The performance metrics when using anti-aliasing and .anisotropic filtering are a tough nut to crack. The IQ (aka image quality) is difficult to quantify against real numbers, so we have had a real problem determining which card is actually fastest at AA and AF settings. With the Radeon 9700 Pro, those arguments may be finally put to rest, as the performance advantage is such that better IQ and framerates is virtually assured. For all of our forthcoming benchmark tests, we have used Return to Castle Wolfenstein in High Quality mode.
These three charts simply shows the various high-end anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering and "combination AA/AF" modes we tested, and the framerate performance of each. This area is really no contest, and the Radeon 9700 Pro is faster by several levels than any of the GeForce4 Ti boards.
In pure anti-aliasing benchmarking, the Radeon 9700 Pro surpasses the GeForce4 Ti 4600 in a straight-up 4X AA comparison, and then proceeds to amaze us even further by outperforming the NVIDIA card at 6X AA as well.
In a basic anisotropic filtering comparison, the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro also comes out on top, and displays incredible consistency through the various AF modes and screen resolutions. It seems that once anisotropic filtering is enabled, the Radeon 9700 Pro displays almost lossless performance when increasing the resolution.
When the various anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering modes are combined, the Radeon 9700 Pro continues to be the performance leader. Even at 6X AA and 16X AF, the Radeon 9700 Pro still outdistances the GeForce4 Ti 4600 by a wide margin.
ATI has always had excellent anisotropic filtering performance, but the Radeon 9700 Pro has made its major gains in the area of anti-aliasing. Performance without image quality is not a good trade-off, and in the next section, we will be putting the Radeon 9700 Pro's new AA engine to the IQ test.
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