SLI AA *16X AA* in NV 77.76 (Tomorrow)

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FanATIc

Gawd
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Took the chunk out of it that matters.

Saving the best for last is a new mode, 16X antialiasing, or as it is officially called SLi AA mode. SLi AA comes in two flavors, 8x and 16x, both of which offer a potentially huge benefit for quality on CPU bound games. I noticed that the 7800GTX is pretty much better than any CPU out there, it is nearly impossible to push this card to the limit on many games, including some of the most modern ones. Until the FX-59 comes out, the video card will be spending more time waiting for the CPU than the other way around.

What do you do if you are a lonely California GPU maker and you feel for these cards? You make work for them, and do it in a way that is pleasing to the eye, hence the SLi part of SLi AA. What it does is have one card do either 4x or 8x antialiasing, for 8x and 16x modes respectively, and combines them before output. This is a completely new form of SLi, and does not work in AFR or Split Screen modes.

Before you scratch your head and wonder about this, for games that do not get any more speed in SLi mode, this can be a major benefit, you can double the AA mode and not take a speed hit. The visual quality there should be pretty noticeable, but how it accomplishes that is just as big a win. The trick here is that one card picks one AA pattern, and the other one takes a different pattern. When combined, you end up with a more sophisticated and higher quality image.

So, in the end, the new drivers, most likely 77.76, the last digit may change, will be out tomorrow, barring any last minute bugs. They won't bring massive frame rate improvements, but they do bring a new SLi mode and bridgeless SLi to the table. They should at the very least be very interesting for geeks to fiddle with, and with the upcoming 80.xx drivers should pick up the performance race again. Looks like these will be a lot of fun.
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http://www.theinq.net/?article=24720

If this is true, which i assume it is, better get pic comparisons ;).
 
Just doing this for my own curiosity.

bighl278008xsliaa2zv.jpg


bighl2780016xsliaa4qa.jpg
 
only place i really see change is in fine distances, tree branches and railings for example. Hey free mode, whos gonna complain.
 
something is wrong with part of the water reflection in those nvidia screens. looks all borked.
 
FanATIc said:
only place i really see change is in fine distances, tree branches and railings for example. Hey free mode, whos gonna complain.
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What are those comparisons of?
 
So this is only for like 6800U's in SLI and 7800GTX's? Us lowly 6600GT SLI users cant handle it eh? :D
 
I see no difference... btw make them side by side... or it's worthless.

~Adam
 
Side by side is easier? Okay....someone has a widescreen monitor ;P
The most noticable thing are the tree branches, they dont look as particled. Other then that, its pretty close.

bighl278008xsliaa9zf.jpg
 
I'm using a 6600gt as noted in my sig and I noticed instantly how much nVidia cards suck at FSAA when I tried it... that "16xFSAA" looks like 4xFSAA on my 9600 Pro. If I didn't sell it I would GLADLY compare it.
 
Frankly that little of a difference isn't worth the performance hit 8xaa sounds like it would have... though sli... hmm.. how much of a perf hit do you get?

~Adam
 
Borgschulze said:
Can you do that with 4xFSAA on an ATi comparing 16xFSAA on the nvidia card?
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6AA ATI vs 16AA Nvidia, i really wish they would of enabled Temporal AA though, would of been 12AA effective for ATI. It does appear the reflections are either screwed up again, or still broke on Nvidias part though. Not sure which...heh

bigx8506xaa9ku.jpg
 
CleanSlate said:
Frankly that little of a difference isn't worth the performance hit 8xaa sounds like it would have... though sli... hmm.. how much of a perf hit do you get?

~Adam
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I agree, the comercial comes to mind where they say "If you cant tell the difference, why should we?"
 
Not worth all the hype, if there is any. Going from no AA to 4xAA is a big leap. But this isn't worth a dime. :(

I can't tell a bit of difference from the 6xAA to the 16x. :confused:

Especially if you are running around blowing things to bits.

Nice for SLi peeps though. ;)
 
If anyone was to tell me that was 16xaa i seriously wouldn't have guessed :confused:
 
FanATIc said:
6AA ATI vs 16AA Nvidia, i really wish they would of enabled Temporal AA though, would of been 12AA effective for ATI. It does appear the reflections are either screwed up again, or still broke on Nvidias part though. Not sure which...heh
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I thought you couldn't screenshot temporal? And what is the deal with the water? Is this a bug or does nvidia just think it's supposed to look like that?

Also, I think it's getting a little silly with these insane AA modes...can you even really see this while playing the game? Personally I think 8xS is plenty...
 
Interesting. I get a huge bug with BF2 and Transparency AA set to Supersampling. Error as in, no chain, in the chainlink fence. And then in other cases, it just looks like crap.

I would like NV to fix these problems, with these new features. Who wants barely better looking trees, with crappy looking water? It looks much too grainy, as well as the hill next to it. Something it wrong for sure. Im pretty confident they will fix the problems pretty fast though.

http://home.comcast.net/~denverspictures/BF2/BF2error.JPG

1. As you can see.. no chain in the chainlink fence. Or barbed wire. Which makes it pretty hard to get thru. As there is usually a small hole, but if you cant see it.. you're just running around like a rat outside of the cage, and you cant get in.

2. I am not sure which is better. No chain, or when it looks as bad as this.. ugh.

(my MS paint skills suck)

But as I said, I think they will fix them pretty soon. And something new, is better than nothing at all. But as it stands now, I cant use this highly touted new feature without some serious ill effects. Which is a shame, because it makes the grass look much better to me.
 
foofighter06 said:
Not worth all the hype, if there is any. Going from no AA to 4xAA is a big leap. But this isn't worth a dime. :(

I can't tell a bit of difference from the 6xAA to the 16x. :confused:

Especially if you are running around blowing things to bits.

Nice for SLi peeps though. ;)
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Differences are always more easily depicted when looking at a dynamic medium (ie. In the game). Screenshots never can truly capture the image quality of a game (IMO).


I think that it's at least nice that Nvidia is giving high end enthusiasts a bone to chew on while they wait for the next wave of demanding games to come around.
 
Agreed. The differences are obvious zoomed in 200% but from afar it's basically useless and a waste of framebuffer space.

The SLI 8x is better than the 8xS mode but then you have to give up AFR or SFR. This really is just marketing to counter superAA (which would have been a nice feature had Crossfire actually showed up). Interesting how superAA got such rave reviews and there's only criticism for this though.....

This is competition at its best. I'm sure if Crossfire was out, that disappearing fence/white railing bug would have been squashed promptly. But they're dilly-dallying since they're the only game in town ATM.
 
Yes, there is a difference in the 850XT and the 7800GTX. You can see in the trees... the GTX's tree is smoother and cleaner while the 850's tree edge is kinda blurred. But I don't care... they both look good! I'm happy with me 7800GTX here. eheheh.

Is it possible to do this x16AA with only one 7800GTX card?
 
Much of a framerate hit with 16xfsaa? Im assuming there would be at least.
 
trinibwoy said:
Yeah, using nHancer 16x is accessible even on the NV40. http://www.nhancer.com. Should be the next thing every Nvidia user installs right after the drivers :)
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Ty for the link, might give it a shot on my gt if it arrives tomorrow :)

Edit: does that allow those new gtx modes to be used on nv40's as well? That link seems to say so. :eek:
 
Chris_B said:
Ty for the link, might give it a shot on my gt if it arrives tomorrow :)

Edit: does that allow those new gtx modes to be used on nv40's as well? That link seems to say so. :eek:
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Welcome. Yeah, looks like the only thing the GTX has over NV40 feature wise is TSAA. But we'll have to wait on confirmation - maybe the new modes are hardware assisted somehow but I doubt it.
 
trinibwoy said:
Pointless - not to SLI owners
Marketing - definitely
Scam - please explain
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8x AA is more than enough, actually anything over 4x is. If you notice jaggies with 4x AA on then you're not actually playing a game. It's a scam because it's going to lure people into buying NVIDIA cards because they think they need this super duper ultimate AA.
 
kick@ss said:
8x AA is more than enough, actually anything over 4x is. If you notice jaggies with 4x AA on then you're not actually playing a game. It's a scam because it's going to lure people into buying NVIDIA cards because they think they need this super duper ultimate AA.
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I agree 8xAA is enough at the resolutions I play at. Don't get how it's a scam though. ATi is offering the exact same thing so nobody is going to buy Nvidia just because of this.
 
trinibwoy said:
I agree 8xAA is enough at the resolutions I play at. Don't get how it's a scam though. ATi is offering the exact same thing so nobody is going to buy Nvidia just because of this.
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ATi announced the feature over a month ago...and now Nvidia has it and they still don't...funny how that works...

They're only enabling this to compete with CrossFire...by the time CrossFire comes out, many of the reasons for buying it will also be available for SLi...no doubt that's nvidia's intention...
 
I don't fully understand nHancer.

1. Will it overide the settings set in the games?
2. After setting the nHancer, does it mean you don't need to set the settings on the game anymore?
 
Does anyone think the water in the nVidia shots looks better? To me, the ATi water looks bland and basic and the hills around it look blurry, whereas in the nVidia shot the water is crisp and lifelike and the hills look sharper.
 
I disagree... I think the ATI shots look more realistic. While the nv shots look all sharded and choppy, almost buggy.

~Adam
 
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