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, performanc e and specificatio ns are subject
to change without notice. Product may not be exactly as shown in diagrams.
Reproduction of this manual, or parts thereof, in any form, without the expre ss 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 o r this
documentation, for any interruption of service, loss or interruption of business, loss of anticipatory
profits, or for punitive, incidental or consequential damages in connectio n 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 noninfringement.
Macrovision
Apparatus Claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,631,603; 4,819,098; 4,907,093 ; and 6,516,132 licensed for
limited viewing uses only.
This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by US patents and other
intellectual property rights. Use of this copyright protection technology must be authorized by
Macrovision, and is intended for home and other limit ed viewing uses only unless ot herwise authorize d
by Macrovision. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
L
• 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.
• Compatibility - This option card is for use only with IBM AT or
compatible UL Listed personal computers that have Installation
Instructions detailing user installation of card cage accessories.
• Grounding - For continued protection against risk of electric shock
and fire, this accessory should be installed only in products equipped
with a three-wire grounding plug, a plug having a third (grounding) pin.
This plug will only fit into a grounding-type power outlet. This is a
safety feature. If you are unable to insert the plug into the outlet,
contact your electrician to replace the obsolete outlet. Do not defeat
the safety purpose of the grounding-type plug.
• Secure Attachment
tightened as to provide continuous bonding between the option card
and the PC chassis.
• Lightning - For added protection for this product during a lightning
storm, or when it is left unattended and unused for long periods of
time, unplug it from the wall outlet, and disconnect the antenna or
cable system. This will prevent damage to the product due to lightning
and power-line surges.
• Power Lines - An outside antenna system should not be located in
the vicinity of overhead power lines or other light or power circuits, or
where it can fall into such power lines or circuits.
• Antenna Installation - When installing an outside antenna system,
extreme care should be taken to keep from touching such power lines
or circuits, as contact with them may be fatal.
- All card securement pins shall be completely
iii
Note: This graphics card is for use only with compatible UL Listed
personal computers that have Installation Instructions detailing user
installation of card cage accessories.
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Start Menu9
v
vi
Other Quick Launch Access Points10
Catalyst™ Control Center Dashboard12
Create a Custom View13
Hotkeys Manager13
Profiles Manager15
Preferences17
Help19
Information Center20
Displays Manager22
Displays Manager Advanced View23
Monitor Properties30
Monitor Attributes31
Digital Panel Properties32
Attributes33
Avivo™ Color35
HDTV Support36
3D39
Standard Settings40
Anti-aliasing42
Set the Anti-Aliasing preference manually42
Adaptive Anti-aliasing44
Anisotropic Filtering44
Catalyst™ A.I.46
Mipmap Detail Level48
All Settings50
API Specific53
Color55
Color Desktop56
Color - FullScreen 3D59
Avivo™ Video for Radeon® Series starting from 950060
Standard Settings61
Adjustments62
Video Overlay Theater Mode64
Deinterlacing65
VPU Recover70
Using TV Display and Capture Features . . . . . . . 79
View Your PC’s Display on a TV79
Using SCART Connectors for European TVs80
How TV Display Cannot Be Used82
Using a Monitor vs. Using TV Display82
Viewing Text on a TV82
Reducing Edge Distortion83
Using a TV as the Only Display83
Using Games and Applications83
Windows® Volume Control83
Capturing Video Using Windows® Movie Maker84
vii
viii
Radeon® X1900 GT Features 1
CHAPTER 1:
Introduction
Congratulations on the purchase of your ATI Radeon® X1900 GT graphics
card. We hope that you will enjoy countless hours of trouble-free
computing.
Radeon® X1900 GT Features
Graphic Features
• Native PCI Express® X16 bus support.
• 256MB or 512 MB GDDR4\GDDR3 on-board memory.
• Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® Shader Model 3.0.
• High performance Ultra-Threaded shader engine.
• Eight vertex shader processors.
• Forty-eight pixel shader processors.
• 512-bit internal ring-bus memory controller.
• 256-bit 8-channel memory interface.
• Native PCI Express® x16 bus interface.
SmoothVision™
• Full-scene anti-aliasing method that smooths uneven edges and
improves blurred images.
• 2x/4x/6x Anti-aliasing modes with a loss-less compression up to a
ratio of 6:1 at all resolutions.
• 2x/4x//8x/16x Anisotropic Filtering modes with up to 128-tap
texture filtering.
HyperZ™
• Ensures optimal hardware performance by discarding irrelevant
object data that is not visible to the user.
• Conserves video memory bandwidth.
• Loss-less Z-buffer compression
2 Radeon® X1900 GT Features
• Z Cache optimized for real-time shadow rendering.
VideoShader™
• Seamlessly integrates pixel shaders with video in real time.
• All format DTV/HDTV decoding.
• Adaptive Per-Pixel- De-interlacing and Frame Rate Conversion.
512-bit Ring Bus Memory Controller
• Programmable intelligent arbitration logic.
• New fully associative texture, color, and Z/stencil cache designs.
• Hierarchal Z-buffer with Early Z test.
• Lossless Z Compression (up to 48.1)
• Fast Z-Buffer Clear.
• Z Cache optimized for real-time shadow rendering.
• Optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including
widescreen HDTV resolutions.
Ultra-Threaded Shader Engine
• Support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0
programmable vertex and pixel shaders in hardware.
• Full speed 128-bit floating point processing.
• Up to 512 simultaneous pixel threads.
• Dedicated branch execution units for high performance dynamic
branching and flow control.
• Dedicated texture address units for improved efficiency.
• High resolution texture support (up to 4k x 4k).
• Up to 1,536 instructions per rendering pass.
• 3Dc+ texture compression
• High quality 4:1 compression for normal maps and luminance
maps.
• Works with any single-channel or two-channel data format.
• Multiple Render Target (MRT) support.
• Render-to-vertex buffer support.
• Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL® 2.0
Radeon® X1900 GT Features 3
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Rendering
• 64-bit floating point HDR supported throughout the pipeline
• Includes support for blending and multi-sample anti-aliasing.
• High precision 10:10:10:2 integer format support.
• Includes support for blending and multi-sample anti-aliasing.
• 2x/4x/6x Anti-Aliasing modes
• Sparse multi-sample algorithm with gamma correction,
programmable sample patterns, and centroid sampling.
• New Adaptive Anti-Aliasing modes.
• Temporal Anti-Aliasing mode.
• Lossless Color Compression (up to 6:1) at all resolutions,
including widescreen HDTV resolutions.
• 2x/4x/8x/16x Anisotropic Filtering modes
• Up to 128-tap texture filtering.
• Adaptive algorithm with performance and quality options.
4 System Requirements
System Requirements
Hardware• Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon®.
• 512MB of system memory; 1GB or more for best
performance.
• Optical drive for installation software (CD-ROM or
DVD-ROM drive).
• Specialized PCI Express® 450 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.
Operating
System
Monitor• High-resolution MultiSync or multi-frequency monitors
CrossFire™
Compatibility
• Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2).
• Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition.
• Windows® 2000.
•Windows® Vista.
or any other type of VGA monitor.
• Digital flat-panel (DFP) displays or digital CRT display.
If you are planning on using this graphics card as part of a
CrossFire™ system, the following is required:
• A CrossFire™ certified motherboard with two (2) PCI
Express® X16 slots and correct PCIe™ chipset driver.
(See
ati.com/crossfire for a list of CrossFire™
certified motherboards.)
• a CrossFire™ Edition graphics card from the same
product series that works as the Master graphics card.
More information on the requirements for each of these
components can be found within the CrossFire™ FAQ.
External Connectors
• Dual DVI-I output.
• S-Video output or Video In/Video Out (VIVO) connection.
CHAPTER 2:
Using Multiple Displays
Connecting Your Monitors
Your Radeon® X1900 GT 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.
5
Connections and Adapters for the Radeon® X1900 GT Card
1Standard VGA Monitor Connector. To connect a VGA monitor
2DVI-I-to-VGA Adapter.
3DVI-I Connection. To connect a digital display.
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.
6
Note: If you use multiple monitors, the Radeon® X1900 GT card must
be the primary graphics card. Normally, the system BIOS determines
which graphics card will be the primary.
To connect your monitors
1Power off your computer and monitors.
2Plug the monitor cables into their appropriate connectors.
3Power on your monitors first, and then restart your comp uter so that
Windows® can detect the new hardware settings.
4When the New Hardware Found Wizard appears, at the appropriate
prompt insert the ATI Installation CD to load the drivers for your
Radeon® X1900 GT card.
To set up a multi-monitor display
1From the Start button click Control Panel, then Display. Click the
Settings tab to access the basic multi-monitor configuration settings.
Note: ATI provides Catalyst™ Control Center software that
provides many additional configuration features. It can be accessed
by clicking the Advanced button from the Display Properties > Settings tab.
2Select the Monitor icon identified by the number 2.
3Click Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor.
4Set the Screen Resolution and Color Quality as appropriate for the
second monitor. Click Apply or OK to apply these new values.
• Refer to your Windows® online help and documentation for
further information on using the Settings tab.
Note: When you use multiple monitors with your card, one monitor
will always be Primary. Any additional monitors will be designated
as Secondary.
Display Configurations 7
Display Configurations
Your Radeon® X1900 GT graphics card provides dual display
functionality. The following table lists the different ways you can connect
displays to your card.
Display
Configuration
Single DFP
display
DFP Display* +
DFP Display
DFP Display +
HDTV
Single CRT
display
CRT display +
HDTV
DFP display +
HDTV
CRT display +
DFP display
Connector(s)
Comments
Used
DVI-I connector DFP - digital flat panel display.
DVI-I connectors
DVI-I connector +
S-Video-toComponent
adapter
DVI-I connector
with DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter
DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter +
Componet Adapter
to HDTV (YPbPr)
cable
DVI-I connector +
HDTV cable
(YPbPr)
DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter + DVI-I
connector
Using supplied S-Video to
Component adapter.
CRT - cathode ray tube analog
display.
HDTV (YPrPb) adpater
CRT display +
CRT display
Note: * Both DVI ports support dual-link DVI output compatible
with single-link DVI flat panel displays as well as ultra-high
resolution dual-link DVI flat panel displays.
DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter + DVI-I-toVGA adapter
The DVI-I connector can support a
CRT display using the DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter
8 Display Configurations
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center 9
CHAPTER 3:
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.
The Catalyst™ Control Center offers you two views of the software:
• Basic View is a simplified view that includes wizards to get the
inexperience user up and running.
• Advance View allows the advanced user to access and configure
the complete feature set of the software.
The Catalyst™ Control Center can be customized for easy access to the
features you use most.
Use the Catalyst™ Control Center to access a comprehensive online help
system, or connect to the ATI Web site.
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center
Launch Catalyst™ Control Center from one of the following access points:
• Windows® Start Menu
• Windows® System Tray
• Desktop shortcuts
• Predefined hot keys
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the S tar t
Menu
From the Windows® task bar, click Start:
•Click to Programs > Catalyst™ Control Center > ATI
Catalyst™ Control Center.
10 Launching Catalyst™ Control Center
Other Quick Launch Access Points
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the System Tray
1Right-click the ATI icon in the Windows® System Tray.
2Select Catalyst™ Control Center from the popup menu.
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Desktop
Shortcut
When you first installed Catalyst™ Control Center the setup wizard
provided you with the option of placing a shortcut on the desktop.
• Double-click the Catalyst™ Control Center desktop shortcut.
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using Hot Keys
• You can press the predefined combination of keys Ctrl+Alt+C to
launch Catalyst™ Control Center, or you can define your own hot
key sequence by using the Catalyst™ Control Center’s Hotkey
Manager.
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center 11
Catalyst™ Control Center Dialog
(may not appear exactly as shown)
12 Catalyst™ Control Center Dashboard
Catalyst™ Control Center: Advanced View
(may not appear exactly as shown)
Catalyst™ Control Center Dashboard
The Catalyst™ Control Center Dashboard is a graphical representation of
the display features of the installed ATI hardware and software. Use the
Dashboard to fine-tune your graphic settings, enable or disable connected
display devices, and change the orientation of your desktop. Many features
present you with a preview of your changes before they are applied.
The Dashboard is only available in Advanced View and Custom View, if
selected.
Use the Dashboard to access a comprehensive online help system, create a
hot key, or customize the way you view the Catalyst™ Control Center.
The Dashboard includes:
•Views
Create a Custom View 13
• Hot keys
• Profiles
• Preferences
•Help
Switch Views
When in Advanced view, click View button and select either Basic, or
Custom View.
When in Basic view, select Advanced in the Basic View Welcome page or
click the Advanced button in any other page.
Note: The Advanced button does not appear in all Basic View pages.
Create a Custom View
1In Advanced View, click View and select Define Custom View.
2In the Define a Custom View dialog, click the plus sign beside the
graphics card name to expand the tree view.
3Select the check box next to each aspect you wish to add to your
custom view.
4Click OK to save the changes.
Hotkeys Manager
The Hotkeys Manager allows you to create shortcut key combinations to
quickly perform tasks such as changing a graphics setting or opening an
application. A hot key is a combination of one or more modifier keys, such
as Ctrl, Alt, or Shift, and any letter from the alphabet.
Note: Hotkeys Manager is only available in Advanced View.
To access Hotkeys Manager
•Click Hotkeys in Advanced View of the Catalyst™ Control
Center.
Display Hotkeys Manager
1Click Hotkeys in the Dashboard.
14 Hotkeys Manager
2Select Hotkeys Manager.
Enable Hotkeys feature
1Open HotkeysManager.
2Select the Enable Hotkeys feature check box.
Edit an existing hot key
1Open HotkeysManager.
2Select an option from the List Hotkeys for drop-down menu.
• Optionally, select an aspect from the According to list.
3Click a hot key to edit.
4Click Edit button.
5Choose a modifier.
6Enter any letter of the alphabet.
7Click the OK button to save your changes.
Note: A hot key character is restricted to letters of the alphabet.
Create a list of active hot keys
1Open Hotkeys Manager.
2Select an option from the List Hotkeys for drop-down menu.
• Optionally, select an aspect from the According to list.
3Select the hot key actions you want active.
Note: A hot key action must have a hot key assigned to it before the
hot key can be made active.
See a list of active hot keys only
1Open HotkeysManager.
2Click List active Hotkeys only.
3Select an option from the List Hotkeys for drop-down menu.
• Optionally, select an aspect from the According to list.
Sort hot keys
Hot keys can be sorted by their state, actions, or key combination.
Profiles Manager 15
1Open Hotkeys Manager
•Click Active button to sort by state.
•Click Hotkeys Actions button to sort by action.
•Click Hotkeys button to sort by key combination.
2Clicking the respective button toggles ascending/descending sort
order.
Apply a hot key
• Press and hold down the modifier(s) keys, then press the assigned
keyboard key. For example: press and hold down the Ctrl and Alt
keys, then press the C key.
Profiles Manager
Use profiles to create customized environments for your desktop, video,
and 3D applications. Define and save into a profile your own personal
video settings that can be quickly activated manually, through a hot key, or
by file association.
Note: A profile applies to a specific graphics card. If there is more
than one graphics card installed in your computer, you need to select
the appropriate card before creating, loading, or activating a profile.
Note: Profiles Manager is only available in Advanced View.
To access the Profiles Manager
• Click the Profiles button in Advanced View of the Catalyst™
Control Center.
Display Profiles Manager
1Click Profiles in the Dashboard.
2Select Profiles Manager.
Create a profile
A profile can be created from any aspect of Catalyst™ Control Center.
1Make customized changes by adjusting the various sliders and buttons
for the aspects to be included in your profile.
2Open the Profiles Manager.
3Enter a name for your Profile in Create or Edit Profile.
16 Profiles Manager
4Enter a description of the profile.
5Select the composition, activation, and applications options that you
wish to apply to the profile.
6Click Save.
Set the composition of the profile
1Open the Profiles Manager.
2Click the Composition tab.
• all Catalyst™ Control Center settings applies the available
settings for all graphics adapters.
• the following settings applies only the settings selected in the
tree view .
Activate a profile
1Open the Profiles Manager.
2Select a profile from Create or Edit a Profile drop-down menu.
3Click the Activation tab.
4Set a profile to activate manually:
•Click Manually by then select your preferred method for
activating a profile. For example, a shortcut on your desktop.
• If you choose Hotkeys assignment, select a Hot key modifier
and a keyboard key.
Activate an application, file, or shortcut when a profile is
started
1Open the Profiles Manager.
2Click the Applications tab.
3Click opens the following application, file or shortcut.
4Click the browse (“...”) button and browse to the file you want
associated with your profile.
5Click on the file name, then click Open to select the file.
Save a profile
1Open the Profiles Manager.
Preferences 17
2Enter a name for the profile in the Enter or select a profile name
box.
3Select options for the profile.
4Click Save.
5Click the Activate & Close button to apply the saved profile and
close the Profiles Manager.
• Optionally, click the Activate button to apply the saved profile
but leave the Profiles Manager open.
• Optionally, click the Close button to close the Profiles Manager
without applying the saved Profile.
Delete a profile
1Open the Profile Manager.
2Select a profile from the Create or Edit a Profile drop-down menu.
3Click Delete.
4Click OK to confirm.
Preferences
Use the Preferences page to restore factory defaults, change skins, or
enable/disable the System Tray icon.
The Catalyst™ Control Center Preferences page contains the following
options:
• Hide Tooltips
•Always on Top
• Enable System Tray menu
• Restore factory defaults
• Hide Toolbar Text
• Select a Language
• Select a Skin
To access Preferen ces
•Click Preferences in Advanced View of the Catalyst™ Control
Center.
18 Preferences
Keep Catalyst™ Control Center Always on Top of all open
applications on the desktop
1Click Preferences button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Always on Top.
Note: When a check mark appears next to Always on Top the
Catalyst™ Control Center will always appear on top of all opened
applications.
Hide or show Tooltips
1Click the Preferences button in the Advanced View of the
Dashboard.
2Click Hide Tooltips in the drop-down menu.
Note: When a check mark appears next to Hide Tooltips, all Tooltips
are disabled.
Show or hide text that appears on the toolbar buttons
1Click Preferences button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Hide Toolbar Text in the drop-down menu.
Note: When a check mark appears next to Hide Toolbar Text the
toolbar buttons have button icons only.
Hide the Catalyst™ Control Center Splash Screen
1Click the Preferences button in the Advanced View of the
Dashboard.
2Click Hide Splash Screen.
Note: When a check mark appears next to Hide Splash Screen the
Catalyst™ Control Center splash screen will not appear during start
up.
Show or hide the Catalyst™ Control Center icon in the
Windows® System Tray
1Click Preferences button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Enable System Tray menu in the drop-down menu.
Note: When a check mark appears next to Enable System Tray Menu
the Catalyst™ Control Center icon appears in the Windows® System
Tray.
Change Catalyst™ Control Center language
1Click Preferences in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Select a Language in the drop-down menu.
3Choose a language from the list.
4Click OK.
5Restart Catalyst™ Control Center.
Change the appearance of the Catalyst™ Control Center
1Click Preferences in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Select a skin in the drop-down menu.
3Choose a skin from the Skin drop-down menu.
4Click OK.
Help 19
Restore Catalyst™ Control Center to the factory default
settings
1Click Preferences in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Select Restore factory defaults in the drop-down menu.
3Click Yes.
Help
Use the Catalyst™ Control Center Help feature to access the
comprehensive online help system, generate a Problem Report, and get the
installed Catalyst™ Control Center version information.
To access Help
• Click the Help button in the Catalyst™ Control Center Dashboard.
or
• Press the F1 key at any time to get specific help on the feature or
aspect you are using.
20 Information Center
Display help for the aspect or feature you are using
1Click the Help button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Select Help for this Page.
• Optionally, click anywhere in the aspect or feature you are using
and press the F1 key.
Display the online help
1Click the Help button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Help Contents.
Search for Help
1Click the Help button in the Advanced view of the Dashboard.
2Click Search Help.
3Enter the word(s) you wish to search for the in search box of the
Catalyst™ Control Center Help.
4Click Go.
Create a Problem Report
Create a problem report should you experience a problem with your ATI
product. This report can be used by an ATI Customer Care agent to help
diagnose and resolve the problem.
1Click the Help button in the Advanced View of the Dashboard.
2Click Problem Report Wizard.
3Follow the Wizard’s instructions.
Display the version of the installed Catalyst™ Control Center
1Click the Help button in the Dashboard.
2Click About Catalyst™ Control Center.
Information Center
The Information Center provides detailed information about the installed
graphics hardware and associated software.
Information Center 21
• Graphics Software includes information such as installed 2D and
3D driver versions, OpenGL® version, and Catalyst™ Control
Center version.
• Graphics Hardware includes information about each installed
graphics card, such as the installed graphics chipset, device ID, bus
type, memory size, and BIOS version.
Catalyst™ Control Center: Information Center - Graphics Software
(Sample)
To access the Information Center
• Expand Information Center in the tree view of Advanced View
and select either Graphic Software or Graphic Hardware.
To access system information
• Click the System Information button to open the Windows®
System Information.
22 Displays Manager
Displays Manager
The Displays Manager aspect is the central location for configuring your
display devices and arranging your desktop. Use the Displays Manager
aspect to quickly change your display setup, arrange your desktop in a
multi-monitor environment, and enable TV Out.
Those new to the Catalyst™ Control Center may use the Basic View
wizard to help you configure your display preferences. Experienced users
who prefer to manually configure their desktop setting should use the
Advanced View.
Note: The Catalyst™ Control Center will open to the Basic View the
very first time it is accessed. Experienced users can easily change to
Advanced View by selecting Advanced and clicking on the Next
button.
Catalyst™ Control Center: Displays Manager
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