Just switched from an AGP ATi card to a PCIe nVidia card

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GML3G0

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2005
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Well, I just came from an ATi card to an nVidia card... wow, this 6800GS renders like crap... I just played some CS:S. and the textures just could't compare. ATi was overall smoother gameplay. At a distance, the models look like CS 1.5 players... And this is with max settings 12x10. Any drivers that improve the IQ? How are those NGO drivers?
 
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SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
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What ATI card did you have before? Obviously if it was something like an X850XT, you wouldn't have actually been making an upgrade...:p
 
5150Joker

5150Joker

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Feb 6, 2002
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www.techinferno.com
I sorta felt that way when I made the switch from my X800XT PE to the 7800 GTX. It was an incremental step forward in fps gain but I didn't think the IQ was any better - in fact it was worse with respect to AF.
 
moonboy403

moonboy403

Golden Member
Aug 18, 2004
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really?...i upgraded from 9800 pro to 6800 gt and i couldn't really tell the difference

maybe i'm just not that sensitive to iq
 
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GML3G0

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2005
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Originally posted by: 5150Joker
I sorta felt that way when I made the switch from my X800XT PE to the 7800 GTX. It was an incremental step forward in fps gain but I didn't think the IQ was any better - in fact it was worse with respect to AF.
Click to expand...

It was an X800XT. I wanted to move to PCI Express and wanted an X2, and my games aren't too demanding, so the 6800GS was perfect at that price range. I sacrificed a bit of GPU power for more RAM and an X2.

The 6800GS seems to match it in FPS, but comes no where near in IQ at the same settings.
 
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GML3G0

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2005
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well, overclocked, it should come pretty damn close to my old card. still waiting on USPS to bring me some stuff from Jab-Tech :mad;

Double the RAM, X2, similar graphics performance. not really a downgrade...
 
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hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
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Um....last time i checked, the image quality was pretty much the same. I think it's in your head. Either that or i'm just not picky at all. My games look fine on my 6600gt...
 
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GML3G0

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2005
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Damn, I should've saved the screenshots I had before reinstalling Windows... I could've done a side by side comparison. It's not in my head... At a distance, there's a noticeable difference. I'll try DoD:S now and see how it is.
 
n7

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
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Originally posted by: hans030390
Um....last time i checked, the image quality was pretty much the same. I think it's in your head. Either that or i'm just not picky at all. My games look fine on my 6600gt...
Click to expand...


LOL, you also think your Sony with 512 MB RAM is okay & that SM 3.0 is hallowed technology ;)

nVidia is known to often have inferior IQ, so this doesn't surprise me.
(I'm not implying other companies are perfect; they're not)

It's been a bit since i had my 6800GT, but IIRC, the default driver setting is only 2nd best quality; you have to manually set it to high quality?
Maybe try that?
 
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sjwaste

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2000
8,760
12
81
Don't complain about image quality unless you were using a Riva 128 card back in the day :) Those had horrid image quality!
 
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Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
5150: You mightve had a point, until you mentioned the anisotropic filtering... where ATis adaptive algorithm doesnt use AF on some edges AT ALL...

The IQ is different, its certinaly not worse on either company, and LOD falloff in CS sounds like a computer/setting issue.
 
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McArra

Diamond Member
May 21, 2003
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Try XG81.98HD drivers, they improve IQ and keep the performance. Also use High Quality Setting in the control panel.
NGOs are for speed, not for IQ.
 
Fern

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
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106
Originally posted by: McArra
Try XG81.98HD drivers, they improve IQ and keep the performance. Also use High Quality Setting in the control panel.
NGOs are for speed, not for IQ.
Click to expand...

Linky please? I got no love from a Google search.

Fern
 
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Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
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Originally posted by: GML3G0
Look at that. And this is with all the settings maxed out.

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4035/dedust00019py.jpg
Click to expand...

Low-res texture on that wall (or else, as suggested, your LOD or mip-map settings are wrong and it's not switching to a high-res version of the texture). If your settings are right and it's just a crappy texture, there's not much you can do.

http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/6100/dedust00031ba.jpg
Click to expand...

Moire from the transparent texture on the chain-link. Upgrading to a 7800 or X1800 card and using Transparency AA will help (see various reviews of said cards for screenshots). SSAA on NVIDIA cards will also help, but will hose your framerates (as you noted below). This will look bad on any card without resampling for transparent textures.

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/3492/dedust00021yh.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are circling here, especially since the JPEG has been compressed to hell and back (so I can't tell what was there originally and what was introduced by the compression). AF will help with the texturing on the floor/walls, and AA might improve clarity in the distance a bit. To make things that are far away look more detailed, you need a higher screen resolution.

I couldn't get a screenshot in game of how bad the AA is on the guns...
Click to expand...

Probably, again, a result of textures that aren't detailed enough. CS:S just isn't *that* detailed visually. Try checking out the Lost Coast level for HL2; that has a lot of higher-res textures throughout it.

the AA and AF still show. so many jagged edges...
Click to expand...

NVIDIA's AA is often somewhat inferior compared to ATI's on the GF6 and earlier cards (NVIDIA uses ordered-grid sampling, which generally doesn't work as well on edges that are nearly vertical or horizontal). 4xAA on NVIDIA is often closer in real-world quality to 2xAA on ATI.
 
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GML3G0

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2005
1,356
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For that first screenshot, forget the wall... look at the AWP... some of the textures are just screwed up.

AF will help with the texturing on the floor/walls, and AA might improve clarity in the distance a bit. To make things that are far away look more detailed, you need a higher screen resolution.
Click to expand...

Looked just fine on my ATi card with the same exact settings, but now everything is so fuzzy at a distance with this card.
 
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vision33r

Member
Jan 21, 2005
106
0
0
I upgraded from X800 Pro to 6800GT, got a good performance boost but IQ is about the same but I do know there is a difference. I think it is not really anything to do with the AA, it has to do with the colors. Nvidia's white balance is more towards the grey or darker side and the red looks more muddy than ATI's brighter red.

I adjusted the color balance and loaded a color scheme to make the colors more accurate and improved the image quality quite a bit.

For those that think that image quality sux on the nvidia, give that a try. I think it really is a preference issue. The default color balance on nvidia is just different than ATI.
 
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smthmlk

Senior member
Apr 19, 2003
493
0
0
um, why are there no screenshots from your old ATI card of the same scene at the same (or comparable) settings in some lossless image format? Saying "oh, it USED to look better on my ati card" is not going to suffice here. Give us some head to head comparisons and then we can start to track down the problem (if there is one) and offer suggestions to correct it (if there are any ways to correct it).
 
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