GeForce GTX260+ vs Radeon 4850 Part 2: Image Quality
by BFG10K on Feb.10, 2009, under Articles, Technology
TrAA/AAA (Call of Duty 2)
First we’ll start with Call of Duty 2, one of the titles where the 260+ was beaten by the 4850 with TrAA/AAA. The images are game screenshots of a tree relatively close to the player.
As a matter of interest, here are the reference images with AAA/TrAA disabled (so alpha textures are not receiving AA):
260+ (Off)
4850 (Off)
Straight away we can see some differences: the 4850 does a better job preserving some of the fine detail in the branches, especially the very thin stalks at the end. Looking at the leaves, both vendors have spots that have more detail than the other, so they’re probably even overall.
Now let’s enable TrAA/AAA (super-sampling) on both vendors:
4850 (4xAAA)
260+ (4xTrAA)
Compared to the reference images above, both vendors are clearly applying anti-aliasing to the branches and the leaves, which squashes my initial suspicion that ATi wasn’t actually applying AAA when requested in this title. But that’s where the similarities end. The 4850 seems to gain even more detail in the branches, especially the very fine sticks at the ends of the tree. The 4850 also “fattens” up the leaves, something the 260+ doesn’t do.
However the leaf edges are clearly smoother on the nVidia card, as are the edges of the larger branches. The 260+’s image is also blurrier overall, especially the interior of the leaves, indicating that nVidia is applying more anti-aliasing than ATi is. As a result, nVidia’s leaves will shimmer less during in-game movement because they’ll receive more anti-aliasing.
February 10th, 2009 on 5:33 pm
This is the best image quality comparison I’ve seen regarding the 4800s and GTX 200s. As always, great job BFG, and thanks for all of the hard work.
February 10th, 2009 on 11:27 pm
Damn, i have to agree. i was lucky to get a preview of this review and i learned a lot from it. BFG10K has been working on and polishing this review for quite some time and his hard work and effort really shows in a deep but very clearly understandable article. He does not waste a single word yet covers what he intends expertly.
February 10th, 2009 on 11:45 pm
Thanks for your support everyone. It’s the readers like you that make it all worthwhile.
March 15th, 2009 on 10:47 pm
I Used to be a die hard nvidia fan – loved my BFG 7950GT,Had a truly fabulous Zotac 8800GT AMP, But my last graphics upgrade has been my first to cross over to ATI and the HD4850. I now have 2 in crossfire (mainly because nvidia motherboards are quite frankly terrible ! Having been unfortunate enough to own a couple i include the Striker 2 extreme in that). I have friends still scared to try anything but NVIDIA or Infact made by BFG -(Great cards,incredible warranty – but have you ever had a gfx card for more than a couple of years ?)- They own 260’s and 280’s but i wouldn’t swap the ATI’s because the gaming performance and picture quality is i’m afraid to dissapoint you – BETTER WITH ATI 4800 SERIES GRAPHICS CARDS. These things happen AMD were great and overclocked for england ,Intel topped them with the core 2’s, Nvidia 8 series were great, GTX200 series came out too expensive and ATI struck gold with the RV770 chipset , swings and roundabouts gentlemen , What counts above all else is FPS per £/$ and that means ATI 4800 .
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