GAMEGPU.RU has retested using the latest 1.02 Far Cry 3 patch and the new drivers from AMD & Nvidia. They also have tested different AO / MSAA settings and
most importantly have included some screenshots comparing Ambient Occlusion quality on both vendor's cards.
http://translate.google.ca/translat...a=X&ei=Eqy_UNeOJeWg2AXZs4DQBA&ved=0CDUQ7gEwAA
Here are the ones I care about using 4xMSAA and the highest quality HDAO setting.
http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Far%20Cry%203%20v.%201.0.2/fc3%201920%20hd%204x.png[/IMG
[IMG]http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Far%20Cry%203%20v.%201.0.2/fc3%202560%20hd%204x.png[/IMG
Here is a comparison of the HDAO ambient occlusion setting on nvidia hardware vs AMD hardware. Gamegpu found HDAO works better on AMD hardware and presented higher IQ. This also helps to show the issue I found with HDAO on my setup with it over shadowing the image.
[IMG]http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Far%20Cry%203%20v.%201.0.2/foto/farcry3_hdao.jpg[/IMG
If you look at the bush on the far left of the image you can see it looks almost blacked out on nvidia vs the softer effect seen on AMD. It helps to see it across the whole image from both vendors. Not sure why, but with nvidia it makes everything really dark. In certain situations you can really notice it characters in the game.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately the pictures have a different contrast and colors that make it difficult to compare. But you can see the bush in the background with excessive shadows and this should not happen with HDAO. The problem does not occur with HBAO.