RADEON™ 8500 MAC EDITION User’s Guide Version 1.0 - February 2002 P/N: 137-40315-10 Copyright © 2002, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI and all ATI product and product feature names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other company and/or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Features, performance and specifications are subject to change without notice. Product may not be exactly as shown in the diagrams.
Disclaimer While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, ATI Technologies Inc.
1 Introduction The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION represents the next generation in 3D and video acceleration for your Power Macintosh computer. It includes 64MB of DDR memory for fast 32-bit true color 3D graphics. Flexible dual-display support for multiple combinations of CRT monitors, TVs and video devices is included.
What You'll Need The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION runs with the following minimum system requirements: NOTE NOTE • Any Power Macintosh computer with an AGP expansion slot • Mac OS 9.2.1 or Mac OS X version 10.1 or higher • OpenGL 1.2.2 (required for 3D graphics) • Apple multi-frequency monitor, VGA-style monitor (see note below), DVI-I style digital flat panel, or TV • QuickTime 5.0 (earlier versions are NOT supported) or higher • Minimum 64MB of system memory required for Mac OS 9.2.
Related Documentation The README file summarizes the latest product revisions. Click the README icon on the installation disk to open this file. The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION comes with ATI Guide for Mac OS 9, which provides on-line help for making the best use of your card’s features. There are two methods of accessing the ATI Guide. From the Mac OS menu bar under the ATI icon choose ATI Guide. From the ATI Displays control panel, you can access the ATI Guide by clicking on the Apple Guide icon.
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2 Multimedia Features Your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION turns your Mac computer into a 3D and 2D graphics powerhouse.
Viewing 3D Graphics RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION’s 3D Acceleration features supports the following advanced 3D graphics capabilities: • OpenGL Support • QuickDraw 3D RAVE Support • Twin Cache Architecture • Single Pass Multi-texturing • Triangle Setup Engine • Bilinear/Trilinear Filtering • Line Anti-aliasing • Specular Highlights • Perspectively Correct Texture Mapping • Mip-Mapping • Z-buffering and Double-buffering • Spherical, Dual-Paraboloid, 3D Texturing and Cubic environment mapping
CHARISMA ENGINE™ II is a transform and lighting technology which controls changing shapes and lighting while maintaining fast 3D game performance PIXEL TAPESTRY™ II uses six independent texture units per rendering pipeline giving highly realistic and detailed 3D graphics. VIDEO IMMERSION™ II incorporates MPEG-2 decoding, adaptive de-interlacing, and frame rate conversion.
ATI Displays Control Panel For Mac OS 9 The ATI Displays control panel provides access to the advanced features that RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION has to offer. To open the ATI Displays control panel, choose Control Panels from the Apple menu, then choose ATI Displays, or choose ATI Displays from the ATI Config Menu from the menu bar. For detailed instructions on how to set up and use these features, please refer to the ATI Guide/ATI Help, which can be accessed through the ATI Displays control panel.
Identify Displays If you have more than one display connected to your computer, you can identify and configure each display. The ATI Displays control panel identifies all the displays connected to your computer, but only configures displays that are connected to ATI cards. If you are using multiple monitors and using one display with the built-in video, or a non-ATI video card, a generic video card icon is displayed in the ATI Displays control panel.
Monitors The Monitors feature provides access to the standard Mac OS Monitors control panel. You can use the Monitors control panel to select color depths and resolutions, and set up multiple monitors. For more information on the Monitors control panel refer to the Mac OS Guide that comes with your computer. Keyboard Shortcuts This feature allows you to use a pop-up menu to change your desktop settings without exiting your current application.
VGA Monitors If you have a non-DDC-compliant VGA monitor connected to your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION, the VGA icon may be active. Some VGA monitors use a Display Data Channel (DDC). You do not have to do anything extra to select the supported resolutions. Your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION uses the DDC information to automatically provide the supported resolutions in the Monitors control panel and the Control Strip.
3D Memory Monitor The 3D Memory Monitor shows how available memory in the accelerator card is allocated when displaying 3D graphics. Using the 3D Memory Monitor When you open 3D graphics on your Mac OS computer, run the 3D Memory Monitor to see how your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION has allocated 3D memory.
Display The Screen bar indicates the amount of graphics memory is allocated to the display’s resolution and color depth. The Desktop Pattern bar indicates the amount of memory used by your desktop pattern. To reduce the memory allocated to Display memory: • change the color depth from millions to thousands • decrease your screen resolution Textures The Texture bar indicates the number and size of texture maps loaded by 3D applications to add realism to 3D models and environments.
ATI HELP ATI HELP is an additional source of information when you are using the ATI Displays control panel. Access the ATI HELP by clicking on the Apple HELP icon on the ATI Displays control panel, or the ATI Config Menu. From the ATI DISPLAYS GUIDE select RADEON then OPEN RADEON HELP. Finally, select ATI HELP from the HELP CENTER. Select a topic from the main ATI HELP window to get detailed instructions for a specific task.
Using QuickTime Playback The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION’s QuickTime playback acceleration allows you to stretch even the smallest movies to full screen size without compromising frame rate or image quality. RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION’s hardware scaler maintains the original quality of your QuickTime movie when scaling to a larger size – even full screen. When the monitor is set to display in grayscale (Mac OS 9 only), QuickTime movies are not accelerated, nor are they converted to color.
Using Mac2TV™ Video Out In Mac OS 9 The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION’s Mac2TV Video Out feature allows you to output your computer’s display to your TV or VCR. Anything you can display on your monitor can be output to TV.
Composite Connector Video Out Connector Video Out Adapter 5 If your are using S-Video connection to the TV, attach one end of an S-Video cable to the S-Video Out connection of the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION and the other end to the S-Video In connector of your TV. If you are using Composite, connect the supplied Video Out Adapter to the S-Video connector of the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION.
NOTE Now that you have connected your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION to a TV, you need to enable Mac2TV. For more information, see “Enabling Mac2TV” on page 21. To connect your computer’s display to a VCR to record to video tape 1 Turn off your computer and VCR.
NOTE If you are connecting your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION to a VCR, make sure that your VCR is connected to a television that you can use as your computer’s display. For information about connecting a television to your VCR, see the documentation supplied with your VCR. Now that you have connected your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION to a VCR, you need to enable Mac2TV.
Changing Display Configurations Using a TV as your only display If you are using television display only, disconnect your monitor from your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION. The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION detects that you have a TV attached and automatically starts with Mac2TV display enabled. Optimizing Mac2TV You can optimize your TV display using the video out preferences. Viewing images on your TV can be improved by changing the contrast, brightness, or size of your display.
Hue is generally not adjusted. Depending on the TV, however, it may be necessary or desirable to adjust the hue to approximate the monitor’s display. Anti-Flicker reduces the amount of display flicker. Display flicker is both a distraction and tiring to your eyes, and is most pronounced when text is being displayed. Dot Crawl is an undesirable characteristic of many Composite televisions that is seen as thin, jagged edges moving around objects on the screen.
To change your font size in Mac OS 9 1 Click the Apple menu 2 Select Control Panels 3 Select Views 4 Choose a larger font size To change your font size in Mac OS X 1 Click the Apple menu 2 Select System Preferences 3 Select General 4 Choose a larger font size Page 24
ATI Displays Control Panel for Mac OS X The ATI Displays control panel provides access to the advanced features that RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION has to offer. To open the ATI Displays control panel: 1 Click on the Hard Disk icon 2 Click on Applications folder 3 Click on Utilities folder 4 Click on ATI Utilities folder 5 Double-click on ATI Displays For detailed instructions on how to set up and use these features, please refer to ATI Help, which can be accessed through the ATI Displays control panel.
Adaptive de-interlacing Adaptive de-interlacing smooths moving images captured from an interlaced source and may improve the quality of DVD movies. ATI Displays Preferences From the ATI Displays drop down menu you can set the Preferences for the ATI Displays control panel. Here you can configure how the ATI Displays control panel starts and exits. ATI HELP ATI HELP is an additional source of information when you are using the ATI Displays control panel.
Using Mac2TV™ Video Out In Mac OS X To connect your TV to the RADEON 8500 see “To output your computer’s display to a TV” on page 18. Enabling Mac2TV 1 Open the ATI Displays control panel. The Television dialog will open automatically on the TV. This default can be changed in the ATI Displays Preferences.
Using Digital Flat Panel (DVI-I) RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION’s DVI-I support feature allows you to output your computer’s display to your DVI-I digital flat panel, providing you with: • Crisper, clearer images • A true flat screen • Virtually no eye strain from prolonged viewing Using RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION DVI-I Connector Your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION includes support for DVI-I. You can use this feature to connect your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION to a digital flat panel display.
6 Turn on your DVI-I flat panel and your Mac NOTE A third party adapter is required to support Apple branded digital flat panels with an ADC connector.
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A Specifications Video Mode Table The video mode table below lists the color depth capabilities for the supported resolutions on your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION. Please consult your monitor’s specifications to determine which resolutions are available with your display. Supported VESA/VGA 2D Modes Display Resolution 640 x 480 800 x 600 832 x 624 Vertical Refresh Hz Horizontal Refresh kHz 60 67 72 75 85 90 100 120 56 60 72 75 85 90 100 120 75 31.48 35 37.50 37.50 43.27 45.54 50.89 61.79 35.16 37.85 48.
Display Resolution 1024 x 768 1152 x 870 1280 x 960 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1024 1600 x 1200 1792 x 1344 1856 x1392 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1200 1920 x 1440 2048 x 1536 Page 32 Vertical Refresh Hz Horizontal Refresh kHz 60 70 75 85 90 100 120 75 75 60 75 85 76 60 65 70 75 85 60 75 60 75 60 72 76 60 60 75 48.36 56.48 60.24 68.68 72.81 81.40 98.76 68.68 75.00 63.98 79.98 91.38 81.32 75.00 81.25 87.50 93.75 106.25 83.64 106.27 86.33 112.50 67.50 84.38 95.00 90.00 95.
TV Resolutions Hz TV Resolution NTSC PAL 640 x 480 720 x 480 720 x 576 768 x 576 800 x 600 60 60 50 60 50 50 50 Digital Flat Panel Possible resolution and refresh rate TMDS Frequency Resolution Freq Hz 165MHz 140MHz 125Mhz 1600 x 1200 1200 x 1024 1200 x 1024 60 75 60 Maximum digital transmission frequency of the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION is a function of the receiver type in the attached flat panel display. With some TMDS receivers the frequency can be lower than the maximum 165MHz capability.
Specifications System Requirements • Power Macintosh computer with an AGP expansion slot Operating System • Mac OS 9.2.1 or Mac OS X version 10.1 or higher • QuickTime version 5.0 or higher • Apple OpenGL 1.2.
Display Connector • DVI-I connector VGA Connector - Standard VGA Multi-frequency Apple Monitors with Apple connectors are supported using the Apple-to-VGA video adapter. • S-Video Out (Composite Out adapter included) Video Interrupt • PCI interrupt request enabled; interrupt is auto-configured by system Power • +5V ± 5 %, @ 1.3A typical Environment • Ambient Temperature: 50° to 122° F (10° to 50° C) operation.
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- B Compliance Information FCC Compliance Information This device is in conformity with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation of this product is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. 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.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced technician for help • The use of shielded cables for connection of the monitor to the graphics card is required to ensure compliance with FCC regulations • Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate this equipment Industry Canada Compliance Statement ICES-003 This Class B digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-Causing Equipment Regul
61000-4-6). EMC Richtlinie 89/336/EEC und Änderung 92/31/EEC und 93/68/ EEC, für Einheit der Kategorie B Digitales. EN 55022/CISPR 22, Informationstechnologieausrüstung Radiostörung Eigenschafen - Begrenzungen und Methoden von Messen. Warnung: Dies ist ein Erzeugnis der Klasse B. Dieses Erzeugnis kann Funkstörungen im Wohnbereich verursachen; in diesem Fall können entsprechende Maßnahmen seitens des Benutzers erforderlich sein.
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C Glossary Alpha blending When an image has an alpha value for each pixel, this tells how much to blend the colors from the image with the background colors. The lower the alpha values the more transparent the image looks. Anti-aliasing Method used to remove the jagginess of an image. When anti-aliasing is used, the edges of an image appear smooth and usually somewhat blurry. Back buffer A type of offscreen memory used to provide smooth video and 2D graphics acceleration.
CHARISMA ENGINE™ II Supports transforms, clipping and lighting at 62.5 million triangles per second at peak processing capability. Color Depth Color depth is the number of color shades available on your display. The color depth of your monitor usually includes; 256 colors (8-bpp), Thousands of colors (16-bpp), and Millions of colors (32-bpp), and is also measured in bits per pixel (bpp). You can switch your color depth using the ATI Popup Menu, Apple’s Control Strip, or the Monitors control panel.
Refresh Rate Also referred to as “vertical refresh rate”. 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 (but only draw onehalf of the video frame in one pass); computer displays typically have refresh rates of 75 Hz or more. At a refresh rate of 70 Hz and lower, screen flicker is often noticeable.
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Index requirements Numerics S 3D Graphics memory usage 14 supported features 8 Software 3D Memory Monitor ATI Displays 10 ATI Guide 16, 26 requirements 4, 34 3D Memory Monitor description 14 A 14 T Apple Displays using DVI adapter 35 using VGA adapter 4, Troubleshooting 35 contacting customer support incorrect resolution 13 ATI Displays control panel description 4, 34 10 16 V ATI Guide accessing 5, 10, 16, description 16, 26 25, 26 D DVI-to-VGA adapter Video Card features 7 requirements
