NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GTX Hits The Ground Running
by Derek Wilson on June 22, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Transparency AA, Purevideo, and HDTV
On of the problems with Multisample AA is its inability to correct aliasing within a polygon. One of the main new features that NVIDIA added to the G70 is a method to combat the most notorious problem associated with MSAA: antialiasing of transparent textures.When transparency AA is enabled on a GeForce 7800 GTX, textures that make use of the alpha channel can be flagged to have either supersample or multisample AA performed inside the texture. This can help a great deal for features often implemented with transparent textures such as leaves, vegetation or chain link fences.
This affords an increased performance hit along with its higher image quality, but no longer will fences, bushes, and trees cause a marked decrease in image quality even while running 4xAA. We will explore the performance hit and quality of Transparency AA in our analysis of the hardware, but NVIDIA provides the option of running with either SSAA or MSAA in this mode. MSAA incurs less of a performance hit, but SSAA is higher quality. We are glad that the choice is left to the end user and would even prefer that we get the choice in how FSAA is performed as well.
With increasingly powerful hardware we can afford to "waste" some cycles on SS in order to achieve slightly higher image quality in game that are severely CPU bound. Check out our recent Insider Article on NVIDIA's upcoming introduction of a 16x AA mode for 7800 GTX SLI systems. We will test this mode as soon as NVIDIA offers a driver with support for it.
This time around, Purevideo has extended support for HD format acceleration. The 7800 GTX will now have support for spatial-temporal de-interlacing for HD content. This feature promises to make 1080i content look that much better on a PC. NVIDIA has also said that the 7800 GTX should support H.264, but have said that the driver will not have support until near year's end. As we have already seen an H.264 demo from ATI, and the lack of anything tangible from NVIDIA at this point is disappointing. We are hesitant to even mention NVIDIA's claimed "support" before we see it running on actual hardware (especially after the lacking and late Purevideo support for initial NV40 parts). This time around, we can expect more support for alternate video players from NVIDIA as they are working with InterVideo and Cyberlink.
Not tied to the 7800 GTX is NVIDIA's latest improvement on HDTV support in their 75 series drivers (also launching today). Over time support for fitting a PC's output to any HDTV has improved, but this latest update makes it that much easier to deal with. Providing sliders and a full screen underscan adjustment feature is long overdue, but we still wish modern hardware could provide a more fully featured plug and play environment for HDTV.
We will also be getting some Windows MCE extensions that make HDTV setups easier to configure as well. If the US can manage to keep broadcast flags off the law books, public support for and adoption of digital television services and computers as media center boxes will surely continue to grow and prosper.
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Alx - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Face it, this launch isn't gonna hurt anyone except people with minds too small to accept that there is simply one more option than there was before. If you liked pc gaming yesterday, then there is no reason why this launch should make you stop liking it today. Unless you're a retarded buttbaby who can't handle choices. In that case please get a console and stop coming to this site.mlittl3 - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
#82, WesleyWell that sucks that ya'll have lost your web editor for awhile. Especially when there is so much cool hardware coming out around now. In our research lab, we pass around our publications and conference posters to others in the group so that a fresh pair of eyes see them before they go live or to the journal editor. But of course, everyone else at AT is also busy so oh well.
Good work guys and I look forward to the "new CPU speed bump" article (or FX-57 for those not under NDAs).
Mark
PS. If ya'll have an opening for another web editor, you should hire #84 (ironchefmorimoto). I hear he can cook really well.
AtaStrumf - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Nicely corrected Derek, I think there are just a few typos left, like this one (**):Page 20
Power Consumption
We measured power consumption between the power supply and the wall. This multiplies essentially amplifies any differences in power draw because the powersupply is not 100% efficient. Ideally we would measure power draw of the card, but it is very difficult **determine** to determine the power draw from both the PCIe bus and the 12V molex connector.
AND a few double "Performances" in the title (Performance Performance) starting with page 10.
Nice card nVidia!!! I hope ATi isn't too far behind though. Crossfire --> cheap SLi ;-) I need a nice midrange product out by September when it'll be time to upgrade to a nice E6 stepping S939 A64 and something to take the place of my sweet old GF2 MX (I'm not kidding, I sold my 6600GT AGP, and now I'm waiting for the right time to move to PCIe).
IronChefMoto - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Amen -- you guys work hard on your articles. Keep up the great work. And don't f*cking bother the web editor. We...er...they don't get enough vacation as it is.IronChefMorimoto
(another web editor who needs a break)
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Derek was too modest to mention this in his comments, but I think you should know all the facts. Our Web Editor is on vacation and we are all doing our own HTML and editing for the next 10 days. In our usual process, the article goes from an Editor to the Web Editor who codes the article, checks the grammar, and checks for obvious content errors. Those steps are not in the loop right now.The next thing is NDA's and launches. We are always under the gun for launches, and lead times seem to get shorter and shorter. Derek was floating questions and graphs last night at 3 to 4 AM with an NDA of 9AM. Doing 21 pages of meaningful commentary in a short time frame, then having to code it in HTML (when someone else normally handles that task), is not as easy as it might appear.
I do know Derek as a very conscientious Editor and I would ask that you please give him, and the rest of us, a little slack this next week and a half. If you see errors please email the Editor of the article instead of making it the end of the world in these comments. I assure you we will fix what is wrong. That approach, given the short staff, would be a help to all of us. We all want to bring you the information and quality reviews you want and expect from AnandTech.
IronChefMoto - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
#79 -- But why wouldn't it be a high quality article, mlittl3? I thought you told me that AT was infallible? Hmmm? ;-)Houdani - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
Thanks for the refresh, Derek. I went back and took a peek at the revised graphs. I have a couple of comments on this article before you move on to the next project.>> When the Splinter Cell page was refreshed, the graph for 20x15x4 apparently disappeared.
>> When you removed the SLI's from the Guild War page, it looks like the 7800GTX changed from 50.5 to 55.1 (which is the score previously given to the 6800 Ultra SLI).
>> Several of the pages have scores for no AA benches listed first, while other pages have scores for the 4xAA listed first. While the titles for the graphs are correct, it's a little easier to read when you stay consistent in the ordering. This is a pretty minor nit-pick, though.
>> Thanks for updating the transparency images to include mouseover switches ... quite handy.
fishbits - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
"They priced themselves into an extremely small market, and effectively made their 6800 series the second tier performance cards without really dropping the price on them. I'm not going to get one, but I do wonder how this will affect the company's bottom line."The 6800s were "priced into an extremely small market." How'd that line turn out? I don't imagine they've released this product with the intention of losing money overall. Why do you think retailers bought them? Because they know the cards won't sell and they're happy to take the loss? It's already been proven that people will pay for you to develop and sell a $300, wait $400, wait $500 video card. It's already been proven that people will pay a $100+ premium for cards that are incrementally better, not just a generation better. Sounds like this target is a natural, especially knowing it'll eventually fall into everyone else's purchasing ability.
Being able to say you have the bar-none best card out there by leaps and bounds is certainly worth something. Look at all the fanboys that are out there. Every week or month you're able to stay on top of the benches means you get more people who'll swear by your products no matter what for years to come. Everyone you can entice into buying your card who sees it as a good product will buy your brand in the future as a preference, all other options being equal. I could be wrong, but suspect Nvidia's going to make money off this just fine.
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"I am proud that our readership demands a quality above and beyond the norm, and I hope that that never changes. Everything in our power will be done to assure that events like this will not happen again."
See... that's why I'm a big fan of the site.
mlittl3 - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
#78, I bet you didn't even read the article. How do you know it demonstrated editoral integrity?IronChefMoto - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
#23 (mlittl3) still can't pronounce "Penske" and "terran" right, regardless of the great editorial integrity demonstrated by the AT team today. Thanks!