How much of the GPU power is dedicated to anti aliasing

[Polymathic]

Learnt that 4K displays will make anti-aliasing redundant because of the high resolution. My question is how much of the GPU's power goes towards anti-aliasing for your modern day AAA title?

 

[Fudzy]

I'd imagine the console ports are less likely to employ it as much.

 

[CataclysmZA]

Learnt that 4K displays will make anti-aliasing redundant because of the high resolution. My question is how much of the GPU's power goes towards anti-aliasing for your modern day AAA title?

Less than 5% of GPU time. Most forms of AA are memory and memory bandwidth-intensive, they don't require much GPU horsepower. However, FXAA and TXAA do have some computational overhead although this is negligible when you consider that neither one costs you much in terms of memory cost.

As for 4K displays not needing it, that is an untruth. 2-4x AA is a noticeable jump from no AA, but 8x is where it doesn't benefit playability at all. What's necessary is a GPU that's powerful enough to drive the monitor and enough memory to hold the higher res textures and increased objects you see on-screen. 3GB is the minimum required for 4K gaming, 4-6GB is the optimal area.

Debunking Common Graphics Card Myths

 

[Fudzy]

Does anyone remember the difference it made to Quake? IINM it was the first game to employ it.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Does anyone remember the difference it made to Quake? IINM it was the first game to employ it.

Only Voodoo and 3dfx comes to mind... Remember Wing Commander Prophecy, looked freakin awesome with 3dfx.

 

[Fudzy]

Only Voodoo and 3dfx comes to mind... Remember Wing Commander Prophecy, looked freakin awesome with 3dfx.

Yeah, I had the Voodoo 2 and 3. You could run up to the wall and it didn't look all pixelated at a mind blowing 480p

 

[Fulcrum29]

Yeah, I had the Voodoo 2 and 3. You could run up to the wall and it didn't look all pixelated at a mind blowing 480p

I still own all my pc hardware and upgrades through time except my Voodoo cards, things was too expensive back in the day so an easy upgrade came with trading which ultimately send me over to NVIDIA, purchasing the ASUS V6600 GeForce Deluxe (probably the most expensive card in that time) and only due to the VR goggles which I never used (gaming)… Went over to AMD with their disaster card, ATI R200 series (8500), got an white labelled one which I modded with a Orb and heat sinks, but still could not live up against the GeForce 3 due to poor ATI drivers which only got resolved years later on, but then ATI entered the x-series.

This was the days when OpenGL vs D3D vs 3DFX. My ASUS V6600 is still in use with a server with which I do recordings.

Priceless

 

[copacetic]

Does anyone remember the difference it made to Quake? IINM it was the first game to employ it.

Heh. I remember many moons ago, going to a friend's house and marvelling at what his 3dfx card did to Quake.

In retrospect it kind of made everything fuzzy, but at the time it was the most amazing thing we'd ever seen.