This article offers professional proof that what I've said below about filtering quality was true. Look in the second page and read the discriptions of the videos.
This thread was originally started to prove to this thread that there is a difference between NV's Quality and High Quality Image Settings. I also compared filtering quality between the X800 & 6800 afterwards. There is also a section near the end that compares High Performance to Quality for 6800 by demand.
NV'S QUALITY VS HIGH QUALITY
NV states the difference between Quality and High Quality in this 10MB PDF:
There is and there isn't a difference between those settings, and any difference will be much more noticeable when you are in motion. If you don't enable Anisotropic Filtering, you will see almost no difference. There may be some subtle differences that you will most likely never catch such as in Call of Duty Multiplyaer in the level Ship. In this level you will notice it from a distance with the shadow of the railing on the deck of the ship. At times, Quality may use Bilinear instead of Trilinear where Trilinear is set in game (observed in FarCry 1.3, HL2 w/o AF, Splinter Cell 2 v1.31 w/o AF) while High Quality will use Trilinear. Bilinear instead of Trilinear may also occur using High Quality. In these cases, you can Force Mipmap Trilinear in the drivers.
If you turn on Anisotropic Filtering, the differences become more pronounced, however, you will be able to see it on only certain types of textures. Sometimes you won't be able to see it at all, sometimes you'll be able to see it a bit in motion, and sometimes it will stick out like a black eye. Take Call of Duty for instance. The textures on the wall are nice, but never as sharp as some floor textures with small patterns. With Quality enabled you will notice texture aliasing which creates a moire effect on top of those sharp textures. It'll be visible in the pictures below. This is also noticeable on the floorboards on the ship in the level Ship. If the floorboards are vertical on the screen, motion will present nothing. If the floorboards are horizontal on the screen, motion will present texture aliasing. If the floorboards are diagnal on the screen, motion will present texture aliasing and moire effects.
From what I've seen when in motion in HL2 with Anisotropic Filtering: High Quality presents a slight moire effect; Quality without optimizations present a more pronounced moire effect; Quality with optimizations produce a very decernable moire effect.
HOW TO PROPERLY CHECK DIFFERENCES
Right click on the links and Save Target(s) to a folder. Now open one of the pictures with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and keep clicking next and it will cycle through the pictures.
Quality VS High Quality
This is the level Rocket in Call of Duty Multiplayer. In the Quality picture, there is texture aliasing near those gray barrels followed by a Bilinear transition. In the HQ picture, there is a Bilinear transition between the gray and brown barrels.
Quality VS High Quality
In the Quality picture, you see some texture aliasing on the floor near the door followed by a moire effect in the distance. The High Quality picture shows Bilinear transitions. One is between the door and the gray barrels.
For those who complained about that 2nd set of pictures not be taken in the exact same position, these are corrected pictures:
Quality VS High Quality
These pictures, though, are using 71.84 BETA drivers. These exact same shot pictures are difficult to take, being that I have to shut down the game, change the driver settings and then get back into the game. I will try to keep them the same, but if I can't, I can guarrantee that any artifacts seen or not seen would be there independent of position. I cannot guarrantee the FPS in the upper left corner however.
These pictures were taken using the following system:
AMD Athlon XP 2700+
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC2700
A7N8X-X
eVGA 6600GT - Forceware 66.93; 71.84 BETA used in second set and from this point forward.
Drivers left at default except Image Settings was changed when needed(Quality to High Quality), Vsync was disabled and Anisotropic Filtering was set to 8x.
FOR OPTIMAL IMAGE QUALITY SETTINGS
If you don't plan on using Anisotropic Filtering, leave driver settings at default, except Force Mipmaps to Trilinear. If you plan on using Anisotropic Filtering, also change Image Settings to High Quality and Negative LOD Bias(71.84 and up) to Clamp.
MORE PICTURES
Quality VS High Quality
This picture is from the Lockdown level in HL2 Deathmatch. In-game settings are at Highest and Anisotropic Filtering is enabled in driver only. Quality shows moire effects within the shadows.
Quality VS High Quality
This picture is from the beginning of FarCry. In-game settings are at High and Anisotropic Filtering enabled in driver only. Quality show a Bilinear transition.
Nv optimization
This picture was taken with the new 71.89 drivers. It uses 8xS Anti-aliasing as well as 16x Anisotropic Filtering. Everything is explained in the picture.
ATI VS NV
(The following paragraph is pre-X800 Speculation) Coming from a 9700 Pro, I noticed this loss in image quality in the 6600GT under the image setting Quality and with Anisotropic Filtering. I found that High Quality was much more comparable to my 9700 Pro and was angered that I based my purchase on benchmarks that didn't seem properly documented. The X800 didn't have a loss in image quality from what I've seen and read, how could people miss something this significant. I probably would have never bought the card if I new that it gained those framerates by lowering it's image quality. Websites use default driver settings when they benchmark. Being that Quality is default for NV, benchmark numbers reflect a loss in image quality with Anisotropic Filtering enabled and a boost in FPS up to 34%, which is unfair to the competition that I thought had image quality more comparable to High Quality. Here in this set of pics, 9800 VS the 6600, it will show that ATI had better image quality. Read on after the pics.
NV VS ATI
This is the level Rocket in Call of Duty Multiplayer. ATI produces a cleaner picture here akin to NV's High Quality found here.
NV VS ATI VS
This is the level Ship in Call of Duty Multiplayer. Here it is hard to notice the difference. I should have taken the picture with the floorboards diagnally on the screen. The difference that you notice in the NV screen is texture aliasing, which is unnoticeable when motionless.
These ATI pictures were taken using the following HP system:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
512 PC3200
9800PRO 256MB - Catalyst 5.1 or 5.2 with CCC. Drivers left at default except Vsync was disabled and Anisotropic Filtering was set to 8x.
These pics clearly show that the 9800 has better default image quality than NV resulting in unfair benchmarks between them at least. I had few ATI card sources at the time so I couldn't do too many pics. Even now that I have an X800, I have very few games left. Now to show the true event - to show that there is a loss in image quality between 2004 gen ATI & NV. Or so I thought. See, the 9800 doesn't have a feature found in the X800 called Adaptive Trilinear, which is supposed to adaptively select the best filtering to give the best performance while retaining optimal image quality. I took that into consideration and assumed that the 9800 would show the same image quality as the X800 considering it said that it would only do it if it didn't lower image quality. But, I fell the to the clutches of corporate bullsht.
X800 default VS NV default VS NV High
Sorry about that NV High pic not being in the same spot, but everything said here remains true. As you can see, it seems that the X800 and it's Adaptive Trilinear are at work at not preserving the excellent image quality that it's previous generation displayed so proudly. We keep digging into the crap pool with image quality it seems. Anyway, ATIs default image quality is better than NV's default by a decent amount. ATI's default has all the aliasing of NV's, but very little of the moire effect which is good. And, again NV's High Quality displays excellent image quality - much better than ATIs default quality as it gets rid of most of the aliasing. But wait, what if we turn off optimizations on ATI cards.
X800 default VS X800 AI OFF
As you can see here, disabling ATI's AI is a stupid move. It does increase the image quality by making the moire effect a bit less pronounced, but not significant enough that it would matter, except in FPS. The texture aliasing is still very much existant. I had to look at the pics to find the difference, so it seems as if ATI hasn't disabled all of their optimizations.
So, if you want the best image quality possible, NV will provide that for you, no doubt. However, when you look at benchmarks you should keep in mind that ATI does have better image quality being that it's comparing default ATI to default NV. You judge by the pics to see what matters to you.
The X800 pictures were taken using the following system:
AMD Athlon XP 2700+
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC2700
A7N8X-X
BBA X800 Pro - Cat 5.6 - everything default.
NV: HIGH PERFORMANCE VS QUALITY
By reader request: This comparison was done with the beta drivers supplied by the BF2 Demo, 77.30.
High Performance VS Quality
This is the Lockdown level in HL2 Deathmatch. As you can see, with High Performance, the texture aliasing and moire effect is twice as pronounced compared to Quality. If you look at the tiles at the back wall, it looks like extra detail, but it's really just a lot of aliasing.
And I thought Quality was bad. On all other textures, where the loss in image quality is unnoticeable with the Quality setting, High Performance shows loss in the form of texture shimmers. You can't notice them with pics, but you can in motion.
THANKS
Jeff7181 for explaining that there is a difference between Quality without optimizations and High Quality.
This thread was originally started to prove to this thread that there is a difference between NV's Quality and High Quality Image Settings. I also compared filtering quality between the X800 & 6800 afterwards. There is also a section near the end that compares High Performance to Quality for 6800 by demand.
NV'S QUALITY VS HIGH QUALITY
NV states the difference between Quality and High Quality in this 10MB PDF:
Graph of Differences.
There is and there isn't a difference between those settings, and any difference will be much more noticeable when you are in motion. If you don't enable Anisotropic Filtering, you will see almost no difference. There may be some subtle differences that you will most likely never catch such as in Call of Duty Multiplyaer in the level Ship. In this level you will notice it from a distance with the shadow of the railing on the deck of the ship. At times, Quality may use Bilinear instead of Trilinear where Trilinear is set in game (observed in FarCry 1.3, HL2 w/o AF, Splinter Cell 2 v1.31 w/o AF) while High Quality will use Trilinear. Bilinear instead of Trilinear may also occur using High Quality. In these cases, you can Force Mipmap Trilinear in the drivers.
If you turn on Anisotropic Filtering, the differences become more pronounced, however, you will be able to see it on only certain types of textures. Sometimes you won't be able to see it at all, sometimes you'll be able to see it a bit in motion, and sometimes it will stick out like a black eye. Take Call of Duty for instance. The textures on the wall are nice, but never as sharp as some floor textures with small patterns. With Quality enabled you will notice texture aliasing which creates a moire effect on top of those sharp textures. It'll be visible in the pictures below. This is also noticeable on the floorboards on the ship in the level Ship. If the floorboards are vertical on the screen, motion will present nothing. If the floorboards are horizontal on the screen, motion will present texture aliasing. If the floorboards are diagnal on the screen, motion will present texture aliasing and moire effects.
From what I've seen when in motion in HL2 with Anisotropic Filtering: High Quality presents a slight moire effect; Quality without optimizations present a more pronounced moire effect; Quality with optimizations produce a very decernable moire effect.
HOW TO PROPERLY CHECK DIFFERENCES
Right click on the links and Save Target(s) to a folder. Now open one of the pictures with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and keep clicking next and it will cycle through the pictures.
Quality VS High Quality
This is the level Rocket in Call of Duty Multiplayer. In the Quality picture, there is texture aliasing near those gray barrels followed by a Bilinear transition. In the HQ picture, there is a Bilinear transition between the gray and brown barrels.
Quality VS High Quality
In the Quality picture, you see some texture aliasing on the floor near the door followed by a moire effect in the distance. The High Quality picture shows Bilinear transitions. One is between the door and the gray barrels.
For those who complained about that 2nd set of pictures not be taken in the exact same position, these are corrected pictures:
Quality VS High Quality
These pictures, though, are using 71.84 BETA drivers. These exact same shot pictures are difficult to take, being that I have to shut down the game, change the driver settings and then get back into the game. I will try to keep them the same, but if I can't, I can guarrantee that any artifacts seen or not seen would be there independent of position. I cannot guarrantee the FPS in the upper left corner however.
These pictures were taken using the following system:
AMD Athlon XP 2700+
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC2700
A7N8X-X
eVGA 6600GT - Forceware 66.93; 71.84 BETA used in second set and from this point forward.
Drivers left at default except Image Settings was changed when needed(Quality to High Quality), Vsync was disabled and Anisotropic Filtering was set to 8x.
FOR OPTIMAL IMAGE QUALITY SETTINGS
If you don't plan on using Anisotropic Filtering, leave driver settings at default, except Force Mipmaps to Trilinear. If you plan on using Anisotropic Filtering, also change Image Settings to High Quality and Negative LOD Bias(71.84 and up) to Clamp.
MORE PICTURES
Quality VS High Quality
This picture is from the Lockdown level in HL2 Deathmatch. In-game settings are at Highest and Anisotropic Filtering is enabled in driver only. Quality shows moire effects within the shadows.
Quality VS High Quality
This picture is from the beginning of FarCry. In-game settings are at High and Anisotropic Filtering enabled in driver only. Quality show a Bilinear transition.
Nv optimization
This picture was taken with the new 71.89 drivers. It uses 8xS Anti-aliasing as well as 16x Anisotropic Filtering. Everything is explained in the picture.
ATI VS NV
(The following paragraph is pre-X800 Speculation) Coming from a 9700 Pro, I noticed this loss in image quality in the 6600GT under the image setting Quality and with Anisotropic Filtering. I found that High Quality was much more comparable to my 9700 Pro and was angered that I based my purchase on benchmarks that didn't seem properly documented. The X800 didn't have a loss in image quality from what I've seen and read, how could people miss something this significant. I probably would have never bought the card if I new that it gained those framerates by lowering it's image quality. Websites use default driver settings when they benchmark. Being that Quality is default for NV, benchmark numbers reflect a loss in image quality with Anisotropic Filtering enabled and a boost in FPS up to 34%, which is unfair to the competition that I thought had image quality more comparable to High Quality. Here in this set of pics, 9800 VS the 6600, it will show that ATI had better image quality. Read on after the pics.
NV VS ATI
This is the level Rocket in Call of Duty Multiplayer. ATI produces a cleaner picture here akin to NV's High Quality found here.
NV VS ATI VS
This is the level Ship in Call of Duty Multiplayer. Here it is hard to notice the difference. I should have taken the picture with the floorboards diagnally on the screen. The difference that you notice in the NV screen is texture aliasing, which is unnoticeable when motionless.
These ATI pictures were taken using the following HP system:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
512 PC3200
9800PRO 256MB - Catalyst 5.1 or 5.2 with CCC. Drivers left at default except Vsync was disabled and Anisotropic Filtering was set to 8x.
These pics clearly show that the 9800 has better default image quality than NV resulting in unfair benchmarks between them at least. I had few ATI card sources at the time so I couldn't do too many pics. Even now that I have an X800, I have very few games left. Now to show the true event - to show that there is a loss in image quality between 2004 gen ATI & NV. Or so I thought. See, the 9800 doesn't have a feature found in the X800 called Adaptive Trilinear, which is supposed to adaptively select the best filtering to give the best performance while retaining optimal image quality. I took that into consideration and assumed that the 9800 would show the same image quality as the X800 considering it said that it would only do it if it didn't lower image quality. But, I fell the to the clutches of corporate bullsht.
X800 default VS NV default VS NV High
Sorry about that NV High pic not being in the same spot, but everything said here remains true. As you can see, it seems that the X800 and it's Adaptive Trilinear are at work at not preserving the excellent image quality that it's previous generation displayed so proudly. We keep digging into the crap pool with image quality it seems. Anyway, ATIs default image quality is better than NV's default by a decent amount. ATI's default has all the aliasing of NV's, but very little of the moire effect which is good. And, again NV's High Quality displays excellent image quality - much better than ATIs default quality as it gets rid of most of the aliasing. But wait, what if we turn off optimizations on ATI cards.
X800 default VS X800 AI OFF
As you can see here, disabling ATI's AI is a stupid move. It does increase the image quality by making the moire effect a bit less pronounced, but not significant enough that it would matter, except in FPS. The texture aliasing is still very much existant. I had to look at the pics to find the difference, so it seems as if ATI hasn't disabled all of their optimizations.
So, if you want the best image quality possible, NV will provide that for you, no doubt. However, when you look at benchmarks you should keep in mind that ATI does have better image quality being that it's comparing default ATI to default NV. You judge by the pics to see what matters to you.
The X800 pictures were taken using the following system:
AMD Athlon XP 2700+
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC2700
A7N8X-X
BBA X800 Pro - Cat 5.6 - everything default.
NV: HIGH PERFORMANCE VS QUALITY
By reader request: This comparison was done with the beta drivers supplied by the BF2 Demo, 77.30.
High Performance VS Quality
This is the Lockdown level in HL2 Deathmatch. As you can see, with High Performance, the texture aliasing and moire effect is twice as pronounced compared to Quality. If you look at the tiles at the back wall, it looks like extra detail, but it's really just a lot of aliasing.
And I thought Quality was bad. On all other textures, where the loss in image quality is unnoticeable with the Quality setting, High Performance shows loss in the form of texture shimmers. You can't notice them with pics, but you can in motion.
THANKS
Jeff7181 for explaining that there is a difference between Quality without optimizations and High Quality.