ATI Technologies 100 435846 - Radeon X1950 XTX Crossfire Edition 512 MB 3D Video Card User Manual Download Page 41

Page: 41 / 92

CrossFire

™

Overview 35

CHAPTER 7:

Using the Radeon

X1950 XTX

with CrossFire

™

The Radeon

X1950 XTX can be used as a Slave graphics card in a

CrossFire

™

system.

For the full system requirements necessary to put together a working
CrossFire

™

system, see the CrossFire

™

FAQ.

CrossFire

™

Overview

This section provides an overview of the main features and configurations
for CrossFire

™

. These topics will be covered in more detail in other chapters

of this manual.

Allowable CrossFire

™

System Components

The basic requirements of a CrossFire

™

system are a CrossFire

™

certified

motherboard with two PCI Express

x16 slots, a CrossFire

™

Edition

graphics card, and a compatible CrossFire

™

Compatible graphics card.

A CrossFire

™

Edition graphics card works with all members of the same

brand-family. Thus a CrossFire

™

Edition graphics card can be used with

any Radeon

X1950 product.

For an up-to-date listing of CrossFire

™

certified motherboards, see:

ati.com/crossfire

CrossFire

™

Rendering Modes

A CrossFire

™

system has four possible display modes:

• SuperTiling

• Scissor Mode

• Alternate Frame Rendering

• Super Anti-aliasing.

Summary of Contents for 100 435846 - Radeon X1950 XTX Crossfire Edition 512 MB 3D Video Card

Page 1: ...ATI Radeon X1950 XTX User s Guide P N 137 41074 10...

Page 2: ...on of business loss of anticipatory profits or for punitive incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing performance or use of the ATI hardware software or other products and...

Page 3: ...a third grounding pin This plug will only fit into a grounding type power outlet This is a safety feature If you are unable to insert the plug into the outlet contact your electrician to replace the...

Page 4: ...iv...

Page 5: ...stalling Drivers and Software in Windows 15 Monitor Configuration 16 To set up a multi monitor display 17 Reinstalling Drivers 17 Installing the Catalyst Software Suite 18 Catalyst Control Center 21 H...

Page 6: ...1 Using the Radeon X1950 XTX with CrossFire 35 CrossFire Overview 35 CrossFire Rendering Modes 35 Super Anti aliasing Mode 39 CrossFire FAQ 43 Reference 49 Troubleshooting 49 Product Registration 53 C...

Page 7: ...Threaded shader engine Eight vertex shader processors Forty eight pixel shader processors 512 bit internal ring bus memory controller 256 bit 8 channel memory interface Native PCI Express x16 bus inte...

Page 8: ...d for real time shadow rendering Optimized for performance at high display resolutions including widescreen HDTV resolutions Ultra Threaded Shader Engine Support for Microsoft DirectX 9 0 Shader Model...

Page 9: ...er format support Includes support for blending and multi sample anti aliasing 2x 4x 6x Anti Aliasing modes Sparse multi sample algorithm with gamma correction programmable sample patterns and centroi...

Page 10: ...with Service Pack 2 SP2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows 2000 Windows Vista Monitor High resolution MultiSync or multi frequency monitors or any other type of VGA monitor Digital flat pane...

Page 11: ...rivers for the existing graphics card before removing it from your computer To uninstall previous drivers With your current graphics card still in your computer 1 Close all applications that are curre...

Page 12: ...6 Before You Begin...

Page 13: ...system has an adequate power supply A PCI Express compatible system has a specialized 12V graphics card power connector A 450 watt or greater power supply is recommended Consult your computer system...

Page 14: ...information see your computer documentation 5 Locate the appropriate slot and if necessary remove the metal back plate cover 6 Align your ATI graphics card with the slot and press it in firmly until t...

Page 15: ...mputer cover 9 Reconnect any cables you have disconnected and plug in the computer s power cord 10 Turn on the monitor and then your computer Connecting Devices The following illustration shows typica...

Page 16: ...I Supports a digital monitor VGA DVI I Adapter Supports an analog monitor on a DVI I connection S Video In Out Supports a TV VCR or camcorder CATV Supports a TV antenna or cable service Composite Supp...

Page 17: ...upplied DVI I to VGA adapter It also provides TV output via an S Video Out connector Connections and Adapters for the Radeon X1950 XTX Card 1 Standard VGA Monitor Connector To connect a VGA monitor to...

Page 18: ...isplay 1 From the Start button click Control Panel then Display Click the Settings tab to access the basic multi monitor configuration settings Note ATI provides Catalyst Control Center software that...

Page 19: ...DVI I connector DFP digital flat panel display DFP Display DFP Display DVI I connectors DFP Display HDTV DVI I connector S Video to Component adapter Using supplied S Video to Component adapter Single...

Page 20: ...14 Display Configurations...

Page 21: ...erequisites To install or remove the drivers you must have administrator rights or be logged on as a user with administrator rights Your operating system must be installed and running before you can i...

Page 22: ...7 When the Setup Complete message appears select Yes I want to restart my computer now and click Finish 8 After the system reboots the Found New Hardware message displays Digital Signature Not Found...

Page 23: ...xtend my Windows desktop onto this monitor 4 Set the Screen Resolution and Color Quality as appropriate for the second monitor Click Apply or OK to apply these new values Refer to your Windows online...

Page 24: ...oftware elements including Driver Catalyst Control Center HydraVision not included in the Express Install Remote Wonder Software SurroundView To install the Catalyst software suite Note Optical drive...

Page 25: ...stalling the Catalyst Software Suite 19 Not all software components are installed using the Express installation Custom installation allows you to select individual software components for installatio...

Page 26: ...20 Installing the Catalyst Software Suite...

Page 27: ...for easy access to the features you use most Use the Catalyst Control Center to access a comprehensive online help system or connect to the ATI Web site Help Use the Catalyst Control Center Help feat...

Page 28: ...nced view to manually adjust video overlay and choose a preferred viewing mode such as Widescreen or Fullscreen modes To access the Video aspect Select Video in either Basic or Advanced View Display O...

Page 29: ...ages to preview the changes before applying them The Color curve is a graphical representation of all the values of gamma brightness or contrast The color curve line will reflect any changes made to t...

Page 30: ...onent Video Properties aspect of the Catalyst Control Center adds further support when using the ATI HDTV Component Video Adapter Component Video Properties is made up of Formats Avivo Color Adjustmen...

Page 31: ...n personal video settings that can be quickly activated manually through a hot key or by file association Note A profile applies to a specific graphics card If there is more than one graphics card ins...

Page 32: ...ire in Advanced View Enable CrossFire 1 From the Tree View pane click CrossFire in Advanced View 2 Click Enable CrossFire When CrossFire is successfully enabled all display devices except the one used...

Page 33: ...ickly activated manually through a hot key or by file association Note A profile applies to a specific graphics card If there is more than one graphics card installed in your computer you need to sele...

Page 34: ...28 Profiles Manager...

Page 35: ...TV Out feature Connecting to a TV Your Radeon X1950 XTX card transmits HDCP compliant signals to digital TVs To use a DVI connection 1 Determine if your TVsupports DVI If it does not you will need a...

Page 36: ...computer Using a Monitor vs Using TV Display Using your TV for your computer s display can be useful however the display on your monitor may change or looked squashed This distortion occurs because t...

Page 37: ...imum display resolution for TV is 1024 x 768 Choosing a resolution higher than this will cause the TV display to disappear if it is the only display device Using Games and Applications Some older game...

Page 38: ...input device and set it to YPbPr input Note See your HDTV or component input device manual for configuration information specific to your device L You must have a monitor attached to your computer bef...

Page 39: ...e the HDTV Video Cable to watch DVD movies and play video games on your High Definition Television For maximum performance when you watch DVD movies or play computer games on your HDTV you should find...

Page 40: ...34 Connecting to HDTV...

Page 41: ...manual Allowable CrossFire System Components The basic requirements of a CrossFire system are a CrossFire certified motherboard with two PCI Express x16 slots a CrossFire Edition graphics card and a c...

Page 42: ...tervention The user can also choose to improve image quality by selecting the new Super Anti aliasing modes in the Catalyst Control Center SuperTiling In this mode each frame to be rendered is divided...

Page 43: ...mode each frame is split into two sections with each section being processed by one GPU The ideal configuration is determined automatically for each application 3 Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express...

Page 44: ...the other The completed frames from both GPUs are sent to the Compositing Engine on the CrossFire Edition card which then sends them on to the display By allowing both GPUs to work independently AFR...

Page 45: ...Radeon GPUs with SmoothVision HD technology uses a method known as Multi sample Anti aliasing MSAA This method takes samples from 2 4 or 6 programmable locations within each pixel and uses gamma corr...

Page 46: ...on This approach normally has two main disadvantages it requires rendering many more pixels than normal which can have a drastic impact on performance and that it results in an ordered grid sample pat...

Page 47: ...the pixel centers slightly In effect each GPU renders the image from a different viewpoint about half a pixel width apart The new 10x and 14x Super Anti aliasing modes operate in this manner combining...

Page 48: ...42 Super Anti aliasing Mode...

Page 49: ...ich contains two PCIe X16 slots More information on the requirements for each of these components can be found within this FAQ 2 What graphics cards work with CrossFire A CrossFire graphics card works...

Page 50: ...I I connection on the Master graphics card instead of using the CrossFire connector with both graphics cards seated in their respective slots on the motherboard If an image appears on the screen upon...

Page 51: ...rossFire is enabled reappear after CrossFire is disabled To change to Advanced View Click the Dashboard View button and select Advanced View Select Displays Manager in the tree view 7 What is the diff...

Page 52: ...sFire Edition graphics cards with different architectures In this scenario both graphics cards will operate at the speed of the slower graphics cards while in CrossFire mode You will be required to re...

Page 53: ...ossFire system when CrossFire is not enabled If the motherboard contains an integrated video connection and SurroundView is enabled more displays can be added However when CrossFire is enabled all dis...

Page 54: ...48...

Page 55: ...troubleshooting information General Troubleshooting Problem Possible Solution Computer Does Not Boot Up Properly Verify that the installation instructions were properly followed Check that the card is...

Page 56: ...oth video card and monitor support resolution and refresh rates you select Incompatible resolution refresh rate selection may result in monitor damage Refer to your monitor s documentation for recomme...

Page 57: ...you need to close the 3D application or video playback that is currently running You will not be able to start CrossFire if a 3D application game or video playback such as a DVD movie is running Close...

Page 58: ...h error message will restart your computer When disabling CrossFire you will be given the option to restart your computer to restore the original graphics memory size or continue with the reduced memo...

Page 59: ...and your HDTV are correct Y Green Pb Blue Pr Red There is no display on my TV Your TV will not display anything until Windows starts this may take several minutes Set your TV to YPbPr input Ensure th...

Page 60: ...OLOGIES INC Attention Customer Care 1 Commerce Valley Drive East Markham Ontario Canada L3T 7X6 Telephone US Canada 9 00AM 7 00PM EST Monday to Friday English 1 877 284 1566 toll free or 1 905 882 262...

Page 61: ...product FCC Compliance Information This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to pr...

Page 62: ...la CE Directive EMC 89 336 CEE et amendements 92 31 CEE et 93 68 CEE pour dispositif num rique de Classe B EN 55022 2003 CISPR 22 1997 Classe B Limites et m thodes de mesure des caract ristiques d in...

Page 63: ...Compliance Information 57 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment WEEE Directive Compliance This product was manufactured by ATI Technologies Inc...

Page 64: ...58 Compliance Information...

Page 65: ...lacing interpolated frames The features produces a smoother NTSC video image from a motion picture film source and can be used for better edge image processing in the Vector Adaptive Deinterlacing fea...

Page 66: ...slot on the computer motherboard designed specifically for 3D graphics cards AGP runs 3D images much more smoothly and quickly than was previously possible with PCI video cards AGP runs at several tim...

Page 67: ...oths out this jaggedness by filling in the white spaces between the jagged edges with varying shades of grey Aspect A group of related features in ATI s Catalyst Control Center software For example th...

Page 68: ...also a problem for computer generated images especially for surface details Bit Depth Refers to the number of data bits required to store color information about a pixel Larger bit depth means a great...

Page 69: ...ce providing a more interactive means of controlling such things as 2D and 3D performance while providing immediate feedback using a more intuitive graphical user interface Color Component Three color...

Page 70: ...by the process of mixing the brightness and multiple color channels together into a single channel For this reason it is inferior in signal quality than either S Video or component video Composite vi...

Page 71: ...rectX is an API that provides programmers with direct access to low level hardware functions for games and other high performance 3D applications Dithering A computer graphics technique that takes adv...

Page 72: ...ning a process which also removes the jaggies inherent in the interlaced television signals Flat Shading A lighting technique that shades each polygon of a 3D object based on where the source of the l...

Page 73: ...object A specific color is used at each vertex of a triangle or polygon and interpolated across the entire face HDCP HDCP is an acronym for High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection It is a form of digit...

Page 74: ...as yellow In the standard RGB color space used by most computer displays hue refers to a coordinate of the color as described by its red green and blue values minus any additional brightness or satur...

Page 75: ...quality of the virtual light source being used to make an object visible Lighting can strongly affect the mood of a scene For example a harsh light could be a bare lightbulb that is glaringly bright o...

Page 76: ...rdrive ATI Overdrive maximizes the performance of the GPU by dynamically altering its speed to an optimal level depending on usage An on chip thermal sensor constantly monitors the temperature of the...

Page 77: ...de up of tiny dots Each individual dot is called a pixel a word created from the term picture element A pixel is the smallest indivisible unit of a digital image and can be only a single color The siz...

Page 78: ...he relative difference between the values of the channels SCART SCART is an acronym for Syndicat des Constructeurs d Appareils Radior cepteurs et T l viseurs SCART is an 21 pin connector used mainly i...

Page 79: ...h memory Shadow Mask In CRT monitors the shadow mask is a metal plate full of tiny holes that is attached to the inside of the glass screen It focuses the beams from the electron guns at the back of t...

Page 80: ...nsures a more even distribution of what needs to be rendered This type of graphical operation is only available in Radeon CrossFire graphics cards running Microsoft Direct 3D games or applications S V...

Page 81: ...orate up to two TMDS links with each link comprised of the number of signals required for standard RGB output Higher resolutions and refresh rates than standard are possible if multiple TMDS links are...

Page 82: ...ations such as waves rippling in a pool or the stretching and wrinkling of a character s clothes as he or she moves Vertex shader units A feature built into the graphical processor which renders the t...

Page 83: ...pt to reset the graphics processor eliminating the need for a system reboot and allowing users to continue using the computer without interrupting or losing their work YPbPr A type of analog composite...

Page 84: ...78...

Page 85: ...cs Port AGP 60 70 71 accessories 55 Adjustments 24 Advanced 24 Advanced View 22 Alpha blending 60 Alternate Frame Rendering 60 Alternate Frame Rendering AFR 35 38 AMD Athlon 4 Anisotropic Filtering 41...

Page 86: ...erties 24 Composite Engine 64 Composite Video 64 74 77 Compositing Engine 38 45 46 74 configuration multiple monitors 17 primary monitor 17 configuration tips 49 Connecting Devices 9 contrast 23 50 61...

Page 87: ...splay Options 22 Displays Manager 21 Dithering 65 DMS 59 51 Dot pitch 31 65 73 dot pitch 31 driver installation 15 drivers installing 15 uninstalling 5 DVD 4 15 51 64 67 74 DVI 13 24 44 46 51 52 67 DV...

Page 88: ...53 HDTV Component Video Adapter 32 Help 17 21 54 High Definition Multimedia Interface HDMI 67 High Definition Television 31 High Definition Television HDTV 13 23 24 53 67 68 73 77 High Bandwidth Digi...

Page 89: ...70 73 PCI 70 71 PCI Express 4 36 37 38 39 40 43 44 51 52 PCI Express PCIe 60 71 Pentium 4 P ritel 72 Pipeline 71 Pixel 36 39 40 41 71 pixel by pixel 75 power supply 4 Preferences 25 primary slot 44 P...

Page 90: ...hVision HD 41 73 Software installing 15 Specular highlight 73 Standard Definition Television SDTV 66 72 Super Anti aliasing 24 35 36 39 40 41 Super Anti aliasing Mode 39 Super Anti Aliasing 74 Super S...

Page 91: ...ertical refresh rate 71 VGA 4 13 72 VGA connector 76 Video 22 50 52 53 Video Graphics Array 76 Video Immersion II 76 Video In Video Out VIVO 52 video memory 63 VideoShader HD 77 VIVO Video In Video Ou...

Page 92: ...86 Y Y C 74 Y C video 74 YCbCr 77 YPbPr 13 53 64 77 YPbPr connector 31 Z Z buffer 68 77 z buffer 63...

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