ATi's Edge detect

[Anarchist420]

IIRC, I haven't asked anyone about it.

What are the drawbacks to it other than that it's slower (if there are any other drawbacks to it)?

If it were faster, would ATi need MSAA HW support?

I was asking because people complain about nvidia having better AA compatibility, but if edge detect is 100% compatible, then I don't see what to complain about.

If i were a young entrepreneur designing a GPU, I'd probably not have MSAA hardware support. I'd just have SG-SSAA (2/4/8x) and edge detect, so that the driver could just do it.

 

[Borealis7]

of course. you should just PWA the DBG on the TRN. after that you can set the AA to SC and forget about all the KHG. you POS.

less acronyms please.

</rant because i couldnt understand what he's saying.>

 

[Phynaz]

All you need to know:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2008/07/20/amds_ati_radeon_hd_4800_series_custom_filtering_aa

 

[BFG10K]

If it were faster, would ATi need MSAA HW support?

It’s unlikely to ever be faster because a dedicated resolve unit like a ROP will beat a general unit like a shader for such a thing. The 2xxx and 3xxx series implemented MSAA on the shaders and failed woefully in terms of performance.

Even if the shaders somehow became faster, DirectX 10.1 (and higher) mandates a minimum of 4xMSAA support.

I was asking because people complain about nvidia having better AA compatibility, but if edge detect is 100% compatible, then I don't see what to complain about.

People complain because there are a lot of games where it’s not possible to force AA on ATi’s parts but it is on nVidia’s parts. I have at least half a dozen such games.

Supposedly if you enable-edge detect without MSAA you’re still supposed to see some kind of benefit, but I never saw any evidence of that happening. What I saw was that if MSAA didn’t work in the game, CFAA wouldn’t either.

 

[Anarchist420]

So CFAA isn't 100&#37; compatible?

 

[Skurge]

DirectX 10.1 (and higher) mandates a minimum of 4xMSAA support.

Is this still the case today?

 

[Phynaz]

So CFAA isn't 100% compatible?

Compatible with what?

 

[BFG10K]

So CFAA isn't 100% compatible?

No, and that’s the funny thing: it should be, given it’s a shader-based post-filter. In theory it’s supposed to work in anything.

 

[BFG10K]

Is this still the case today?

Yes.

 

[Anarchist420]

No, and that’s the funny thing: it should be, given it’s a shader-based post-filter. In theory it’s supposed to work in anything.

Why isn't it?

Thanks for replying BFG10K🙂 I'm going to have to ask you a lot more questions in the future.