New Tech: MFAA, Dynamic Super Resolution, VXGI
While most of the deep, architectural changes in GM204 are based around power and area efficiency, there are still some interesting feature additions NVIDIA has made to these cards that depend on some specific hardware implementations. First up is a new antialiasing method called MFAA, or Multi-Frame Sampled AA (not, as it turns out, Mother F–king AA). This new method alternates the AA sample pattern, which is now programmable via software, in both temporal and spatial directions.
The goal is to change the AA sample pattern in a way to produce near 4xMSAA quality at the effective cost of 2x MSAA (in terms of performance). NVIDIA showed a couple of demos of this in action during the press meetings but the only gameplay we saw was in a static scene. I do have some questions about how this temporal addition is affected by fast motion on the screen, though NVIDIA asserts that MFAA will very rarely ever fall below the image quality of standard 2x MSAA.
MFAA wasn't enabled in our press driver so we'll have to test this another time.
Next is a feature called DSR, Dynamic Super Resolution, which attempts to bring some of the benefits of higher resolution gaming to users that don't want to invest in something like a 4K panel (yet). Essentially, NVIDIA's new driver will allow you to enable various multiples of your current panels native resolution and those new resolutions will show up in your games settings.
The game then is actually rendering at that new resolution, 3840×2160 for example. NVIDIA's DSR engine then uses a 13-tap Gaussian filter to downsample the image back to 1920×1080. The result in most cases is an improved image with less jagged edges and better coverage in any areas with alpha transparency.
Source: NVIDIA
I actually did some testing of DSR on a 1080p monitor, with Skyrim, and found the results to be impressive. It resulted in a slightly softer but higher quality image than we got even with 8x MSAA enabled.
Click here for a much larger version of this animation!
Obviously you are going to pay the performance penalty for running a game in DSR, just as if you were running at the higher resolution directly. In fact, you will actually see a 1-2% disadvantage over that with the addition of the filter being applied. However, for games that are running incredibly fast on your new GeForce GTX 980 with frame rates over 120, etc, then enabling DSR is a way to take advantage of that horsepower and improve quality.
This feature sounds very similar to SuperSample AA but, in that case, the game is actually rendering at four times the resolution, and then downsampled by the GPU using a simple filter, so quality will differ slightly. Also, if the game you want to enable DSR in doesn't play well with 4K resolutions (UI elements render poorly, etc.) then you might find it better to just keep SSAA instead.
NVIDIA is very proud of VXGI, an evolution of its custom global illumination technology. The details are very complex, more so than I have time to get into today, the premise is to use voxel acceleration to build a completely dynamic illumination engine with single bounce diffuse, specular, reflective and area lighting. It has already been built into UE4 and should be available in other engine in Q4.
I will dive more into this at a later time, as games become available that utilize the technology, but NVIDIA is bullish on the VXGI technology and Maxwell's ability to accelerate the algorithm effectively and efficiently.
From the benchmarks it seems
From the benchmarks it seems obvious to me that the game is CPU bottlenecked. The highest FPS is outside of combat. During combat the FPS all drops to 100fps no matter 1440p or 4k. This is my experience as well, from looking at CPU/GPU usage while playing Skyrim. Since it’s limited to 2 cores, basically a highly overclocked 4 core is the way to go. However, with something like ENB, I wonder if that’ll shift enough of the burden towards the GPU to the point where a better GPU solution actually does something.
I am talking about Skyrim,
I am talking about Skyrim, BTW, in my above comment.
Ryan are you planning on
Ryan are you planning on testing multimonitor in the near future?
Below is my question.
For example: I have my 7950 sapphire flex in crossfire. I play eyefinity games at 5920×1440. My 3 screens are 1680x1050x2 (16×10) for the outiside screens. And my u2711 at 2560×1440 (16×9) in the middle. All are dp monitors.
I do this because for the games that do not support multi monitor. I like the bigger 2560×1440 screen.
It would be great to know if Nvidia has updated surround capabilities to match AMD’s!
I’m happy to see nVidia
I’m happy to see nVidia endorse downsampling in the form of a supported feature. I’m curious about the downsampling filter they use though – a 13-tap Gaussian filter should produce a decently sharp image without ringing, but is there any word on whether or not it is gamma-aware? That last detail is important when downsampling and particularly for high-contrast details.
Hi,
I have a request to
Hi,
I have a request to benchmark skyrim with enb. full quality.
real vision option a full quality is a good videocard destroyer!
my system is i7 4820k @ 4.5ghz and a 290X
skyrim at 4k without enb is 45-50fps
enb on full quality is 17-19FPS..
can you setup a skyrim enb benchmark for reference from now on?
im very interested in your benchmarks for skyrim enb with 290x, 780ti, 970gtx and 980gtx
I know its alot of work but please please please! hehehe
ohhh, if you do, please add
ohhh, if you do, please add unoffical hd textures, flora overhaul and that hurts performance even more! makes the game so beautiful to play…
Most of those supplements
Most of those supplements work by stopping the cause
of baldness. Excess consumption of zinc may cause bleeding stomach and severe abdominal pain. There are only 2 St Johns wort products that I know of,
that have had been properly researched and the Flordis Remotiv is one of those.
My site … ev44.pl (Priscilla)
I have been watching your
I have been watching your channel for a long time now. I would like to say that i enjoy the thorough way in which you benchmanrk every card. That being said, i would guess to say that 98% of pc gamers play in 1080p. Im wondering why you test such hi resolutions? Im sure you have 1080p benchmarks on another page. I just feel raked over the coals with GSync and 4K. Im tired of forking over thousands for small increases in performance. This bleeding edge is making my wallet bleed!
I agree with Shaun, the
I agree with Shaun, the realvision ENB would be a great benchmark tester as with the realvision ENB on skyrim. I had average of 15fps in open area outside of white run and the rest. Was average of 20-35fps on a gigabyte r9 290x OC 4gb and I’m not sure if that did but my card eventually broke Or overheating issues but wouldn’t load into windows just a black screen with fans spinning fullspeed after windows load screen after POST. So I RMA’d that card. And got credit refund and bought the MSI GTX 970 4Gb and waiting for it to arrived with also with a new motherboard.
So I think that it would be a great Benchmark as it really pushes the GPU not so much the CPU and Skyrim with mods normally uses upto 4gb of VRAM
Anyway Thanks
Awesome Review, SLI power
Awesome Review, SLI power consumption for dual 980’s is hard to come by and you sir have slayed my doubts about overdrawing a 850W power supply. THANKYOU!!! 😀
Im going to build this
Im going to build this system
I7 4790K
SLI gtx 970s
16gb ram 1600mhz
Is a 630 watt PSU sufficient to run in sli? If yes can i also overclock?
630W? are you using a brand
630W? are you using a brand name PSU?
Dont trust PSU’s that come preinstalled with a case..
I would think 630 would be buggy for SLI..
you want at least 25% to spare.. I’d say at least a 750W..
Tho my Coolermaster ran 2x R9 280’s fine.. but that was me slightly underclocking my cpu so allow that..
just make sure the psu is a quality one.
Where AMD will have problems,
Where AMD will have problems, not so much in pricing, but in the thermals that are required for the mini/micro sized systems for HTPC/Etc. that may not be able to take the AMD SKUs even if the prices are lower, getting as much GPU power into as small a form factor as possible is going to be a much more important market segment, as more of these products are being introduced.
Small portable form factor portable mini desktop systems, linked wirelessly to tablets, and relying on the mini desktop for most of the processing needs, are going to appear, systems that can be easily carried around in a laptop bag, along with a tablet, the tablet acting as the desktop host for direct(Via ad hoc WiFi) remote into the mini desktop PC. these type of systems will be more powerful than a laptop(the Mini PC part of the pair), but just as portable, and plugged in at the coffee houses/ETC. and wirelessly serving games, and compute to one, or more tablets. Fitting More powerful discrete GPUs into these systems that will not overburden the limited cooling available in the Mini/Micro form factor will be a big business, especially for gaming/game streaming on the go, and taking these devices along while traveling, and having a device that can be configured to be more like a laptop when on battery power, but ramp up the power beyond what a laptop is capable of while plugged in.
Can i run gtx970 on my intel
Can i run gtx970 on my intel DH61HO Motherboard??
It’s obvious Ryan you have
It’s obvious Ryan you have taken heaps of time doing this (well done mate), but as someone wanting to build a rig to use on a big TV, I’m holding back until I can get my head around the 4k TV vs PC gaming output thing.
HDMI and 4k is my worry. I’ll be buying a big (thinking 65″) TV, only 4k for the gaming. It’ll do service as a normal TV too, but in Australia it’ll be obsolete before we see 4k content on the air! So that leaves gaming.
Is a big 4k TV a good option for high resolution gaming? Or are there land mines hidden in HDMI 1.x/2.x specs that’ll catch out the unaware? Certainly look better than 3 monitors.
It looks like the 980 will push BF4 to 4k @ ~30fps, but is that enough, or is SLI to get 45-60fps needed to be a pleasure to play?
A pair of 290x SLI watercooled would have to be an option, quiet yet in the running on fps. OK, uses more power but the purchase price difference buys a lot of electricity, unless water cooling costs a bomb!
Why are the specific settings
Why are the specific settings not disclosed?
That’s pretty much benchmarking 101, and things like AA & AO can make a massive difference.
While this is the only place
While this is the only place I have seen that has benchmarked Skyrim in 4k with a 970, and Thank you very much for that! But what settings did you use? You post what settings you used at the top? But did the 970 really pull ~50 fps at 4k with 8x A and ultra? Find that hard to believe. I have a new 4k Samsung and really just want to play Skyrim in vanilla 4k, no need for AA and trying to decide if 970 is enough.