Computer Assembly - How To Assemble A PC
Video Card Driver Settings
You can get by just fine without changing any video card driver settings at all. Their default values already provide an effective mix of quality and performance. But if you'd like to know more then read on. I use the default values except for one setting. If you want to know which one it is then you'll just have to keep reading.
Video card settings often involve a trade-off between performance and quality. Those with high-powered systems can get away with using the quality value for many or all of these settings and gameplay will remain smooth and responsive, even at higher resolutions. Those with lower powered systems may still enjoy smooth and responsive gameplay by giving up some image quality and by using a lower screen resolution.
Of course, altering these setting will probably reduce your Futuremark benchmark scores. But that's fine. In fact, the point of having a high-powered system is not to generate 120 frames-per-second at average detail when you're eye cannot distinguish more than 60 frames-per-second, and you're monitor is set to say, 85 Hz, so it's only changing the screen 85 times per second in any event. No. The point of having a high-powered system is so you can have it all - the highly detailed, highly responsive, fully immersive, computing experience.
Be aware that it's possible that settings changes that "improve quality" may not yield pleasing results to you in general or in every game/application.
Here's how you get to where the video card driver settings are modified for ATI video cards. Start by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting "Properties" from the popup windows.
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Click on the "Settings" tab.
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Click on the "Advanced" button.
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Click on the "3D" tab.
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Here's the 3D tab. It contains the video card driver settings. I've circled some things of interest in different colors. Circled in red is where the graphical interface to be manipulated is checked. There are two types of graphical interfaces used to provide graphics on the PC. They are Direct3D and OpenGL. Each have their own settings, although the settings they support is pretty much the same. We are currently looking at the Direct3D settings. Circled in blue is a checkbox that can be checked if you want to override the default settings for a graphical interface with your own values. As it is unchecked at the moment, the default settings are being used. Circled in orange is a summary of the current settings value for the graphical interface which has been selected for manipulating (Direct3D at the moment).
Look at the settings circled in orange. A setting with a value of "Application Preference" allows the setting to be configured by the application, including being disabled altogether. The application/game itself often has an options page where video card driver settings can be tweaked just for the duration of the application/game.
To change the default settings for the Direct3D graphical interface, check the "Use custom settings" box and click on the "Custom..." button.
Which changes the tab to look like this.
Anti-Aliasing - This setting controls FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing). It can have a pleasing affect on image quality by smoothing out angled edges, but is a significant performance hit. Values can be "Application Preference", "2X" and on up. The higher the number, the better the image quality and the greater the performance hit. It's worthwhile using as high a value as performance will allow, but it's an easy quality improvement to give up to gain performance.
Anisotropic Filtering - This improves the quality and detail of textures as they extend from the viewer, such as improving how smoothly the ground surface detail transitions as the view recedes. Values can be "Application Preference", "2X", "4X", "8X" and "16X". The bigger the number, the greater the improvement. But it's a big hit to performance. While the improvement in quality is perceptible, it's an easy quality improvement to give up to gain performance.
Texture Preference - This improves the quality and detail the surfaces of 3D objects look. The improvement in quality is quite noticeable, but there is an impact to performance. The impact to performance is greater on video cards with lower amounts of memory, meaning 64MB or less. It's worthwhile setting this to High Quality if your system can bear the performance penalty.
Mipmap Detail Level - This also controls the level of detail used for textures. It can significantly improve the quality of the entire scene, but with a cost in performance. It's worthwhile setting this to High Quality if your system can bear the performance penalty.
Wait for VSync - Setting this to "Application Preference" allows the application to treat this setting as enabled so it can match the rate at which scenes are being generated to the refresh rate of the monitor, improving quality. This is what most applications will do. But it also allows the application to generate the frame rates as fast as possible, even faster than the monitor refresh rate which is wasteful in the sense that the scene is rendered but never actually displayed on the monitor. Unless you're benchmarking, it's best to set this to "Always On" to improve quality and just change it to "Always Off" when you're benchmarking. A setting of "Always On" is also best for controller responsiveness since it helps keep the application from wasting computer power on needless scene processing.
TRUFORM - This feature is only available on ATI video cards. It uses proprietary technology to smooth out curved 3D surfaces. Should be set to "Application Preference" to improve quality without a significant hit to performance. However it only does anything if it is supported by the game/application.
If you've been paying attention, you've noticed that the only setting I change is the "Wait for VSync", which I set to "Always On" as shown circled in blue below. After making the change, click on the "Apply" button and then on the "OK" button.
Now we're back on the 3D tab proper. Let's check the settings for the OpenGL graphics interface. Under "3D Settings for:", select "OpenGL". Check the "Use custom settings" box and click on the "Custom..." button.
Even though there's nothing new here, these settings for the OpenGL graphics interface are distinct and separate from the settings for the Direct3D graphics interface. Which graphical interface settings are used are up to the game/application based on whichever graphical interface it is using.
Again the only setting I change is the "Wait for Vertical Sync:" setting to "Always On". As before, after the setting is changed click on the "Apply" button and then the "OK" button.
To have as a reference, you may want to rerun the Futuremark benchmarks to see how the results have changed.
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