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Old December 24th 07, 12:49 AM posted to alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia
Mr.E Solved!
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Default 8x Antialiasing Turns Off Multi-GPU Mode on nVidia GEForce 7950

Will wrote:
Starting about a year ago, nVidia modified its GEForce 7 drivers to remove
the 8xS antaliasing mode, which was compatible with multi-GPU performance.
Now you are forced to choose in the nVidia control panel between 4x and 8x.
4x gives mediocre antialiasing. 8x gives a good visual result, but if you
select 8x antialiasing you get a modal dialog warning you that this mode is
incompatible with multi-GPU support. Why would nVidia put such an awful
restriction into the drivers for this card? In effect, to get good visual
qualities you have to cripple the card's potential performance? To make a
confusing issue utterly unintelligible, if you then switch from 8x to 4x
antialiasing, you get a different modal dialog that warns you that going
from 8x to 4x will compromise the best "multi-GPU performance". This
directly contradicts the earlier dialog when going from 4x to 8x, by
implying that at 8x you can get a multi-GPU mode working.

At minimum, nVidia needs to clean up the text and explanations in these
dialogs. It's a mess. Can someone explain what these warnings actually
mean?

Can someone explain what are the implications of turning off multi-GPU
performance modes? If I want 8x antialiasing for visual quality, is there
any way to get both GPUs on the 7950 working towards rendering a scene?
Maybe in this case I would be forced to select one of the alternate frame
rendering modes 1 or 2?


There are few (if any) games that can handle 8X FSAA at any resolution
with a 7950GT. It is no longer offered (unless forced) since it is not
desirable or practicable.

Remember that anti-aliasing is a substitute for increased resolutions,
you should try to increase resolution first, then apply filtering such
as FSAA.

Every application handles FSAA differently, from Half Life (which looks
fantastic with it) to BF2 (which needs FSAA and other additional
methods) to Unreal Tournament, which only tolerates it if forced.

If you find that in your application 4X FSAA isn't cutting it for you
visually, you should experiment with different modes, super sampling and
its derivatives RG and OG and MS. These additional modes greatly add to
the IQ of the rendered scene, based on the engine and specific game. For
example transparency AA in HL2, a must in those levels populated with
fencing.

Along with FSAA, mipmapping and anisotropic filtering are a necessity,
and LOD control when set properly creates the best image possible with
any given hardware, eliminating all visual artifacts.

I recommend nhancer, it's exactly what you need for your both your IQ's.

http://www.nhancer.com