# What anti-aliasing actually does to your PC games

> Anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges in games, but different methods trade performance, sharpness and ghosting in different ways.
- Title: What anti-aliasing actually does to your PC games · Engadget
- Summary: Anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges in games, but different methods trade performance, sharpness and ghosting in different ways.
- Keywords: anti-aliasing, pc gaming, graphics settings, gpu performance, msaa, fxaa, smaa, taa, dlaa, technology, actually, does
- Source: Engadget — https://engadget.com/2264367/what-anti-aliasing-does-pc-games
- Author: Husain Parvez
- Published: 2026-09-22T22:30:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: anti-aliasing, pc gaming, graphics settings, gpu performance, msaa, fxaa, smaa, taa, dlaa, technology
## The jaggies problem
Games represent curved and diagonal edges on square pixels, creating stair-step patterns called jaggies. Anti-aliasing smooths these rough edges but involves trade-offs.
## SSAA and MSAA approaches
SSAA renders at higher resolution then downsamples, working well but taxing the GPU heavily. MSAA focuses samples around geometry edges, offering a more reasonable compromise.
## MSAA's limitation
MSAA primarily addresses geometry edges while aliasing from materials, textures and transparent surfaces can remain. Epic's Unreal Engine supports MSAA only with forward renderer, not deferred.
## Post-render filtering methods
FXAA detects high-contrast edges and smooths them quickly but may soften detail. SMAA uses advanced edge detection to retain sharpness while keeping performance cost relatively low.
## Temporal anti-aliasing trade-offs
TAA uses previous frames to smooth edges and minimize shimmering on fences and foliage. However it can cause softness or ghosting when previous frame information doesn't align cleanly.

> Two anti-aliasing methods can appear almost the same in a paused screenshot, while panning the camera can reveal shimmering, blur or ghost trails almost instantly.
## Modern deep learning options
NVIDIA's DLAA uses Super Resolution technology at native resolution. AMD has Native AA mode with FSR, and Intel's XeSS also offers Native Anti-Aliasing at native resolution.
## Key takeaway

Anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges in games by representing curved lines on square pixels, but methods vary in GPU cost and visual trade-offs.