Vortez - Computer Hardware News & Reviews » News » November 2010 » Nvidia accuses AMD of cheating performance tests - Update from AMD 26/11/10

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:



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:


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!

Mishima Administrator Posts: 4332 Joined: 2009-07-28

#9274 Posted on: 20.11.2010 12:19:48 Interesting read that, and looking at the IQ its fair to say that those AMD videos are pants!!

alexhull24 Administrator Posts: 1027 Joined: 2010-03-31

#9277 Posted on: 20.11.2010 12:22:42 Hard to decide how much exactly is spin and how much truth there is in this though. I don't speak for the sites doing the comparison, so I don't know how impartial they are. I'd be interested to see if AMD decide to respond, though I can't help but feel it's a little petty in the way in which Nvidia have announced this. No need for a slagging war, just give the customers a fair comparison.

Mishima Administrator Posts: 4332 Joined: 2009-07-28

#9281 Posted on: 20.11.2010 12:35:48 Have to remember though this is war! Both brands are launching cards at the same time and the competition has never been more thrilling. For NVIDIA if they can win over consumers its worth thousands to them.

alexhull24 Administrator Posts: 1027 Joined: 2010-03-31

#9282 Posted on: 20.11.2010 12:40:03 No doubt! It's not the first time this has happened either. As you say, and as I said in the article, and in yesterday's article about the dual-GPU cards - there's going to be massive competition for the best performance cards in the next few months.

alexhull24 Administrator Posts: 1027 Joined: 2010-03-31

#9897 Posted on: 02.12.2010 21:44:38 Here's another comparison and some more info, in English!

Mishima Administrator Posts: 4332 Joined: 2009-07-28

#9900 Posted on: 02.12.2010 21:57:18 Interesting thanks for posting

Mythril Administrator Posts: 998 Joined: 2010-11-03

#9902 Posted on: 02.12.2010 22:01:25 I read about this some weeks ago now but from what I can tell back then is if you set the Catalyst AI in the Catalyst to High Quality, the end result is the same as previous drivers. Yes nVIDIA will try and spin it one way and I'm sure if the foot was on the other boot ATI/AMD would do the exact same thing. I wish both companys would grow up tbh. Create the best card they can with the best IQ possible. Simple.

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Vortez - Computer Hardware News & Reviews » News » November 2010 » Nvidia accuses AMD of cheating performance tests - Update from AMD 26/11/10