GeForce 8800 Drivers For Vista Overachieve In AA

Nvidia's ForceWare graphics drivers for Windows Vista recently received certification from Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs, but the drivers still suffer from a number of problems that have yet to be ironed out. Nvidia has informed TechReport.com of a particular issue that causes incorrect antialiasing modes to be enabled on systems running Nvidia's latest GeForce 8800 cards. The drivers apply 16X coverage sampling antialiasing (CSAA) when the user selects regular 4X antialiasing in some games, resulting in lower-than-expected performance.

Affected games include Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Sin Episodes, Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast. To apply 4X AA in those games, Nvidia says users must set that mode in both the game and in the Nvidia control panel. Interestingly, Nvidia claims the problem applies not only to ForceWare 100.54 and later driver revisions for Vista, but that it will also apply to future 100.xx ForceWare drivers for Windows XP. The company says it's currently working with developers to help them better implement CSAA support in their games.