Anti-aliasing with 6xx/7xxx GPUs

[Anik8]

Hello all just want get these things straight so some suggestions and sharing your experiences will be very helpful.

Well the HD 7xxx GPUs seem to thrive in MSAA format of anti-aliasing,may be because of the higher memory bus width and bandwidth configurations.
Now the GTX 6xx series manages to do the job upto 4x MSAA.Anything higher than that kills their lead over the HD 7xxx GPUs.
But does the table turn when we choose SSAA/FSAA?How does Radeon cards perform here?

I have the gtx 660 ti that's coming with a poor 192bit wide memory bus and I ran Unigine Heaven 3.0 @ 1920x1080p with tessellation extreme,anisotropy 16x,and AA 8x which is most probably msaa.The average fps was 38.1 fps.Then I went to nv control panel and set AA transparency to 8x SSAA and ran heaven again with its own AA turned off.
To my astonishment the avg fps rose to 63.8 fps(a 25.7 fps gain) while the image quality was better than ever.It was hard to believe and so I tried surfing the net about this and came across this anandtech page -

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/12

After going through that it was certain to me that the 1344 cuda cores might be making the difference and that SSAA is rather more shader dependent than memory bandwidth.
But this option was not available in the control panel for Batman Arkham City demo so I switched to 16xQCSAA replacing fxaa to reduce the blur caused by fxaa.
Considering all these is it better for me to use AA from nv control panel and keep the application AA settings off.
Also how about using 16x QCSAA + 2x SSAA combo and lastly will I even need post processing AA along with these AA settings enabled?

 

[Anik8]

^ True that.
But If I want the best image quality,which AA option will I go with MSAA or SSAA/FSAA?
To me the SSAA seemed to give better AA,better image quality and better performance, the imga quality and AA especially improves you come across scenes involving fences and areas where you need AA in the interlocking gaps between high detailed objects.
And since I don't have a 7xxx card with me now, I'll be looking forward to you people to know how it churns out in these occasions.

 

[Anik8]

I see... Sleeping dogs eh?
Is there a demo of it available in the net?After reading your experience,I think this game might throw some proper answers.
On the other hand I'm getting 10-15 fps performance gains in BF3 too.

 

[Anik8]

I think I'll have to check it @ 1080p res to see the difference.
What AA settings did you use on this one?
Thanxx for the video btw...

 

[Anik8]

Looks very nice,the AA performance was also quite good,only the black levels seemed slightly washed out.
To see whether it was caused by fxaa only,I guess you'll have to run it with some non post processing AA types this time.

 

[Anik8]

oh ok, I gotta check this game out
Meanwhile I buffered it at 1080p all this time just to see you die on the hands of Ming.
How sad ending...

 

[Anik8]

This is a comparison done by benchmark3d.com.As you can see there's lack of shadows in the low settings,on medium the shadows are there but with much jagged edges which disappears completely in extreme setting.

 

[cooldudesubho]

SSAA is super sampling AA right?Should i use it with my gtx 670?And dude how much you get in unigine with same setting at 1600-900 res?That is extreme tess,8x msaa.

 

[cooldudesubho]

I am not talking about sleeping dogs.He said he got improvement in BF3 also.hahaha

 

[Anik8]

SSAA is super sampling AA right?Should i use it with my gtx 670?And dude how much you get in unigine with same setting at 1600-900 res?That is extreme tess,8x msaa.

Yes.. its super sampling AA and you seem to have a 6xx series GPU so i'll suggest you use this option from nv control panel.
In BF3 single player with SSAA I get over 100 fps most of the time.
Got 140-180+ fps in aerial combat during going hunting.
In multiplayer I'm getting 85+ fps avg while the lowest fps drop in 60/64 server was 38 fps.
With MSAA i got around 70-75 fps avg and lowest drop around 30 fps.
And yes I'll try running heaven @ 1600x900 for and will update you soon.

@ maximum game
whatever be the difference,its a difference and I'll pick the best one that my GPU can afford and that's why I created this thread.

 

[Anik8]

Good for me that until the stuff you're talking about be real and until it gets revealed,I'll enjoy better image quality at better fps. ^_^

 

[redeemer]

SMAA all day

seriously though MSAA is still the best

 

[Anik8]

^
I find some jaggies in between Hi-Res texture objects.
SSAA gets rid of them too.

 

[cooldudesubho]

Yes.. its super sampling AA and you seem to have a 6xx series GPU so i'll suggest you use this option from nv control panel.
In BF3 single player with SSAA I get over 100 fps most of the time.
Got 140-180+ fps in aerial combat during going hunting.
In multiplayer I'm getting 85+ fps avg while the lowest fps drop in 60/64 server was 38 fps.
With MSAA i got around 70-75 fps avg and lowest drop around 30 fps.
And yes I'll try running heaven @ 1600x900 for and will update you soon.

@ maximum game
whatever be the difference,its a difference and I'll pick the best one that my GPU can afford and that's why I created this thread.

You get 100 frames all the time in bf3 SP maxed full HD?Is that a joke?How much you get with 4xMSAA?What your battelog id?

 

[Anik8]

I never said always Its only during the Going Hunting mission in aerial combat that I get constant 140 fps with SSAA,haven't played it with 4x msaa.Battlelog id is aniket335 btw
And I got my gtx 660 ti this week so I've played 95hrs of bf3 multiplayer with my crappy gt 240 for months in low settings.

 

[Anik8]

I also find my gameplay smoother than ever.Before my enemies,rifle would often turn invisible when I played with my 240 so it was a real menace all these time.

 

[cooldudesubho]

Request sent.Add me up

 

[Anik8]

done adding you.