RADEON™ X300 Series User’s Guide P/N 137-40681-10 ATI
ii Copyright © 2004, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI 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.
iii 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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v Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 System Requirements External Connections 1 1 Using Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Connecting Your Monitors Display Configurations 3 5 ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite . . . . . . . . . . . .
vi Adjusting Monitor Display Viewing Text on a TV Reducing Edge Distortion Using TV Display Alone Using Games and Applications 35 36 36 37 37 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Uninstalling Old Graphics Card Software Windows® New Hardware Found Installing the CATALYST™ Software Suite Solution Selector 39 39 40 41 Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction System Requirements Hardware • Intel® .Pentium® 4. • 128 MB of system memory; 256 MB or more for best performance. • Motherboard with free PCI Express slot and correct PCIe chipset-driver. • CD-ROM drive (for installation software). • 350 watt or greater power supply recommended. Operating System • Windows® XP (Home or Pro). • Windows® 2000 Monitor • High-resolution MultiSync or multi-frequency monitors or any other type of VGA monitor.
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3 CHAPTER 2: Using Multiple Displays Connecting Your Monitors Your RADEON™ X300 provides hardware support for one DVI-I monitor or two VGA monitors using the supplied DVI-I-to-VGA adapter. It also provides TV output via a S-Video Out or Composite Out connector. Connections and Adapters for the RADEON™ X300 Card X Standard VGA Monitor Connector. To connect a VGA monitor to the DVI-I connector, plug the supplied DVI-I-to-VGA adapter into the DVI-I connector, then plug your monitor cable into the adapter.
4 Connections and Adapters for the RADEON™ X300 Card Z DVI-I Backplate Connection. To connect a flat panel, plug the monitors DVI-I connector into the DVI-I connection. Note: If you use multiple monitors, the RADEON™ X300 card must be the primary graphics card. Normally, the system BIOS determines which graphics card will be the primary. X DVI-I Backplate Connection. To connect a flat panel, plug the monitors DVI-I connector into the DVI-I connection. Y DVI-I Backplate Connection.
Display Configurations 5 4 When the New Hardware Found Wizard appears, at the appropriate prompt insert the ATI Installation CD to load the drivers for your RADEON™ X300 card. To set up a multi-monitor display 1 From the Start menu click Control Panel, then Display. Click the Settings tab to access the basic multi-monitor configuration settings.
6 Display Configurations Display Configuration Connector(s) Used Comments CRT display + TV VGA connector + S-Video Out UNSUPPORTED CONFIGURATION if the CRT display is attached to the DVI-I connector via the DVI-I-to-VGA adapter.
Introduction 7 CHAPTER 3: ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite Introduction This chapter describes using the advanced multiple-monitor and 3D graphics features in ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite. Features Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite provides multiple-display functionality, and its advanced graphic features, such as SMARTSHADER™ , provide the ultimate 3D gaming experience. The CATALYST™ Software Suite also supports the latest versions of Direct 3D® and OpenGL®.
8 ATI Displays Tab Windows® Display Properties Settings Tab ATI Displays Tab The ATI Displays tab provides control over multiple-monitor features. Here you can enable/disable display devices and swap the assignment of Primary and Secondary displays.
ATI Displays Tab 9 . ATI Displays Tab Scheme Displays the drop-down list of available display-device configurations that have previously been created. New configurations can be entered here and then saved using the Save button. Hotkey Associates a hotkey with a scheme. To input the hotkey, highlight the field and press the appropriate key combination on your keyboard. Save button Saves display-device configuration schemes. Delete button Deletes display-device configuration schemes.
10 ATI Displays Tab To enable or disable a display If the enable/disable button is green, it indicates the device is enabled. If it is red, it indicates the device is disabled. If the button is greyed out, the device is not an option. For example, if there is only one monitor connected, all buttons will be grey. 1 Click the enable/disable button want to enable/disable. for the display device you 2 Click OK or Apply to save the changes.
ATI Color Tab 11 • The ATI Displays tab shows you the display(s) that are active. The Primary display has the button depressed. To change the display assignment, click the Primary display’s click the button or button of the other display device. For Windows® 2000 • Clicking the button will reassign the Primary and Secondary monitors. Clicking the button creates a clone or mirror image of the Primary display onto the Secondary display.
12 ATI Color Tab ATI Color Tab: Desktop Settings ATI Color Tab: Full Screen 3D Settings
ATI Color Tab 13 ATI Color Tab Desktop radio button Select Desktop to configure your desktop color settings. Full Screen 3D radio button Select Full Screen 3D to configure the color settings for your 3D application. Note that the configured settings will only be apparent within a full screen 3D application environment. Profiles for Indicates whether the profiles in the drop-down list are for your Desktop or a Full Screen 3D environment.
14 ATI Color Tab ATI Color Tab Color preview box The color image indicates visually how the Gamma, Brightness and Contrast sliders affect the final color settings of your display device. In Desktop mode, clicking on this with your mouse pointer will change the image. Hotkeys button Opens the Color Hotkeys Settings dialog. There you can assign hotkeys for adjusting your color settings within a full screen 3D application environment.
ATI Color Tab 15 Color Hotkeys Settings Dialog Color Hotkey Settings Modifier key In combination with the Hotkey, specifies the hotkey combination that triggers an action. The Modifier key can be any combination of Alt, Ctrl, or Shift. Note that the Shift key is never used alone. Hotkey In combination with the Modifier key, specifies the hotkey combination that triggers an action. Hotkey can be any key listed.
16 ATI Color Tab Color Hotkey Settings Disable hotkeys checkbox Disables all hotkeys. To disable a single hotkey combination, remove it from the assigned list. To assign color settings hotkeys for full screen 3D applications 1 Select a modifier key from the Modifier Key list. 2 Select a hotkey from the Hotkey list. 3 Select the action you want from the Hotkey Action list. 4 Click Add to create the hotkey combination. This combination will appear in the Assigned Hotkeys text box.
ATI Options Tab 17 ATI Options Tab The ATI Options tab provides detailed driver information and access to your graphics card’s versioning and specifications. You can also enable or disable the ATI taskbar icon from this dialog. ATI Options Tab ATI Options Tab Version Information Shows the Catalyst version number, 2D version number, and the driver build information. Details button Gives access to the Details tab, which lists the card’s hardware details and driver information.
18 ATI Rotation Tab ATI Options Tab Enable ATI taskbar icon application Enables/disables the ATI taskbar applications and removes the ATI icon from your system tray. Show ATI icon on taskbar Removes/replaces the ATI icon from the system tray without disabling the ATI icon applications. Disable quick resolution feature The quick resolution feature is accessible by left-clicking the ATI icon in the system tray. Checking this option disables this feature.
ATI Rotation Tab 19 ATI Rotation Tab ATI Rotation Tab Rotation buttons Rotates the display by the preset amount. Configure Hotkeys dropdown list Lists the rotation actions with which you can associate a hotkey. Hotkey field Associates a hotkey with a rotation. To input the hotkey, click on the field and press the appropriate key combination on your keyboard. Save button Saves a hotkey setting. Defaults Restores the default hotkey settings.
20 ATI Rotation Tab To rotate a single display 1 Select one of the four rotation settings by clicking the appropriate button. 2 Optionally, check the Mouse Track Rotation checkbox to have the mouse pointer match the display image. 3 Click OK or Apply. To rotate multiple displays 1 Select the Settings tab in the Windows® Display Properties dialog. 2 Select the display to which you want to apply the rotation. 3 Click the Advanced button and select the Rotation tab.
ATI Overlay Tab 21 ATI Overlay Tab The ATI Overlay tab allows you to configure the brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, and gamma properties of your video overlay. Video Overlay Video overlay allows for the viewing of streaming video on your PC. However, there is only one video overlay, which is only available on the Primary display. The video overlay controls are automatically activated during playback of any video file type that supports overlay adjustments.
22 ATI Overlay Tab ATI Overlay Tab Contrast Adjusts the contrast in the video image. Saturation Adjusts the vividness of the color. Sliding it all the way to the left removes all color and produces a black and white picture. Hue Adjusts the pureness or tint of the red, green, and blue components of the color. Gamma Adjusts the overall intensity of the video image. Clone mode options Accesses Clone Mode overlay settings.
ATI Overlay Tab 23 Clone Mode Options tab Clone Mode Options Standard Video content is displayed on your Primary display only. Theater Mode Video content is displayed on your Primary and Secondary displays. Video content is displayed on your Secondary display(s) is always in full screen mode. Note: your computer must be set for 16-bit color depth or higher to use this mode. Same on all Video content is displayed on your Primary and Secondary display in exactly the same manner.
24 ATI 3D Tab Clone Mode Options Full Screen Video The source video is scaled so that your display is showing full screen. Note: if the source video contains horizontal black bars, as do some DVD movies, the full screen video will also contain black bars. 4:3 (Standard TV) Select this option if the aspect ratio of the display device showing full screen video has the standard 4:3 aspect ratio (standard TVs and monitors).
ATI 3D Tab 25 ATI 3D Tab 3D Settings for radio buttons Selects either Direct 3D® or OpenGL® as the format to be altered in the workspace. Performance/Quality slider Controls the overall performance/image quality of your graphic application. Moving the slider to the left will maximize application performance, while moving the slider to the right will maximize image quality.
26 ATI 3D Tab Custom Properties Dialog Custom Properties Dialog Custom Properties Dialog: OpenGL® or Direct 3D® SMOOTHVISION™ Anti-Aliasing slider SMOOTHVISION™ (Anti-Aliasing) improves image quality by removing jagged edges from 3D images, resulting in smoother, more natural-looking objects. AntiAliasing can be applied using different sample patterns and sample points such as 2X or 4X. Moving this slider to the right increases sampling to provide the most realistic 3D image.
ATI 3D Tab 27 Custom Properties Dialog: OpenGL® or Direct 3D® SMOOTHVISION™ Anisotropic Filtering slider Anisotropic filtering uses a texture filtering technique that blends multiple texture samples together. The number of samples taken when anisotropic filtering is performed can vary. By moving this slider to the right, as the number of samples taken increases, the quality of the final image increases significantly.
28 ATI 3D Tab Custom Properties Dialog: SMARTSHADER™ Effects SMARTSHADER™ Effects drop-down list SMARTSHADER™ applies preset pixel effects on OpenGL® or Direct 3D® applications. Choose the desired effect and click OK. Defaults button Restores the default settings.
ATI 3D Tab 29 Direct 3D® Compatibility Settings Direct 3D® Compatibility Settings Dialog Direct 3D® Compatibility Settings Support DXT texture formats There are a few applications that can only support a limited number of texture formats. By selecting Disabled, the driver will not support DXT texture formats, thus reducing the number of texture formats supported.
30 ATI 3D Tab OpenGL® Compatibility Settings OpenGL® Compatibility Settings Dialog OpenGL® Compatibility Settings Force Z-buffer depth Explicitly set the Z-Buffer depth. Most applications will work best when Disabled is selected Triple Buffering Improves the frame rate of games when Wait for Vertical Sync is enabled in Custom Settings. Enabling Triple Buffering may decrease application performance as there will be less frame-buffer memory available.
ATI VPU Recover Tab 31 ATI VPU Recover Tab Hardware crashes may occur when a hardware device and the corresponding software device driver are no longer able to communicate with each other. VPU Recover enables the ATI display driver to detect when the graphics card is no longer able to respond to display driver commands. When this situation arises, the display driver will reset the graphics card.
32 ATI VPU Recover Tab ATI VPU Recover Tab Prepare an Error Report checkbox When VPU Recover is activated a dialog will prompt you to submit an automatically generated error report to ATI. This error report will help ATI to determine the cause of the problem and help create more stable drivers. To disable this feature, deselect the Prepare an Error Report checkbox.
Using TV Out 33 CHAPTER 4: Using TV Display and Capture Features Using TV Out Your RADEON™ X300 has TV Out capability. Viewing Your PC’s Display on a TV You can attach your graphics card to a TV and monitor at the same time. L IMPORTANT INFORMATION for European Customers Some PC monitors in Europe cannot be used simultaneously with TV display. When you enable TV display in Europe, the refresh rate for the monitor and TV is set to 50 Hz.
34 Using TV Out Connecting Your S-Video Out to a TV or VCR X S-Video Connection on graphics card Y TV Z S-Video Cable [ Computer Starting Windows® with TV Display Enabled The TV screen may become scrambled during the initial Windows® logo display. This distortion is only a temporary effect, and your screen will be restored within a few seconds. During start up, your RADEON™ X300 will go through a sequence of mode settings, during which your TV display will remain blank.
Using TV Out 35 To enable or disable the TV display 1 Access the Windows® Control Panel. Double-click Display. 2 Click the Settings tab and then the Advanced button. 3 Click the ATI Displays tab. Click the TV button. 4 Click the enable button 5 Click OK or Apply to save the changes. or disable button accordingly. Using and Adjusting TV Display Features For information about how to adjust TV display features, right-click the ATI taskbar icon, point to Help, then point to ATI Television Display.
36 Using TV Out 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. Switching to a larger display font 1 Access the Display Properties dialog by right-clicking on the desktop or navigating through Windows® Control Panel.
Using TV Out 37 Increasing the contrast of a TV display 1 Access the Display Properties dialog by right-clicking on the desktop or navigating through Windows® Control Panel. 2 Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced button. 3 Click on the ATI Displays tab. 4 Click on the TV button. 5 Drag the Contrast slider to the right to increase the contrast. 6 Click OK or Apply to save the changes you have made.
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Uninstalling Old Graphics Card Software 39 CHAPTER 5: 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. More troubleshooting information can be found on the ATI Website at ati.com/support/.
40 Installing the CATALYST™ Software Suite To install and detect your new hardware 1 Click Next to allow Windows® to search for the Standard VGA or Standard PCI Graphics Adapter. If prompted for the Windows® CD-ROM, insert it into your CD-ROM drive. 2 Type the following: D:\ for example D:\WinXP. If D is not your CD-ROM drive, substitute D with the correct drive letter. 3 Click OK. 4 Click Finish to close the Wizard and then restart your system.
Solution Selector 41 9 Click ATI Easy Install to begin the Installation Wizard. 10 Follow the Wizard’s on-screen instructions to complete the installation. Note: The Express installation option is recommended. If your ATI Graphics Accelerator card includes a multimedia component, the software for that component will automatically be installed, along with the ATI graphics driver. Not all software components are installed using the Express installation.
42 Solution Selector General Problems Problem Screen Defects Appear Possible Solution • Check if your monitor supports the resolution, horizontal (kHz) and vertical (Hz) refresh rates as required by the graphics card. • Check your current resolution, refresh rate, and color depth settings in the Settings and Monitor tabs in your Display Properties dialog. Warning! Ensure that both video card and monitor support resolution and refresh rates you select.
43 Compliance Information FCC Compliance Information This RADEON™ product complies with FCC Rules part 15. Operation is subject to the following two conditions • This device may not cause harmful interference, and • 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.
44 CE Compliance Information EMC Directive 89/336/EEC and Amendments 92/31/EEC and 93/68/EEC, for Class B Digital Device. EN 55022:1998/CISPR 22:1997, - Class B - Limits and Methods of Measurement of Radio Disturbance Characteristics of Information Technology Equipment. EN55024:1998/CISPR 22:1997, - Information Technology Equipment - Immunity Characteristics - Limits and Methods of Measurement. Low Voltage Directive for TV-Tuner-Equipped products 73/23/EEC - The Low Voltage Directive.
45 Index Numerics 3D 11 custom settings 25 performance 25 profiles 25 quality 25 3D applications settings 14 A adjusting 21 overlays application profiles creating 24 ATI Overlay tab 21 ATI taskbar applications disabling 17, 18 enabling 17, 18 B brightness 13, 14 11 21 color settings video overlay C card specification information Catalyst version number 17 CATALYST Software installing 40 Clone Mode overlay settings settings 22 22 clone mode primary display 22 secondary displays 22 color
46 color settings brightness 11 color preview 14 contrast 11 desktop 13 gamma 11 profiles 13 Compliance information Low Voltage Directive for TV-tuner-equipped products 13, 14 color settings 11 TV display 36 video overlay 21 contrast custom settings 3D 25 D desktop color settings 13 display corruption DVI 18 high resolution 18 displays Hotkey 9 primary 8 scheme 9 secondary 8 dot pitch 36 driver information 17 DVI operational mode 18 DXT texture formats 29 E external connectors 1 F full screen 3
47 H horizontal size TV display 36 hue video overlay 21 I installing CATALYST Software 40 M multiple displays rotate 20 O old graphics drivers uninstall 39 Options tab 17 overlay adjustments overlay settings Clone Mode 21 22 P performance 3D 25 8 22 primary display clone mode profiles 3D 25 color 13 color settings 13 Q quality 3D 25 R resetting graphics card rotate multiple displays 20 single display 20 Rotation HotKeys 20 S safety instructions iii saturation video overlay 21 seconda
48 single display rotate 20 system requirements T tab Overlay 1 21 Theater Mode 22 Triple Buffering 30 troubleshooting 41 33, 36, 37 contrast 36 games 37 hardware restrictions 35 horizontal size 36 TV Out 33, 35 general problems TV display U uninstall old graphics drivers 39 Uninstalling old graphics card software V VGA 22 Video overlay definition 21 video overlay 21 brightness 21 contrast 21 gamma 21 hue 21 saturation 21 VPU Recover 31 Z Z-Buffer depth explicitly setting 30 39
