Supersampling option question

[Delta-Frost]

i just noticed a new option in video settings called 'Supersampling' so i was wondering what it's doing.
By default my game runs at 1080p with a Super samplaing option set to 125% so does it means the game render the game at a higher resolution of my screen and then down sample it back to my screen resolution and if so, What is the reason for this option and what should it do visually ?

Thank you.

[Schmiddy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersampling

[SSIXS]

Yes, the GPU will essentially act as if the game is at a higher resolution, and then down sample it to your 1080p monitor.

Some games that have the feature built in it's Super Sampling, in the Nvidia Control Panel it's DSR (that can be used in many games). On AMD I believe it's VSR. They all do the same thing, just different coding and ways to go about it.

In the most basic terms, Super Sampling (Or DSR/VSR) is a more extreme AA. The idea is that a downsampled game can look "better" than running @ native 1080p. Less jaggies and some claim more detail, depending on the game.

Super Sampling does come at a cost of fps though, most often a more significant loss of fps compared to using just traditional AA.

[Delta-Frost]

Copy that. Thank you!

[Chop Suey]

Supersampling makes the game look much better and much clearer.

Nowadays, most games use a deferred renderer, which means real anti-aliasing (MSAA) is completely out of the question, which leaves us only supersampling as a way of reducing jaggies without information loss (blur filters/ post-process AA aka fake AA).

When you run at your native resolution, that's just taking one sample per pixel. The renderer will check the middle of what is behind that pixel to determine what color it should be.

Multisampling is less resource intensive than supersampling. Setting it to 2x will check two different spots behind the pixel to give you an average. 4x anti-aliasing will check four different spots within the pixel to give you a better average.

Supersampling should give you a similiar effect, but textures will look better than they would with multisampling (MSAA only works on edges).

Basically, just set it above your screen resolution if you want more clarity. (If you can tolerate the FPS loss)

[Delta-Frost]

Thank you guys for the information. Very much appreciated!