diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 07165d3..d506078 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ chg: with r_backend GL3, depth fade with MSAA now requires GLSL 4.00 at a minimu
 
 chg: with r_backend GL3, alpha to coverage now requires GLSL 4.00 at a minimum
 
+fix: the reported MSAA sample counts for the GL2 and GL3 back-ends could be wrong
+
 fix: registration of a read-only CVar would keep the existing value
 
 fix: the Direct3D projection transform didn't perfectly match the OpenGL version
diff --git a/code/renderer/tr_backend_d3d11.cpp b/code/renderer/tr_backend_d3d11.cpp
index 7fbfd4a..9bf087a 100644
--- a/code/renderer/tr_backend_d3d11.cpp
+++ b/code/renderer/tr_backend_d3d11.cpp
@@ -1833,6 +1833,7 @@ static qbool GAL_Init()
 	glInfo.depthFadeSupport = r_depthFade->integer == 1;
 	glInfo.mipGenSupport = mipGenOK;
 	glInfo.alphaToCoverageSupport = alphaToCoverageOK;
+	glInfo.msaaSampleCount = sampleDesc.Count;
 
 	if(fullInit)
 	{
@@ -1881,8 +1882,6 @@ static qbool GAL_Init()
 		d3d.splitBufferOffsets = r_d3d11_syncOffsets->integer == D3D11SO_SPLITOFFSETS;
 	}
 
-	ri.Printf(PRINT_ALL, "MSAA: %d samples requested, %d selected\n", r_msaa->integer, sampleDesc.Count);
-
 	return qtrue;
 }
 
diff --git a/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl2.cpp b/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl2.cpp
index 574f35b..aa7e424 100644
--- a/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl2.cpp
+++ b/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl2.cpp
@@ -501,6 +501,11 @@ static void GL2_CreateColorRenderBufferStorageMS( int* samples )
 	if ( errorCode != GL_NO_ERROR )
 		ri.Error( ERR_FATAL, "Failed to create multi-sampled render buffer storage (error 0x%X)\n", (unsigned int)errorCode );
 
+	GLint realSampleCount = 0;
+	glGetRenderbufferParameteriv( GL_RENDERBUFFER, GL_RENDERBUFFER_SAMPLES, &realSampleCount );
+	if ( glGetError() == GL_NO_ERROR && realSampleCount > 0 )
+		sampleCount = realSampleCount;
+
 	*samples = sampleCount;
 }
 
@@ -599,8 +604,7 @@ static qbool GL2_FBO_Init()
 			GL2_FBO_CreateSS( frameBuffersPostProcess[1], qtrue );
 	}
 
-	if ( result )
-		ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "MSAA: %d samples requested, %d selected\n", r_msaa->integer, finalSampleCount );
+	glInfo.msaaSampleCount = finalSampleCount;
 
 	return result;
 }
diff --git a/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl3.cpp b/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl3.cpp
index f013cb4..141635f 100644
--- a/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl3.cpp
+++ b/code/renderer/tr_backend_gl3.cpp
@@ -958,6 +958,13 @@ static void CreateColorTextureStorageMS(int* samples)
 		ri.Error(ERR_FATAL, "Failed to create multi-sampled texture storage (error 0x%X)\n", (unsigned int)errorCode);
 	}
 
+	GLint realSampleCount = 0;
+	glGetTexLevelParameteriv(GL_TEXTURE_2D_MULTISAMPLE, 0, GL_TEXTURE_SAMPLES, &realSampleCount);
+	if(glGetError() == GL_NO_ERROR && realSampleCount > 0)
+	{
+		sampleCount = realSampleCount;
+	}
+
 	*samples = sampleCount;
 }
 
@@ -1058,7 +1065,7 @@ static void FBO_Init()
 		FBO_CreateSS(&gl.fbSS[1], qtrue, qtrue, "post-process #2");
 	}
 
-	ri.Printf(PRINT_ALL, "MSAA: %d samples requested, %d selected\n", r_msaa->integer, finalSampleCount);
+	glInfo.msaaSampleCount = finalSampleCount;
 }
 
 static void FBO_Bind(const FrameBuffer* fb)
diff --git a/code/renderer/tr_init.cpp b/code/renderer/tr_init.cpp
index 3c5786b..742baa3 100644
--- a/code/renderer/tr_init.cpp
+++ b/code/renderer/tr_init.cpp
@@ -325,8 +325,9 @@ void GfxInfo_f( void )
 		ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "Renderer: %s\n", glConfig.renderer_string );
 	if ( glConfig.version_string[0] != '\0' )
 		ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "OpenGL version: %s\n", glConfig.version_string );
+	ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "MSAA                  : %dx\n", glInfo.msaaSampleCount );
+	ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "MSAA alpha to coverage: %s\n", glInfo.alphaToCoverageSupport ? "ON" : "OFF" );
 	ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "Depth fade            : %s\n", glInfo.depthFadeSupport ? "ON" : "OFF" );
-	ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "Alpha to coverage     : %s\n", glInfo.alphaToCoverageSupport ? "ON" : "OFF" );
 	ri.Printf( PRINT_ALL, "GPU mip-map generation: %s\n", glInfo.mipGenSupport ? "ON" : "OFF" );
 	gal.PrintInfo();
 }
diff --git a/code/renderer/tr_local.h b/code/renderer/tr_local.h
index f5f0959..da1059c 100644
--- a/code/renderer/tr_local.h
+++ b/code/renderer/tr_local.h
@@ -1676,6 +1676,7 @@ struct glinfo_t {
 	qbool	depthFadeSupport;
 	qbool	mipGenSupport;
 	qbool	alphaToCoverageSupport;
+	int		msaaSampleCount;		// active number of samples, can differ from r_msaa->integer
 };
 
 extern glinfo_t glInfo;