ATI Technologies X1950 PRO User Manual

Radeon® X1950 Pro

™

CrossFire

Getting S tarted Guide

P/N 137-41210-10

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

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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; 5,315,448; 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.

Documentation Updates

ATI is constantly improving its product and associated documentation. To maximize the value of your ATI product, you should ensure that you have the latest documentation. ATI’s documentation contains helpful installation/configuration tips and other valuable feat ure information.

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.

• 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.

Table of Contents

Installing CrossFire™ Graphics Cards . . . . . . . . . . 1

Installing the CrossFire™ Bridge Interconnects 3 Display Configurations 4

Installing Software and Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Windows® New Hardware Found 5 Installing the Catalyst

Enabling CrossFire™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Start Menu 7 Other Quick Launch Access Points 7

Welcome to CrossFire™. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

CrossFire™ Overview 9

Allowable Radeon

CrossFire

™

Rendering Modes 9

™

Software Suite 5

X1950 Pro CrossFire™ System Components 9

CrossFire™ FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

System Requirements 18 External Connections 18 Uninstall Previous Graphics Card Drivers 19

Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Troubleshooting 21 Product Registration 25 Customer Care 25 Additional Accessories 27 Compliance Information 27

FCC Compliance Information 27 Industry Canada Compliance Statement 28 CE Compliance Information 28 Informations de conformité de la CE 28

CHAPTER 1:

Getting St arted

Congratulations on the purchase of your Radeon® X1950 Pro card. The CrossFire

new graphics card and associated software, and enable CrossFire

™

Getting Started Guide will help you to successfully install your

™

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

•Windows

XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2).

XP Professional x64 Edition.

2000.

Vista Ready.

Monitor • High-resolution MultiSync or multi-frequency monitors

or any other type of VGA monitor.

• Digital flat-panel (DFP) displays or digital CRT display.

CrossFire™ Compatibility

If you are planning on using this graphics card as part of a CrossFire

•A CrossFire

™

system, the following is required:

™

certified motherboard with two (2) PCI

Express (See

X16 slots and correct PCIe™ chipset driver.

ati.com/crossfire for a list of CrossFire

™

certified motherboards.)

• A second Radeon

•Two CrossFire

X1950 Pro graphics card

™

Bridge Interconnects. More information on the requirements for each of these components can be found within the CrossFire

™

FAQ.

External Connections

• DVI-I output.

• 15-pin VGA.

•S-Video.

Uninstall Previous Graphics Card Drivers

To ensure the successful installation of your new Radeon® X1950 Pro card, you must uninstall the drivers for the existing graphics card before removing it from your computer.

To uninstall previous drivers

With your current graphics card still in your computer:

1 Close all applications that are currently running. 2 Navigate to the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs. 3 Select your current graphics card drivers and select Add/Remove. The

wizard will help you remove your current display drivers. Note: If the previously installed graphics card has any additional

software installed, it should also be removed at this point.

4 Turn off your system and remove the old graphics card.

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