ATI Technologies RADEON 8500 manual

i RADEON ™ 8500 RADEON ™ 8500LE RADEON ™ 7500 User’ s Guide Ve r s i o n 5 . 0 P/N 137-40 282-50 Re v . D Copyright © 2002, A TI T ech nologies In c. All rights reserved. A TI and all A TI product and product feature na mes are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of A TI T echnologies Inc. Al l other company and/or product names are tr[...]

ii Disclaimer While e v ery precaution has been taken in the prepa ration of this documen t, A TI T echnologies Inc. assumes no li ability with respect to the operation or use of A TI hardware, softw a re or other products and documentation described herein, for any act or omission of A TI concerning such produc ts o r this documentation, for an y [...]

iii T ab le of Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Features At A Glance ........... ........... ............ ........ ........... ............ ........... ...... 2 RADEON 7500 ......... ......... ... ... ........ ... ........ ... ........... ......... ... ........... ...... 2 RADEON 8500 and RA[...]

iv Viewing Text on a TV ................ ............ ........... ........... ......... ........... .... 27 Reducing Edge Distortion ................ ........... ............ ........... ........... ....... 28 Changing Display Configurations ....... .................... ........ ........... .......... 29 Using Games and Applications .............. [...]

1 Intr oduction The RADEON family of graphic accelerators deli v ers ground breaking 3D graphics performance. • Designed and b uilt b y A TI T echnologies I n c . • Po wered b y the RADEON V isual Processing Unit (VPU). • A wesome 3D gaming performance. • Support for OpenGL ® applications. • Support for Direct 3D ® applications. • Hig[...]

2 Features At A Glance RADEON 7500 The RADEON 7500 provides high performance acceleration for today's demanding 3D graphic applications. Its main features are: • VIDEO IMMERSION™ wh ich pro vides industry- leading D VD playback and digital TV decode capability • CHARISMA ENGINE™ which is the main VPU, providing the necessary po wer to [...]

3 A TI’ s CA T A L YST™ Software Suite Multiple Displa ys and 3D Gaming Experience A TI’ s CA T AL YST Software Suite provides multiple display functionality , and the adv anced graphic features, such as TR UFOR M, for the ultimate 3D gaming experience. F or help on installing the CA T AL Y ST Software Suite , refer to the Getting Started Gui[...]

4 Multiple Displa ys Connecting Y our Monitor(s) The RADEON 8500 provides hardw are support for one D VI-I monitor or two V GA monitors using the D VI-I-to-V GA adapter . A TV can also be used to expand your desktop b y using the S-V ideo out. The RADEON 7500 provides support for one V GA monitor and Composite output to a TV . Plug the monitor cabl[...]

5 CA T AL YST Software Suite The follo wing section pro vides an explanation of each A TI tab av ailable after installing the CA T AL YST Softw are Suite. A TI Displays T ab The A TI Displays tab provides the multi monitor features. Here you can enab le/disable display de vices and sw ap the assignment of Primary and Secondary displays. F eatures p[...]

6 Enabling/Disabling Secondary Displa ys 1 Access the W indo ws ® Contr ol Panel . Double- click Display . 2 Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced... b utton. 3 Click on the A TI Displays tab . 4 Click the enable/disable b utton for the display de vice you w ant to enable/disable. 5 Click OK or A pply to sa ve the changes. Enabling Exten[...]

7 T o enable Extended Desktop Mode, refer to the section Enabling Extended Desktop Mode . 1 Access the W indo ws ® Contr ol Panel . Double- click Display . 2 Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced... b utton. 3 Click on the A TI Displays tab . The A TI Displays tab show s you the display(s) that are acti v e. The Primary display has th e [...]

8 Vir tuall y Repositioni ng Y our Displa ys 1 On the Settings tab, click and drag the appropriate monitor icon to the desired position. For e xample, the secondary display can be dragged to the left of the primary display , allo wing it to be virtually on the left, as sho wn belo w . 2 Click OK or A pply to sa ve the changes. Ratiometric Expansion[...]

9 AT I C o l o r T a b The A TI Color tab is used to adjust the color settings. Y ou can change the red, green and blue display colors. Desktop bright ness and Game Gamma (brightness) can also be changed. A TI Color T ab Desktop Brightness This increases or decreases the br ightness of your desktop . The higher the gamma v al ue, the higher the bri[...]

10 Clicking the Game Gamma b utton accesses the Game Gamma Properties. Game Gamma Proper ties Red Green Blue sliders These controls allow yo u to increase or decrease the color bri ghtness of Direct 3D and OpenGL games pla yed in fullscreen mode. (NO TE: Game Gamma is NO T suppor ted in Wind ows NT4.0) RGB Lock Uncheck this to adjust the RGB slider[...]

11 AT I O p t i o n s T a b The A TI Options tab provides detailed dri ver information and access to the card’ s specificatio ns. Y ou can also enable or di sable the A TI taskbar icon. A TI Options T ab V ersion Information Provides the CA T A L YST version n umber , 2D v ersion number and the dr iv er b uild information. Details bu tton Provide[...]

12 A TI Overlay T ab The A TI Overlay tab allo ws you to conf igure the brightness, contrast, sat uration, hue and gamma properties of your video ov erlay . Video Overla y V ideo ov erlay allo ws for th e vie wing of full-motion video on your PC. Ho we ver , there is only one video ov erlay , which is only av ailable on the Primary display . The vi[...]

13 A TI Overla y T ab Brightness Use this slider to adjust th e brig htness of the video image. Contrast Use this slider to adjust th e contrast in the video image. Saturation Use this slider to adjust the vividn ess of the color . Sliding it all the wa y to the left remove s all color and produces a black and white picture. Hue Use this slider to [...]

14 Direct 3D ® Contr ol P anel Using this tab, gamers can tweak the settings of their Direct 3D ® games. Main and Custom Settings In the Main Settings you can maximize o v erall performance by mo ving the slider to the left, or you can enhance ov erall image quality by moving the slider to the right.[...]

15 Main Setti ngs slider This allows y ou to emphasize what kind of applicatio n e xperience you’ d like to ha v e . Moving the slider to the left will maximize application perf or mance, while moving the slider to the r ight will provide e xcellent 3D image quality . Moving this slider from one positi on to the ne xt changes the i ndividual Cust[...]

16 T exture Preference slider Selecting this de cides whether your application should use high quality or high performance textures . Moving the slider to the r ight delivers the highest quality e xperience. Moving the slider to the left emphasizes a high perf or mance solution whi le still providing good visuals. Mipmap Detail Level slider This wi[...]

17 Direct 3D ® Compatibility Settings S up p o r t W-b u f f e r This will ena ble W -Buffer suppor t for 3D games. It is recommended to disable this f o r games that do not suppor t this f eature. Cer t ain app lications require the increased precision of W -Buff ering and will exhibit ar ti facts unless the W -Buffer is enabled. Support 32-bit Z[...]

18 Alpha dithering method When application s use both ditherin g and al pha b lending, visual ar tifacts can occur . This option allows y ou to select how the applica tion should handle both f eatures at the same time . In most cases Error Diffusion will handle this situation quite well, but there are a f e w cases where selecting Ordered ma y be n[...]

19 OpenGL ® Contr ol P anel Using this tab, gamers can tweak the settings of their OpenGL ® games. Main and Custom Settings In the Main Settings you can maximize o v erall performance by mo ving the slider to the left, or you can enhance ov erall image quality by moving the slider to the right.[...]

20 Main Setti ngs slider This allows y ou to emphasize what kind of applicatio n e xperience you’ d like to ha v e . Moving the slider to the left will maximize application perf or mance, while moving the slider to the r ight will provide e xcellent 3D image quality . Moving this slider from one positi on to the ne xt changes the i ndividual Cust[...]

21 T exture Preference slider Selecting this de cides whether your application should use high quality or high performance textures . Moving the slider to the r ight delivers the highest quality e xperience. Moving the slider to the left emphasizes a high perf or mance solution whi le still providing good visuals. Mipmap Detail Level slider This wi[...]

22 OpenGL ® Compatibility Settings Force Z-b uffer depth This allows you to e xplicitly set the Z-Buff er de pth. Most applications wi ll work best when Disabled is sele cted Alpha dithering method When application s use both ditherin g and al pha b lending, visual ar tifacts can occur . This option allows y ou to select how the applica tion shoul[...]

23 Using TV Out View y our PC’ s display on a TV Y our RADEON card has TV Out capability . Y ou can attach your card to a TV and monitor at the same time. Or you can connect it to your VCR and record your monitor’ s display . TV display is ideal for playing games, gi ving presentations, watching movies, and b ro wsing the Internet. The follo wi[...]

24 7500 to a TV or a VCR, use a Composite (RCA) cable. If your TV has cable input only , you can connect your card to your TV through your VCR or an RF modulator (a v ailab le in most electronics stores). Connecting Y our Video Out to a TV or VCR 1 T urn of f your PC and your TV (or VCR). 2 Ensure your card was installed correctly as per the Gettin[...]

25 Star ting Windows ® with TV Displa y Enabled The TV screen may become scrambled during the initial W indo ws ® logo display . This is only a temporary ef fect and your screen will be restored within a fe w seconds. During start up, your RADE ON card will go through a sequence of mode settings, during which your TV display will remain blank. Th[...]

26 3 Click on the A TI Displays tab . Click on the TV b utton. 4 Click the enable/disable b utton. 5 Click OK or A pply to sa ve the changes. Using and Adjusting TV Out For information about ho w to use TV display , right click the A TI taskbar icon , point to Help , then point to A TI T elevision Display . How TV Displa y Cannot Be Used A TV canno[...]

27 Adjusting Monitor Displa y The size of the display on your monitor may be smaller and not perfectly centered when you ha v e TV display enabled. These ef fects are caused b y the changes required to provide a proper display on the TV . Use the controls a va ilable on the Adjustments tab on the Monito r Pr operties page (accessible b y clicking o[...]

28 Reducing Edge Distor tion When using a TV for your PC’ s display , you may see some edge distortion on the le ft and right si de of your TV screen. This ef fect depends on your TV and the PC application you are running. T o reduce edge distorti on, you can increase the TV display’ s horizontal size. T o Increase the Horizontal Siz e 1 Access[...]

29 5 Drag the Contrast slider to the right to increase the contrast. 6 Click OK or A pply to sav e the changes you ha v e made. Changing Displa y Configurations If you mov e your PC to a place where you are using TV display only , make sure that you ha ve the TV display feature enabled. Y ou can set your displa y resolution as high as 1024x768. Ho [...]