Poor anti-aliasing in most games / 2 years without solution

loginuser9999

Honorable
Jun 8, 2013
32
0
10,530
Hi -

I have posted on this topic before but thought I would post one more time to see if we can uncover any new or different ideas.

I love gaming and have a i7-2600k system with GTX780 3GB, SSD Intel 300 series and 8GB Ram. I have a 1200W power system, which I am sure is working correctly.

On the software side, I run my OS and all games on my main C:\ drive, have the most recent updates on Windows 8 and have the most recent Nvidia drivers. I have tried also using Windows 7 and trying to use non-beta or older Nvidia drivers and none of these changes solve my problems.

So - prior to 2010, I had an older system on which I played a number of games. These included World of Warcraft, League of Legends, a bunch of shooters, racing games, etc.

In the past, I never had as bad issues with dithering on edges and poor anti-aliasing in games. I particularly see this in the trees and areas with lighted shadows in World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto IV (where it is really bad), Total War Series games, etc...which are all DX9. ESO was so bad I don't even want to play because of the dithering.

However, I also see it in DX10/11 games, like the beta for wildstar, and many, many others.

I have tried every possible thing over the course of a year. I updated my monitor to a 2500x1600 screen. I upgraded my video card.

Many people, much smarter than me about this stuff, have pointed out that many games just have poor anti-aliasing, and that poor optimization of shadows causes annoying jagged edges in many games no matter what you. However, unless I'm delusional, I could have sworn I never had these problems as bad in the past.

I've tried using SMAA injectors, which definitely help in games just as Age of Wonders III, but their benefit is very mixed. For example, they don't work for me in GTA IV.

I've even tried manually anti-aliasing and maxing out settings using the Geforce control panel, and that doesn't work either.

I am kind of at wits end and, as a result, don't even play games that have obvious poor dithering. Basically, I've found myself limited to enjoying games that are mostly top-down, like AoW 3, Diablo 3, Hearthstone, Dota 2, etc, that don't have as much potential for anti-aliasing issues. This is obviously a minor concern in the larger scheme of life, but for my gaming concerns, it has ruined my enjoyment of basically every open-world 3d game like Skyrim, Warcraft, Dishonored, Battlefield, etc.

Any suggestions on what to try? I would really appreciate any new or fresh ideas.

Thanks so much
 
G

Guest

Guest
When you move from a weaker system to a more powerful one, you get higher frame rates. While higher frame rates make the game feel more fluid, they also make aliasing much more obvious. Have you tried the same games on a friend's system? Do they look the same, or not? Also it would be helpful if you posted your system specs (CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, OS, Monitor) and a game screenshot from your system.
 
In my AMD driver advanced controls there is an AA quality level setting. Check to see if your nVidia driver control panel has a similar advanced section and AA quality setting.

If you are using a preset like Performance/Balance/Quality and go with performance, your image quality is going to suffer.
 

loginuser9999

Honorable
Jun 8, 2013
32
0
10,530
Hi guys:

CPU - I7-2600k
GPU - GTX 780 3GB
RAM - 8GB
PSU - 1200W Gold
OS - Windows 8.1, although I've tried running it on Windows 7 too and no difference
Monitor - Dell Ultra 30 inch 2560x1600

I have tried every possible setting of Nvidia driver control panel too and it hasn't helped

And I haven't tried the game on friends' systems, but I will
 
G

Guest

Guest
A screenshot would be very helpful in illustrating your problem. Also, you may want to look into "downsampling". Please check the following link for details: http://www.tested.com/tech/pcs/454383-aliasing-be-gone-how-downsample-pc-games/
 
G

Guest

Guest


Can you try another monitor that isn't marketed towards office work?
something with lower grey to grey response times or a 120/144hz gaming monitor (i use the word gaming loosely) Your PC specs look good but what you see comes down to the quality of the panel sitting in front of your face, it could be that is 30inches you may just be to close.