understanding AA on the 8800gts 320

[Xarick]

So.. first off the IQ of this card is amazing. I had no idea that there was such a difference. But that is beside the point.

Here is my question. In source games such as counter-strike source the option in the game is for 4xaa. I turn that on and the AA looks like ass. But if I use the nvidia panel to force 4xAA it looks amazingly smooth.

What is going on here?

 

[chizow]

There's an article about this very thing on AT's main page. Enabling AA through the game won't tell you what sampling method is being used, but enabling it through the driver gives you more control as it'll override the game settings when that option is enabled. Its probably default CSAA in CS and MSAA or SSAA (though I doubt it since they just brought SSAA back in the 100 series) when you enable it in the CP.