Nvidia 3D Vision Vs. AMD HD3D: 18 Games, Evaluated

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It’s about time that someone performed a meaningful comparison of 3D-enabled games using Nvidia’s 3D Vision and AMD’s HD3D. We put 18 different titles under the microscope to determine which technology gives you the most playability, most often.

StarCraft II

AMD HD3D and the TriDef Ignition Driver:

Excellent 3D gameplay result, but slight anomalies in cut scenes

AMD HD3D and TriDef: While the 3D effect was obvious in-game, it doesn't seem to be obvious in this cross-view screenshot. We're not sure the TriDef screen capture utility worked properly with this game.

Using the TriDef ignition driver, StarCraft II renders flawlessly in actual gameplay. There are, however, some shadow anomalies in the cut scenes.

While the game natively supports 3D Vision with convergence and separation controls, those settings are not accessible when running AMD’s HD3D. The TriDef Ignition convergence control works fine, though.

Nvidia 3D Vision:

Excellent 3D result

Nvidia 3D Vision: Does an excellent job in this title

From what we’ve seen, Nvidia’s solution appears to work nearly perfectly, despite a warning from the 3D Vision OSD that suggests some objects and effects might be affected by visual anomalies. The only issue we experienced was that 3D character portraits showed the edge of the character instead of the center. But this is only a minor annoyance that disappears when 2D portraits are selected in the game settings.

Speaking of settings, StarCraft II has its own separation and convergence controls just for 3D Vision.

Don Woligroski
112 Comments Comment from the forums
  • renick
    nvidia 3d vision is best in all............
    Reply
  • Kamab
    Except for the ones where it's not recommended. Good thing I have one on this rig! Now I just got to shell out some cash for some 3D Tech.
    Reply
  • the_krasno
    3D is over hyped in my opinion, it will be some more time before games can correctly exploit it.
    Reply
  • falchard
    Everytime nVidia pushes out a proprietary format they shoot themselves in the foot. They just can't make it marketable with such a low market share. You need something like Microsofts 90% market share to think about making a closed standard.
    Anyone notice the bevel on the Samsung model. That beautiful for multi-monitor.
    Reply
  • Scanlia
    Great comprehensive review! Loved it.
    Reply
  • alyoshka
    Nice one, and really long awaited.
    Reply
  • i tried Tridef in EVE online, absolutely stunning. :)
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    During preliminary testing, we noticed that a decent Phenom II X4 had some trouble providing smooth frame rates, and mid-level graphics cards were cut down to their knees

    Time for Bulldozer!!!
    Reply
  • assassin123
    i loved it great review keep it up
    Reply
  • RazberyBandit
    Would it kill Tom's to use high-resolution pop-up pics? It's nearly impossible to discern any differences in detail or artifacts when comparing such low-resolution images. C'mon...1024 x 317? Seriously?
    Reply