GeForce GTX260+ vs Radeon 4850 Part 2: Image Quality
nVidia’s Advantages
- Best anisotropic filtering in consumer space.
- TrAA is more accurate and performs more work to alpha textures.
- Full scene super-sampling AA modes.
ATi’s Advantages
- 24xAA is the best pure edge AA mode in consumer space.
- AAA functions in OpenGL.
- Very fast and efficient 8xMSAA relative to hardware specs.
Conclusion
Factoring everything that has been covered in this article, I tend to prefer nVidia’s image quality overall as I’m a big fan of full scene super-sampling. Visible gains from edge AA tend to rapidly diminish after 4xAA, so to see large improvements during gaming you have to start anti-aliasing other parts of the scene, not just edges. That and after gaming with nVidia’s superior AF since November 2006, I can immediately spot the regression when I game on ATi hardware.
Since you might have different criteria for evaluating image quality, I’d encourage you to pick the vendor strongest in the areas you care the most about.
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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.
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.
Thanks for your support everyone. It’s the readers like you that make it all worthwhile.
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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