ATi Catalyst 9.1 Performance Review
Direct3D (Current)
The massive performance drop in Bioshock with 4xAA is actually a driver bug, but it’s not related to performance. It appears that Catalyst 9.1 applies 8xAA when 4xAA is forced in that particular game. Both CCC and ATi Tray Tools had the same problem so the issue is likely at driver back-end which is responsible for applying the AA, rather than front-end utilities setting the wrong AA value.
It’s also disappointing to see Crysis being much slower without AA because that’s a situation where you would really need the extra performance. And while 4xAA is 15.84% faster in said game, the victory is questionable since both results are a slide-show. Don’t dismiss it completely though, as this gain could be more relevant for a 4870 because it would improve on a higher starting score.
Call of Duty 4 does however run a bit better with 8xAA.
Really appreciate the driver comparisons you do. It makes me wonder where the vendors get their evidence concerning the % increases they claim under various titles.
Hey man, glad to see you join us.
The vendors probably get their figures from very specific scenarios (e.g. 1680×1050 with 4xAA), but it’s sometimes still possible to see lesser performance gains in other situations.