ATI Technologies RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION User Manual

RADEON™ 8500 MAC EDITION
User’s Guide

Version 1.0 - Februar y 20 02
P/N: 137-40315-10

Copyright © 2002, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.

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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. Your new graphics accelerator provides:

• Flexible dual-display support enabling many combinations
utilizing the VGA, DVI-I, and TV connectors

• OpenGL
superior 3D rendering performance and advanced imaging
and filtering techniques

• QuickTime playback accelerator for full screen, full
motion, TV quality video

• DVI-I support for digital flat panels

• TV-Out support via S-Video connector

The ATI Config Menu (available on ly for Mac OS 9.2.1), is
located on the Apple menu bar. This provides instant access to
Help, the ATI Displays control panel, and all of RADEON 8500
MAC EDITION features.

®

and QuickDraw 3D accelerator providing

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What You'll Need

The RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION runs with the following
minimum system requirements:

• 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)

• QuickTime 5.0 (earlier versions are NOT supported) or
higher

• Minimum 64MB of system memory required for Mac OS

9.2.1

• Minimum 128MB of system memory required for
Mac OS X version 10.1

, DVI-I style digital flat panel, or TV

NOTE

NOTE

NOTE

OpenGL 1.2.2 or higher is required to obtain full 3D graphics
functionality in Mac OS 9.2.1 applications. Op enGL 1.2.2 is
only available from Apple as part of Mac OS 9.2.1. or 9.2.2.

Apple branded digital flat panels with an ADC connector must
use a third party adapter.

Apple analog monitors without a VGA connector must use a
the supplied adapter to connect to the RADEON 8500 MAC
EDITION graphics accelerator.

Future references to Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X in this manual
are intended to be generic and inclusive of their respective
versions of the Macintosh operating systems

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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. RADEON Help can be found in the Apple Help menu.

Help is available in Mac OS X by simply clicking on the
button in the ATI Displays control panel or through the Apple
Help Center. You can browse through the Help or search for a
specific topic.

Page 5

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2

Multimedia Features

Your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION turns your Mac
computer into a 3D and 2D graphics powerhouse. You can use
your new graphics accelerator card to do the following:

• Enjoy true-color 32-bit 2D or 3D graphics up to 2048x1536

• Watch full screen, full motion, TV-quality video using

QuickTime playback acceleration

• Output your Mac’s display to a digital flat panel

• Output your Mac’s display to your TV
The following information describes these new features in more

detail and suggests ways you can optimize your machine to get
the most out of your new card.

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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

In addition, the RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION brings new
and exciting graphics technologies to the Macintosh platform:

TRUFORM

™

is a rendering technology that pre-processes 3D

artwork being fed into the graphics accelerator by converting it
from flat triangle data into curved surface data, allowing much
more highly detailed and realistically lit images with virtually
no performance loss.

SMOOTHVISION

for image quality using programmable multi-sampling methods to
post-process graphics before they are displayed.

SMARTSHADER

technology which revolutionizes the graphics pipeline by making both
the geometry processing and pixel processing stages more
programmable than ever before. Developers can easily create amazing
new graphics ef fects wh ile maintaining a high level of performance.

™

is an anti-aliasing solution that raises the bar

™

(supported in Mac OS X only) is a new

HYPER Z

decreasing the amount of information sent to the frame buf fer.

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™

II makes Z-buffer bandwidth usage more efficient by

CHARISMA ENGINE

which controls changing shapes and lighting while maintaining fast 3D
game performance

™

II is a transform and lighting technology

PIXEL TAPESTRY

rendering pipeline giving highly realistic and detailed 3D graphics.

VIDEO IMMERSION

adaptive de-interlacing, and frame rate conversion.

™

II uses six independent texture units per

™

II incorporates MPEG-2 decoding,

These features make it possible to quickly render 3D graphics,
produce atmospheric effects, calculate light and color shading,
and determine which objects are in the foreground and which
are in the background.

RADEON

8500 MAC EDITION only displays 3D graphics in
thousands and millions of colors. When you use 256 colors,
there are too few colors to display comple x 3D textures, so 3D
acceleration is not supported.

You can use the 3D Memory Monitor in the ATI Displays
control panel to see how memory on your

EDITION

is allocated when displaying 3D graphics. This allows

RADEON 8500 MAC

you to optimize 3D performance.

NOTE

The 3D Memory Monitor is only supported in Mac OS 9.

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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 A TI
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.

Status Area

Look in the Status Area to determine your current monitor,
screen resolution, and color depth. To change display settings
use the Monitors feature to open the Monitors control panel.
You can also change the monitor depth and resolutions at any
time using the Apple control strip, if installed.

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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. You cannot

make any changes to the generic video card using ATI Displays.

Display Details

The Details window gives you information about specific
software components needed to enable each of

MAC EDITION

’s features. Check the Details window to

RADEON 8500

determine the files and version numbers of the software
components installed in your System Folder during the
installation process. Using the pull-down menu, the Details
window also lists the Mac OS multimedia software required for

RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION, such as QuickDraw 3D and

OpenGL.

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NOTE

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 com puter.

Keyboard Shortcuts

This feature allows you to use a pop-up menu to change your
desktop settings without exiting your current application. You
can configure, enable or disable shortcut features when you
click the Shortcut icon in the control panel.

The ATI Popup Menu only displays the recommended modes
available for the attached monitor(s). Additional modes may be
accessed through the Monitors control panel or the Control
Strip.

Different ATI video cards offer distinct keyboard shortcut
options, so not all shortcuts appear for every ATI product.

Popup Menu and Hot Keys remain inactive when dialogs
appear on the screen. For example, while using the Monitors
control panel, the Popup Menu and Hot Keys are disabled.

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NOTE

VGA Monitors

If you have a non -DDC-compli ant VGA monitor connected to
your

RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION, the V G A ico n may be

active. Some VGA monitors use a Display Data Channel (DDC).
You do not have to d o an yth ing e xt ra to select t he support ed
resolutions.

Your

RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION uses the DDC information to

automatically provide the supported reso lutio ns in the Moni tors
control panel and the Control Strip. If your VG A monitor doesn’ t
use DDC, the VGA Monitors icon is activ e , and y ou can use i t t o
select your monitor from a list of standard monitor s.

If the VGA icon is dimmed, your computer has detected a DDC
compliant VGA monitor connected to your

EDITION

. You do not have to make a selection.

RADEON 8500 MAC

To Select a VGA Monitor

Select VGA Monitors from the ATI Displays control panel

1

NOTE

Select your VGA model from the list of monitors in the left

2

panel of the VGA Monitors dialog box
A list of resolutions supported by you r VGA monitor

appears in the right panel of the VGA Monito rs dialog b ox.

You cannot select the monitor resolution using the
VGA Mon itors dialog box. You must use the standard Mac OS
Monitors control panel.

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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 ho w your RADEON
EDITION

has allocated 3D memory.

8500 MAC

To open the 3D Memory Monitor

Choose Control Panels from the Apple Menu, or choose ATI

1

Displays from the ATI Config Menu and skip to step 3
Select ATI Displays

2

Click on the 3D Memory icon

3

The 3D Memory Monitor shows you how the video memory on
your RADEON 8500 MAC EDITION is allocated between
display, textures, and buffers.

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