ATI Technologies X1650 manual

Radeon ® X1650 PRO User ’ s Guide P/N 137-41 146-10[...]

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iv Copyright © 2006, A TI T echnologies Inc. All rights reserve d. A TI, t he A TI logo, and A TI product and produc t-featu re names are tradem arks and/or registered trademarks of A TI T echnologies Inc. All other compan y and/or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their res pective owners. Feat ures, perform ance and sp[...]

v Note: This graphics card is for use on ly with compatible UL Listed personal computers that have Installation Instructions detailing user installation of card cage accessories. L IMPORT ANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS • Read Instructions - All the safet y and operating instructions should be read before the product is operated. • Retain Instructions [...]

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vii T able of Content s Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Radeon ® X1650 PRO Features 1 System Requirements 4 Using Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Display Configurations 9 Using TV Display and Captur e Features . . . . . . . 11 Using TV Out 11 Connecting to a TV or VCR 12 Co[...]

viii Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139[...]

Radeon ® X1650 PRO Features 1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction Congratulations on the purchase of your A TI Radeon ® X1650 PRO graphics card. We hope that you will enjo y countless hours of trouble-free computing. Radeon ® X1650 PRO Features Features • 157 million t ransistors on 90 nm fabrication process. • Dual-link DVI. • T welve pixel shader pr[...]

2 Radeon ® X1650 PRO Feature s • Full speed 128-bit floatin g poi nt processing. • Dedicated branch execution units for high performance dynamic branching and flow control. • Dedicated texture address un its for improved ef ficiency . • 3Dc+ texture compression • High quality 4:1 compression for normal m aps and two-channel data formats.[...]

Radeon ® X1650 PRO Features 3 • DXV A support. • De-blocking and noise reduction filteri ng. • Motion compensation, IDCT , DC T and color space conversion. • V ector adaptive per- pixel de-interlacing. • 3:2 pulldown (frame rate conversion). • Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time. • HDR tone mapping accelerat[...]

4 System Requirements Note: CrossFire ™ is supported in Catalyst ™ version 5. 13 *with optional HDTV adapter available from A TI Online Store . System Requirement s Uninst all Previous Graphics Card Drivers To ensure the successful installatio n of yo ur new Radeon ® X1650 PRO card, you must uninstall the drivers fo r the existing graphics car[...]

System Requirements 5 T o uninstall previous drivers With your current graphics card still in your computer: 1 Close all applications th at are currently running. 2 Navigate to the Contr ol Panel and select Add/Remove Pr ograms. 3 Select your current graphics card drivers and select Add/Remove. The wizard will h elp you remove your cu rrent display[...]

6 System Requirements[...]

7 CHAPTER 2: Using Multiple Displays Connecting Y our Monitors Your Radeon ® X1650 PRO graphics card provides hardware support for two DVI-I monitors and a VGA moni tor using the supplied DVI-I-to-V GA adapter. It also provides TV output v ia an S-Video Out connector. Connections and Adapte rs for the Radeon ® X1650 PRO Card 1 St andard VGA Mo ni[...]

8 Note: If you use multiple monitors, the Radeon ® X165 0 PRO card must be the primary graphics car d. Normally , the system BIOS determines which graphics card will be the primary . Note: The top DVI-I connector is single-link and the bott om connector is dual-link . Note: Some Radeon ® X1650 PRO graphic cards have one DVI-I connector and one VG[...]

Display Configurations 9 Display Configurations Your Radeon ® X1650 PRO graphi cs card provides dual display functionality. The follow ing table list s the different ways you can connect displays to your card. Display Configuration Connector(s) Used Comments Single DFP display DVI-I connector DFP - digital flat panel display . Single CRT display D[...]

10 Display Configurations[...]

Using TV Out 11 CHAPTER 3: Using TV Display and Capture Features This chapter describes how to use the TV display and vi d eo capture features of your Radeon ® X1650 PRO card. Using TV Out Your Radeon ® X1650 PRO has TV Out capability. Viewing Y our PC Display on a TV You can attach your Radeon ® X1650 PRO to a TV and a monitor at the same time.[...]

12 Connecting to a TV or VCR TV display is ideal for giving presentations and watching movi es, or playing games on a screen larger than a typical monitor. The following tips will help you get the most out of your TV Out feature. Connecting to a TV or VCR To connect your Rad eon ® X1650 PRO card to a TV or VCR, use an S- Video cable. Many TVs (and[...]

Connecting to a TV or VCR 13 Using a Monitor vs. Using TV Display Using your TV for your computer’s display can be usefu l; however, the display on your monitor m ay change or look ed squashed. This distortion occurs because the display adjusts to fit the dimensions of your TV. To correct the monitor’s display, use the mon itor’s control butt[...]

14 Connecting to HDTV Some single-frequency mo nitors may not work with TV display enabled. If you experience problems when TV di splay is enabled, disable TV disp lay to restore your monitor’s display. Viewing T ext on a TV A TV is designed primarily to show moving images. The large dot pitch o f a TV will yield poor q uality static im ages. The[...]

Connecting to HDTV 15 The HDTV Component Video Adapter can be used in place of the standard A/V Output cable to connect to an HD TV or other component inp ut device, using component v ideo cables. Note: Input and output cables length s should not exceed 50 feet (15m). Installing your A TI HDTV video cable 1 T urn on your component input devi ce, an[...]

16 Connecting to HDTV 2 T urn on your computer . Note: Y our TV will not display anything until Wi ndows starts. This can take several minutes. Using Y our A TI HDTV V ideo Cable Use the HDTV Video Cable to watch DVD movies and play video gam es on your High Definition Television. For maximum performance when yo u watch DVD movies or play computer [...]

Installing Drivers and So ftware in Windows ® 17 CHAPTER 4: Inst alling Sof tware and Drivers This chapter will guide you through the installation of the drivers and software associated with your Radeon ® X1650 PRO graphics card. Inst alling Drivers and Sof tware in Windows ® You will need t o install the Radeon ® X1650 PRO drivers and so ftwar[...]

18 Monitor Configuration 2 Run the AT I S E T U P utility . The A TISETUP utility will start automatically when you insert th e A TI Installation CD-ROM into your optical drive after the operating sy stem has start ed. If your CD- ROM auto-run is not enabled o r the AT I S E T U P utility does not start automatically: a) Click the S tart button in [...]

To set up a multi- monitor display 19 T o configure your primary display 1 Navigate to the Contr ol Panel and choose Display , or right-cli ck on the desktop and choose Properties . 2 Choose the Settings tab and select the screen resolution and color depth that best suit your requirements and your moni tor ’ s performance. 3 Click Advanc ed and s[...]

20 Installing the Catalyst ™ Software Suite T o manually re install driver s If your CD-ROM auto-ru n is not enabled and th e A TI SETUP utility does not start automatically, follo w these st eps. 1 In the Windows ® task bar , click S t art . 2 From the S tart menu, sel ect Run. 3 Browse to SETUP .EXE on the root directory of the A TI Installati[...]

Installing the Catalyst ™ Software Suite 21 8 Follow the W izard’ s on-screen inst ructions, then choose either Express or Custom Inst all . Not all software componen ts are installed using the Express installation. Custom installatio n allows you to select individual software components for installation.[...]

22 Installing the Catalyst ™ Software Suite[...]

Launching Catalyst ™ Control Ce nter 23 CHAPTER 5: Cat alyst ™ Control Center The Catalyst ™ Control Center is a graphical user application providing access to the display features containe d within the installed ATI hardware and software. Use the Catalyst ™ Control Center to fine-tune your graphics settings, enable or disable connected dis[...]

24 Launching Cat alyst ™ Control Center Using the S t art Menu From the Windows ® task bar , click S tart : •C l i c k t o Programs > Catalyst ™ Contro l Center > A TI Catalyst ™ Control Center. Other Quick Launch Access Point s Launching Cataly st ™ Control Center Using the System T ray 1 Right-click the ATI ic on in the Windows ?[...]

95 CHAPTER 6: CrossFire ™ FA Q The following are frequently-ask ed questions about CrossFire ™ . For the late st informatio n, please consult th e CrossFire ™ Web site at: ati.com/cro ssfire 1 What combination of products ar e requir ed to build a working CrossFir e ™ system? Three components are required: • a CrossFire ™ Edition graphi[...]

96 5 Which slot does the CrossFir e ™ Master card go into on the motherboard? The CrossFire ™ Master card must go into the primar y PCI Ex pr ess ® slot (slot zero) on the motherboard. Note: T o determine which PCIe ™ slot is the primary slot, consult your motherboard manual. Alternately , to determine whether or not a CrossFire ™ Ed ition[...]

97 graphics card. The result is a comp lete frame rendered at up to twice the performance of a single graphics card. 8 How are the graphics cards connected on a CrossFir e ™ system? The two cards are connected by an external cable. The cable is attached from the Slave graphics card’ s DVI-I connection to the CrossFire ™ Edition’ s D MS-59?[...]

98 • Scissor Mode - each graphics card re nders up to half of the display , either vertically or horizo ntall y depen ding on the game or application. • Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to render alternate frames of the disp lay. This confi guration increases the performance of the 3D objects, as each card handles hal[...]

CrossFire ™ Overview 101 CHAPTER 7: W elcome to CrossFire ™ ATI CrossFire ™ is the ultimate mu lti-GPU performance gaming plat form, using ATI CrossFire ™ ready motherboards an d ATI graphics cards. CrossFire ™ Overview This section provides an overview of the main features and configurat ions for CrossFire ™ . These to pics wil l be co[...]

102 CrossFire ™ Overview CrossFire ™ Rendering Modes A CrossFire ™ system has four possible display modes: • SuperTiling • Scissor Mode • Alternate Frame Rendering • Super Anti-aliasing. The first three are perfor mance-oriented modes, while Super Anti-aliasing is a quality-oriented mode. Each mode uses a different method for dividing[...]

CrossFire ™ Overview 103 SuperTiling In this mode, each frame to be rendered is divided into a number of tiles in an alternating checkerboard pa ttern, so that half of the tiles are assigned to each of the two GPUs. Each tile is ke pt to a relatively sma ll 32x32 pixel square, so this method does a good job of balancing th e work load across each[...]

104 CrossFire ™ Overview Scissor Mode In this mode, each frame is split into two sections, with each section being processed by one GPU. The ideal configuration is determ ined automatically for each application. Although Scissor Mode is generally a less efficient means of splitting the workload than using SuperTiling , th ere are a few cases wher[...]

CrossFire ™ Overview 105 Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Mode In this mode, all even frames are rendered on one GPU, while all odd frames are rendered on the other. The completed frames from both GPUs are sent to the Compositing Engine o n the CrossFire ™ Edition card, which then sends them on to the display. By allowi ng both GPUs to work inde[...]

106 CrossFire ™ Overview Super Anti-aliasing Mode Anti-aliasing (AA) is a rendering techniqu e designed to remo ve jagged edges, shimmering, and pixelation pro blem s that are common in rendered 3D images. Rather than simply dete rmining the color of each pixel on the screen by sampling a single location at the pixel’s center, anti-aliasi ng wo[...]

CrossFire ™ Overview 107 Some types of textures, especially those with transpar ent portions, can exhibit aliasing that is not removed by MSA A techniques. Another form of anti-aliasing, known as Super-sample Anti-aliasing (SSAA), can be useful in these cases, because it affects ev ery pixel in an image. Although it normally operates more slowly [...]

108 CrossFire ™ Overview pattern that does a better job of ant i-al iasing ne ar-h orizontal and near- vertical edges, resulting in better overall image quali ty. Two of the new Super Anti-aliasin g modes use a combination of MSAA and SSAA to achieve the ultimate in im age quality. They work by not o nly using different multi-sample locations on [...]

Troubleshooting 109 CHAPTER 8: Reference This chapter provides information on troubleshooti ng, where to get additional accessories, and how to regist er your product, plus warranty and compliance information. T roubleshooting The following troubleshooting tips may help if you experience problems. ATI’s documentation con tains helpful install ati[...]

110 Troubleshootin g No Display • Check that the card is seated properly in its expansion slot. • Ensure that the monitor cable is securely fastened to the card. • Make sure that the monitor and computer are plugg ed in and receiving power . • If necessary , disable any bui lt-in graphics capabilities on your mother board. For more inform a[...]

Troubleshooting 111 CrossFire ™ -Specific T roubleshooting Problem Possible Solution CrossFire ™ is Not Functioning In order for CrossFire ™ to function the inter connect cable must be correctly connected to both the Master and Slave graphics cards. 1. Connect the DMS-59™ connector of the interconnect cable to the DMS-59™ connection on th[...]

112 Troubleshootin g “CrossFire ™ Is Currently Unavailable.” This error is occurred because CrossFire ™ did not correctly detect your graphics hardware or t heir is a problem with the software. • Check the graphics card are installed correctly . • Check the interconnect cable is installed correctly . • Close all running 3D application[...]

Additional Accessories 115 • A TI C ustom er Care is unab le to assist with refunds, returns, or exchange specific inquiries. If reso lvi ng the probl em being experienced is critical to your d ecision to keep the product, it is your responsibilit y to ensure that you know and are withi n the period of time your resel ler wi ll allow fo r refunds[...]

116 Compliance Information • Connect the equipmen t to an outlet on a circuit different from th at to which the receiver is connected. • Consult the dea ler or an experi enced radio/TV technician for he lp. Industry Canada Compliance St atement ICES-003 This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003. Cet appareil numérique de l[...]

Compliance Information 117 W aste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive Compliance This product was manu factured by ATI Technolo gies Inc.[...]

119 CHAPTER 9: Glossary 2D Acronym for “two dimensional,” a term applied to computer graphics that are “flat.” Typical desktop applica tions such as wo rd processors, spreadsheet programs, or other program s that manipulate print or simple graphics (such as pictures or line art) are generally considered to be operating within a 2D environme[...]

120 Adaptive Anti -aliasing Adaptive anti-aliasing is a technique that applies a com binat ion of multi- sampling (MSAA) and super-sampling (SSAA) on 3 D objects to improve edge smoothness and fine detail. M ulti-sampling works best on smoothing the edges of solid polygons, but cannot effectively smoot h edges with in polygons which are partially t[...]

121 Anisotropic Filtering A technique that preserves the surface de tails of an object as it recedes into the distance by utilizing and blendin g together the object’s texture maps. This makes 3D objects appear more r ealistic as the detail of their surface texture is retained in a smooth, seamle ss fashion on the sections that move or fade away [...]

122 Back Buffer A type of offscreen memory used to provide smooth v ideo and 2D graphics acceleration. This techniqu e uses two frame buffers, so the process is often referred to as “double- buffering.” While the cont ents of one buffer are displayed, a second buffer, called the “back” buffer, holds t he frame being worked on. In t his way,[...]

123 not be confused w ith luminosit y, which measures the actual light l evel emitted from the computer display. Buffer A name referring to portions of on -boa rd video memory. One large buffer is always used to display i mages to th e screen; this is the “display buffer.” The rest of offscreen memory is typically used by applications as back b[...]

124 Component Video Typically used on DVD players and HDTV systems, component video is a standard Red/Green/Blue (RGB) color signal for televi sions. The signal is split and compressed into separate luminance and color values—luminance (“Y”), red minus luminance (R-Y), and blue minus lu minance (B-Y). The value for green is not transmitted. T[...]

125 CRT Acronym for “cathode ray tube”, whic h is the main component of computer monitors and TVs. Color CRTs use th ree separate electron beams fired through a shadow mask and o nto the b ack of the glass sc reen. The electron beams activate separate red, green, and blue values in various strengths in order to produce a colored image. Dashboar[...]

126 the smaller the number, the sharper the image. The most common dot pitches for monitors range from .24 mm to .31 mm. Also, if a mo nitor with a .24 mm dot pitch is set to its highest possible resolution, the pixel si ze will equal the dot pitch . If the monitor is set to lower resolu tions, the pixe ls will be comprised of multi ple dot s. DVI [...]

127 this stage and this buffer contains only a one-to-o ne relationship of the data to be relayed to the display. Frames Per Se cond In terms of 3D graphics, refers to the rate at which the graphic processor can render new screens per second. Higher rates equals better, more naturalistic performance fo r such things as games set in a 3D environment[...]

128 computers, and set-top boxes. A DVI ad apter can be used to transfer the video signal to an HDMI ™ -capable display, although au dio must be transferred from a differ ent rout e, as DVI output does not suppo rt audio. HDTV Acronym for “High Definition Tel evision,” a format that produces much greater picture quality than a st andard telev[...]

129 of the 3D rendering process, making it a major perfo rmance bottleneck. HyperZ ™ HD technology reduces the memory bandwid th consumed by the Z-Buffer, thereby increasing perfor mance while also making the 3D environment more realistic. Keyframe Interpolation This feature is also known as “morphing.” In an animation, a start and end point [...]

130 NTSC The name for the type of analog television signal used throug hou t the Americas (except Brazil) and in Japan. It draws a total of 52 5 v ert ical interlaced frames of video at a refres h rate of 60 Hz, making it relatively flicker-free. The acronym refers to the National Televi sion Systems Committee, which devised this color video standa[...]

131 peripherals to a computer ’s motherboard. PCI enco mpasses both integ rated motherboard components (such as built-in graphical processors) and peripherals that fit into an expansio n card slot, such as a separate graphics card. PCI replaced the older ISA and VESA bus standards, and was itself superseded by the AGP standard for the main grap h[...]

132 processing in the Vector Adaptive Deinterlacing feature within Catalyst ™ Control Center. Refresh Rate Also referred to as “vertical refresh rate .” This is the rate at which a monitor or television can redraw the screen from top to bottom. NTSC television systems have a refresh rate of approximately 60 Hz whereas computer displays typica[...]

133 mainly in Europ e for transferring an alog audio and video signals between VCRs, DVD players, personal computers, and set-top boxes. It is sometimes refe rred to as Pé ritel or the Euroconnector. Scissor Mode A graphical load-balancing scheme wher e two graphics cards are used to render two halves of an image displa y. One graphics card render[...]

134 SmartShader ™ HD SmartShader ™ HD contains advanced vertex and pixel-shading capabilities. A shader is a small program that runs on the GPU and describes how an image should be rend ered. Vertex shaders manipulate the individual polygons that ma ke up 3D objects, and pixel shaders operate on the individual p ixels that fill in these polygon[...]

135 SuperTiling A graphical load-balancing scheme wher e two graphics cards are used to render alternate small 32x32 pixel sq ua res in a fine-grained checkerboard pattern. This configura tion increases image render ing quality, as each card processes half of the comple x 3D objects in the p ixel squares. SuperTiling is better optimized for most ap[...]

136 Trans ition Minimized Differe ntial Signaling (TMDS) A technology designed to reduce el ectromagnetic inte rference (EMI) and improve the digital signal delivered to flat panel displays. Its encoding algorithm converts the original 8-bit graphic data int o a more fault-tolerant 10-bit signal, which is then converted b ack to its original 8-bit [...]

137 carries a considerable amount of inform atio n describ ing its coordinates in 3D space, as well as its weight, color, texture coordinates, fog, and point size data. A vertex shader is a graphics processing function th at manipulates these values, producing such thin gs as more realistic lighting effects, improved complex textures such as hair a[...]

138 de-interlacing, frame-rate conversion, color-space c onversion, and more. It also enables better MPEG-2 d ecoding wi t h motion compensation . VPU Recover A feature designed to significantly reduce the number of system crashes caused by problems occurring with the graphics hardware. If the display driver detects that the graphics pr ocessor has[...]