I installed the beta 9050 catalyst drivers, not expecting a big improvement. First thing I noticed is that the FSAA/OpenGL/Direct3D tabs were missing from the properties tab. No FSAA, bullcrap! I use Rage3D Tweak anyway, so I used the interface to enable FSAA, but it was only called Smooth Vision 2X and 4X. First you have to enable the 7xxx option. I set the anisotropic filter to force 16 tap. Using 4X smooth vision at 1024 x 768 x 32 I hit 75fps average in Unreal! I verified FSAA was definately on 4X, absolutely amazing. Using the same settings I was able to play Mech4 Black Knight with no slowdowns. My Geforce2 Pro at 240/470 can't do that, I have to use 16-bit to play completely smooth when there is a lot of smoke and flames.
So is Smooth Vision supported by lesser Radeons? The 9050 driver for Win98 kicks butt, in real world gaming I am getting about the same performance as my Geforce2 Pro, in areas where HSR is needed the Radeon 32MB DDR is actually faster! I know this sounds unbelievable, but I have two Radeon 32MB DDR's and got similar results with both after much testing. I don't understand it, but I am not complaining. The 2D and 3D visual quality is also improved.
So is Smooth Vision supported by lesser Radeons? The 9050 driver for Win98 kicks butt, in real world gaming I am getting about the same performance as my Geforce2 Pro, in areas where HSR is needed the Radeon 32MB DDR is actually faster! I know this sounds unbelievable, but I have two Radeon 32MB DDR's and got similar results with both after much testing. I don't understand it, but I am not complaining. The 2D and 3D visual quality is also improved.