We used the screenshots made on the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the High Quality mode as the etalon. In this mode, all the optimizations are disabled on the card.

So, let’s see how the optimizations implemented by the GPU manufacturers affect the image quality.

You can see that all the cards produce an image of similar quality. On a closer examination we notice that the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra sometimes produces sharper-looking textures than the other cards. This is due to the 5950 Ultra’s resource-consuming, but more honest anisotropic filtering algorithm that doesn’t have any “inconvenient angles” at which the new graphics processors reduce the anisotropy level abruptly.

The differences are more conspicuous in Halo, especially on the walls of the passageway: the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and the GeForce 6800 Ultra with disabled optimizations share the title of the best image quality card. In other cases, we see a step-like rather than smooth display of the detailed texture, which is to simulate the micro-relief of the wall surface.