It does get rid of aliasing it just covers over it. That's makes objects in the distance just look horrible.
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Nvidia Launches GTX 980 And GTX 970 "Maxwell" Graphics Cards ($549 & $329)
- Thread starter georgc
- Start date
It does get rid of aliasing it just covers over it. That's makes objects in the distance just look horrible.
SliChillax
Member
Similar story with Far Cry 4, MSAA and TXAA look weird and make the game run much worse while SMAA is great. First game for me where TXAA looks bad because I usually prefer the cinematic look it gives but I heard they were broken in Far Cry, The Crew and Unity.
TXAA is also not great looking or well performing in AC Unity. The FXAA option apparently has some more advanced things going on compared to standard implementation.
I've recently got back into PC gaming and am looking to purchase a GTX 970 even knowing the problems that exist. My question is will the EVGA GTX 970 SSC be a better performing card than the stock Geforce GTX 970?
It seems like an obvious answer but I wanted to ask those who know.
It seems like an obvious answer but I wanted to ask those who know.
TC McQueen
Member
Yes, unless your case has terrible air flow, then you might want a reference 970 with the Titan cooler from Newegg and Best Buy.
jfoul
Member
Decided to return my GTX 970 and wait for the Radeon 3XX series, and the Nvidia response to it. I'm now rocking Intel HD4600 Graphics, and I also have a sweet Radeon 4670 lying around. Running Dying Light at 720p on low settings feels bad man.
I've been going through different video cards since June 2014, and 970s since November 2014. Through all of these cards I didn't lose any money, and actually made $35 on the 970 returns.
My Journey:
Three of these video cards stood out to me. I bought the 290X from Amazon Warehouse deals for $330 in June 2014. It was an amazing deal and the card ran great. Unfortunately, the serial number was from the UK and Gigabyte wouldn't offer me warranty service if I needed it. I bought the EVGA GTX 780 from GAF B/S/T for $340, and it ran great with no issues. I sold it to a friend for $340 because I just had to have a GTX 970 with that 4GB of ram. The EVGA FTW+ was by far the best of the bunch. I would have exchanged this card for another if it wasn't for the recent events with Nvidia, and the soon to be released AMD 3XX.
Things I've learned:
I've been going through different video cards since June 2014, and 970s since November 2014. Through all of these cards I didn't lose any money, and actually made $35 on the 970 returns.
My Journey:
- Gigabyte R9 290X OC (Returned - UK Serial Number)
- EVGA GTX 780 SC (Sold this to a friend at no loss to buy a GTX 970)
- ASUS GTX 970 Strixx (Returned Massive Coil Whine)
- Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming v 1.0 (Returned - GPU Core Failure)
- Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming v 1.1 (Returned - Missing Backplate Screws)
- Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming v 1.1 (Returned - Wanted the FTW+)
- EVGA GTX 970 FTW+ (Returned - Defective DVI-I Port)
Three of these video cards stood out to me. I bought the 290X from Amazon Warehouse deals for $330 in June 2014. It was an amazing deal and the card ran great. Unfortunately, the serial number was from the UK and Gigabyte wouldn't offer me warranty service if I needed it. I bought the EVGA GTX 780 from GAF B/S/T for $340, and it ran great with no issues. I sold it to a friend for $340 because I just had to have a GTX 970 with that 4GB of ram. The EVGA FTW+ was by far the best of the bunch. I would have exchanged this card for another if it wasn't for the recent events with Nvidia, and the soon to be released AMD 3XX.
Things I've learned:
- Try to always buy from Amazon for easy and fast returns/exchanges
- EVGA has amazing customer service
- Check ALL of your display ports, even if you don't use them
- GAF B/S/T has great sellers (Just check the feedback page)
- Buy video cards with a transferable warranty based on serial number (EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS)
What program do you use for 8x MSAA + 8x Transparency SS? Nvidia Inspector?
Naked Snake
Member
Found this on reddit
Looks like they will offer a step up program.
I've also read that people who bought a 970 on amazon could get about 100 USD back if they ask them to partially refund without giving the card back.
Looks like they will offer a step up program.
I've also read that people who bought a 970 on amazon could get about 100 USD back if they ask them to partially refund without giving the card back.
From Nvidia's changelog:
Maybe just try it on the game you want to play and see if it works?
Naked Snake
Member
It has in the latest drivers.
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/geforce-experience-2-2-2-released
I didn't actually realize before that games had to be individually profiled for MFAA, that's interesting.
Edit: Yeah what gogogow posted above is what I remembered "almost all DX10 and DX11 games", which made me assume it was more of a "blanket type" support rather than doing them game by game.
Would be great if MSI did something like this too
Very cool. MFAA is fantastic. Not perfect, but for the cost, its hard to beat.
TXAA is very blurry yeah, reason why I tend to avoid it.
Naked Snake
Member
I've heard a lot of people say that about TXAA... I haven't used it much personally, but the few times I did it looked good to me. I'm wondering what's causing the disparity of opinion on it, whether its like a physiological thing (like people who are sensitive to framerate drops, motion blur, etc.), a matter of taste, or a software conflict issue causing it to misbehave on some systems?
Pocky4Th3Win
Member
So is there a list of games that support MFAA? Nvidia claims to have 100 games supported but their site lists like 20.
I think it now works on a blacklist, rather than a whitelist. It isn't about "What games support MFAA?" anymore. Now it's about what games don't.
Just enable it globally in your drivers and cross them fingers.
jfoul
Member
Looks like Gigabyte is following EVGA with offering a step-up to the GTX 980, from a GTX 970. If it's like EVGA, the purchase date won't matter either. It's nice to see board partners pick up the slack when Nvidia has gone dark.
Why not also use SweetFX or Reshade? http://reshade.me/#download (Still in beta, but useful to keep an eye on.)
What both WB and DF failed to clarify is that 6GB is only required at max settings, including the resolution setting. Because DF maxed out every available setting, its 1080p test wasn't actually 1080p; it was 4k (1080p set to 200%).
Why DF never corrected its article, I don't know. It's a pretty embarrassing mistake.
I don't think SweetFx or Reshade are really relevant in this discussion. The only thing it really provides in terms of AA is post-process, which is a totally different beast from stuff like MFAA, or MSAA.
icecold1983
Member
guys TXAA was fixed with patch 1.4 in unity. its still broken in FC4, so i dont see how it could make the game look blurry as its the exact same output as MSAA.
Dictator93
Member
Good to hear, any comparison screens floating around?
icecold1983
Member
judging txaa on screens is useless. ill shadowplay a video some time today
After reading all these threads for the past few weeks I decided to get the MSI 970 anyway. Installed it yesterday, zero regrets (so far 
) and I'm still just giddy replaying old pc games I had run on mediumish settings before.
Don't like giving nvidia money after their obvious dishonesty but the card was perfect for me.
) and I'm still just giddy replaying old pc games I had run on mediumish settings before. Don't like giving nvidia money after their obvious dishonesty but the card was perfect for me.
icecold1983
Member
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2t0BsiVu0jpa3J3NnhnRVhIZEk/view?usp=sharing
video comparing fxaa/msaa/txaa in that order. some things to note :
-i used the highest shadowplay bitrate but its still not lossless, the video compression does hide some of the shimmering. fxaa/msaa benefit from this far more than txaa.
-shadowplay hits the framerate harder when using msaa/txaa
-this is not the best or worst case for general aliasing in unity. the worst case areas will naturally skew things much more in favor of txaa.
video comparing fxaa/msaa/txaa in that order. some things to note :
-i used the highest shadowplay bitrate but its still not lossless, the video compression does hide some of the shimmering. fxaa/msaa benefit from this far more than txaa.
-shadowplay hits the framerate harder when using msaa/txaa
-this is not the best or worst case for general aliasing in unity. the worst case areas will naturally skew things much more in favor of txaa.
Different for sure, but still valid. Personally I prefer SMAA and use SweetFx to get it if a game does not support it (or as is the case with Far Cry 4, support is broken in SLI). Which really makes me wonder why so many developers bother to put in FXAA but not SMAA. Surely it can't be that much more difficult?
Do you get 60+ fps with that config everywhere? For some reason my frame rate stays above 60 with the same settings 99% of the time but in some very specific areas moving the camera rather quickly causes frame drops to 40s.
Karak
Member
Yup in many instances.
I am in love with my 980. The thing is just insanely powerful.
Absolutely agreed in terms of use and loving SMAA for various reasons.
Dictator93
Member
TXAA looked quite admirable, heck the FXAA in that game looked pretty great. Given the performance hit, I am not sure why anyone would go for just straight MSAA though, especially since it is not combined with any post processing AA or doesnt work with transparencies.
THx for the vid.
Naked Snake
Member
I haven't played much of it yet, but you're right there was one particular spot with a waterfalls and a pool of turbulent water when I point the viewpoint so the water takes up most of the screen and move quickly the frames do drop to 40s. And I found that toning down the AA/transparency setting makes it run at 60 in that spot.
I was doing a lot of testing on that particular spot by changing AA/MFAA and other settings in Inspector, and strangely on my last test I had everything set to 8x with ]MFAA turned on and the framerates didn't drop in that place. Which was contrary to my experience with MFAA in earlier tests. Results don't seem consistent.
I haven't played since then... I procrastinate on playing, like a lot of us do I think
Yeah I despise the look of MSAA when there are transparencies around (like fences).
icecold1983
Member
txaa is amazing to me. a slight softness to the image is a very worthwhile trade for the near elimination of aliasing. people blow the blurryness factor way out of proportion
I tried both RadeonPro (I have a 980 but its DirectX-related bits and bobs work with NV cards, too, apparently) and SweetFX to no avail in Dying Light.
Considering how far the 970 (and, to a lesser extent, Nvidia itself) has fallen among enthusiasts, I can see $150 happening if AMD's R390 offers comparable performance at USD$399.
Dictator93
Member
If those new cards crush it, yes. Something very similar happened with the GTX 780 correct?
Naked Snake
Member
Seems to be doing a lot more than just softening from this comparision:
http://international.download.nvidi...-anti-aliasing-comparison-1-txaa-vs-fxaa.html
It's like there are clouds of light fog/mist and volumetric lighting missing in the FXAA screenshot ? Or is that from dynamic weather system?
I definitely prefer the look of TXAA over FXAA in the above comparison at least.
icecold1983
Member
i suspect that image is downsampled, making an aliasing comparison not very fruitful. and again txaa needs to be judged in motion. it has no benefit in still images.
Naked Snake
Member
That would be a really lousy comparison on Nvidia's part if so. Unless they somehow tried to recreate/approximate the look of TXAA using other methods for convenience's sake.
icecold1983
Member
Did you check my video?
Naked Snake
Member
I tried to download it but my connection died, and forgot to try again. Doing so now. Wasn't sure if it makes a difference if I streamed it in the browser (haven't used G+ video before)
icecold1983
Member
Streaming quality is worse than youtube
Naked Snake
Member
eww, glad I didn't try that.
ultrazilla
Member
So my 660ti is starting to show its age. I prefer to run my games at 1080p and
highest framerate possible. I play mainly first person shooters: BF series, Far Cry series, Bioshock, etc.
Will the lower priced Nvidia 960 be a good card for me(I want to play Far cry
4 maxed out at 1080p with good framerates ie: nothing ever below 30 fps.
Or will I need the 970 to truely get all the bells and whistles?
highest framerate possible. I play mainly first person shooters: BF series, Far Cry series, Bioshock, etc.
Will the lower priced Nvidia 960 be a good card for me(I want to play Far cry
4 maxed out at 1080p with good framerates ie: nothing ever below 30 fps.
Or will I need the 970 to truely get all the bells and whistles?
I gather you have a tight budget, so I'd wait for Nvidia to respond to AMD's 3xx series as the 970 should see some sort of price drop. The 960 isn't really much of a gaming card.
icecold1983
Member
Depends whether your definition of maxed out includes hardware aa. Youll be able to play almost any game currently available at 1080p/30 highest settings withouy any hardware aa for sure