ATI Technologies 9500 User Manual

RADEON

™

User’s Guide

P/N 137-40410-20

9500 SERIES

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.

Reproduction of this manual, or parts thereof, in any form, without the express written permission of ATI Technologies Inc. is strictly prohibited.

Disclaimer

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, ATI Technologies Inc. assumes no liability with respect to the operation or use of ATI hardware, software or other products and documentation described herein, for any act or omission of ATI concerning such products or this documentation, for any interruption of service, loss or interruption 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 documentation provided herein.

ATI Technologies Inc. reserves the right to make changes without further notice to a product or system described herein to improve reliability, function or design. With respect to ATI products which this document relates, ATI disclaims all express or implied warranties regarding such products, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Product Notice

MACROVISION

A. Apparatus Claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,631,603, 4,577,216,

4,819,098, and 4,907,093 licensed for limited viewing users only.

B. In the printed collateral material that accompanies the Product, the following notice must be printed in an appropriate place in such materials:

This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method claims of certain U.S. patents and other intellectual property rights owned by Macrovision Corporation and other rights owners. Use of this copyright protection technology must be authorized by Macrovision Corporation, and is intended for home and other limited viewing uses unless otherwise authorized by Macrovision Corporation. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer.....................................................................................................ii

Product Notice........................................................................................ii

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Features At A Glance .................................................................................. 2

ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite ........................................................ 3

Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming Experience...................................... 3

Direct 3D and OpenGL .......................................................................... 3

HydraVision™ ....................................................................................... 4

Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Connecting Your Monitor(s) ...................................................................... 5

Display Configurations................................................................................ 6

CATALYST Software Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ATI Displays Tab......................................................................................... 7

Enabling/Disabling Secondary Displays ................................................ 8

Enabling Extended Desktop Mode......................................................... 8

Dynamic Display Reassignment ............................................................ 8

Virtually Repositioning Your Displays .................................................. 9

Ratiometric Expansion ......................................................................... 10

ATI Color Tab ........................................................................................... 11

ATI Options Tab........................................................................................ 13

ATI Overlay Tab ....................................................................................... 14

Video Overlay ...................................................................................... 15

Direct 3D Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Main and Custom Settings........................................................................ 16

Direct 3D Compatibility Settings ............................................................. 20

OpenGL Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Main and Custom Settings........................................................................ 21

OpenGL Compatibility Settings............................................................... 24

Using TV Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

View your PC’s display on a TV .............................................................. 25

Connecting to a TV or a VCR .................................................................. 26

Starting Windows® with TV Display Enabled .................................... 27

To Enable/Disable The TV Display.......................................................... 28

Using and Adjusting TV Out................................................................ 28

How TV Display Cannot Be Used ....................................................... 28

iii

Using a Monitor vs. Using the TV Display.......................................... 29

Reducing Edge Distortion ......................................................................... 31

Changing Display Configurations ........................................................ 32

Using Games and Applications ............................................................ 32

Introduction

The RADEON™ 9500 Series graphic accelerators delivers ground breaking 3D graphics performance.

• Powered by the RADEON 9500 Series Visual Processing Unit (VPU).

• First 8-pixel pipeline architecture.

• First to support DirectX 9.0.

• 256-bit DDR memory interface.

• Support for AGP 8X specification.

• First to use pixel shaders to accelerate video.

• Support for Direct 3D® applications.

• Support for OpenGL

• High resolution in 3D up to 2048x1536.

applications.

• Fast 3D gaming.

• Digital flat panel support.

• Supports TV-Out to connect your PC to your TV or VCR.

Features At A Glance

The RADEON 9500 Series includes:

• SMARTSHADER™ II which can realistically create the visual properties of any material, like glass, metal, wood, and produce 3D depth by rendering the object’s shadows.

• SMOOTHVISION™ II which provides users with various degrees of jagged edge removal from 3D images, allowing users to configure their own high quality or high performance gaming experience.

• VIDEOSHADER™ which applies real-time noise filtering resulting in crisp clean video output.

• FULLSTREAM™ which removes blocky artifacts from streaming Internet video and provides a sharper image.

• TRUFORM™ technology which makes the curved surfaces of 3D objects look smoother and more lifelike.

ATI ’s

CATALYST™

Software Suite

Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming Experience

ATI’s CATALYST Software Suite provides multiple display functionality, and the advanced graphic features, such as SMARTSHADER II, for the ultimate 3D gaming experience. For help installing the CATALYST Software Suite, refer to the Getting Started Guide.

The CATALYST Software Suite installs the ATI display tabs. These tabs are accessed through the Windows® Display Control Panel, through the Advanced... button located on the Settings tab. For a detailed explanation of each ATI tab, refer to the section CATALYST Software

Suite on page 7.

Direct 3D and OpenGL

The CATALYST Software Suite also supports the latest versions of Direct 3D and OpenGL. Many new 3D game titles, and the latest versions of older titles, will virtually come to life as they utilize their advanced Direct 3D or OpenGL the ultimate experience in 3D image quality or 3D gaming performance.

features. Gamers can fine-tune their settings for

ATI’s Direct 3D and OpenGL tabs are available through the Windows Advanced... button located on the Settings tab.

For a detailed explanation of the Direct 3D and OpenGL tabs, refer to Direct 3D Control Panel on page 16, and

OpenGL Control Panel on page 21.

Display Control Panel, through the

HydraVision™

In addition to the multiple display functionality available with ATI’s CATALYST Software Suite, you can also use HydraVision for advanced multi-monitor management. For more information on HydraVision, please refer to the HydraVision User’s Guide PDF located on your ATI Installation CD.

Multiple Displays

Connecting Your Monitor(s)

Your RADEON 9500 Series provides hardware support for one DVI-I monitor or two VGA monitors using the supplied DVI-I-to-VGA adapter. A TV can also be used to expand your desktop by using the S-Video out.

Plug the monitor cable into your card (if you are running multiple monitors, connect their cables to the appropriate connectors), then turn on the PC and monitor(s).

To connect a flat panel directly to your card, use the DVI-I connector. To connect a VGA monitor to the DVII connector, plug the supplied DVI-I-to-VGA adapter into the DVI-I connector, then plug your monitor cable into the adapter, as shown below.

STANDARD VGA MONITOR CONNECTOR

S-VIDEO OUT

DVI -I

CONNECTOR

DVI-I-TO-VGA

ADAPTER

VGA

CONNECTOR

FROM

MONITOR

When you use multiple monitors with your card, one monitor will always be Primary. Any additional monitor(s) will be designated as Secondary.

Display Configurations

Your RADEON 9500 Series graphics accelerator card provides dual display functionality and TV Out. The following table lists the different ways you can connect displays to your card.

Display Configuration

One CRT display

One DFP display

One TV S-Video out

CRT display + TVVGA connector +

DFP display + TVDVI-I connector +

CRT display + DFP display

CRT display + CRT display

Connector(s) Used Comments

VGA connector OR DVII connector with DVI-Ito-VGA adapter

DVI-I connector DFP - digital flat panel display

S-Video out

VGA connector + DVI-I connector

VGA connector + DVI-I connector with DVI-I-toVGA adapter

CRT- cathode ray tube analog display

The S-Video out can also support a composite connection via the S-Videoto-Composite adapter

Unsupported configuration if the CRT display is attached to the DVI-I connector via the DVI-I-to-VGA adapter

The DVI-I connector can support a CRT display using the DVI-I-to-VGA adapter

CRT display + DFP display + TV

CRT display + CRT + TV

VGA connector + DVI-I connector + S-Video out

UNSUPPORTED CONFIGURATION

The TV display will “clone” the image of one of the other two displays.

CATALYST Software Suite

The following section provides an explanation of each ATI tab added to the Display Properties after installing the Catalyst Software Suite.

Features presented in the following pages may not be supported in all operating systems

and/or may appear differently.

ATI Displays Tab

The ATI Displays tab provides multiple monitor features. Here you can enable/disable display devices and swap the assignment of Primary and Secondary displays.

Enabling/Disabling Secondary Displays

1 Access the Windows

Display.

Control Panel. Double-click

2 Click the Settings tab and then the Advanced... button. 3 Click the ATI Displays tab. 4 Click the enable/disable button for the display

device you want to enable/disable.

5 Click OK or Apply to save the changes.

Enabling Extended Desktop Mode

1 Access the Windows

Display.

Control Panel. Double-click

2 Click the Settings tab. 3 Click the monitor icon for the display onto which you

want to extend your desktop.

4 Click Ye s to enable the selected display. 5 Checkmark the Extend my Windows desktop onto

this monitor check box (Windows place it there).

may automatically

6 Click OK or Apply to save the changes.

Dynamic Display Reassignment

You can change the assignment of your Primary and Secondary display on the fly, without rebooting.

However, before you can change the assignment of the Primary display, at least one Secondary display must be enabled, and Extended Desktop mode must be enabled.

+ 25 hidden pages