does ati have better image quality than nvidia?

[subbot]

does ati have better image quality than nvidia?

and what ati brand is recommended? (regarding image quality)

for example, asus is cheaper than club 3d, and even sapphire!

in "THGC Graphics Card Byers Guide", asus is one of best brands, and club 3d "brand to avoid"!?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by subbot on 03/21/04 03:49 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jrosenst]

WHat do you plan on doing with the card?

 

[DCB_AU]

Well generally from posts I've read and gaming magazines reports, ATI is slightly better than Nvidia.

But I wouldn't knock back a mid to top of the range Nvidia card at a good price.

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[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Depends on what you're doing with it and what your personal tolerance levels are.

In most situations nV has improved their image quality with the FX line to be close to ATI. The maximum quality is usually equal, but then you look at AA/AF implementation and ATI wins 8-9 times out of 10. Then there are issues with drivers changing IQ levels in games. I'd say for every one that there is for ATI there are 5-10 for nV. Whether or not you notice these things at 50-100fps depends on you.

For 2D, they are very close now, whereas before there was a large large margin between the two with ATI winning almost every 2D test. Same with TV. Now they are close, but they pale in comparison to Matrox.

It all comes down to you. What are YOU doing with them and what do YOU consider 'good enough'.


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[cleeve]

If you're into using antialiassing, there's no contest. Ati's image quality kicks ass.

If you don't use Ati, it's much closer, as GrapeApe said. Nvidia even has a slight anistropic filtering advantage, although this is offset by a fudged "brilinear" filtering algorythm.

So basically, if you're getting a high-end or midrange card that can handle AA, Ati is the way to go. For lower end, AA isn't a factor bacuse most cards can't handle it anyway.

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[kinney]

Too close to call between ATI/NV.

AA for ATI. AF for NV.
I dont like running one without the other.

Put a ATI card in one PCIX slot and a NV in your other PCIX slot, combine the power.

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[cleeve]

If you're running BOTH AA and AF, Ati's is noticably better, methinks.

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[TheGreatGrapeApe]

It depends. AF on the ATI can be far better and efficient than nV, but you are correct it has problems with certain angles due to it's rotational method.
Usually AF quality does still go to ATI, but it is those off angles that can cause some minor issues, which may be quite noticeable to some.

Here's an example I posted before of what I'm talking about with the AF levels (didn't bother to translate, although babel does it if needed).

<A HREF="http://www.3dcenter.de/artikel/r9800xt_vs_gffx5950u/index7.php" target="_new">ATI AF</A>
<A HREF="http://www.3dcenter.de/artikel/r9800xt_vs_gffx5950u/index8.php" target="_new">nV AF</A>
<A HREF="http://www.3dcenter.de/artikel/r9800xt_vs_gffx5950u/index9.php" target="_new">And the Speed of each</A>

If you follow the review you can see the results from game to game.

One of the other issues is the actual use of "Brilinear" filtering instead of true trilinear.

If need be I can show you some AF screenies from [H] but they should be easy enough to find.


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[lazysod]

__________________________________________________________

It depends. AF on the ATI can be far better and efficient than nV, but you are correct it has problems with certain angles due to it's rotational method.
Usually AF quality does still go to ATI, but it is those off angles that can cause some minor issues, which may be quite noticeable to some.
__________________________________________________________

What about for CAD programs what would be better ?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

For CAD? I'm not sure how much AF is used for CAD/CAM.
However AA which I know is often used is better on ATI, and even better still with 3Dlabs from what I've seen. But it really depends on the app and what you are doing. If you want superior AA or better FPS with fairly close AA.

I think 3Dlabs uses fragment AA just like Matrox, which would explain the difference. Of course even the Matrox Parhelia would look better with it 16X fragment AA, it would just have a very wide gulf in the FPS department.


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[Willamette_sucks]

Yeah but did they ever get the Parhelia's 16x fragment AA to function properly in all situations? The nature of it makes it hard to implement. I've seen screenies that show portions of the rendered scene not AAd at all, but maybe this has been fixed. Hows the wildcat in this area or do you know?

Maybe this isn't an issue in CAD programs.

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