AA & AF Question.....

cathan · Nov 21, 2005, 06:46 PM

Hi folks, wanted to get some opinions on AA & AF with accordance to games. I was wondering what the best medium ground is with resolution in games with AA and AF turned on. Is it better to put a higher res. on the games with lower rates of AA and AF or is it the opposite. Right now I play games at 1280x1024 with low rates of AA and AF(2x AA and 4xAF). Was wondering if graphically would it be better to lower the res in the game and turn up the other settings? Just looking for some general opinions.

Computer Specs are as follows:
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ w/ Abit KU8 MB
ATI Radeon x800 Pro w/ latest Omega Drivers
1024 DDR400 RAM

ViRuS2k · Nov 21, 2005, 06:59 PM

if im runing a game at 1280x1024 then i use 4xaa unless the game is smooth with 6xaa but in 1024x768 i run 6xaa

and when it comes to af i use max no matter what game it is.

cswiger · Nov 21, 2005, 10:14 PM

You are better off displaying more pixels and using a lower anti-aliasing setting, up to the point where you reach the limits of your display. For LCD's, they have a fixed resolution, for CRT's, you have to consider the CRT size and dot pitch to determine the maximum resolution. Most 19" and smaller monitors can't display 1600x1200 without blurring or smearing, so 1280x1024 or thereabouts is a common max resolution.

Like Virus said, turn up the anisotropic filtering to 8x or so, I find the mip-mapping effect more annoying than even the jaggies. If 4xAA performs OK, I'd use that, otherwise I'd rather run with AA off entirely than run with 2xAA, which tends to blur edges too much. Fortunately, most of the games out there I play will run at 1280x1024 @ 4xAA/8xaniso with reasonable frame rates...

danny6800xt · Nov 23, 2005, 05:03 PM

to/ cathan

just wack it all up and then take pointless details off like soft shadows and hdr i get a playable framerate in farcry with all max settings @1024 x 768 75hz

Nov 21, 2005, 06:46 PM	#1
cathan DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	AA & AF Question..... Hi folks, wanted to get some opinions on AA & AF with accordance to games. I was wondering what the best medium ground is with resolution in games with AA and AF turned on. Is it better to put a higher res. on the games with lower rates of AA and AF or is it the opposite. Right now I play games at 1280x1024 with low rates of AA and AF(2x AA and 4xAF). Was wondering if graphically would it be better to lower the res in the game and turn up the other settings? Just looking for some general opinions. Computer Specs are as follows: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ w/ Abit KU8 MB ATI Radeon x800 Pro w/ latest Omega Drivers 1024 DDR400 RAM

Nov 21, 2005, 10:14 PM	#3
cswiger DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: NYC Posts: 233 Rep Power: 0	You are better off displaying more pixels and using a lower anti-aliasing setting, up to the point where you reach the limits of your display. For LCD's, they have a fixed resolution, for CRT's, you have to consider the CRT size and dot pitch to determine the maximum resolution. Most 19" and smaller monitors can't display 1600x1200 without blurring or smearing, so 1280x1024 or thereabouts is a common max resolution. Like Virus said, turn up the anisotropic filtering to 8x or so, I find the mip-mapping effect more annoying than even the jaggies. If 4xAA performs OK, I'd use that, otherwise I'd rather run with AA off entirely than run with 2xAA, which tends to blur edges too much. Fortunately, most of the games out there I play will run at 1280x1024 @ 4xAA/8xaniso with reasonable frame rates... __________________ Do you remember Shalebridge Cradle? Beware! The Cradle doesn't forget.... AMD Opteron 185 @ 2.6GHz/200HTT \| 2GB G.Skill DDR3200 @ 2-3-2-5/1T \| 512MB eVGA 8800GT @ 600/1800 \| SB Audigy 2ZS eX, Outlaw 1050 6.1ch amp, Paradigm speakers \| MSI K8N Diamond Plus mainboard \| black Lian-Li USB68 case + Foxconn FX600-GLN 600W PSU \| 2xWDC3200AAKS (RAID1) \| Sony GDM-F500R CRT, BENQ G2400W LCD

Nov 23, 2005, 05:03 PM	#4
danny6800xt DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0	to/ cathan just wack it all up and then take pointless details off like soft shadows and hdr i get a playable framerate in farcry with all max settings @1024 x 768 75hz __________________ p4-e 630 3.0GHz overclocked @3.6 Ghz with 15 x 240 Asus p5nd-2 sli deluxe mobo 2x 512MB Geil Platinum DDR2 low latency 2x Inno3d Nvidia GF 6800xt 12x5 pixel pipes @ 450Mhz/630Mhz 2x Arctic Cooler 3 Onboard sound ac'97 7.1 surround sound Western Digital 80GB S/ATA II setup. Logitech mx518 gaming mouse Saitek eclipse keyboard Jean tech Achilles Series Case w/ slight modification Proview 17" monitor

Nov 21, 2005, 06:59 PM	#2
ViRuS2k HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Uk Posts: 8,334 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	if im runing a game at 1280x1024 then i use 4xaa unless the game is smooth with 6xaa but in 1024x768 i run 6xaa and when it comes to af i use max no matter what game it is.