NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 (G80): GPUs Re-architected for DirectX 10

All of our image quality comparisons are 200 - 400% zooms on the two highlighted areas of the following image:

What really matters are image quality and performance. Does CSAA provide equivalent or better image quality to MSAA methods? We take a look at Half-Life 2 to find out. First up, we compare CSAA and MSAA in modes where only 4 color/z values are stored.

4X 8X 16X

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4X 8X 16X

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We can clearly see that, using only 4 sample points, CSAA is able to achieve greater AA quality. Edges are smoother and thin lines appear less broken. But what happens when we look at an MSAA mode with more sample points than CSAA.

8X 8XQ

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8X 8XQ

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Here we can see that NVIDIA's 8x and 8xQ modes provide similar quality. The higher number of multisamples employed by 8xQ does seem to have a positive impact on thin line antialiasing, as seen with the antenna. Edges look about the same though.