New to PC gaming/modding-multisampling/AA questions

[Trstnoone6]

Hi all, brand new to the forums so hopefully I'm posting this question in the right place =) I'll apologize in advance on the length of my request. Can someone advise me on what type of filtering/mutlisampling I should be using for Skyrim? I've seen some really great screenshots in some of the mods I've downloaded from Nexus and I'm trying to make my Skyrim experience as photorealistic as possible without dragging my framerate down so the game is unplayable.

 

I've done some initial research but I'm not sure which technologies such as MSAA, Nvidia Sparse Grid Supersampling, CSAA, SMAA. Is MSAA what Skyrim uses by default (2x, 4x, 8x) in the launcher? I'm not sure which if these technologies work together(if at all) and how I can implement them and stay within my goal of still making the game playable. SGSSAA looks like it might be implemented via Nvidia Inspector and changing bits, looks somewhat confusing.

 

Here's my current setup:

 

Core I7 2600K, mild overclock to 4.2ghz

16GB of RAM(overkill I know)

x2 GTX 680 2 way SLI

2TB Hard drive(Have not purchased SSD yet)

 

I run ENB series .113 and Sharpshooters but I'm torn also between running SkyRealism and Climates of Tamriel if I can figure out how to make my characters more glossy with the Sporty Map I downloaded(It seems ENB below .113 seem to have more gloss or something?)

 

Anyone have suggestions to the questions above? Thank you in advance.

[FMod]

There are only two kinds of AA:

* Sampling

* Shaders

 

Sampling is SSAA and MSAA (but no one uses SSAA anymore). Sampling AA is superior, as it actually increases image resolution. When using MSAA, use 4x, higher modes give almost no advantage.

But it doesn't work properly in games with deferred rendering. Notably it doesn't work in anything Unreal 3, so no Deus Ex or Mass Effect. It works perfectly in Oblivion and Fallout and Skyrim.

 

Shader AA is everything else. Shader AA is just a special effect and can be implemented through plugins or even by a TV.

Never combine both at once. Never combine multiple types of AA.

ENB might mess sampling AA up.

 

I don't even want to ask why would you possibly buy 2x680 and not 690, and it's unnecessary for a 1080p screen anyway. But it should handle just about any kind of AA easily. Even 16x MSAA.