Owner's manual

KTD-S0003-C Page 11 Graphics Interface
pITX-SP Software Guide
3.4 What means GMA and IEGD?
Intel
®
works with two different strategies for the VGA BIOS and the graphic drivers: GMA (Graphics Media
A
ccelerator) as the standard VGA BIOS for desktop PC´s and IEGD (Intel
®
Embedded Graphics Driver) for
special cases. The GMA VGA BIOS allows also the use of an IEGD graphic driver (Windows
®
or Linux).
Whereas the IEGD VGA BIOS should only be used with the corresponding graphic driver.
The GMA environment supports all available resolution within the operating system - the IEGD environment
particularly run with a discrete resolution (lower secondary resolutions can be used). However it is a big
benefit that the IEGD SDK is freely available and can be downloaded as freeware from the Intel
®
website.
The following table shows a list of the most important parameters of the graphic controller which are
important for the driver performance respectively the applications based on it (valid for pITX-SP):
Parameter Value Comment
Max. Frame Buffer Size 8 MB Shared memory, DMA access
Max. Aperture Space 256 MB Untrusted buffer
No. of Pipes / Ports 2 Independent graphic engines
Graphics Clock 200 MHz
Integrated Codecs
MPEG2, MPEG4,
H.264, VC1, WMV9
DirectX Support 10.1
3.4.1 The GMA Driver
The GMA driver from Intel
®
can only be used on Windows
®
operating systems.
Operating System Support Comment
Windows
®
XP SP2 and SP3

Windows
®
VISTA32

Windows
®
7 (32 Bit)

Another driver as is used on VISTA32
The driver supports dual display support. For the synchronous use of both display interfaces in a Windows
®
operating system the BIOS Setup entry Boot Display Device must be set to LCD only. The BIOS respectively
the driver can't notice whether a LVDS display is connected but a DVI monitor can be detected through the
DDC interface and the hotplug pin.