Do you perfer AA or Res?

[james.miller]

ive always been a fan of AA no matter what res i ran at. it shows the difference between pc and console i think. consoles (ps3 and 360) still show blocky edges compared to a decent pc with AA turned on or maxed.

that really comes from a misunderstanding of how the games are rendering the final image. a lot of people would use something like cod4 to illistrate the difference between the console ports and the pc port. thats fine but you have to remember that the console ports arent being rendered at 1080p, let alone the 1920x1200 or even 2560x1600 that some of us are using.

you could put the pc version and the ps3 verion on the same tv @ 1080p and the pc version would look better, even with no aa. most console games show blocking, aliased images because they are internally rendered at a low resolution, typically somewhere around 720x500 (very rough example)

 

[Final8y]

its pixel density actually, which is a combination of pitch AND pixel size. pixel density being the number of pixels squeezed into an area, normally in2.

the more pixels you squeeze in to the same area, the more detailed that area becomes. lines look more like lines than the do stairs, and so less AA is required. it really has very little to do with screen size.

** A lesson in screen size Vs pixel density **

take a look at this:, a link to the ever useful tvcalculator site. it shows the 3 main sizes of widescreen tft's - 20,22,24 and 30 inch.

look at the pixel density of the displays, the 30" has the highest pixel density of the lot which is why people will tell you they dont need to use a lot of AA. the 24" monitor is actually 3rd, behind the 20" so its interesting to see what those 20" owners have to say...but anyway yes, the smaller and closer the pixels are, the less AA you'd have to use

to answer the question, i'll push both as high as possible but the AA is the one to be scaled back first. luckily ive not had to run at a lower res with this card yet

If the 30" has higher density then the pixel would have to be smaller, so many of us thinking that the pixels on a monitor being the same size would be wrong.
Unless the pixel is the same size but the pitch has been reduced which will give a shaper image.

Dot pitch (sometimes called line pitch, phosphor pitch or pixel pitch) is a specification for a computer display that describes the distance between phosphor dots (sub-pixels) or LCD cells of the same color on the inside of a display screen. Thus, dot pitch is a measure of the size of a triad plus the distance between the triads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_pitch
I was wrong in saying that the dot pitch was the same in both direction because the same colour subpixel is above & below vertically.

 

[james.miller]

If the 30" has higher density then the pixel would have to be smaller, so many of us thinking that the pixels on a monitor being the same size would be wrong.

that is correct smaller pixels can more accurately represent any given image. think of it as just running a higher resolution on the same screen, but on a physical level Its the same as it was back in the crt days when everybody was chasing dot pitch, only now dot pitch is replaced with pixel density

 

[Final8y]

that is correct smaller pixels can more accurately represent any given image. think of it as just running a higher resolution on the same screen, but on a physical level Its the same as it was back in the crt days when everybody was chasing dot pitch, only now dot pitch is replaced with pixel density

I'm not used to the Pixel density term as in its self it does not describe density area like DPI. but now that i have looked it up it is Pixel density per square inch.

You could have a pixel density of 4 with big pixels & pixel density of 4 with small pixels with a big pitch to cover the same physical area but would look crap & the rules for CRT & LCD are different as the CRT has no fixed res were a transmitted pixel does not have to fall smack bag on the RGB subgroup.
Im still used to the CRT discription way & maybe the pitch with LCD has to be a certain size for a given res.

 

[Final8y]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_pitch
Looking at this link again shows that the thought that pixels are the same size across different monitor sizes was wrong & also with the pitch.

The bigger the monitor the more pixels per inch than the others so will give less jaggles plus the fact that the onscreen object on a bigger monitor would be represented with more pixels anyway, so you get more benefit still with less jaggles.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Resolution any day. I hardly notice the lack of AA in games unless I am not moving, or trying to spot it.

 

[jaykay]

Res, i tried to play COD4 with a lower res with aa and just didnt like it. Stuff was blurry. Prefer to have detail but jaggies.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Res, non native just doesn't look right.

 

[synixx]

i play at 1650x1080 and i don't feel the need for any aa. i much prefer res over aa, i even played crysis on 1440 x 900 with no aa, in favour of eye candy. but the most jagged game i have ever seen was the matrix path of neo. i just had to use 6xaa and even then i still looked more jagged than crysis did!

btw, how much more of a preformance hit do graphics card get with aa than af?

 

[james.miller]

well, they both do completely different things. AA is extremely memory intensive and typically, you can push something that would run along quite happily at 100fps+ down in to single digits when the AA's ramped up. it depends on the game and whatnot. AF typically has very little performance inpact these days. virtually nothing.

 

[marscay]

anything less than 1900x1200 looks pants to me these days, AA or not.

res over AA any day of the week.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

well, they both do completely different things. AA is extremely memory intensive and typically, you can push something that would run along quite happily at 100fps+ down in to single digits when the AA's ramped up. it depends on the game and whatnot. AF typically has very little performance inpact these days. virtually nothing.

AF makes a difference in Crysis, going to down to say 4x from 16x can gain about 5 frames or so, i know 5 frames isn't a lot, but you need all you can get in that thing.