Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering demystified

Introduction

When we test graphics cards, we run our benchmarks with and without full scene anti-aliasing and anistropic filtering. These techniques are very demanding on the GPU's processing power, but the image that is produced on the screen does look a lot better with these two techniques enabled. Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) is responsible for smoothing over the jagged edges on 3D images, and Anisotropic Filtering (AF) sharpens the overal image. Enabling AF and FSAA enhance the gaming experience by making the 3D images look more realistic, but there is a negative effect on the performance of the card. When you wish to make full use of AA and AF a low-end or mid-range graphics card will not suffice for the latest 3D games.

We will try to explain what FSAA and AA exactly entail, and how the techniques work. Also we have a lot of screenshots that show you what the end result in several situations is with and without the two techniques.