Benefit of forcing AF and AA from drivers?

[ThePilot_Ace]

Hi, what are the benefits of forcing AF and AA through the drivers (Nvidia beta in my case)? I also have nhancer..

Microsoft encourage to use those settings through FSX and keep the drivers on application controlled, however others do not. Who do I believe?

[flyinjoe]

I personally set my AA and AF settings through nHancer for a couple of reasons.  The most important reason is it allows me to use a higher AA and AF setting than FSX does.  I don't know what the stock settings are for AA and AF if enabled through FSX, but I doubt they are 8x supersampling and 16x aniostropic filtering, which is what using nHancer allows me to use.  

The other reason (and I don't know how much truth there is to this, but I read it somewhere) is that when using the drivers for AA and AF instead of FSX, it puts the load for handling the AA and AF settings on the GPU instead of using CPU cycles.  Again, this may or may not be true and I'm sure NickN will know the answer, but it is something I read somewhere.

flyinjoe

[NickN]

Simple question

want a simple answer?

Because those recommendations come from a place where they are not in a position to suggest things over and above what most users would understand to use and they are treating you like a dumb-arse so you set things up and let the driver manufacture control your experience.

Hardware tuning is specific to the system. They are not there to tell you what is best, just tell you what is the most simplistic


let the CARD control the settings, and YOU set the drivers and system up which allows -you- to have that control. That is what my instructions in using Nhancer are all about.

If you dont believe me, I am sure a few may come along and comment further about their use of the method and results.


I dont care what is posted at MS or Nvidia. I would not run those settings, ever.

[ThePilot_Ace]

Thanks, I believe you.

nhancer won't let me delete all the profiles because I'm using the beta driver.. what do I do? Edit the FSX profile?

PS: I use a 7950GX2. Do I use combined or SLI AA?

[NickN]

Thanks, I believe you.

nhancer won't let me delete all the profiles because I'm using the beta driver.. what do I do? Edit the FSX profile?

PS: I use a 7950GX2. Do I use combined or SLI AA?

My instructions are specific in that area.

[NickN]

PS: I use a 7950GX2. Do I use combined or SLI AA?

hmmmmm

You know, that one is based on the profile being a multi GPU or single. To tell you the truth, I do not know for sure because I never messed with SLi or a GX2 card. Someone who has may come along and comment

Without experience in the area of a GX2 I can not advise on that one without guessing

[ThePilot_Ace]

K, I'll just use SLI since the drivers tell me SLI is enabled by default.

Also, what is the benefit of changing the Texture_bandwith_mult?

[NickN]

K, I'll just use SLI since the drivers tell me SLI is enabled by default.

Also, what is the benefit of changing the Texture_bandwith_mult?

That is a by-system tweak. If you have a faster card with a good slug of memory on it, higher TBM will force textures to load faster around the aircraft. Some find value in raising it, as I do and set it to 80 but also run 768MB of memory. Some find it is better to leave it at default. All your settings work in combination with each other. If you are forcing sliders too high, a high TBM can cause performance to drop and not sharpen the textures.

Its a matter of working that out based on the system

I think the GX2 is a separate memory situation. I can not remember if you get 512 or 1024. I think it means 512 but each card in SLi use 512. Its not a combined 1024

[NickN]

Here is the thing about SLi.. and I know this is true os 2 cards in 2 slots... it works against you unless you are running 16-32AA @ a resolution above 2xxxx and have a CPU that can handle that load too.

Below that you see no benefit in running SLi. You may want to experiment with a single core profile running the settings I outlined for a single card and see if there is a difference

As for the GX2 cards and how they function in SLi mode, I do not know.