Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition User’s Guide P/N 137-40864-10
ii Copyright © 2005, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. 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, performance and specifications are subject to change without notice. Product may not be exactly as shown in diagrams.
iii Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 System Requirements External Connections Related Documentation Multimedia Features Viewing 3D Graphics TV Out Support 1 1 2 2 2 3 ATI Displays Control Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iv Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 FCC Compliance Information Industry Canada Compliance Statement Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive Compliance 23 23 24 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction The Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition is a graphics accelerator card that delivers maximum programmability and entertainment value to both gamers and developers. It includes flexible dual-display support for multiple combinations of Digital Flat Panel and CRT monitors. Your new graphics card provides: • Flexible dual-display support enabling many combinations using digital and analog displays.
2 Related Documentation Note: Future references to Mac OS® X in this manual are intended to be generic and inclusive of their respective versions of the Macintosh® operating systems. Related Documentation The README file summarizes the latest product revisions. Click the README icon on the installation disk to open this file. Detailed help and feature descriptions are available directly in ATI Displays.
TV Out Support 3 In addition, the Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition offers the following graphics technologies: SmoothVision™ 2.1 is an antialiasing solution that raises the bar for image quality using programmable multi-sampling methods to post-process graphics before they are displayed. SmartShader™ 2.0 contains advanced vertex and pixel-shading capabilities. A shader is a small program that runs on the GPU and describes how an image should be rendered.
4 TV Out Support
Introduction 5 CHAPTER 2: ATI Displays Control Panel Introduction The ATI Displays control panel provides access to the advanced features of that the Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition has to offer. Open the ATI Displays control panel 1 Open the Apple® System Preferences. 2 Click the ATI Displays icon. or 1 Click the Hard Disk icon. 2 Open Applications folder. 3 Open Utilities folder. 4 Open ATI Utilities folder. 5 Open ATI Displays.
6 ATI Displays Control Panel ATI Displays Control Panel Display Info dialog shows the current display settings for the display. Detect Displays button detects all connected displays. This feature is useful when a second VGA monitor is connected to your graphics adapter. Detect Displays removes the need to restart your computer. Note: Your display will momentarily go blank when all devices are being detected.
Advanced Display Options 7 To access the Advanced features open the ATI Displays control panel and click the ADVANCED button. VersaVision™ Tab Use the VersaVision™ tab to rotate your display while maintaining the full feature set of other ATI 2D and 3D technologies. ATI’s hardware accelerated display rotation and scaling technology provides rotation left or right by 90 degrees or turn it upside down to a full 180 degree rotation.
8 Advanced Display Options If the computer desktop, toolbar or dock exceeds the physical size of your display select Standard Underscan (87%) in the Desktop Size drop down menu. You can also create a unique desktop size by selecting Custom and adjusting the slider to the desired setting.
Advanced Display Options 9 Display Control Tab Force Single Display Operation, when using a dual display video card, causes all display modes to appear as a single list of supported resolutions in the Apple® Displays Properties. Only one display is on when this feature is enabled. The default setting is Disabled. Enable GTF Modes for CRT provides a list of all available modes for your monitor based on the Generalized Timing Formula standard. This feature is enabled by default.
10 Advanced DFP Tab Advanced DFP Tab The features on this tab are intended to support Digital Flat Panels (DFP) only. Enable ATI Hardware Scaler on non-Apple panels can be used with flat panels with fixed resolutions. Use this feature to change video modes using the ATI Scaler. Enable frequency reduction on high resolution displays may correct problems concerning jitter or dot crawl. Enable Alternate DVI TMDS Receiver Mode corrects problems such as noise or blank screens on some flat panels.
3D OpenGL® Overrides 11 Add an Application Profile To add an application to the Application Profile list: 1 Click the 3D icon in ATI Displays. 2 Click Add. 3 Browse to the desired application. 4 Click Choose. Select or Create a Preset ATI Displays includes a number of predefined OpenGL® presets that can be applied to any application. You can also create your own unique preset. To select a Preset: 1 Click the 3D icon in ATI Displays. 2 Select the desired preset from the Preset drop-down menu.
12 Enabling Mac2TV™ 4 Configure the preset by making adjustments to the Performance, FSAA, Anisotropic Filtering, and Vertical Sync sliders. Note: The preset selections and adjustments are saved automatically as they are made. Enabling Mac2TV™ The Mac2TV™ options are available when a TV is detected by the graphics card. Mac2TV™ is only supported using the single link DVI output via an Apple® DVI-to-Video adapter. Set Up Tab Video Output shows whether a TV or VCR has been detected.
Optimizing Mac2TV™ 13 Extra Set up: Hard Sync to TV, when enabled, removes a black line that may appear at the bottom of the screen of high end TV equipment. This process slightly alters the color across the screen. This color alteration may or may not be visible. Unless you notice a black line on your TV screen, it is recommended to leave Hard Sync to TV disabled. Optimizing Mac2TV™ You can optimize your TV display using the video out preferences.
14 Ratio/Size Tab The Anti-Flicker slider reduces the amount of display flicker. Display flicker is both a distraction and tiring to your eyes, and is most pronounced when text is being displayed. The Brightness slider is related to the amount of light emitted by your display or reflected from an object. The Contrast slider is a ratio of how far the whitest whites are from the blackest blacks. If the contrast is too high, the image may look stark, like pure white squares on a jet-black background.
Ratio/Size Tab 15 Use Aspect Ratio to select between a fully adjustable display or one locked to a specific aspect ratio. 4:3 Standard, 16.9 Widescreen, and Current screen resolution are all fixed modes. Overscan increases the vertical and horizontal size to fill your TV. Use Movie Mode for the best results viewing TV or DVDs. Use Display Position to move the TV/VCR image on your display. Use the arrow buttons to locate the image to the desired position.
16 ATI Displays Preferences ATI Displays Preferences From the ATI Displays drop down menu you can set the Preferences for the ATI Displays control panel. Here you can configure how the ATI Displays control panel starts and exits. ATI Displays Help ATI Displays Help is an additional source of information when you are using the ATI Displays control panel. Simply click on the ATI Displays control panel.
Using Digital Flat Panel (DVI) 17 Using Digital Flat Panel (DVI) Use Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition’s DVI support feature to output your computer’s display to your DVI digital flat panel, providing you with: • Crisper, clearer images. • A true flat screen. • Virtually no eye strain from prolonged viewing. Using Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition DVI Connector Use Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition to connect to a digital flat panel display.
18 Using Digital Flat Panel (DVI) 3 Y DVI-I Connector Z Single link DVI-I Monitor port [ DVI-I Connector Turn on your DVI flat panel and your Mac. Note: The DVI connector is hot swappable. You no longer need to shut down your computer before attaching a digital flat panel. A dual-link DVI transmits up to twice the amount of pixel information of single link DVI connection. Use the dual-link DVI connector for extremely high resolution displays such as Apple® 30-inch Cinema HD Displays.
Video Mode Table 19 CHAPTER 3: Specifications Video Mode Table The video mode table below lists the color depth capabilities for the supported resolutions on your Radeon® 9600 PRO PC & Mac Edition. Please consult your monitor’s specifications to determine which resolutions are available with your display.
20 Video Mode Table Supported Modes Display Resolution Maximum Refresh 2048 X 1536 100 The minimum refresh rate for the above modes is 56Hz.
Product Registration 21 CHAPTER 4: Reference Product Registration To activate Customer Care you must register your product with ATI at: ati.com/online/registration Customer Care For detailed instructions on how to use your ATI product, refer to the Online User’s Guide included on your ATI installation CD-ROM.
22 Customer Care Service Availability Language Cost Access Telephone Latin America / South America 7:00AM to 3:30 PM EST Spanish, Portuguese Toll Free +0800-333-5277 (Argentina Toll Free +0800-891-9068 (Brazil) Toll Free +001800-5143276 (Mexico) International and/or local toll charges to Canada will apply +1-905-882-3277 (Other) 7:00AM to 7:00PM EST Mail English ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC.
23 CHAPTER 5: Compliance Information FCC Compliance Information This Radeon® product complies with FCC Rules part 15. Operation is subject to the following two conditions • This device may not cause harmful interference, and • This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
24 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive Compliance This product was manufactured by ATI Technologies Inc.
25 Glossary 2D Acronym for “two dimensional,” a term applied to computer graphics that are “flat.” Typical desktop applications such as word processors, spreadsheet programs, or other programs that manipulate print or simple graphics (such as pictures or line art) are generally considered to be operating within a 2D environment, even when they include simple three dimensional elements, such as buttons. 3D Acronym for “three dimensional,” referring to computer graphics that appear to have volume and depth.
26 This makes 3D objects appear more realistic as the detail of their surface texture is retained in a smooth, seamless fashion on the sections that move or fade away into the background. Anti-aliasing A method that smooths out the jagged edges of a curved object. A black curved line on a white background displayed on a computer screen will have some jaggedness along its edges due to the inherent limitations of using discrete pixels to display the image.
27 memory can only encode to either “0” or “1.” So a graphical bit depth of 1 means that the display can only show two colors, the black and white of a monochrome display. Four-bit color depth is capable of displaying 16 colors because there are only 16 different combinations of 4 bits (“0000”, “0001”, “0010”... to “1111”). Sixteen-bit color is capable of reproducing 65,536 colors, and 24-bit color can display up to 16,777,216 individual colors.
28 Color Correction Use Color Correction to correct discrepancies between the real color value and the way a screen displays it. Color discrepancies can be caused by a variety of sources, including the lighting conditions in the work area and gradual shifts in color over time on monitors or flat panel displays. Color Curve A color curve represents all possible intensity values (from 0 to 255) for a color component (Red, Green or Blue).
29 Dot pitch Dot pitch specifies the sharpness of a monitor’s display. It is measured in millimeters (mm) and is the distance between the individual phosphor subpixels in a CRT display or cells of the same color within an LCD display. The smaller the number, the sharper the image. The most common dot pitches for monitors range from .24 mm to .31 mm. Also, if a monitor with a .24 mm dot pitch is set to its highest possible resolution, the pixel size will equal the dot pitch.
30 Frames Per Second In terms of 3D graphics, refers to the rate at which the graphic processor can render new screens per second. Higher rates equals better, more naturalistic performance for such things as games set in a 3D environment. Sometimes abbreviated to “fps.” Gamma Sometimes confused with brightness, gamma actually refers to the correction that is applied to any display device in order to produce more gradual increases or decreases in the perceived brightness for that device.
31 Keyframe Interpolation This feature is also known as “morphing.” In an animation, a start and end point are picked as the key frames. In a 3D rendering, the start point could have a character with a neutral expression, and the end point could have that same character smiling. Additional frames are interpolated (inserted) between the two keyframes in order that “morphs” (transforms) the image so that there is a smooth transition between the key frames.
32 flicker-free. The acronym refers to the National Television Systems Committee, which devised this color video standard in 1953. Offscreen Memory An area of memory used to preload images so that they can be quickly drawn to the screen. Offscreen memory refers to all of the remaining video memory not taken up by the front buffer, which holds the contents of the display screen currently visible.
33 Pixel Tapestry™ II Pixel Tapestry™ II uses four parallel, highly optimized rendering pipelines, each capable of handling two textures simultaneously. It provides advanced texturing, making 3D surfaces look even more detailed and realistic. Refresh Rate Also referred to as “vertical refresh rate.” This is the rate at which a monitor or television can redraw the screen from top to bottom.
34 Shadow Mask In CRT monitors, the shadow mask is a metal plate full of tiny holes that is attached to the inside of the glass screen. It focuses the beams from the electron guns at the back of the CRT. The distance between these holes is called the dot pitch.
35 Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) A technology designed to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) and improve the digital signal delivered to flat panel displays. Its encoding algorithm converts the original 8-bit graphic data into a more fault-tolerant 10-bit signal, which is then converted back to its original 8-bit form at the display device. The signal is also DC-balanced, allowing for the option of transmitting the signal over fibre-optic cable.
36 VGA Connector A type of graphics connector, sometimes also called an analog connector. It is the most common type of video connector available, consisting 15-pins set in three rows. The “VGA” is an acronym for “Video Graphics Array,” which is also the name for the video resolution mode of 640x480 pixels, the lowest standard resolution supported by virtually all video cards.
37 Index Numerics 2D 7, 25, 26, 28, 33, 34, 35 3D 3, 7, 10, 11, 16, 25, 26, 28, 29, 3D Graphics 2 3D OpenGL Overrides 10 A ADC 20, 25 ADC connector 20 Add an Application Profile 11 Advanced Display Options 6 Anisotropic Filtering 12, 25 Anisotropic filtering 25 Anti-aliasing 26 Anti-Flicker 14 Apple Cinema HD 20 Apple Display Connector 25 Apple Displays Properties 9 Apple DVI-to-Video adapter 12 Apple System Preferences 5 Apple System Profiler Report 6 Aspect Ratio 14, 15, 26 ATI Displays 5, 10, 11 ATI Dis
38 C Charisma Engine II 27 Color 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35 Color component 27, 28 Color correction 28 Color curve 28 Contrast 14 Control Panel 5 Controls Tab 13 Core Image 1 Create Apple System Profiler Report 6 CRT 1, 28, 29, 34 Customer Care 21, 22 D Detect Displays 6 Display Control Tab 9 Display Info 6 Display Scaling 7 Display Size 15 Dithering 28 dock 8 Dot pitch 29, 32, 34 DVD 1, 15, 16 DVI 1, 29, 35 DVI-A 29 DVI-D 29 DVI-I 29 E Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) 35 Enable ATI “Valid” and “Safe
39 Frames per second (fps) 30 Frozen Dot Crawl 13 Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) 12 G gamma 30 Gouraud Shading 29, 30 GPU 3 Graphic Card features 2 H Hard Sync 13 Hard Sync to TV 13 Help 22 Hue 14, 30, 33 HyperZ 3, 30 I IBM T221 display 20 Industry Canada Compliance 23 K Keyframe interpolation 31 KTX Buffer Region Extension 31 L Lighting 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35 Linux 32 M Mac OS X 32 Mac2TV 12, 14 Mipmapping 31 Monitor Resolution 2D video mode table 19 Multimedia Features 2 N NTSC 12, 31, 33 O Offscre
40 Product Registration 21 Profile dialog 6 Q Quartz Extreme 1, 3 QuickTime 3, 16 R Radeon 6 Ratio/Size Tab 14 Red Green Blue (RGB) 30, 33, 35 Refresh Rate 31, 32, 33 Related Documentation 2 Relative Rotation 7 Rendering 33 Resolution 29, 31, 32, 33, 36 rotation 7, 35 S Saturation 14, 30, 33 scaling 35 Select or Create a Preset 11 Set Up Tab 12 Shadow mask 34 Sharpness 13 SmartShader 3, 34 SmoothVision 3, 34 Software ATI Guide 16 Specular highlight 34 Support dialog 6 Supported Modes 19 SXGA 33 System Re
41 Vertical Sync 12 VGA 33, 36 VGA connector 36 Video 29, 36 Video Card features 2 Video Output 12 Viewing 3D Graphics 2 W Warranty 22 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Compliance 24 Windows 32 X XGA 33 Z Z-buffer 36
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