AMD IQ Vs Nvidia IQ - shenanigans or something else?

[mmj_uk]

So it turned out to be a game/software related bug in the end then? just like I have suggested as a possiblity on several occasions. Frankly, if you can afford a Fury, a Titan X you can afford a couple of £35 hard drivers to stop any conflicts like this from occuring.

I can't even imagine the drama that would be occuring on this forum now if this was a GameWorks title and the 'bug' was affecting AMD image quality, I'm pretty sure we'd have a "NVidia sabotaging AMD image quality with GameWorks" thread in full swing by now.

 

[James J]

Doesnt NVidia have a lower negative LOD bias forced on or is the shimmering that tends to happen something else?

Yup, you can clamp it for improved image quality when using anisotropic filtering. Anyone in their right mind should have high quality enabled as default and the clamp for the best image quality you can get. No point paying £600 for a GPU (or 2!) and having a game that looks like a potato as the result.

 

[looncraz]

If you are spending £500+ on a GPU, you are surely wanting the best image quality available, after all, we all try to aim for max settings in games with acceptable FPS, if you/people don't care about image quality then why bother spending that much in the first place if you are happy to settle for what is essentially low graphics?

This * 100

I never figured out why I couldn't reach out and touch my enemies when running a 560Ti vs when running 5770. Took forever to get the colors to be acceptable, but it never did feel right. Of course, now I know - and I also know that nVidia can be adjusted to match AMD's superior image and color quality.

But, the greatest problem came when I went to render one of my HD video projects. It wasn't much slower than the 5770 (but it was slower, which I knew going in), but the end result was atrocious. Had to switch to pure software rendering, which gave me perfect results, but took several times longer. The card came out that same day and I went back to my 5770, sold the 560Ti, and came across a nice 7870XT for a steal. I still have that card, I use it in my HTPC, but my main system now runs an R9 290.

The biggest difference, color wise, at default settings comes from AMD's more inclusive surface format optimization and its intelligent and selective application (there is a reason AMD drivers use more CPU). Turning off Surface Format Optimization is usually just costing performance, with little to no visual difference in the output image. It just changes from F16 color space to R11G11B10 color space. I'm not certain what color space nVidia's color space optimization uses, but it is probably 8-bit per channel given their hardware. AMD's hardware is suited for 12-bit per channel colors, and they may have even upgraded the color spaces as a result, but I can't find any information in that regard.

 

[Rofflay]

Yup, you can clamp it for improved image quality when using anisotropic filtering. Anyone in their right mind should have high quality enabled as default and the clamp for the best image quality you can get. No point paying £600 for a GPU (or 2!) and having a game that looks like a potato as the result.

Max IQ is this way and using DSR. I was playing some Shogun II on my 980 and something was just off even though i had high fps MSAA 8X 16X AF... So i slapped on DSR 4x (3840x2160p) with 2X MSAA and it blew my mind. This is with 16X AF, HQ mode and clamped with vsync 120hz.

I was sitting there with my jaw doing omg cat with around 30fps in melee. I will prolly do this in all my games going forward like KF2 etc. This is why i would love to know if AMD really match NV because i would honestly swap over no problem. I nearly always disable gameworks features or hairworks anyways and they come within a 2fps margin at 4K.

 

[LambChop]

AMD's superior image and color quality.

troll comment right there

 

[TNA]

troll comment right there

That's rich coming from you sir