HardOCP editors declare "shimmer" issue meaningless

[nRollo]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=973953&page=3

I have been running NVIDIA cards in my own personal box for a while now and I have never seen what people are talking about. I have talked to Brent about this as well and have downloaded videos of it, that did nothing to impress me.
So given that our evaluations reflect our gaming expeirence, obviously it is not impacting Brent's gaming.

Brent???

Kyle's opinion.

It's not impacting my gaming experience, I'll keep a closer eye on it though to see if there are any 'bad' spots in a game, but so far nothing has really struck out at me, it's hard to notice such things when you are actually playing the game.

Bren't opinion.

I've said many times that I, like most people, have never noticed this "issue" it was nice to see respected web journalists basically saying what I've said all along about this.

This thread is not going anywhere.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[Lonyo]

I haven't ever noticed any shimmering either.
It seems to either be a pretty much non-issue, or something that only affects a small minority in a few situations, but if it is present, then it still is an issue, and does need looking at if it can be reproduced reliably, so a fix can be made.

 

[Gstanfor]

Shimmering does exist, and if present can be quite visible, however I have found it to be extremely rare.

The game that I've noticied it in is Pirates of the Caribbean, very early on in the game.

Just inside the Oxbay (first town) main gates you will notice the gravel ground shimmer as you look left and right from your start postion or if you move.

These setting will cause the shimmering (the trilinear optimization is the culprit). Set the trilinear optimization to off and the shimmering will completely disappear. Performance is barely affected, and I never have the trilinear optimization on anyhow (noticed the issue back before I built my own custom profiles instead of using nVidia's).

 

[M0RPH]

It's been clearly demonstrated and shown in videos, so if they are saying that they've never seen it then apparently they don't have a discerning eye for this sort of thing. Therefore their opinion doesn't mean much.

I should add that many members here have identified shimmering in games so it's not just a figment of someone's imagination.

Originally posted by: Rollo
respected web journalists

:roll:

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: M0RPH
It's been clearly demonstrated and shown in videos, so if they are saying that they've never seen it then apparently they don't have a discerning eye for this sort of thing. Therefore their opinion doesn't mean much.

I should add that many members here have identified shimmering in games so it's not just a figment of someone's imagination.

It's interesting that you think we should believe you instead of respected web reviewers Morph.

No one is saying you can't find it if you go looking. They're saying it's not noticeable unless you go looking.

 

[pol II]

I have not noticed shimmering and I run dual GTX's. That being said, I believe that it is possible for others to notice it. I think some people are simply more sensitive to noticing this than I am.

 

[Jaskalas]

I remember when I first saw a shimmer in 3D GFX. It was when I combined my Radeon 9800 Pro with Warcraft3. It wasn't very a big issue.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: M0RPH
It's been clearly demonstrated and shown in videos, so if they are saying that they've never seen it then apparently they don't have a discerning eye for this sort of thing. Therefore their opinion doesn't mean much.

I should add that many members here have identified shimmering in games so it's not just a figment of someone's imagination.

It's interesting that you think we should believe you instead of respected web reviewers Morph.

No one is saying you can't find it if you go looking. They're saying it's not noticeable unless you go looking.

Link

Originally posted by: Rollo
This is a video forum, and I'm noting a valid driver issue with a video game and a video card?

Isn't that the sort of thing the forum is for? I've seen other threads like this here?

So when it's a bug which affects multiple games sometimes, it's not a real issue, but when it affects a single old game, it's a valid area of complaint?
This is an issue, that's a fact. It's an issue which affects multiple people and multiple games, thus it's a comparatively major issue (compared, at least, to some things you deem to be postworthy issues), and it has deserved discussion and should get a fix.
Just because you and 2 website editors say it's a non-issue for the majority doesn't mean it's a non-issue.

 

[Madellga]

Oh yes, because those 2 guys and Rollo said that, I won'tt see any shimmering anymore :roll:

For me, this means a lot: 2 respectable web editors who are not able to see shimmering should not be reviewing graphic cards - they don't have what it takes.

They should find another job. Beside that, HardOCP is a racist website and I normally don't like visiting them.

They can stick the "Canucks" where they find more convenient.....

 

[Hacp]

Looks like AA/AF/ General image quality which doesn't affect gaming much SHOULD NOT MATTER either.

 

[xtknight]

Increase the LOD bias and it's gone. I've only seen it on the Source engine and RTCW with decreased LOD.

 

[VIAN]

Tough crap, I've seen the issue. It's not noticeable everywhere, but what did you expect. They can only really notice it on detailed pattern textures. They'll see it there. I just saw it in fear the other day when I was trying it out, so I went back to High Quality.

Saying that you don't notice it there is like saying you don't notice AA off in one section of the game. Where eveywhere is perfect, excpet for this one POS texture that just won't work right.

 

[Paratus]

Interesting that folks on another board seem to be complaining about shimmering as well.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: M0RPH
It's been clearly demonstrated and shown in videos, so if they are saying that they've never seen it then apparently they don't have a discerning eye for this sort of thing. Therefore their opinion doesn't mean much.

I should add that many members here have identified shimmering in games so it's not just a figment of someone's imagination.

It's interesting that you think we should believe you instead of respected web reviewers Morph.

No one is saying you can't find it if you go looking. They're saying it's not noticeable unless you go looking.

Link

Originally posted by: Rollo
This is a video forum, and I'm noting a valid driver issue with a video game and a video card?

Isn't that the sort of thing the forum is for? I've seen other threads like this here?

So when it's a bug which affects multiple games sometimes, it's not a real issue, but when it affects a single old game, it's a valid area of complaint?
This is an issue, that's a fact. It's an issue which affects multiple people and multiple games, thus it's a comparatively major issue (compared, at least, to some things you deem to be postworthy issues), and it has deserved discussion and should get a fix.
Just because you and 2 website editors say it's a non-issue for the majority doesn't mean it's a non-issue.

bwhahaha, well said

anyway, does anyone have a video of shimeering?

 

[5150Joker]

Well just another reason for me not to believe anything that comes out of HardOCP. I already thought their reviews were garbage and now this. I don't imagine the shimmer I see in Quality mode, it's right there and it can be recorded via FRAPs. I guess according to Kyle and Brent, since they don't notice it, I must be imagining things. :roll: HardOCP has lost all credibility with me lately. First they go on a rant about how ATi express 200 chipsets were the problem in their Falcon Northwest system and later find out it was due to a faulty BFG 7800 GTX and now this. BTW I'll put up a vid here as soon as Steam lets me connect. :|

 

[VIAN]

You telling me you don't see this.

NV default VS NV High

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: VIAN
You telling me you don't see this.

NV default VS NV High

No Vian you must be imagining this according to Kyle and Brent!

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker

Originally posted by: VIAN
You telling me you don't see this.

NV default VS NV High

No Vian you must be imagining this according to Kyle and Brent!

where are you guys looking exactly?

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug

Originally posted by: 5150Joker

Originally posted by: VIAN
You telling me you don't see this.

NV default VS NV High

No Vian you must be imagining this according to Kyle and Brent!

where are you guys looking exactly?

Look at the tiles.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug

Originally posted by: 5150Joker

Originally posted by: VIAN
You telling me you don't see this.

NV default VS NV High

No Vian you must be imagining this according to Kyle and Brent!

where are you guys looking exactly?

Look at the tiles.

OMG, thats ridiculous. once i knew where to look, it is pretty obvious. i was lookin at the gun

 

[bigpow]

what about the tiles?
Still can't see what's the big fuzz about, I mean, if you really have to look carefully to see it, do you even notice it when you're playing?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Wait till you try moving about, then those unwanted elliptical lines will really bug ya

 

[otispunkmeyer]

i cant say i notice shimmering at all, usually too busy actually playing the game. the only game where it sticks out like a sore thumb....on both ATi and Nvidia hardware i have is Riddick.

 

[IntelHydralisk]

Never noticed them until people pointed it out...

 

[5150Joker]

I'm going to upload 2 videos right now to show the drastic quality difference between HQ mode and Q mode in the scene depicted in those SS's. They're ~120 MB each uncompressed so it will take a little bit to upload them. I'm guessing that if you have a lower quality monitor or a small one (e.g. 17" CRT) then shimmering doesn't stick out as much. When you move up in resolution on a higher quality monitor, it is much more prevalent.