few GF FX5700 questions

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 7:14 pm

ok heres my first... how do I know what my MOBO supports IE 4x-8x

if is is only 4x what happens if I set it higher?

TrevGlas · Post by **TrevGlas** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 7:45 pm

I don't know of any way to set your AGP to 8x if it isnt supported.

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:56 pm

in the settings for the card where i can change from

off,2x,4x,6x, and 8x

as for anistropic off,2x,4x, and 8,x

i can change it to any of them but how do i know what my mobo supports?

TrevGlas · Post by **TrevGlas** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:58 pm

Well what board is it?? I can find out for you

IF AGP 8x is not supported it will only function at 4x no matter what you set it at.

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:09 pm

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600) Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 8250
System Service Tag: 9HN9L21 (support for this PC)
Chassis Serial Number: 9HN9L21
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.53 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0K0543
Serial Number: ..CN4811132N00NE.
Bus Clock: 533 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A02 01/28/2003

is this it?

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:11 pm

Originally posted by 7thkevin
in the settings for the card where i can change from

off,2x,4x,6x, and 8x

as for anistropic off,2x,4x, and 8,x

i can change it to any of them but how do i know what my mobo supports?

It sounds like you are confusing AA, AF and AGP

they are all 3 very different things

the settings you have posted above look like the settings for AA and AF respectively

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:12 pm

yea I want to know about it all so im not so confused.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:19 pm

Originally posted by 7thkevin
yea I want to know about it all so im not so confused.

AGP = Accelerated Graphics Port - this is the physical port you plug your video card into, the big brown slot on your mobo. The speed it operates at on current mobo's is either 4X or 8X AGP. This is selectable from your motherboards BIOS. If the mobo supports 8X it will run at this automatically, if it doesn't it will run at 4X automatically. You don't have to change anything usually. If you want to check go into your mobo's BIOS and see what the AGP setting is set to.

AA = Anti-Aliasing - this is a method used in 3D that reduces the jaggy lines on polygon edges. The level, 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x is the amount of samples taken around the pixel to determine the color to smooth it out. As you go up in number the performance requirement is higher and you will see a decrease in performance linearly.

AF = Anisotropic Filtering - this is a method that is used above Trilinear Filtering that takes more samples than Trilinear and changes the pattern and orientation of filtering to clear up the side effect of filtering of blurry textures in the distance. Basically it makes textures in perspective much clearer, and less blurry. Again as you rise in number performance decreases linearly.

Thats a basic definition.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:30 pm

Read this page to learn how AF works with a couple of examples: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3 ... 380,00.asp

you can google anti-aliasing and also find lots of stuff

there are two types of anti-aliasing, super-sampling and multi-sampling used on video cards today

the gffx 5700 supports multi-sampling and a combination of multi + super-sampling thats what those xS modes are

one thing to keep in mind with multi-sampling is that they don't anti-alias alpha textures, so the only way to AA alpha textures is to use super-sampling, or a combination of super + multi-sampling wich the gffx series supports, but also keep in mind super-sampling cause more of a performance hit than multi-sampling

7thkevin · Post by **7thkevin** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:36 pm

ok thanks for the help.

Mytflyguy · Post by **Mytflyguy** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:32 pm

So in your opinion ...

which is better to run Higher Resolution without the AA or AF ?

Or lower Resolution and the AA or AF cranked up ?

TrevGlas · Post by **TrevGlas** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 5:02 pm

I think lower resolution with AA and AF

I used to play BF at 1280*1024, with no AA or AF

But I lowered it to 1024*768, and I put 4x aa and 4x af and it looks wayyy better

Mytflyguy · Post by **Mytflyguy** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:03 pm

I can't seem to find a 1280 X 1024 Setting ... I was looking for that one , but it seems to have more oddball settings .... I have my Desktop to 1280 X 1024 too ...... hmmmmmm ..... I'll have to check that out ...

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:07 pm

Originally posted by 7thkevin
ok thanks for the help.

your welcome

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:11 pm

Originally posted by Mytflyguy
So in your opinion ...

which is better to run Higher Resolution without the AA or AF ?

Or lower Resolution and the AA or AF cranked up ?

totally depends on the game

i find that in ut2003/ut2004 i prefer to have AF enabled rather than AA because of all the detailed textures UT2k3/4 uses, so I'd rather run at high resolution with noaa and with max af

but then there are other games where i like to run at lower resolution 1024x768 with AA and AF, always trying to have AA up as high as I can because thos jaggies really drive me crazy

so it just depends, personal preference

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:12 pm

Originally posted by Mytflyguy
I can't seem to find a 1280 X 1024 Setting ... I was looking for that one , but it seems to have more oddball settings .... I have my Desktop to 1280 X 1024 too ...... hmmmmmm ..... I'll have to check that out ...

actually, 1280x1024 IS the oddball setting

1280x960 is the actual proportional resolution