Image quality
While we couldn’t take 100% reproducible screens with the VST, that was no problem in CS: Source. First we’ll take a look at AA quality with ATI’s X800 XT Platinum Edition:
![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ X800 XT PE AA disabled @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/05-s.png) X800 XT PE AA disabled
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ X800 XT PE 4xAA @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/06-s.png) X800 XT PE 4xAA
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GeForce 6800 Ultra:
![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ GeForce 6800 Ultra AA disabled @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/07-s.png) GeForce 6800 Ultra AA disabled
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ GeForce 6800 Ultra 4xAA @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/08-s.png) GeForce 6800 Ultra 4xAA
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Notes
We’ve said this a few times before, and today we’ll say it again: NVIDIA has really raised the bar in their AA quality with the GeForce 6800 series. Looking at both vendors 4xAA mode, it’s difficult to give the edge to one or the other. Staircases are particularly notorious for their jaggies, with their long, flat lines and sharp edges, but both cards did a magnificent job of removing them. ATI still provides more modes, and an exotic, temporal AA feature, but judging purely from a quality standpoint, it’s hard to pick a winner here.
Anisotropic filtering
Filtering was one of those areas where card manufacturers used to cut corners in order to increase their performance, but with today’s latest cards that’s not as often the case. Sure, both ATI and NVIDIA’s latest drivers contain optimizations, but this isn’t a bad thing if done properly.
Like AA, we’ve had a more difficult time spotting differences between both card’s filtering quality – they’re both that good. At some angles X800 cards still have some problems, but we’ve found that these cases rarely crop up during gaming. The biggest issue instead that we’ve seen has been squashing driver bugs. This can vary from the obvious, such as the examples we provided with X800 cards in Far Cry 1.2, or the more subtle, like the shadow issues we showed with GeForce cards in our second Far Cry performance article.
Regardless, lets look at AF, starting first with X800 XT PE:
![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ ATI AF off @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/09-s.png) ATI AF off
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ X800 XT PE 8xAF @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/10-s.png) X800 XT PE 8xAF
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ ATI X800 XT PE 16xAF @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/11-s.png) ATI X800 XT PE 16xAF
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And now the GeForce 6800 Ultra card
![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ GeForce 6800 Ultra AF disabled @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/12-s.png) GeForce 6800 Ultra AF disabled
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ 6800 Ultra 8xAF @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/13-s.png) 6800 Ultra 8xAF
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ 6800 Ultra 16xAF @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/14-s.png) 6800 Ultra 16xAF
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Notes
Even when zoomed, textures along the walls and floors look good on both GeForce 6800 and X800 hardware. We’ve provided PNGs so you can look for yourself.
HDR lighting
One other area we wanted to briefly explore was high dynamic range lighting in CS: Source. Since ATI Shader Day we’ve been lusting to see it in action, and with the release of CS: Source beta it’s finally here! Feast your eyes on these screenshots fellow gamers:
![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ X800 XT HDR lighting @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/15-s.png) X800 XT HDR lighting
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ The sun on that ATI card is burning my eyes! @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/16-s.png) The sun on that ATI card is burning my eyes!
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ Last X800 XT HDR shot in dust @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/17-s.png) Last X800 XT HDR shot in dust
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ You really need sunglasses for this NVIDIA shot @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/18-s.png) You really need sunglasses for this NVIDIA shot
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ GeForce 6800 Ultra HDR @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/19-s.png) GeForce 6800 Ultra HDR
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![Counter-Strike: Source Beta Performance [ Another 6800 Ultra dust HDR shot @ 1024 x 768 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/20-s.png) Another 6800 Ultra dust HDR shot
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