anti aliasing...Am I missing something?

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hoosin91

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#1 hoosin91
Member since 2006 • 496 Posts

I never use anti aliasing in any of my games. It just lowers the performance and I don't see much difference when turning it on. Alot of people swear by it which I just don't understand... Am I missing something here?

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scotty992

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#2 scotty992
Member since 2005 • 2388 Posts

I was wandering the same thing.

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millerlight89

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#3 millerlight89
Member since 2007 • 18658 Posts
If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.
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scotty992

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#4 scotty992
Member since 2005 • 2388 Posts
If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.millerlight89
I don't know what anti aliasing is so something is wrong?
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04dcarraher

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#5 04dcarraher
Member since 2004 • 23838 Posts
If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.millerlight89
If your playing on a TV/Monitor 6+ feet away at native resolution you wont really be able to tell the difference with AA on. AA can really help older games big time.
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millerlight89

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#6 millerlight89
Member since 2007 • 18658 Posts

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.scotty992
I don't know what anti aliasing is so something is wrong?

You do not know what it is? Ok.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

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mattuk69

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#7 mattuk69
Member since 2009 • 3050 Posts

In easy terms to understand it basically smooths out the jadded edges around objects. The higher the resolution your playing at the less noticeable the jagged edges are.

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Lox_Cropek

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#8 Lox_Cropek
Member since 2008 • 3555 Posts

Maybe he's playing on a really high resolution or maybe he sits too far from the screen

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madmenno

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#9 madmenno
Member since 2004 • 1528 Posts
Pixels are squares and because of that computers are not able to draw smooth round surfaces. Anti aliasing does that job by "blurring" the edges. If you have photoshop or any sort of look alike program try drawing a hard edged circle, it appears jagged. Now draw one with some smoothing or anti aliasing checked on and your circle will look smooth. Same for a straight line that is not exactly vertical or horizontal, it appears jagged without AA. This costs a lot of CPU power as it has to do this on the fly but it significantly increases the quality, especially with a lot of organic/round forms.
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DJ_Headshot

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#10 DJ_Headshot
Member since 2010 • 6427 Posts

Maybe he's playing on a really high resolution or maybe he sits too far from the screen

Lox_Cropek

Ii play at 1920x1080 and theirs still jaggies so he's either got "bad" eyes(worse then 20/20) or is sitting far away from the pc screen or a combination of the 2

and to TC perhaps you need to get glasses i have really crappy eyes and used to game for the longest without glasses so lack of AA or playing in non native resolution didn't bother me but once i got my glasses :shock: omg it was like eye sex everything was so detialed and looked amazing and playing at a non native resoltion made things look like crap and AA turned into a reguirment.

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88mphSlayer

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#11 88mphSlayer
Member since 2010 • 3201 Posts

it depends on the game, right now i'm running Crysis with CCC and i have AA turned off completely but the game still looks brilliant because of some modifications via the CCC mod

i wish i could force AA in Mass Effect 2 tho, but sometimes when you run a game at a really high resolution it's not as noticeable

some other games tho, like Left 4 Dead 2, i've got the game running with 16xAA just because there's no performance hit

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-Origin-

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#12 -Origin-
Member since 2007 • 1816 Posts

If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.millerlight89

The only difference I can tell is that my FPS significantly drops..

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morrowindnic

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#13 morrowindnic
Member since 2004 • 1541 Posts

AA gets rid of jagged lines. Makes a HUGE difference.

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millerlight89

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#14 millerlight89
Member since 2007 • 18658 Posts

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.-Origin-

The only difference I can tell is that my FPS significantly drops..

If you play at a high resolution I may believe that, but at lower resolutions it makes a big difference. Even higher resolutions there is a small difference.
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Farkeman

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#15 Farkeman
Member since 2009 • 1199 Posts
i always try to maintain 50-60 fps on high / ultra if i cant have ultra with full aa i go high with full aa i will better have not such good textures but i wont see those creepy ugly edges ...
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hoosin91

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#16 hoosin91
Member since 2006 • 496 Posts

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

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Rahnyc4

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#17 Rahnyc4
Member since 2005 • 6660 Posts

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

hoosin91
performance hits at 1280x720? what might be your system specs :)
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hoosin91

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#18 hoosin91
Member since 2006 • 496 Posts

[QUOTE="hoosin91"]

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

Rahnyc4

performance hits at 1280x720? what might be your system specs :)

My comp ain't the best but I like to think it's ok...

4gb ram

windows 7

amd phenom 9850 quad core 2.5ghz

Nvidia 8800gts (320mb)

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NoAssKicker47

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#19 NoAssKicker47
Member since 2004 • 2855 Posts

I'm not really bothered by jagged edges even though I play all my games at 1280x1024. What does bother me big time is bad texture filtering. I can't stand playing games with any less than 8x Anisotropic Filtering. As for AA. Well, if game performance allows that, then by any means I turn it on. I can play most of my games with it, though some of them really hate my 8800GT with AA on, like Crysis, STALKER and Metro 2033, but that one hates it even with no AA at DX9 and high details. Still looks pretty damn good on med detail @ DX9 @ 1280x1024.

But overall, if you can't tell the difference, then simply don't turn it on.

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Bigsteve3570

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#20 Bigsteve3570
Member since 2009 • 975 Posts
If you can not tell a difference between no AA and say 4xAA then something is wrong.millerlight89
Agreed, the difference is staggering when you reach 4x AA. However, you need to be gaming at a decent resolution for the monitor/tv size. So 1680x1050 to 1980x1200 for a 22-24 inch monitor and it looks crazy crisp.
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jun_aka_pekto

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#21 jun_aka_pekto
Member since 2010 • 25255 Posts

Aliasing is more apparent when there's a lot of very fine detail. Uncharted 2 (esp in Urban warfare), Crysis (thin railings/fences and coconut tree fronds), and Flight Simulator X (cables, very thin aircraft markings/stripes) are some of the bigger offenders I've seen. It's less noticable with most other games at the res I play in (1440x900).

Most screenshots of Uncharted 2 I've seen here seem to have soft edges. But, having played the game at my nephew's and several kiosks, the aliasing is pretty bad. Crysis comes a close second. 4xAA seems to take care of most jaggies. But some still stick out and the framerate hit makes me limit AA to 2xAA with my current PC. Once I move to higher res, I think I can lower AA or dispense with it altogether.

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hoosin91

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#22 hoosin91
Member since 2006 • 496 Posts

I'm thinking the reason I don't see much difference with AA on or off is because I game on a 15 inch monitor. Yes a 15 inch lol

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DJ_Headshot

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#23 DJ_Headshot
Member since 2010 • 6427 Posts

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

hoosin91
how far do you sit form your monitor and how good is your eyesight?
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HenriH-42

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#24 HenriH-42
Member since 2007 • 2113 Posts

I can spot aliasing easily but I'm not at all bothered by it. I almost never use AA, it's not worth it IMO. It causes a HUUUUGGEEE performance hit (same with V-sync) and that's one reason more for me to never use it. Of course, if the game is like 5+ years old then of course I will turn on anti-alias since why the heck not - there is no noticeable performance hit as the game would be running at 100+ FPS all the time anyway... but with modern games it's a no-go.

I can't believe how bothered some people are about aliasing. I'd be more concerned about frame rate and monitor refresh rate since they at least actually affect gameplay and comfort - low refresh rates give me a terrible headache.

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hoosin91

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#25 hoosin91
Member since 2006 • 496 Posts

[QUOTE="hoosin91"]

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

DJ_Headshot

how far do you sit form your monitor and how good is your eyesight?

I sit quite close to my monitor tbh as it is on a desk and my eyesight is ok:)

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Qixote

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#26 Qixote
Member since 2002 • 10843 Posts

If you have a gaming pc that is not older than 5 years, then you should be able enable some AA without any noticeable performance hit. Really, it strikes me odd that currently some pc gamers are not using AA still; you must have a really old pc if it really hurts that much. AA is one of the more noticeable graphical options available. If you are ok with jaggies, then more power to you. Personally, given the choice I would not play with jaggies.

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adv_tr00per

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#27 adv_tr00per
Member since 2006 • 2605 Posts

If you use your native reolution then there's really no need for AA, unless you can afford the performance hit or if you're a total grafix whore.

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Qixote

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#28 Qixote
Member since 2002 • 10843 Posts

If you use your native reolution then there's really no need for AA, unless you can afford the performance hit or if you're a total grafix whore.

adv_tr00per

Wow, the misinformation that some people post can be staggering.

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KhanhAgE

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#29 KhanhAgE
Member since 2004 • 1345 Posts
I don't really use AA and AF for modern titles. But for old games it's a different story. I recently installed a bunch of old titles (again), such as Undying, Giants, Messiah, The Wheel of Time etc., and had to AA and AF them all (8xAA & 16xAF).
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#30 D1zzyCriminal
Member since 2009 • 1839 Posts

I would rather have a higher resolution or higher graphics options, AA is where I go if im still getting 40+ fps. AA is massive performance hit with intense games on crappy PC's though most of the time you can get away with 2X AA.

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SemperFi10

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#31 SemperFi10
Member since 2004 • 3139 Posts

[QUOTE="Rahnyc4"][QUOTE="hoosin91"]

Well I play at 1280x720 and I really don't see a difference:? Apart from the performance hit of course.

hoosin91

performance hits at 1280x720? what might be your system specs :)

My comp ain't the best but I like to think it's ok...

4gb ram

windows 7

amd phenom 9850 quad core 2.5ghz

Nvidia 8800gts (320mb)

The issue might be your video RAM, and with some recent games, the video card itself. But the intensity of the performance hit depends on the game you're playing. AA "smooths" the edges of all objects in the game, thus eliminating the "jaggies." The jagged edges you might see (if your eyesight is 20/20 or better) are the changes in the pixel display lines on your monitor from one color to another as new objects come into view. See the comparison screenshot eariler in your thread.

Edit:

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gashoe13

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#32 gashoe13
Member since 2007 • 511 Posts

Anti-aliasing isn't really necessary at all. All it does is smooth out jagged edges of objects in gameplay. You don't need it whatsoever; all it does is make the graphics look smoother (but can lower frame rate depending on your rig).

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Lach0121

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#33 Lach0121
Member since 2007 • 11796 Posts

AA is noticable on any REsolution. just some seem a little more obvious than others.

I Play just about every game with AA, usually around 4xAA, sometimes 2xAA(if the game requires more beef to run) older games i run much higher 8x all the way up to 32x

AA is noticable.. if you know what your looking for.. since many have explained to you what it is, im not going to go over it again.

though some game engines disable HDR if you use AA, Unreal Engine is bad about it on a lot of games.

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DanielDust

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#34 DanielDust
Member since 2007 • 15402 Posts

Anti-aliasing isn't really necessary at all. All it does is smooth out jagged edges of objects in gameplay. You don't need it whatsoever; all it does is make the graphics look smoother (but can lower frame rate depending on your rig).

gashoe13
Try playing a game like BC 2 with the sniper and absolutely no AA. All games require AA period, the only reason not to use it would be performance, if your PC isn't good enough for a game of course you won't use AA.
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Yanduan

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#35 Yanduan
Member since 2007 • 161 Posts

AA is important to me since I play on 1360x768, jaggies are visible on most games and it looks very ugly

Even some games with 4xAA still have jaggies like BC2

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SQUIRD5

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#36 SQUIRD5
Member since 2005 • 25 Posts

I don't use AA because I've got a somewhat crappy stock comp, and don't have the money to build a better one at the moment. AA just slows me way the hell down.

I just don't get why some people hate the 'jaggies' so much. Sure, it's not as crisp, but it could be helpful when you're trying to spot a small difference in, let's say, a 20x20px area, possibly less. Then the 'fuzzies' of the AA'd edges wont bleed into the area around it, especially when you're trying to spot something past a tree and next to a few walls...

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adamosmaki

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#37 adamosmaki
Member since 2007 • 10718 Posts
Depends on the resolution you play. At 1920x1080 it doesnt make a big difference but still applying 2 or 4xAA can make a noticeable difference at some games and certain scenes. Of course at lower resolutions the change is even more noticeable and at 1440x900 i'm playing i cant stand a game without at least 4xAA
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JN_Fenrir

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#38 JN_Fenrir
Member since 2004 • 1551 Posts
I have 20/20 vision and AA does nothing for me. I'm running a 24" display at 1920x1080, so pixel density is high enough that I honestly almost never notice a difference. The only time I do is on the rare occasion that I am in a 3D game standing perfectly still. Even then, there still needs to be a significant amount of contrast between the foreground and background to really get the effect of AA. All those screenshot comparisons that people keep posting are terribly misleading: any camera motion at all renders AA completely useless, as objects are naturally in somewhat of a blur as they are being drawn panned across the display, and that's before you add all the full-screen shaders and post-processing effects seen in many modern games. All things considered, I just don't see the point of enabling it.
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Bros89

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#39 Bros89
Member since 2004 • 624 Posts

okay i have 1440x900 rez and AA is a massive difference, i always put it on 8xAA or 4xAA (for crysis :))

The funny thing is, in every game (except crysis), it has no impact on my fps.

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CellAnimation

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#40 CellAnimation
Member since 2007 • 6116 Posts
I play at 1920x1200 on a 24" monitor and I still think AA is needed. If you can't get at least 4x AA at your native res, it's time for a new video card IMHO.
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DJ_Headshot

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#41 DJ_Headshot
Member since 2010 • 6427 Posts

okay i have 1440x900 rez and AA is a massive difference, i always put it on 8xAA or 4xAA (for crysis :))

The funny thing is, in every game (except crysis), it has no impact on my fps.

Bros89

whats your gpu?

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Bros89

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#42 Bros89
Member since 2004 • 624 Posts

4870x2

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DJ_Headshot

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#43 DJ_Headshot
Member since 2010 • 6427 Posts

4870x2

Bros89
lol well that explains it your gpu has so much power that at that low resolution AA simply won't tax it in all but the most demanding of games.
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fajin36

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#44 fajin36
Member since 2010 • 25 Posts
I tend to freak out a little when I see jaggies on screen, I must be honest. If there is a jaggie to be found, I'll notice it. There you are admiring this stunning view when, all of a sudden, the entire scene is ruined by a few ghastly jaggies popping up unannounced. I always run at least 2XAA, but sometimes up to 8xAA. (At 1680x1050) The only time I'll turn it off is when I'm hitting below 30 fps.
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#45 dakan45
Member since 2009 • 18819 Posts

I never use anti aliasing in any of my games. It just lowers the performance and I don't see much difference when turning it on. Alot of people swear by it which I just don't understand... Am I missing something here?

hoosin91
well, it depends from the game and how you want it to look. Crysis for example looks fine without antialising at a high resolution, but arma 2, gta iv and avatar are desperatly in need of aa even at a high resolution.
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Lach0121

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#46 Lach0121
Member since 2007 • 11796 Posts

[QUOTE="hoosin91"]

I never use anti aliasing in any of my games. It just lowers the performance and I don't see much difference when turning it on. Alot of people swear by it which I just don't understand... Am I missing something here?

dakan45

well, it depends from the game and how you want it to look. Crysis for example looks fine without antialising at a high resolution, but arma 2, gta iv and avatar are desperatly in need of aa even at a high resolution.

agreed, some games need it way more than others.

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i5750at4Ghz

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#47 i5750at4Ghz
Member since 2010 • 5839 Posts

I never use anti aliasing in any of my games. It just lowers the performance and I don't see much difference when turning it on. Alot of people swear by it which I just don't understand... Am I missing something here?

hoosin91
If you start using it, you will start to notice it, which will lead to you not being able to play without it.
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jun_aka_pekto

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#48 jun_aka_pekto
Member since 2010 • 25255 Posts

[QUOTE="hoosin91"]

I never use anti aliasing in any of my games. It just lowers the performance and I don't see much difference when turning it on. Alot of people swear by it which I just don't understand... Am I missing something here?

i5750at4Ghz

If you start using it, you will start to notice it, which will lead to you not being able to play without it.

Very true. The lack of it is very norticeable in games with fine detail such as FSX:

No AA (8600 GT) AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+

2xAA (HD 5770) Phenom II X3 720BE (4th core unlocked)