Do you use FSAA and AF, when gaming??

[pulse8]

I usually do 1280x960 with 2xFSAA and 8xAF.

Some games, like the Splinter Cell Demo, don't support AA so I don't use it, but it's such a great game I don't even notice.

 

[peter584]

What exactly do they do in laymens terms?

 

[Sniper82]

yeah anyone got a link that has a screen shot of before and after one of the two is enabled?

 

[DT4K]

I don't play with either because I have a GF3 and it would totally kill my fps on any of the games I play. (BF 1942, BF Vietnam).

AA (anti-aliasing) smooths out the the jagged edges you get where there are diagonal lines and curves. If you look at a diagonal line closely on your monitor, it will look like a staircase because of the individual pixels. AA works by shading the pixels next to the line according to the colors around it. It basically blends the colors. It really is an optical illusion.

A good explanation (although it is different from how video cards do it) can be found right here.
At first, you may think that the letter on the right looks worse. But back further away from the monitor and you will notice that it looks more like real curves rather than individual pixels.

I don't know much about AF (anisotropic filtering), but I'm sure you can google it as well as I.

 

[BFG10K]

AA removes artifacts such as aliasing (jagged edges), edge rolling and texture shimmering. The easiest place to spot a difference is on diagonal lines and texture edges.

AF maintains texture sharpness as they stretch away from the viewer. The easiest place to spot a difference is to look at the floor right in front of your feet and run your eyes along it until it drops off the screen. With bilinear/trilinear it'll get blurry very quickly while AF will keep it sharp at a distance proportional to the setting you selected.

 

[Dman877]

Never used aa or af in games. I've tried it but it never seemed to make a difference. I guess I don't study the graphics enough when I'm shooting people .

 

[eno]

If you are running a 9700pro or better, you'd better be running AA and AF at least 2x/4x(if not what a waste of power, empty framerate, once you are hittn constant 85-100, you should use the extra power for AA/AF). I usually aim for 1280x1024 w/ 4xAA/8xAF. With newer more demanding games I usually run 1152 since its a good in between from 1280 and 1024. Usually 1280 will lag the FPS down but 1152 will still look almost as good with just that extra bit of framerate. For the guys that run 1600x1200 or more..... why??? 1280 is damn high rez, anything higher you really have to turn off the AA/AF to keep the framerates up there. All I need is 1280x1024 @ 32bit, 6xAA 16xAF, 100hz/100fps(constant) VSYNC on and I am happy, can I actually get that in any games other than CS, uh... nope but hey thats hopefully what the next gen cards will allow.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: eno
If you are running a 9700pro or better, you'd better be running AA and AF at least 2x/4x(if not what a waste of power, empty framerate, once you are hittn constant 85-100, you should use the extra power for AA/AF). I usually aim for 1280x1024 w/ 4xAA/8xAF. With newer more demanding games I usually run 1152 since its a good in between from 1280 and 1024. Usually 1280 will lag the FPS down but 1152 will still look almost as good with just that extra bit of framerate. For the guys that run 1600x1200 or more..... why??? 1280 is damn high rez, anything higher you really have to turn off the AA/AF to keep the framerates up there. All I need is 1280x1024 @ 32bit, 6xAA 16xAF, 100hz/100fps(constant) VSYNC on and I am happy, can I actually get that in any games other than CS, uh... nope but hey thats hopefully what the next gen cards will allow.

9800 @ 350/350, no AA

 

[rbV5]

Depends on the game, but I'll generally shoot for 4xAA and 8xAF.

 

[caz67]

I can set AA and FSAA, via performance and quality settings.Its available at all times, regardless of games/apps.