can't read text at that rez! So, unless the game has the ability to size the text, it's pretty useless on those game that have text!
 
DemoCoder said:
Current NV40 driver 8x mode is somewhat broken. It does 4xOGSS + 2xRGMS. It should be 4xRGMS + 2xOGSS. That's why it takes such a huge hit. 4x shader hit vs 2x hit. When an 4xMS+2xSS mode gets added, it should be more usable.
Click to expand...
3DCenter did several benches with 4xRGMS + 2xOGSS
http://www.3dcenter.org/artikel/nv40_benchmarks/index6.php (German)
This mode ("reg18") is currently only available in D3D.

Note that the pattern image for "reg18" is wrong. It should really show 4xRGMS + 2xOGSS, which means an EER of 8x4
 
Evildeus said:
But well, it's good to know that there's no cheat for NV40.
Click to expand...

yet....

...i wouldnt be surprised that if ATI release a product that starts beating the NV4x then cheats will start appearing....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Rys
X800 XT/PRO Review Links
Replies
2
Views
2K
MuFu
M
Back
Top