How does ATI compare in this regard to NVIDIA? Let's look at ATI's MIP levels.
Looks exactly like their default settings (application controlled anisotropic filtering). However, when we look at the texture stages other than 0, we see that ATI is effectively using bilinear filtering on but the primary stage (stage 0).
So technically, the only way you can get close to 'apples to apples' comparison between ATI and NVIDIA is to enable High Quality settings for NVIDIA and leave anisotropic filtering option to the default 'Application Preference' in ATI. The number of samples should be chosen by the application itself (usually through an anisotropic filtering option). Unfortunately, not all games supports this feature. Forcing anisotropic filtering means ATI has a (theoretical) upper hand since their card is doing mostly bilinear filtering. However, before drawing any conclusions, there are some points you need to remember: First, we have not seen any in game screenshots (yet) that displays lesser image quality or artifacts such as texture shimmering on ATI hardware. Two, not all games use more than one texture stage (though some do). Let's move on to actual in game screenshots.
The Real World
Let's move on the the in game screenshots, which you can find below. The left image is without AA and AF, while the right is with 4x AA and 16x AF. If you want to see the full 1024 x 768, 32 bit screenshots, just left click on the screenshots. We've also included the GeForce 6800GT AA and AF shots under 'Quality' settings in addition to "High Quality'.Call of Duty
Radeon X800XL
GeForce 6800GT
Of course, the more interesting comparison is the AA and AF shots. We could see NVIDIA's High Quality offers the better image quality here. Just look at the texture artifacts on the right side plank (near the fence). ATI's forced anisotropic filtering at 16xAF still has some artifacts, while NVIDIA's Quality settings has the most artifacts of the three. The second difference is the fence on the upper left corner. Of course, these differences are actually minor, but they do correspond well to what we know from the mip levels diagnostics. Keep in mind though, these differences are not really noticeable in gameplay.
F1 Career Challenge
Radeon X800XL
GeForce 6800GT
The differences are very subtle, so they're not very noticeable in gameplay. Take a close look at the middle left (near and on the tarmac). You'll see the Radeon X800XL image has more blur compared to GeForce 6800GT's image, both under Quality and High Quality. The same blur can be seen on the ground and the tarmac on the left.
Nascar 2003
Radeon X800XL
GeForce 6800GT
A quick glance will not be sufficient here, since both cards produces image quality very close to each other. Looking closely at the text logo on the two cars, you'll that the X800XL does a better job under AA and AF. You could see the fence is also sharper on the X800XL screenshots compared to GeForce 6800GT's Quality and High Quality. To be honest, the differences here is minimal and certainly not noticeable in gameplay.
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