NVIDIA GeForce 6600 and 6600 GT - Value Based PCI-Express Preview
Ultra Shadow II, Inverse Telecine and Motion Compensation
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Ultra Shadow II
When NVIDIA says the 6600s are the perfect Doom 3 video cards, it's with good reason. Ultra Shadow II is one of the technologies that possibly gives NVIDA the edge over ATI in Doom3. This technology is also in NVIDIA's new 6600s and it does up the ante a bit in the mainstream/value graphics space. Below is a screenshot showing the basic breakdown of how Ultra Shadow II works.
Think of Ultra Shadow as "Z-Cull" for shadow rendering workloads. Back in June, Dave had a Q & A session with NVIDIA where they went into the topic in greater detail. So instead of rehashing the details, check out the discussion here.
Inverse Telecine and Motion Compensation
The other two highlights are Inverse Telecine and Motion Compensation, each geared toward video playback quality. As the screenshot below shows, Inverse Telecine cleans up the blur created by motion in video playback. What would normally be a blurred image from horizontal motion is cleaned up, so edges are more defined, therefore improving image quality.
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Note how the front of the van is far more clear when Inverse Telecine Correction is employed, eliminating the ghosting effect of the first image.
Motion Compensation is another video technique that works to improve overall video image quality. In the images below you can see a before and after of the portions of the image that benefits from this.
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Distant curved lines, such as the one under the Foster's sign are much clearer with Motion Compensation, as well as the seam in the road. You can also see that the numbers in the clock don't have the blockiness surrounding it as seen in the first image.
We've only spotlighted the advanced video features included in the GeForce 6600 models, but its clear that value doesn't necessarily mean "stripped down". With their latest releases, user's can get an affordable video solution that is well equipped with features and technology found in the high-end models, a major selling point for the 6600s.
