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What's the best type of AA to use with the 4870?

N

nib95

Senior member
I have options for Box, Narrow-Tent, Wide-Tent and Edge-Detect.

What are the differences and which do you guys recommend using?
 
Stick to box and edge modes as the rest blur the image. Also 12x (4x edge) doesn?t seem that good as it has inferior IQ to 8x (box) but a higher performance hit, but YMMV on that one.
 
Yea, just did a quick test. Seems to me like 8x Box MSAA and 24x Edge detect MSAA have about the same IQ, but Box AA is far better for performance. So I think I'll stick with Box.
 
i think its dependent on what apps you have running? sometimes i can enable edge while a game is running. sometimes i cant. i think the app has to support it.
 
Originally posted by: vgkarthik88
i think its dependent on what apps you have running? sometimes i can enable edge while a game is running. sometimes i cant. i think the app has to support it.
Click to expand...

I have the option from CCC before even loading any app. Are you using the hotfix drivers?
 
Originally posted by: sticks435

Is Edge only available on the 4870 or with certain monitors? I have a 4850, and only have the first 3 options.
Click to expand...
No, edge should be available on 2xxx cards and up. It's a shader based resolve that detects polygon, texture and shader edges.

Originally posted by: vgkarthik88

i think its dependent on what apps you have running? sometimes i can enable edge while a game is running. sometimes i cant. i think the app has to support it.
Click to expand...
This is false; CFAA is a driver level implementation and applications don't even know about it. When you select anti-aliasing from applications you'll only ever get the box variant.
 
Without getting too technical (if thats possible) does anyone know what the difference is between these forms of AA?
 
Originally posted by: geoffry
Without getting too technical (if thats possible) does anyone know what the difference is between these forms of AA?
Click to expand...

  • Box: all samples are taken from the same pixel and there?s no blurring. This mode is basically traditional multi-sampling.
  • Narrow Tent: in addition to box filtering, one sample is also taken from each adjacent pixel resulting in slight blurring.
  • Wide Tent: same as Narrow Tent except two samples are taken from each adjacent pixel resulting in more blurring.
  • Edge Detect: samples adjacent pixels like Narrow Tent and Wide Tent (three from each IIRC) but the shader detects polygon, shader and texture edges and only anti-aliases those which means blurring should be insignificant.
 
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Originally posted by: geoffry
Without getting too technical (if thats possible) does anyone know what the difference is between these forms of AA?
Click to expand...

  • Box: all samples are taken from the same pixel and there?s no blurring. This mode is basically traditional multi-sampling.
  • Narrow Tent: in addition to box filtering, one sample is also taken from each adjacent pixel resulting in slight blurring.
  • Wide Tent: same as Narrow Tent except two samples are taken from each adjacent pixel resulting in more blurring.
  • Edge Detect: samples adjacent pixels like Narrow Tent and Wide Tent (three from each IIRC) but the shader detects polygon, shader and texture edges and only anti-aliases those which means blurring should be insignificant.
Click to expand...

Marked for later read and investigation.

Vista64 is up and running at home, AoC is currently updating while Im at work. I need to get myself up to speed with all these new/common AA abbreviations.
 
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Originally posted by: sticks435

Is Edge only available on the 4870 or with certain monitors? I have a 4850, and only have the first 3 options.
Click to expand...
No, edge should be available on 2xxx cards and up. It's a shader based resolve that detects polygon, texture and shader edges.
Click to expand...
WTF then. Is it dependent on Catalyst AI being turned off or anything?

 
Originally posted by: sticks435
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Originally posted by: sticks435

Is Edge only available on the 4870 or with certain monitors? I have a 4850, and only have the first 3 options.
Click to expand...
No, edge should be available on 2xxx cards and up. It's a shader based resolve that detects polygon, texture and shader edges.
Click to expand...
WTF then. Is it dependent on Catalyst AI being turned off or anything?
Click to expand...

Have to set the slider to at least 4x then Edge Detect is in the drop down box.
 
There's almost no reason to use the shader-resolved modes with the 4800 series. This didn't make much of a difference with the R600 generation because box, too, had to be shader-resolved. The R700 generation parts have very good ROP-resolve, so going box will free up your shaders for more FPS. In fact, you get 4x box AA pretty much for "free" and 8x without a massive performance drop.
 
Originally posted by: Furen

There's almost no reason to use the shader-resolved modes with the 4800 series..
Click to expand...
From an IQ point of view 8x edge (24x) is superior to 8x box so it should be great for older games if you have ample performance.

Also for people that game at CPU limited settings like 1680x1050.
 
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Originally posted by: Furen

There's almost no reason to use the shader-resolved modes with the 4800 series..
Click to expand...
From an IQ point of view 8x edge (24x) is superior to 8x box so it should be great for older games if you have ample performance.

Also for people that game at CPU limited settings like 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's why I said "almost." Personally, I find the performance drop for 8x edge prohibitive except in older games, like you said. It seems to me that 4x or 8x box AA is a better "one size fits all" solution unless he wishes to make profiles for games that could benefit from edge AA settings (I dont like the tents all that much, to be honest) without absolutely crushing performance.
 
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