ATi's X800 Pulls Off Another Coup in the Graphics Performance War

Image Quality

FSAA

Let's start off our quality comparison with a look at image quality.

Click for uncompressed view (PNG)

Since NVIDIA launched its GeForce 6800 Ultra, ATi and NVIDIA have been tied in this discipline. In some cases, ATi still offers the better picture thanks to its gamma-corrected AA.

Click for uncompressed view (PNG)

NVIDIA's 8xS mode, a combination of SuperSampling and MultiSampling, offers superior quality. Unfortunately, it also incurs a major performance hit, bringing the frame rates crashing down.

The GeForce 6800 Ultra wins this discipline, albeit by a slim margin. ATI, on the other hand, is trying to answer this new threat to its traditional turf with its new Temporal-AA (see above). Unfortunately, due to the obligatory V-Sync, this AA mode cannot be benchmarked correctly. Also, as we explained before, the effect can't be seen in screenshots.