What is the advantage to using FSAA?

[Brian R.]

I don't understand. Running a card with FSAA enabled causes a large performance hit. Is there an advantage to using FSAA at lower resolution instead of simply running the game (or whatever) at higher resolution? I have a card (Hercules Prophet 2) which does FSAA and I feel the use of higher resolution without the FSAA involves less of a performance hit at, as near as I can tell, a similar screen appearance.

Anyone have information why FSAA has an advantage? Seems to me to involve additional transformations and may be less efficient to display than higher resolution images.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 03 August 2000).]

[McRhea]

As far as I can tell, FSAA is just something 3dfx has just for "brag factor." Sure, it's cool, but is it practical? I'd say, not really. Kinda like the bump-mapping for the G400. It's cool, but it causes you to lose so many FPS that it's not worth it. Same with FSAA. Think of it as an "attraction", big flashy lights to get your attention.

It's really good for taking screen shots. And that's about it. Heh heh.

[DosFreak]

1. Good for games that are stuck at a resolution.
2. Good for games that have shimmering textures.
3. Good for people with monitors that have a max res of 1024X768.

[Brian R.]

DosFreak - That makes sense...