IS NVIDIA Image Quality A Joke, Or Is It Just Me

Spinelli · Mar 8, 2014

Guys I have finally gone back to Nvidia since my first ever GPU over 10 years ago (FX 5600). I got 2 780Tis but just installed one for now. I have having some issues, and really frustrated and a little down as I spent a good amount of money on these cards.

Ok what I want to do is 2 things...

1) Most importantly I need help with Image quality. With AMD cards (HD 6870, 6950, 6970, 6990, 7950, 7970) In RFactor 1 and 2 I could make my Image quality ABSOLUTELY PERFECT with one simple step. Simply disable RFactor AA and set the control panel to override application settings and simply choose "AA TYPE = SUPERSAMPLING" and the amount of samples = 4X. Well I don't see any supersampling options in NVidia all I see is 2x, 4x, 8x CSAA, 8x, 16x CSAA, 16xQ CSAA, 32xCSAA. Also, there is a separate AA setting for transparent objects (trees, fences, foliage, etc) and only under there do I see multisample, 2x (supersample), 4x (supersample). 8x (supersample). I also tried Negative LOD Bias to "Clamp" as I remember that was very popular with RFactor 1 based games, but nope, still jaggies especially in motion.

I do not want Supersampling on just the transparent objects, I want just regular, old-school, inefficient, FPS killing, ENTIRE SCENE, SUPERSAMPLING AA.

I tried just maxing all my options out anyways and put regular AA to 32xCSAA and the transparent AA to 8x (supersample), but I still saw aliasing on posts, fences, lines on the ground. It wasn't bad but still very distracting because I am so used to a flawless full-scene supersampled image. Also I was getting over 400 FPS in RFactor, and with 8X proper true full-scene Supersampling I highly doubt I should be getting anywhere near to 400 FPS, even with a 780Ti.

Please guys help me find good old, FPS murdering, full-scene supersampling as even at 4x with AMD cards it gave me an almost flawless image (heavy FPS cost though, couldn't use triple screens at over 100 FPS at 4x SSAA in RFactor 1, not even with an HD 7970 / R9 280X).

and....

2) I would like to make my driver settings exactly equivalent (or as equivalent as possible) to my AMD driver settings in order to do a ton of benchmark comparisons. There are so many options in NVidia what the? LOD clamp? Having 2 separate settings and amounts for regular AA and Transparency AA? Gamma AA? Cuda - GPUs setting??? Threaded Optimiations?????....

.....Man talk about being bummed out after spending a bunch of money on the 2nd best video card in the world.

Dennis · Mar 8, 2014

Well I can understand that you are frustrated but keep in mind that people will help you in their spare time.

Therefore it's not very nice to open the exact same thread on multiple forums:
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/18712-IS-NVIDIA-Image-Quality-A-Joke-Or-Is-It-Just-Me

Regarding your issue the link provided by Ari on the ISI thread should help you out: http://naturalviolence.webs.com/sgssaa.htm

Spinelli · Mar 8, 2014

I found the best settings. I just spent 6 hours straight of non-stop video setting combinations using Nvidia inspector going back and forth trying every combination imaginable with it and RFactor 1....

I found good old hardcore supersampling, the samples are different from AMD though. Instead of 2x, 4x, 8x, they have 2x1, 1x2, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4. The bottom line is that the Nvidia supersampling doesn't work as beautiful as the AMD one. In RFactor 1 there is still some very distracting and annoying shimmering that drives me insane, especially in motion, even in 4x4 supersampling (which brought frames down to less than 120 FPS and that is in RF1 w/ 1 car only lol)....

So, seeing that full on supersampling applies to the entire image and yet I still wasn't completely satisfied I was thinking all hope was lost because nothing can be more complete than full-scene, no compromise supersampling. I looked up LOD clamp, adjusted those with a million different values, allowed, clamp, tons of different number combos, (including the advised ones on the link Ari sent, thanks by the way Ari). I tried messing with the transparency AA modes in combination with non-supersampling AA modes, nothing, everything was worse than full out supersampling. I even tried the thing that everyone claims to be so great, the Sparse Grid Supersampling. I tried different amounts for that (2x, 4x, 8x) in combination with different amounts of the AA (CSAA, multisample, everything). Things were starting to approach the full on supersample quality but still not quite and still with tons of shimmer, I even tried 8X Sparse Grid with 32x CSAA and with 16x CSAA, still shimmering and broken jagged lines when in motion. I did some research and a guy wrote that when you use Sparse Grid Supersampling to use the regular AA mode with it, not CSAA or anything else, just regular multisampling, AND use the same amount for each. So 2x Sparse Grid / 2x Multisample, 4x Spare Grid / 4x Multisample, etc., I tried this and BAM. It is the closest to AMD's full on supersampling! Nvidia's Multisampling AA in combination w/ Sparse Grid Supersampling (and both at the same sample amount, don't forget, trust me I tried just about every possible combo) is even better than their full on full scene Supersampling. I have no idea how that could be but whatever, it works lol.

So basically to make a long story short, if you're looking for AMD's full on supersampling image quality then do not use NVidia's full on supersampling, use their Regular Multisampling in combination with Sparse Grid Supersampling, and make sure they are both the same sample amounts. Like with AMD's supersampling, 4x is pretty close to 8x but with much less FPS hit.

So with NVidia, like with AMD, for ultimate image quality in all RFactor / ISI based sims using it really comes down to 3 choices....2x Multisample w/ 2x Sparse Grid Supersampling, 4x Multisample w/ 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling, 8x multisample & 8x Sparse Grid Supersampling.

I even tried 16xCSAA with 8x Sparse Grid, and even 32xCSAA with 8x Sparse Grid, but nope, as per the recommendation 8x Multisample still looked best when using 8X Sparse Grid.

P.S. Since when is it "not nice" to post the same thread on completely separate/different websites? That makes no sense.

Richard Eriksson · Mar 12, 2014

Not to question your motives or anything...

But have you tried a full grid with full settings on that combo of sampling? It will hit your framerate hard. Could be a problem online if grids are large.

The question is, do you want large grids and all effects, or do you want obscene levels of multisampling.

Both is not doable, 780Ti or not, as far as what i have experienced.