Radeon® X1650 PRO User’s Guide P/N 137-41146-10
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iv Copyright © 2006, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI, the ATI logo, and 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 diagrams.
v L IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS • • • • • • • • • Read Instructions - All the safety and operating instructions should be read before the product is operated. Retain Instructions - The safety and operating instructions should be retained for future reference. Heed Warnings - All warnings on the product and the operating instructions should be adhered to.
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vii Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Radeon® X1650 PRO Features System Requirements 1 4 Using Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Display Configurations 9 Using TV Display and Capture Features . . . . . . . 11 Using TV Out Connecting to a TV or VCR Connecting to HDTV 11 12 14 Installing Software and Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
viii Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Radeon® X1650 PRO Features 1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction Congratulations on the purchase of your ATI Radeon® X1650 PRO graphics card. We hope that you will enjoy countless hours of trouble-free computing. Radeon® X1650 PRO Features Features • 157 million transistors on 90nm fabrication process. • Dual-link DVI. • Twelve pixel shader processors. • Five vertex shader processors. • 128-bit 4-channel DDR/DDR2/GDDR3 memory interface. • Native PCI Express x16 bus interface.
2 Radeon® X1650 PRO Features • Full speed 128-bit floating point processing. • Dedicated branch execution units for high performance dynamic branching and flow control. • Dedicated texture address units for improved efficiency. • 3Dc+ texture compression • High quality 4:1 compression for normal maps and two-channel data formats. • High quality 2:1 compression for luminance maps and singlechannel data formats. • Multiple Render Target (MRT) support. • Render-to-vertex buffer support.
Radeon® X1650 PRO Features 3 • • • • • DXVA support. De-blocking and noise reduction filtering. Motion compensation, IDCT, DCT and color space conversion. Vector adaptive per-pixel de-interlacing. 3:2 pulldown (frame rate conversion). • Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time. • HDR tone mapping acceleration. • Maps any input format to 10 bit per channel output. • Flexible display support. • Dual integrated 10 bit per channel 400 MHz DACs.
4 System Requirements Note: CrossFire™ is supported in Catalyst™ version 5.13 *with optional HDTV adapter available from ATI Online Store. System Requirements Hardware • • • Operating System Monitor • Specialized PCI Express® 350 watt or greater power supply recommended. Consult your computer system manual to ensure the power supply is designed to accommodate a high-end graphics card with a peak dissipation above 75 watts. • Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2).
System Requirements 5 To uninstall previous drivers With your current graphics card still in your computer: 1 Close all applications that are currently running. 2 Navigate to the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs. 3 Select your current graphics card drivers and select Add/Remove. The wizard will help you remove your current display drivers. Note: If the previously installed graphics card has any additional software installed, it should also be removed at this point.
6 System Requirements
7 CHAPTER 2: Using Multiple Displays Connecting Your Monitors Your Radeon® X1650 PRO graphics card provides hardware support for two DVI-I monitors and a VGA monitor using the supplied DVI-I-to-VGA adapter. It also provides TV output via an S-Video Out connector. Connections and Adapters for the Radeon® X1650 PRO Card 1 Standard VGA Monitor Connector.
8 Note: If you use multiple monitors, the Radeon® X1650 PRO card must be the primary graphics card. Normally, the system BIOS determines which graphics card will be the primary. Note: The top DVI-I connector is single-link and the bottom connector is dual-link. Note: Some Radeon® X1650 PRO graphic cards have one DVI-I connector and one VGA connector. To connect your monitors 1 Power off your computer and monitors. 2 Plug the monitor cables into their appropriate connectors.
Display Configurations 9 Display Configurations Your Radeon® X1650 PRO graphics card provides dual display functionality. The following table lists 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 DVI-I connector with DVI-I-to-VGA adapter CRT - cathode ray tube analog display.
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 video capture features of your Radeon® X1650 PRO card. Using TV Out Your Radeon® X1650 PRO has TV Out capability. Viewing Your PC Display on a TV You can attach your Radeon® X1650 PRO to a TV and a monitor at the same time. You can also connect it to your VCR and record your monitor’s display. Note: A TV can only be connected to one DVI connector.
12 Connecting to a TV or VCR TV display is ideal for giving presentations and watching movies, 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 Radeon® X1650 PRO card to a TV or VCR, use an SVideo cable. Many TVs (and VCRs) have a Composite video input, in which case you can use the supplied S-Video-to-Composite video adapter.
Connecting to a TV or VCR 13 Connecting Your S-Video Out to a TV or VCR 1 S-Video Connection on graphics card 2 TV or VCR 3 S-Video Cable (with or without S-Video-to-Composite Adapter) 4 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 the display adjusts to fit the dimensions of your TV.
14 Connecting to HDTV Some single-frequency monitors may not work with TV display enabled. If you experience problems when TV display is enabled, disable TV display to restore your monitor’s display. Viewing Text on a TV A TV is designed primarily to show moving images. The large dot pitch of a TV will yield poor quality static images. The small text sizes commonly used for PC desktops can appear blurred or unclear on a TV. You can compensate for this degradation by using larger fonts.
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 HDTV or other component input device, using component video cables. L You must have a monitor attached to your computer before installing the ATI HDTV. For proper operation of your ATI Component Video Adapter, ATI display drivers must be correctly installed.
16 Connecting to HDTV 2 Turn on your computer. Note: Your TV will not display anything until Windows starts. This can take several minutes. Using Your ATI HDTV Video Cable Use the HDTV Video Cable to watch DVD movies and play video games on your High Definition Television. L Copy-protected DVDs restrict playback to 480i and 480p modes.
Installing Drivers and Software in Windows® 17 CHAPTER 4: Installing Software and Drivers This chapter will guide you through the installation of the drivers and software associated with your Radeon® X1650 PRO graphics card. Installing Drivers and Software in Windows® You will need to install the Radeon® X1650 PRO drivers and software in the following cases: • After you have installed the card in your system. • After you have reinstalled or upgraded your operating system.
18 Monitor Configuration 2 Run the ATISETUP utility. The ATISETUP utility will start automatically when you insert the ATI Installation CD-ROM into your optical drive after the operating system has started. If your CDROM auto-run is not enabled or the ATISETUP utility does not start automatically: a) Click the Start button in the task bar. b) Click Run. c) Select ATISETUP.EXE from the root directory of the ATI Installation CD-ROM. d) Click OK. 3 Click Install under Software Install. 4 Click Next.
To set up a multi-monitor display 19 To configure your primary display 1 Navigate to the Control Panel and choose Display, or right-click 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 monitor’s performance. 3 Click Advanced and select the Monitor tab. 4 Choose a refresh rate from the drop-down list. 5 Click OK to return to the desktop.
20 Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite To manually reinstall drivers If your CD-ROM auto-run is not enabled and the ATISETUP utility does not start automatically, follow these steps. 1 In the Windows® task bar, click Start. 2 From the Start menu, select Run. 3 Browse to SETUP.EXE on the root directory of the ATI Installation CD-ROM. 4 Click OK. Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite ATI’s Catalyst™ Software Suite provides software required to enjoy all the features of your ATI graphics card.
Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite 21 8 Follow the Wizard’s on-screen instructions, then choose either Express or Custom Install. Not all software components are installed using the Express installation. Custom installation allows you to select individual software components for installation.
22 Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center 23 CHAPTER 5: Catalyst™ Control Center The Catalyst™ Control Center is a graphical user application providing access to the display features contained within the installed ATI hardware and software. Use the Catalyst™ Control Center to fine-tune your graphics settings, enable or disable connected display devices, and change the orientation of your desktop. Many of the features show you a preview of the changes before they are applied.
24 Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Start Menu From the Windows® task bar, click Start: • Click to Programs > Catalyst™ Control Center > ATI Catalyst™ Control Center. Other Quick Launch Access Points Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the System Tray 1 Right-click the ATI icon in the Windows® System Tray. 2 Select Catalyst™ Control Center from the popup menu.
95 CHAPTER 6: CrossFire™ FAQ The following are frequently-asked questions about CrossFire™. For the latest information, please consult the CrossFire™ Web site at: ati.com/crossfire 1 What combination of products are required to build a working CrossFire™ system? Three components are required: • a CrossFire™ Edition graphics card that works as the Master graphics card. • a CrossFire™ Ready graphics card from the same brand-family that works as the Slave graphics card.
96 5 Which slot does the CrossFire™ Master card go into on the motherboard? The CrossFire™ Master card must go into the primary PCI Express® slot (slot zero) on the motherboard. Note: To determine which PCIe™ slot is the primary slot, consult your motherboard manual.
97 graphics card. The result is a complete frame rendered at up to twice the performance of a single graphics card. 8 How are the graphics cards connected on a CrossFire™ 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 DMS-59™/VHDCI connection, which is used to convey information from the Slave graphics card to the Master graphics card and transmit the combined signal to a display device.
98 • Scissor Mode - each graphics card renders up to half of the display, either vertically or horizontally depending on the game or application. • Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to render alternate frames of the display. This configuration increases the performance of the 3D objects, as each card handles half of the total number of frames.
CrossFire™ Overview 101 CHAPTER 7: Welcome to CrossFire™ ATI CrossFire™ is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform, using ATI CrossFire™ ready motherboards and ATI graphics cards. 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.
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 performance-oriented modes, while Super Anti-aliasing is a quality-oriented mode. Each mode uses a different method for dividing the workload required to render a 3D image across multiple GPUs. Only one mode can be in operation at any given time.
CrossFire™ Overview 103 SuperTiling In this mode, each frame to be rendered is divided into a number of tiles in an alternating checkerboard pattern, so that half of the tiles are assigned to each of the two GPUs. Each tile is kept to a relatively small 32x32 pixel square, so this method does a good job of balancing the workload across each GPU regardless of what is being rendered on the display, doing so without any software overhead.
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 determined automatically for each application.
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 on the CrossFire™ Edition card, which then sends them on to the display. By allowing both GPUs to work independently, AFR provides the greatest potential performance improvements of all the available modes.
106 CrossFire™ Overview Super Anti-aliasing Mode Anti-aliasing (AA) is a rendering technique designed to remove jagged edges, shimmering, and pixelation problems that are common in rendered 3D images. Rather than simply determining the color of each pixel on the screen by sampling a single location at the pixel’s center, anti-aliasing works by sampling multiple locations within each pixel and blending the results together to determine the final color.
CrossFire™ Overview 107 1 PCI Express® CrossFire™ Compatible Graphics Card 2 Radeon® X1650 PRO CrossFire™ Edition Graphics Card 3 Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® CrossFire™ Compatible Graphics Card 4 Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® CrossFire™ Edition Graphics Card 5 Final Rendered Frame on Display Some types of textures, especially those with transparent portions, can exhibit aliasing that is not removed by MSAA techniques.
108 CrossFire™ Overview pattern that does a better job of anti-aliasing near-horizontal and nearvertical edges, resulting in better overall image quality. Two of the new Super Anti-aliasing modes use a combination of MSAA and SSAA to achieve the ultimate in image quality. They work by not only using different multi-sample locations on each GPU, but also by offsetting the pixel centers slightly. In effect, each GPU renders the image from a different viewpoint, about half a pixel width apart.
Troubleshooting 109 CHAPTER 8: Reference This chapter provides information on troubleshooting, where to get additional accessories, and how to register your product, plus warranty and compliance information. Troubleshooting The following troubleshooting tips may help if you experience problems. ATI’s documentation contains helpful installation/configuration tips and other valuable feature information. Please contact your dealer for more advanced troubleshooting information.
110 Troubleshooting General Troubleshooting Problem Possible Solution No Display • • • • • Screen Defects Appear • • 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 plugged in and receiving power. If necessary, disable any built-in graphics capabilities on your mother board. For more information, consult your computer’s manual or manufacturer.
Troubleshooting 111 CrossFire™-Specific Troubleshooting Problem Possible Solution CrossFire™ is Not Functioning In order for CrossFire™ to function the interconnect 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 the Master card. 2. Connect the DVI-I connector of the interconnect cable to the DVI-I connection on the Slave card. 3.
112 Troubleshooting CrossFire™-Specific Troubleshooting Problem Possible Solution “CrossFire™ Is Currently Unavailable.” This error is occurred because CrossFire™ did not correctly detect your graphics hardware or their is a problem with the software. • Check the graphics card are installed correctly. • Check the interconnect cable is installed correctly. • Close all running 3D applications. • Re-install the Catalyst™ Control Center.
Additional Accessories 115 • ATI Customer Care is unable to assist with refunds, returns, or exchange specific inquiries. If resolving the problem being experienced is critical to your decision to keep the product, it is your responsibility to ensure that you know and are within the period of time your reseller will allow for refunds, returns or exchange. • ATI is not responsible for any expense incurred accessing Customer Care.
116 Compliance Information • Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV 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.
Compliance Information 117 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive Compliance This product was manufactured by ATI Technologies Inc.
119 CHAPTER 9: Glossary 2D Acronym for “two dimensional,” a term applied to computer graphics that are “flat.” Typical desktop applications such as word processors, spreadsheet programs, or other programs that manipulate print or simple graphics (such as pictures or line art) are generally considered to be operating within a 2D environment, even when they include simple three dimensional elements, such as buttons.
120 Adaptive Anti-aliasing Adaptive anti-aliasing is a technique that applies a combination of multisampling (MSAA) and super-sampling (SSAA) on 3D objects to improve edge smoothness and fine detail. Multi-sampling works best on smoothing the edges of solid polygons, but cannot effectively smooth edges within polygons which are partially transparent.
121 Anisotropic Filtering A technique that preserves the surface details of an object as it recedes into the distance by utilizing and blending together the object’s texture maps. This makes 3D objects appear more realistic as the detail of their surface texture is retained in a smooth, seamless fashion on the sections that move or fade away into the background. Anti-aliasing A method that smoothes out the jagged edges of a curved object.
122 Back Buffer A type of offscreen memory used to provide smooth video and 2D graphics acceleration. This technique uses two frame buffers, so the process is often referred to as “double-buffering.” While the contents of one buffer are displayed, a second buffer, called the “back” buffer, holds the frame being worked on. In this way, users will only see complete, smooth frames displayed onscreen.
123 not be confused with luminosity, which measures the actual light level emitted from the computer display. Buffer A name referring to portions of on-board video memory. One large buffer is always used to display images to the screen; this is the “display buffer.” The rest of offscreen memory is typically used by applications as back buffers, z-buffers, and texture buffers.
124 Component Video Typically used on DVD players and HDTV systems, component video is a standard Red/Green/Blue (RGB) color signal for televisions. The signal is split and compressed into separate luminance and color values—luminance (“Y”), red minus luminance (R-Y), and blue minus luminance (B-Y). The value for green is not transmitted. The display device automatically “fills in” the color values that are not red or blue.
125 CRT Acronym for “cathode ray tube”, which is the main component of computer monitors and TVs. Color CRTs use three separate electron beams fired through a shadow mask and onto the back of the glass screen. The electron beams activate separate red, green, and blue values in various strengths in order to produce a colored image. Dashboard The dashboard is the part of the Catalyst™ Control Center used to display a graphical representation of the features available in installed ATI hardware and software.
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 monitor with a .24 mm dot pitch is set to its highest possible resolution, the pixel size will equal the dot pitch. If the monitor is set to lower resolutions, the pixels will be comprised of multiple dots. DVI Acronym for “Digital Video Interface,” a standard video connection used on many current computer displays.
127 this stage and this buffer contains only a one-to-one relationship of the data to be relayed to the display. Frames Per Second 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 for such things as games set in a 3D environment. Sometimes abbreviated to “fps.
128 computers, and set-top boxes. A DVI adapter can be used to transfer the video signal to an HDMI™-capable display, although audio must be transferred from a different route, as DVI output does not support audio. HDTV Acronym for “High Definition Television,” a format that produces much greater picture quality than a standard television, and in a wide-screen format that matches that of a movie theater screen.
129 of the 3D rendering process, making it a major performance bottleneck. HyperZ™ HD technology reduces the memory bandwidth consumed by the Z-Buffer, thereby increasing performance 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 are picked as the key frames.
130 NTSC The name for the type of analog television signal used throughout the Americas (except Brazil) and in Japan. It draws a total of 525 vertical interlaced frames of video at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, making it relatively flicker-free. The acronym refers to the National Television Systems Committee, which devised this color video standard in 1953. Offscreen Memory An area of memory used to preload images so that they can be quickly drawn to the screen.
131 peripherals to a computer’s motherboard. PCI encompasses both integrated motherboard components (such as built-in graphical processors) and peripherals that fit into an expansion 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 graphics card bus.
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 typically have refresh rates of 75 Hz or more. At refresh rates of 70 Hz and lower, screen flicker is often noticeable.
133 mainly in Europe for transferring analog audio and video signals between VCRs, DVD players, personal computers, and set-top boxes. It is sometimes referred to as Péritel or the Euroconnector. Scissor Mode A graphical load-balancing scheme where two graphics cards are used to render two halves of an image display. One graphics card renders the top half of the screen while the second graphics card renders the bottom half.
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 rendered. Vertex shaders manipulate the individual polygons that make up 3D objects, and pixel shaders operate on the individual pixels that fill in these polygons to create a visible image.
135 SuperTiling A graphical load-balancing scheme where two graphics cards are used to render alternate small 32x32 pixel squares in a fine-grained checkerboard pattern. This configuration increases image rendering quality, as each card processes half of the complex 3D objects in the pixel squares.
136 Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) A technology designed to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) and improve the digital signal delivered to flat panel displays. Its encoding algorithm converts the original 8-bit graphic data into a more fault-tolerant 10-bit signal, which is then converted back to its original 8-bit form at the display device. The signal is also DC-balanced, allowing for the option of transmitting the signal over fiber-optic cable.
137 carries a considerable amount of information describing 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 that manipulates these values, producing such things as more realistic lighting effects, improved complex textures such as hair and fur, and more accurate surface deformations such as waves rippling in a pool or the stretching and wrinkling of a character’s clothes as he or she moves.
138 de-interlacing, frame-rate conversion, color-space conversion, and more. It also enables better MPEG-2 decoding with motion compensation. VPU Recover A feature designed to significantly reduce the number of system crashes caused by problems occurring with the graphics hardware.
