G80 Reviews thread

[beggerking]

gamespot review w. hdr+aa

 

[TheSlamma]

$500 for a single video card!! :Q

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
$500 for a single video card!! :Q

Top-of-the-line is never cheap.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: beggerking
gamespot review w. hdr+aa

Nice find!! It looks like even a GTS does a great job with that game.

 

[BassBomb]

560 new lowest price i found up north.

Funny how now days will be like the 6xxx series. Big power consuming baddies with SM4 (like sm3 back then) two power connectors (like two agp molex back then) .. good thing i didnt jump on the bandwagon to say "low power consumption ftw"

 

[BFG10K]

Right now I am unable to find 4xS/8xS in the registry and I've been poking around for over a week now .

Sadly I'm in the same boat as you which is a shame because even 8xS is totally superior to 8xQ/16xQ. In fact it's surprising just how superior it is for edges, to say nothing of its texture anti-aliasing abilities.

The xS modes are one the main reasons I picked up a 8800 GTS and it's very disappointing to see them dumped like that.

I assume with 4xS/8xS its relatively simple. Hard to say with the 16xS thats possible through 8xQ.

I actually think they all would easy as OGSS is a very simple scheme to implement. Also if nVidia did it right they could offer 64xAA on single cards and 128xAA on SLI.

Word on the street is new Forceware X drivers are coming next week so I'm hoping these will put the xS modes back in.

 

[josh6079]

The xS modes are one the main reasons I picked up a 8800 GTS and it's very disappointing to see them dumped like that.

But you still have one of the fastest cards you could possibly have and have an unparalleled AF. Wouldn't 16xAA with Super Sampled TrAA be of equal if not better quality?

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: bluemax

Originally posted by: TheSlamma
$500 for a single video card!! :Q

Top-of-the-line is never cheap.

is never and was never...its almost people want to make you believe its the first time this happened Look back..we have that EVERY year

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: josh6079

The xS modes are one the main reasons I picked up a 8800 GTS and it's very disappointing to see them dumped like that.

But you still have one of the fastest cards you could possibly have and have an unparalleled AF. Wouldn't 16xAA with Super Sampled TrAA be of equal if not better quality?

Yea, wouldnt 8xQ TR SSAA be better? Since the AF in the 8 series is MUCH better than the 7 series, do you need the texture aliasing?

 

[Gstanfor]

What I'm hoping is that we will see new combined AA modes. Imagine the IQ a 16xQxS mode would be capable of if implemented.

Oh, and the combined modes go back further than nv40. I first used then on nv35 and as mentioned 4xS was a GF4 option. I'd imagine they'd function on a GF3 too, though I've never tested.

I'm pretty sure these sorts of modes will surface since although the combined AA modes are nice for consumers they would almost be required for Quadro cards.

 

[josh6079]

...do you need the texture aliasing?

No, that's the point of texture anti-aliasing.

 

[BFG10K]

But you still have one of the fastest cards you could possibly have and have an unparalleled AF.

I thought the 7900 GTX's AF looked pretty good under HQ anyway so the G80's better AF isn't a huge issue for me.

Wouldn't 16xAA with Super Sampled TrAA be of equal if not better quality?

No. 8xS has better edge AA plus it anti-aliases all textures, not just transparent ones like TrAA. Also TrAA can't be forced in OpenGL so 8xS's advantages extend even further.

Here are comparison shots of 8xS and 16xQ. Look at the horizontal railing at the back and also at the mint green line that runs below it. It's quite obvious 8xS is superior.

16xQ | 8xS.

The only advantage 8xQ/16xQ has over 8xS is that it's faster but I was already running many old games maxed at 1920x1440 without issue so the 8800 GTS is currently a step backward from the 7900 GTX in that respect.

The real power of 8xQ/16xS is in its potential to create more powerful hybrid modes, not to replace existing hybrid modes.

 

[josh6079]

OMG, you're right. That railing is practically perfect.

But did that 16xQ shot have TrAA enabled? Because the metal grating on the floor looked sharper with the 8xS mode than the 16xQ mode, which makes me think that the 16xQ mode didn't have SS TrAA.

Also, it seemed like everything got brighter with the 8xS modes, I don't know if it was just because of the metal grating's clarity compared to the 16xQ mode or what.

 

[BFG10K]

Neither had TrAA enabled but both would improve the floor grating if it was enabled.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

But you still have one of the fastest cards you could possibly have and have an unparalleled AF.

I thought the 7900 GTX's AF looked pretty good under HQ anyway so the G80's better AF isn't a huge issue for me.

Wouldn't 16xAA with Super Sampled TrAA be of equal if not better quality?

No. 8xS has better edge AA plus it anti-aliases all textures, not just transparent ones like TrAA. Also TrAA can't be forced in OpenGL so 8xS's advantages extend even further.

Here are comparison shots of 8xS and 16xQ. Look at the horizontal railing at the back and also at the mint green line that runs below it. It's quite obvious 8xS is superior.

16xQ | 8xS.

The only advantage 8xQ/16xQ has over 8xS is that it's faster but I was already running many old games maxed at 1920x1440 without issue so the 8800 GTS is currently a step backward from the 7900 GTX in that respect.

The real power of 8xQ/16xS is in its potential to create more powerful hybrid modes, not to replace existing hybrid modes.

That's quite a noticeable difference. So is this a driver issue or is G80's hardware incapable of xS modes? If the latter is true, I think I'm not going to be very pleased.

 

[josh6079]

How would TrAA help 8xS if 8xS is already super sampling everything? I mean does one use a rotated grid and the other an ordered grid or what?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: josh6079

...do you need the texture aliasing?

No, that's the point of texture anti-aliasing.

My bad.

nVIDIA should bring back the 8xS/16xS modes. SSAA is always better than MSAA.

More review:

Behardware ENG ver review

Edit - Thought this was interesting:

Heres the link. Seems to say G80 derivatives..

Link

And heres the one with the 5 G80 derivatives.

Link 2

G80-400 (This could be the 8800 ultra)
G80-200 (Possibly the 8800GT)
G80-600 (mid range e.g 8600?)
G80-875 and G80-850 (low end e.g 8300?)
8800GTX (G80-300)
8800GTS (G80-100)

Should post this in the G80 thread.

 

[BFG10K]

So is this a driver issue or is G80's hardware incapable of xS modes?

OGSS doesn't even require hardware support as it can be implemented entirely in the driver. As of yet it either hasn't been included or nobody knows what the registry keys are to activate it.

How would TrAA help 8xS if 8xS is already super sampling everything?

TrAA operates at the same level as the base level of MSAA so when you running 8xS you'll get 8 samples applied to alpha textures. I'm also fairly certain those samples stack with the 2xOGSS component too.