How much does IQ degrade with Nvidia Optimizations

[TheRyuu]

I already know about the almost 1/3 performance decrease from not using Optimizations (thanks BFG10k) but how about the IQ???

I'm just wondering. It's kinda pointless with my setup to have any optimizations on, but some games stress my system enough that the optimizations might make a game playable when it otherwise wouldn't be.

Thanks

 

[Elfear]

Really depends on the game from what I could tell with my SLI setup. Source games and a few others were pretty bad with default driver settings. Other games I couldn't tell that big of a difference.

 

[BFG10K]

It tends to vary according to the game but IQ degrades visibly almost across the board.

The main problem you'll have is a bow of shimmering that moves in front of you on the floor like a wave (e.g. Quake 4, Serious Sam 2).

In other games it's like a carpet of swarming bees on the floor (e.g. Chrome, Call of Duty).

The other problem you may have is wiggling wall textures, almost like they're blowing in the wind like a flag as you move towards them (e.g. Serious Sam, Undying).

I personally run High Quality across the board because I can't stand one iota of nVidia's optimizations. I've never minded the odd bit of shimmer but this is something else entirely.

I know you've already seen this but if you follow the links I posted there they will take you to some videos @ 3DCenter that show the issue quite clearly.