HDR +AA For ATI Worth It?

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EQTakeOffense

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 12, 2002
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Should I buy an 1900XT just for the ability to HDR +AA? From all my reading, the 7900GT/X is just as good if not better then the 1900XT. So, basically it comes down to features and IQ.

ATi has a little better image quality, but it's not night and day difference. And, when it comes to motherboards, nVidia has better boards. So, for me it comes down to HDR + AA which only ATi can do. So, is it worth it to buy the 1900XT just to be able to use HDR + AA?
 
ATi image quality is night and day difference. My friend just purchased the 7900 GTX after buying his 1900 XTX, he likes the XTX better by far.
 
Their boards (Mobos) are even in my book.
IQ wise I go with ATi. I do feel HDR+AA is worth it as you are spending 500 dollars.
 
ATI may have dropped the ball in the past but they have picked it up and run it in, their mobos will get better.
if the HDR is important to you then go ATI I have heard that performance wise it can be considered a wash, they are both awsome cards ATI just so happens to have what you are looking for.
 
It looks very good but to be honest too few games currently take advantage of it. If the card is meant to last you over 2 years then go with the X1900XTX HDR AA is at least playable with that card. If not then the image quality is very close and performance also very close between 7900 and X1900.

If your like me by the time the games that I actually wanna play (cough serious sam 2 sux cough) feature that I'll have either a R600 or a Geforce 8 card. ;)
 
Hm, intresting....

Also, I never realized by nVidia doesn't have official support for xp64.

Edit: Lol, yeah, you're a rich bastard ;p. I'll probably be keeping the card for atleast 2 years.
 
Seeing HDR in source games on my current card makes me think it's totally worth it. Also seeing the IQ differences in reviews, I'd take a x1900xt(x) right now if I could build a whole new rig. The 7900gtx is impressive, but with everything I've seen and heard, it just dones't grab me as the must have card.

I can't wait to see what comes out late summer or fall. wOooooOOOoot!! :cool:
 
EQTakeOffense said:
Hm, intresting....

Also, I never realized by nVidia doesn't have official support for xp64.
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Nvidia has had X64 drivers for quite some time now. Who told you that out of curiousity?
 
if you're in the market for a high end card you plan on keeping for quite a while (18 months+)...then it may be worth it if sometime next year some big games come out supporting HDR+AA...personally I wouldn't base my choice on that...ATi's IQ superiority may be worth it if you're a stickler for shimmering though (the vast majority of people will never notice it)...

If you're looking for something mid-range, the chances of it providing playable framerates with HDR+AA are slim to none...and right now there are only, maybe, 2 games that support it...Serious Sam 2 isn't that great of a game, and FarCry is getting pretty dated...

HDR+AA has definitely not hit prime time yet...I think basing a purchasing decision on it right now would be foolish...however, if the two cards you're looking at are otherwise equal...extra features are always a good thing...
 
I've noticed shimmering, but it never really bothers me.

Nvidia has had X64 drivers for quite some time now. Who told you that out of curiousity?
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When I look at the products supported for 81.98 X64 the highest is 7800GTX. Same thing with the beta drivers. Is this just because the 7800 and the 7900 are 95% exactly the same and that drivers supporting the 7800 will work on the 7900?
 
So, is it worth it to buy the 1900XT just to be able to use HDR + AA?
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It's not only HDR+AA, angle independant HQAF on X1K is nice too. For the image quality whores this round is easier than ever. :cool:
 
EQTakeOffense said:
I've noticed shimmering, but it never really bothers me.



When I look at the products supported for 81.98 X64 the highest is 7800GTX. Same thing with the beta drivers. Is this just because the 7800 and the 7900 are 95% exactly the same and that drivers supporting the 7800 will work on the 7900?
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Looking into this a little your right. They only have a beta driver for the 7900 and 7600 cards and it's for win 2000 and xp. I guess they'll release the official driver soon for XP X64 and XP 2000 95/98/ME soon.
 
EQTakeOffense said:
I've noticed shimmering, but it never really bothers me.



When I look at the products supported for 81.98 X64 the highest is 7800GTX. Same thing with the beta drivers. Is this just because the 7800 and the 7900 are 95% exactly the same and that drivers supporting the 7800 will work on the 7900?
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Those same drivers will work on a Geforce 2 MX.
 
How many games out there actually take advantage of hdr+aa, splinter cell, farcry... any other?
 
Actually NVIDIA can do HDR+AA in Source games like Half-life 2 and Day of Defeat.
 
My DFI NF4 has not exploded from using an x1900XT. The nvidia soldier gnomes have not attacked it..... yet. :D

If you don't realistically plan to go crossfire or SLI, buy the motherboard and graphics card that you want even if it's a mixed child. :p
 
forcefed said:
How many games out there actually take advantage of hdr+aa, splinter cell, farcry... any other?
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Hopefully they add support via patch to Oblivion. It SHOULD come realistically. ATi supports all it needs to as to make it happen. Looking at the Serious Sam benchies again... the x1900 handles the extra load pretty well too. Oblivion however does not use the same kind of HDR method as the valve stuff, that has been HDR+AA capable on cards for a bit.

Even fewer games do it like valve unfortunately... without the need for floating point blending or whatever it is. For me usually no AA would most often mean no HDR. Just forget it.
 
Remember when we all first learned that the Source Games Allowed HDR? Nvidia Fans were saying that Nvidia had the better form of HDR and that ATi Fans were missing out. Now aparently that doesnt matter. It all started with Lost Coast.
 
PRIME1 said:
Actually NVIDIA can do HDR+AA in Source games like Half-life 2 and Day of Defeat.
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I think we're discussing FP16 HDR here.

I'd say go for the X1900XT - it's about on par with the 7900GTX, and has better all round IQ (HDR + AA, HQ AF, etc.)
 
I hear that FP16 HDR and FSAA runs like a dog anyhow, unless you're building a crossfire rig it's probably not even going to be used, and to be honest the last thing I heard about crossfire is that they didn't support over 60hz at 1600 1200 or something totaly stupid like that so it seems all a bit irrelevent to me.

I think most games are going to build in their own HDR for now (much like the source engine) which will run better and possibly allow AA to be run irrelevent of hardware. That is until all common hardware can support not only the features but the frame rates to back it up.
 
Definitely the x1900.

It has equal performance to the 7900 and better IQ. There's almost no reason to go with the 7900 unless the noise bothers you that much, and you cant get an aftermarket cooling solution.

ATI has finally done mobos right with the 3200 series. I have it, and I can honestly say that I was quite impressed.
 
Frosteh said:
I hear that FP16 HDR and FSAA runs like a dog anyhow, unless you're building a crossfire rig it's probably not even going to be used, and to be honest the last thing I heard about crossfire is that they didn't support over 60hz at 1600 1200 or something totaly stupid like that so it seems all a bit irrelevent to me.

I think most games are going to build in their own HDR for now (much like the source engine) which will run better and possibly allow AA to be run irrelevent of hardware. That is until all common hardware can support not only the features but the frame rates to back it up.
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Read up again. The 60 hz limitation was due to the composting chip used for the x800 cards.
The limitation is long gone now.
 
Even without HDR, ATI is supposed to have an edge in image quality. Although this generation of cards is very close in terms of frames per second. ATI is the better choice in my opinion. I own a 7900GT and have tried the XTX on a friends computer, I feel like I made the wrong decision.
 
Hm....

Guess I'm gonna go Crossfire :cool:

My the only thing I don't like about going with Crossfire, is like I said before, their motherboard selection. The only really good motherboard out there IMHO is the Asus A8R-32 which, has alot of extra crap (External SATA?!) that I don't want or need.
 
Frosteh said:
I hear that FP16 HDR and FSAA runs like a dog anyhow
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Definately not. 4xAA on top of FP HDR is a ~25% performance hit.

With 4xAA, a X1900XTX scores higher in the 3DMark06 SM3.0 HDR tests than a 7800GTX/256 or X1800XT without AA.

and to be honest the last thing I heard about crossfire is that they didn't support over 60hz at 1600 1200 or something totaly stupid like that so it seems all a bit irrelevent to me.
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That was with X8x0 Crossfire, new X1K generation doesn't have that limit. ;)
 
if you're looking at the $300 price point, Nvidia is really the only viable option. However, if you're looking at the $400+ area, I'd go with the ATI.
 
ReTiCuLeX said:
ATi image quality is night and day difference. My friend just purchased the 7900 GTX after buying his 1900 XTX, he likes the XTX better by far.
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Unless you have both of them, do not comment. I have compared over 10 video cards from ATI/NVIDIA the only difference i see is very little to 0 shimmering on ATI cards

HDR+AA is good in games now(beta Far Cry patch and like 2 other games...?), but i doubt the cards will have much power to utilize both in new games at decent resolutions, which i prefer to AA/AF

The HQAF looks really nice though
 
prtzlboy said:
if you're looking at the $300 price point, Nvidia is really the only viable option. However, if you're looking at the $400+ area, I'd go with the ATI.
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What planet you on? The X1800/X1900 are currently cheaper then nvidias offerings and offer better overall performance and IQ.
 
prtzlboy said:
I wouldn't take an OEM x1800xt 256mb over a retail 7900gt. If the x1900xt was $300 on the other hand. . .
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maybe you woulnt ,
but there is a few of us that dont care about the pretty box
 
HDR + AA My card is a XFX 7300GS and it supports HDR and AA16. *Shrugs* What a waste of money when most 7000+'s support it. the new ones anyways.
 
Serge84 said:
HDR + AA My card is a XFX 7300GS and it supports HDR and AA16. *Shrugs* What a waste of money when most 7000+'s support it. the new ones anyways.
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have fun gaming with photoshop , cause thats about all you can game with your card
 
This is a bit of a noob question but i just got my x1900xtx and well, how do you turn on HQ AF and super AA or whatever the ati equivalent is? i set them in ccc and disable application pref but when you go to game the AA i set in ccc is off and i can see jaggies. i can set it up to 6xAA INGAME but i want the special stuff, the stuff everyone talks about that barely gives your performance a hit.
 
00fil00 said:
This is a bit of a noob question but i just got my x1900xtx and well, how do you turn on HQ AF and super AA or whatever the ati equivalent is? i set them in ccc and disable application pref but when you go to game the AA i set in ccc is off and i can see jaggies. i can set it up to 6xAA INGAME but i want the special stuff, the stuff everyone talks about that barely gives your performance a hit.
Click to expand...

Depends on the game. For example Battlefield 2 you can't set FSAA in the CCC control panel, leave it at "application controlled" and set FSAA in-game. Adaptive AA however you can force by the CCC (I recommend the ADAA performance mode because it still looks very good but the performance is much better than quality ADAA, especially with lots of alpha textures on your screen).
HQAF you can always force by the CCC, uncheck "application controlled" in the AF section, set the slider @ 8x or 16x and check "High quality AF".
 
Apple740 said:
Depends on the game. For example Battlefield 2 you can't set FSAA in the CCC control panel, leave it at "application controlled" and set FSAA in-game. Adaptive AA however you can force by the CCC (I recommend the ADAA performance mode because it still looks very good but the performance is much better than quality ADAA, especially with lots of alpha textures on your screen).
HQAF you can always force by the CCC, uncheck "application controlled" in the AF section, set the slider @ 8x or 16x and check "High quality AF".
Click to expand...


thanks very much! but where is the option for FSAA in game? and ive never seen an option for adaptive AA? is that temporal AA? this new catalyst is weird, i prefer normal windows style tabs with 3d mode in in advanced desktop properties, not some computer generated girl staring at me and all flashy colours and virtual gas-pressure valves, im lost in this new setup. last ati was 9800pro
 
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