Just got word that 3DCenter's Aths and Leonidas have posted their 6 page look at the new 8x, 12x and 16x Anti-Aliasing modes on Nvidia's GeForceFX hardware.
Even while announcing the original CineFX archicture, Nvidia stated their intention to introduce new and higher / better AA modes. Specifically 6xAA under Direct3D and 8xAA for both Direct3D and OpenGL were planned, and even a 16x anti-aliasing for the professional-grade QuadroFX. Meanwhile, a few new anti-aliasing modes found their (purely unofficial) way into newer Detonator drivers: 6xS and 8xS in November, and the 4xSS, 6x and 8x modes in January. Given the appropriate drivers and tweaking tools, as their own aTuner, these are available for even Geforce 3/4 based graphics cards.
But which anti-aliasing modes nVidia would make official for GeForceFX, and whether there would be any more, we couldn't tell by these newly discovered modes. Using Detonator version 42.68, as in our Radeon 9500/9700 vs. GeforceFX 5800/Ultra review, no additional modes were available besides those already mentionend.
This changed with the followup 42.74 and 43.45 driver versions. On GeForceFX 5600/5800 these drivers officially support 8x and 16x anti-aliasing under Direct3D and OpenGL, and 6x AA under Direct3D only. According to the driver control panel, the GeForceFX 5200 only supports up to 4x anti-aliasing (and 4xS under Direct3D), yet the higher settings are still available through aTuner. Investigation of the new modes uncovered a certain quirkiness: Without a doubt the older modes remained unchanged, but the 8x and 16x modes (OpenGL), and the 6x, 8x and 16x modes (Direct3D) nVidia introduced beyond the 42.68 version drivers required further investigation.
The New 8x - 12x And 16x Anti-Aliasing On GeForceFX
Even while announcing the original CineFX archicture, Nvidia stated their intention to introduce new and higher / better AA modes. Specifically 6xAA under Direct3D and 8xAA for both Direct3D and OpenGL were planned, and even a 16x anti-aliasing for the professional-grade QuadroFX. Meanwhile, a few new anti-aliasing modes found their (purely unofficial) way into newer Detonator drivers: 6xS and 8xS in November, and the 4xSS, 6x and 8x modes in January. Given the appropriate drivers and tweaking tools, as their own aTuner, these are available for even Geforce 3/4 based graphics cards.
But which anti-aliasing modes nVidia would make official for GeForceFX, and whether there would be any more, we couldn't tell by these newly discovered modes. Using Detonator version 42.68, as in our Radeon 9500/9700 vs. GeforceFX 5800/Ultra review, no additional modes were available besides those already mentionend.
This changed with the followup 42.74 and 43.45 driver versions. On GeForceFX 5600/5800 these drivers officially support 8x and 16x anti-aliasing under Direct3D and OpenGL, and 6x AA under Direct3D only. According to the driver control panel, the GeForceFX 5200 only supports up to 4x anti-aliasing (and 4xS under Direct3D), yet the higher settings are still available through aTuner. Investigation of the new modes uncovered a certain quirkiness: Without a doubt the older modes remained unchanged, but the 8x and 16x modes (OpenGL), and the 6x, 8x and 16x modes (Direct3D) nVidia introduced beyond the 42.68 version drivers required further investigation.
The New 8x - 12x And 16x Anti-Aliasing On GeForceFX
