Reading various reviews and comparions of ATi and nVidia cards, it is a clear impression that ATi's key strength is its antialiasing capabability (both the resulting speed of the antialiasing as well as the apparent quality). In still shots, ATi (even as an nVidia hardliner), I must admit ATi has the advantage. With such an emphasis on framerates sparks the following question: what is the value (and point) of super-ultra-high-insane-quality antialiasing (and other quality related filtering) when you are playing your game in excess of 60fps (60 was chosen to include last generation cards as well as the up-and-coming X800/6800 series). Sure I can understand the emphasis on quality if you are playing at ~30-40fps but at ridiculously high framerates, isnt it a moot point? Sure -- the character in the game can stop moving and there wouldnt really by any frames per second -- but shouldn the VC (or game) detect "non motion" or "very low motion" and automatically ramp up the quality of the display then. Seriously, I dont think many of the serious/casual gamers have the time to sit there and say to themselves "Gee the AA and ansio on this Link beam is really well done!" . Even on, say, 2x AA (which presents virtually zero performance hit) at 60fps -- it doesnt look bad. Granted its not as sharp and smooth as if you had full AA and ansio but often players are too busy running around and shooting stuff (or flying or doing whatever their game entails etc) rather than camping in some spot and admiring the view. Thoughts? Opinions?
I agree. I've always run my 9800 Pro at full AA/Ansio simply because I could until I got Far Cry. It has the best graphics I've ever seen and boy does it cost! In the Catalyst Control Panel I had to move my settings from "Optimal Quality" (4X AA/16X Ansio) to "High Quality" (2X AA/ 8X Ansio) to get the framerates high enough for smooth play. The surprising thing is, I don't notice a whole hell of a lot of difference. Just like you said Praetor, the only time I can notice is if I look at a still screen and actually look for differences but that isn't the point of a game anyway In real world use the differences are largely academic.
