Catalyst AI settings on the HD 68xx and 58xx are claimed to artificially lower image quality as of Catalyst 10.10. Nvidia won’t ‘engage in a race to the IQ gutter’ Now with a response from AMD
Catalyst AI settings on the HD 68xx and 58xx are claimed to artificially lower image quality as of Catalyst 10.10. Nvidia won’t ‘engage in a race to the IQ gutter’ Now with a response from AMD
In a recent blog post by Nick Stam, it is claimed that AMD have altered the default settings of Catalyst AI options to lower the filtering image quality for a bump in performance. Nvidia claim that their filtering options are comparable to higher quality settings, and thus the performance increase is only at a loss of image quality in comparison to their drivers.Nick goes on to say:
We have had internal discussions as to whether we should forego our position to not reduce image quality behind your back as AMD is doing. We believe our customers would rather we focus our resources to maximize performance and provide an awesome, immersive gaming experience without compromising image quality, than engage in a race to the IQ gutter with AMD.
Apparent texture shimmering is a symptom of this lower quality setting. Various German websites have reported on this already.
Take a look at some comparison videos and judge for yourself, courtesy of tweakpc.de
Are Nvidia’s comments justified or are they trying to win over some more supporters before the big card releases of the next few months such as the AMD 6970, AMD 6990, Nvidia GTX 570, GTX 560, and ‘GTX 590’?
Source: The NVIDIA Blog
Update:
AMD has now sent out a direct response to this article:
From Hexus.net:
Now a representative from AMD has gotten in touch with us to try and set the record straight. Obviously the company denies any accusations of underhand tactics and reaffirmed its commitment to the PC gaming community. The rep also pointed out that the default image-quality settings in the Catalyst drivers had recently been revisited and that they were – in AMD’s opinion – “on par” with NVIDIA’s defaults.
The statement added that the company takes “great care in determining the default settings of Catalyst drivers” and that the current defaults “deliver a very good gaming experience”.
The statement added that the company takes “great care in determining the default settings of Catalyst drivers” and that the current defaults “deliver a very good gaming experience”.
I think this is one end-users will have to judge for themselves, as there are contrasting reports and nobody is truly without bias in one direction or the other. Personally, I’ve not noticed any loss in IQ when moving to AMD, but I did also upgrade, so perhaps that negates the effect.
I’d love to hear what you Vortez readers think – share your thoughts on this in the forums!
