Just a pity HL won't work in OpenGL for us since any drivers with S3TC/FSAA incorporated inside came into existence, enabled or not - another bug? Perhaps but it works on our Intel system sooo..

The final issue

The last of our three problems with FSAA is a simple one; does it really make games any better? The answer is no, but perhaps not for the reason(s) you are all thinking. FSAA only actually improves the image quality when you are totally still, it does it when you move but because of current monitor technology and our own eyes, the difference can't be seen.

This is because the human eye also blurs images ever so slightly when moving to create its own (vastly more effective) FSAA effect. When you turn around in a game then spotting the advantages of FSAA is very difficult, if you are running forwards and turning slightly then it should still just be noticeable.

The irony of the situation is that you can put a game to one above 1024*768 and get around the same effect as FSAA but with much greater speed and image quality. The fact is FSAA has been vastly over hyped because it doesn't do much for speed and image quality; use a higher resolution we say! As the picture below proves, even with FSAA to max the difference is some times barely anything:

The point being, if you're going to buy a card because it supports FSAA then don't, FSAA is still too infantile to do the job it has to. Perhaps in a couple of years it'll be almost as good as human eyesight, but until that time jaggies will appear even in titles that have it on and to the max.

by Mark 'KILLZAT' Jackson

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