Nvidia's new DSR and MSAA - My findings

[Havana_UK]

He is on about comparing screens. A 4k image on a 1080P screen won't look as good as a 4K image on a 4K screen for instance. When you shrink it to compare, you need to do what PGI is saying and try not to lose quality on the shrinkage.

I remember doing some 4K screens and people saying it looks rubbish, but that was because I didn't shrink them to show what is actually being seen from my perspective.

Actually, what I wanted to see was a 4K image downscaled to 1080P using DSR, compared to a similar (the same, ideally) 1080P image with 4xMSAA etc turned on.

 

[almighty15]

Actually, what I wanted to see was a 4K image downscaled to 1080P using DSR, compared to a similar (the same, ideally) 1080P image with 4xMSAA etc turned on.

DSR gets rids of the flickering, shader aliasing and shimmering that MSAA simply does not touch.

Those rendering artefacts are only visible while in motion so still screens will not show that difference.

 

[Gregster]

Actually, what I wanted to see was a 4K image downscaled to 1080P using DSR, compared to a similar (the same, ideally) 1080P image with 4xMSAA etc turned on.

Spoiler

Spoiler

5120x2880 (higher than 4K)

 

[Final8y]

The top image looks sharp, while the bottom looks blurry.

 

[shankly1985]

The top image looks sharp, while the bottom looks blurry.

+1

Yeah top image much sharper, bottom blurry.

 

[Gregster]

The top image looks sharp, while the bottom looks blurry.

+1

Yeah top image much sharper, bottom blurry.

Although the game isn't playable like that till I can get DSR working with all 3 GPUs, it really does like stunning. Everything pops out and has a 3D look about it and edges are edges and not jaggies.

Tomb Raider looks fantastic at 1080P as it is but at 4K, that was one game that truly stood out for me and makes 4K worth buying (so long as you have the grunt).

 

[Wizzfizz]

Screenies are never going to show off quality imo, you need to see it first hand. Unfortunately those images above don't look anything more spectacular than the 1080p screenies, imo.

That said, Tomb raider is still one of the best looking games that I've played in a long while!

 

[Scottland]

Surely DSR compromises any on screen text/HUD info?

 

[Minstadave]

What is the difference between DSR and good old fashion SSAA? They seem to do exactly the same thing.

 

[Final8y]

Screenies are never going to show off quality imo, you need to see it first hand. Unfortunately those images above don't look anything more spectacular than the 1080p screenies, imo.

That said, Tomb raider is still one of the best looking games that I've played in a long while!

There are plenty of down scaled screenshots that look better even on a 1080p screen, up scaling and down scaling techniques are not all equal.

 

[Final8y]

What is the difference between DSR and good old fashion SSAA? They seem to do exactly the same thing.

Nope they use different techniques, even though the fundamentals are the same.

 

[rtho782]

If only DSR would work with SLI and Gsync

 

[vintage-x]

If only DSR would work with SLI and Gsync

I thought they had fixed that with the latest driver?

I don't get why it works for some of us in SLI but not others.

I'm usually the unlucky one where things don't work for me when they work for everyone else

 

[rtho782]

I thought they had fixed that with the latest driver?

I don't get why it works for some of us in SLI but not others.

I'm usually the unlucky one where things don't work for me when they work for everyone else

Works fine for me with SLI 980s if I use my dell 2560x1600 monitor alone.

With both screens, or just the RoG Swift, it won't work unless I turn off SLI.

This is with the latest drivers.

 

[setter]

Its only on gsync monitors with sli where it doesn't work yet. Runs fine here with sli.

 

[Orangey]

What is the difference between DSR and good old fashion SSAA? They seem to do exactly the same thing.

Meanwhile from an image quality standpoint DSR should be a decent but not spectacular form of SSAA. Because it’s simply rendering an image at a larger size, DSR functionally uses an ordered pixel grid. For anti-aliasing purposes ordered grids are suboptimal due to the fact that near-vertical and near-horizontal geometry doesn’t get covered well, which is why true AA techniques will use rotated grids or sparse grids. None the less while DSR’s resulting sample pattern isn’t perfect it is going to be much better than the alternative of forgoing anti-aliasing entirely.

DSR to that end can be considered a sort of last-resort method of SSAA. For games that support proper RG/SG SSAA, those anti-aliasing methods will produce superior results. However as a number of games do not support native anti-aliasing of any kind due to the use of deferred renderers, DSR provides a way to anti-alias these games that is compatible with their rendering methods.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/6

 

[Gregster]

Its only on gsync monitors with sli where it doesn't work yet. Runs fine here with sli.

Yer, I have not tried with 2 GPUs but it doesn't work with 3 GPUs and the ROG Swift. Shame but I am sure they will get there.

 

[almighty15]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/6

And that is why you run 2xMSAA+2xTrSSAA along side it.

 

[bee]

gedosato really kicked things off and it's still better imo (at least for the games it supports i.e dx9) so these images apply here

 

[Final8y]

gedosato really kicked things off and it's still better imo (at least for the games it supports i.e dx9) so these images apply here

Yep they look better.