FXAA vs ENB

[assterixxx]

Hey all you smart peeps!

 

The title pretty much says it all. I have "always" been using FXAA, mostly because I stumbled upon it. But I'm thinking of doing a clean install, to get rid of unwanted mods/scripts so I thought I might make an informed decision on which one to use.

So, whats the diff? Or is it just a matter of personal preferences? Does one hog the resources more the other? Is there any compatibility issues in play? Is one more "realistic"?

 

Any info on the topic is greatly appreciated.

[Oubliette]

Mostly personal preference. Iirc you can even get the two to work together with a bit of work. Though I think, don't quote me on it though, that FXAA is supposed to be less resource heavy.

[assterixxx]

Wow. Fast reply. Thanks.

 

Ummm okay... Another (dumb?) question immediately pops into my head; If they are more or less the same, why would I want to run both of em at the same time? I'm assuming there must be some diff's, since someone bothered to make them compatible, right?

[NorthernIv]

I use default FXAA and a ENB with SMAA for maximum AA without using MSAA.

[assterixxx]

@NorthernIv

Are you just throwing random letters at me for fun? :P

But seriously, what is this SMAA / MSAA? Don't get me wrong, its great to give some feedback, but I thought I was being clear, I have no idea what all of this is.

Edited December 14, 2012 by assterixxx

[NorthernIv]

@NorthernIv

Are you just throwing random letters at me for fun? :P

But seriously, what is this SMAA / MSAA? Don't get me wrong, its great to give some feedback, but I thought I was being clear, I have no idea what all of this is.

Basically Anti Aliasing makes edges of things(trees,people,rocks ect...) smoother so its not jaggie looking.

MSAA is the most taxing on your system compared to SMAA and FXAA, MSAA has no blur and smooths out the most, SMAA has little blur but it does not smooth out as much of the screen compated to MSAA. FXAA has a slight blur to the screen but it smooths out a good bit of the screen so it looks better without grinding your system to a halt.

 

If you are running the game in 1080p you should have hardly any need for MSAA at all, FXAA works just fine.

Edited December 14, 2012 by NorthernIv

[assterixxx]

There we go! Even I understood that.

Thanks for for enlightening me. I think I'll go with your solution, you seem to know what you are talking about!

[LargeStyle]

FXAA in some ways be looked upon under 2 different forms. The strict definition of FXAA is Fast approXimate Anti Aliasing, which as already mentioned adds a (software-based) post-processed form of AA (as opposed to hardware-based AA such as MSAA). The other "use" of FXAA is in the form of using the post-processing feature to alter basic visual qualities. The best way to check this out is via a popular Skyrim mod...

 

FXAA Post Process Injector

 

IMHO, it doesn't really offer a huge amount of worthwhile options and I've never found it to be useful enough to warrant using it. The good sides of this is mod / approach are that it's fast - an approximate 10% drop in performance, and it's easily customisable. The downside is that FXAA will never beat ENBseries for visual quality and effects due to its simplicity.

 

ENBseries however simply offers much greater post-processing options as experienced ENB preset modders can manually adjust and / or add code to improve the visuals to a greater extent than say FXAA. ENB excels at effects such as true HDR tonemapping and DOF (depth of field) to name just 2 of many features. ENB preset modders (of which I am one) can really go to town with adjusting so many things to achieve their visual preference. The downside to ENB is the performance, which for me has an approximate 30% drop in performance. If you push ENB settings to include every visual effect option (including its most demanding feature - ambient occlusion) and run Skyrim at demanding / high settings and resolutions in particular, then the performance drop will be significantly more. As a result of ENB working the GPU harder, it causes the GPU to get hotter, so temperatures, GPU and general pc cooling, and noise levels need to be considered before settling with ENB.

 

I have a nVidia GPU, and for Anti-Aliasing options I use nVidia Inspector to disallow FXAA and I use Quincunx AA instead (a sampling technique initially designed for exclusive use with Playstation 3). For me, Quincunx offers a more solid and smoother visual quality than FXAA with the same performance drop. I don't know what to recommend for ATI / AMD users as I've always been a nVidia fanboy :biggrin:

Edited December 14, 2012 by LargeStyle

[bDeferredShadows]

I am a firm believer in FXAA and always used it in conjunction with whatever ENB I am testing. Nothing makes the graphics as crisp or vibrant as the Post Process Injector. No ENB has lived up to its name thus far in adding color to the otherwise grayscale world Skyrim.

 

It does anything BUT blur the image in my experience. I use only the Tone Map and Post Sharpen features.

 

Just FXAA enabled, no anti aliasing or other post processing.

 

http://i45.tinypic.com/2dhv58y.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/15qy983.jpg

 

In the end, I always uninstall ENB.

Edited December 14, 2012 by bDeferredShadows

[billyro]

Yes, FXAA with no anti-aliasing is the way to go if you're looking for a higher frame-rate. I used an ENB once but the drop in performance was too much for me, and I stick with performance friendly graphical mods now.