Lets look at some seemingly identical screenshots 😀
NOTES:
- Click here for examples of notable areas >>>
- The difference in visual quality is much more apparent when you are moving around in-game compared to just looking at static screenshots, but it is easier to compare the various methods with screenshots because one can easily tab back and forth between them.
- HL2 main menu in all tests: Texture settings were set to "High", no AA
- Nvidia Profile Inspector settings = Default settings with only the following changes = AA Behavior Flags: None, AA Mode: Override, Texture filtering AF: 16x, Texture filtering: High Quality, and then the respective AA options from the screenshot labels
- 1080Ti tests use the latest steam build of HL2.
- 960 tests use an older nosteam build.
- Please ignore the gamma differences between various tests, they are related to my specific setup, which is not the same across all tests and is not the point of this test.
- DSR stands for 4x DSR factors at 0% smoothness.
- WBGDSR stands for tricking Window Borderless Gaming app to perform DSR-like downsampling. This method is finicky and has its own set of issues, depending on each game. For example in HL2, the main menu does not accept mouse for example (so you navigate the main menu with keyboard).
- All DSR and WBGDSR screenshots below are slightly "faked" because it is not (easily) possible to take 1:1 screenshots of the real result. Faking consisted of manually downsampling to the correct resolution via 3rd party software using "bicubic" (not "bicubic automatic") method. I paid close attention (visually, side-by-side) to this and the "bicubic" option seemed pretty much identical to the real result of both DSR and WBGDSR. "Bilinear" option produced more jaggies than the real result and "nearest neighbor" was even worse.
SOME OBSERVATIONS:
- During motion, anything that is less than perfectly aliased results in ants/shimmering near the edges of objects (less noticeable) or in transparent textures (more noticeable). Especially at longer distances (horizon) and/or against the skybox.
- The "2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+(WBG)DSR" option (subjectively) provided the best visual quality (during motion) but lowest FPS and highest input lag. The 8xMS is quite needed here to smooth everything out.
- Most of the "4x4SS" and "4x4SS+(WBG)DSR" tests have the same FPS for some reason, yet they look different (correctly I think).
- The rendering seems different between GTX960 and GTX1080Ti. Some spots have less or more shadows, on "Square" screenshots with 1080Ti the tree leaves are dark, etc. I am not sure how much is this the result of using 2 different builds of the same game, or if its the drivers/OS difference, or some combination. Not the point of this test though, just an observation.
- FPS is not everything, any form of AA/(WBG)DSR noticeably increased the (perceived) mouse input lag in all tests, the least laggy were probably the "(WBG)DSR" and "4x4SS" options. It was worse with 960 than with 1080ti because it is simply an older, less powerful card.
Half-Life 2 - Windows 8 - Geforce GTX 1080 Ti 1024x768
Station
1/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA
1/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA+DSR
1/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
1/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
1/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
1/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
1/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS
1/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS+DSR
Square
2/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA
2/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA+DSR
2/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
2/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
2/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
2/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
2/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS
2/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS+DSR
Corner
3/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA
3/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - NOAA+DSR
3/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
3/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
3/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
3/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
3/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS
3/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x768 - 4x4SS+DSR
Half-Life 2 - Windows 8 - Geforce GTX 1080 Ti 2496x1872
Station
4/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA
4/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA+DSR
4/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
4/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
4/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
4/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
4/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS
4/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS+DSR
Square
5/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA
5/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA+DSR
5/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
5/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
5/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
5/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
5/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS
5/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS+DSR
Corner
6/1 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA
6/2 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - NOAA+DSR
6/3 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
6/4 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
6/5 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
6/6 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+DSR
6/7 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS
6/8 - Win8 - 1080ti - x1872 - 4x4SS+DSR
Half-Life 2 - Windows XP 32bit - Geforce GTX 960 1024x768
Station
7/1 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA
7/2 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA+WBGDSR
7/3 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
7/4 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
7/5 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
7/6 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
7/7 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS
7/8 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR
Square
8/1 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA
8/2 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA+WGBDSR
8/3 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
8/4 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
8/5 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
8/6 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
8/7 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS
8/8 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR
Corner
9/1 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA
9/2 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - NOAA+WGBDSR
9/3 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
9/4 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
9/5 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
9/6 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
9/7 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS
9/8 - WinXP - 960 - x768 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR
Half-Life 2 - Windows XP 32bit - Geforce GTX 960 2496x1872
Station
10/1 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA
10/2 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA+WBGDSR
10/3 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
10/4 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
10/5 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
10/6 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
10/7 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS
10/8 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR
Square
11/1 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA
11/2 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA+WBGDSR
11/3 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
11/4 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
11/5 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
11/6 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
11/7 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS
11/8 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR
Corner
12/1 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA
12/2 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - NOAA+WBGDSR
12/3 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS
12/4 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
12/5 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS
12/6 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 2xSS+8xMS+8xSGSS+WBGDSR
12/7 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS
12/8 - WinXP - 960 - x1872 - 4x4SS+WBGDSR