Asus 3DP-V500TX User manual

R
3DP-V500TX
User’s Manual

II ASUS 3DP-V500TX
USER'S NOTICE
Product Name: ASUS 3DP-V500TX
Manual Revison: 1.00
Manual Release: October 1996
No part of this product, including the product and software may be reproduced,
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language
in any form by any means without the express written permission of ASUSTeK
COMPUTER INC. (hereinafter referred to asASUS) except documentation kept by
the purchaser for backup purposes.
ASUS provides this manual "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or
implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties or conditions of mer-
chantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shallASUS be liable for
any loss or profits, loss of business, loss of use or data, interruption of business, or
for indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind, even ifASUS
has been advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error
in this manual or product. ASUS may revise this manual from time to time without
notice.
Products mentioned in this manual are mentioned for identification purposes only.
Product names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or
copyrights of their respective companies.
The product name and revision number are both printed on the board itself. Manual
revisions are released for each design represented by the digit before and after the
period and for manual updates represented by the third digit in the manual revision
number. For updated BIOS, drivers, or product release information you may visit
ASUSTeK's home page at: http://www.asus.com.tw/
© Copyright 1996 ASUSTeK Computer Inc. All rights reserved.

ASUS 3DP-V500TX III
ASUS CONTACT INFORMATION
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
Marketing Info:
Address: 150 Li-Te Road, Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Technical Support:
Fax: [phone]
BBS: 886-2-896-4667
Email: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.asus.com.tw/
Gopher: gopher.asus.com.tw
FTP: ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS
ASUS COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL
Marketing Info:
Address: 721 Charcot Avenue, San Jose, CA 95131, USA
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Technical Support:
BBS: 1-408-474-0555
Email: [email protected]
ASUS COMPUTER GmbH
Marketing Info:
Address: Harkort Str. 25, 40880 Ratingen, BRD, Germany
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Technical Support:
BBS: 49-2102-448690
Email: [email protected]

IV ASUS 3DP-V500TX
CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION.........................................................1
Features ......................................................................................1
System Capabilities ....................................................................1
System Requirements.................................................................1
II. HARDWARE INSTALLATION ................................2
Parts of the ASUS Card ...................................................................2
Jumper Settings................................................................................2
Introduction ................................................................................3
Static Electricity Precautions .....................................................3
Installing the ASUS 3DP-V500TX Board ................................4
Installing a Second ASUS 3DP-V500TX Board........................4
III. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ................................5
Windows NT Driver Installation......................................................5
Prerequisites ...............................................................................5
NT 3.51 ( Intel based PC workstation )......................................5
NT 4.0 ( Intel based workstation ): ............................................6
Heidi ...........................................................................................6
IV. UTILITIES & DRIVERS ..........................................7
3D Graphics & Double Buffering....................................................7
Resolution and Color Depth Table...................................................7
Dual-Headed Displays .....................................................................9
Control Panel Applet........................................................................9
Registry Variables ....................................................................10
OpenGL Environment Variables ....................................................12
OpenGL Texturing & Extensions ..................................................12
Efficient use of multiple textures .......................................12
Considerations specific to ASUS 3DP-V500TX Board .....12
Performance Monitoring................................................................13
Examinable performance counters ....................................14
Configuring GLINT Performance Monitoring ...................14
Using Perfmon for Performance Monitoring .....................15
Running perfmon locally ....................................................15
Running perfmon remotely.................................................15
Running Perfmon remotely ................................................15
Event Logging................................................................................16

ASUS 3DP-V500TX V
V. RESTRICTIONS........................................................17
Restrictions & Trouble Shooting ...................................................17
PCI BIOS .................................................................................17
Display Driver ..........................................................................18
OpenGL....................................................................................18
Problems and Solutions............................................................20
A. REGISTRY & DMAVARIABLES ..........................21
Registry Variables ..........................................................................21
DMA Control Variables............................................................22
3D Double Buffering Control ..................................................23
B. OPENGL ENVIRONMENT .....................................24
OpenGL Overlay Planes Support...................................................24
Introduction ..............................................................................24
Implementation ........................................................................24
OpenGL Registry Variables......................................................24
CONTENTS

VI ASUS 3DP-V500TX
FCC & DOC COMPLIANCE
FederalCommunications Commission Statement
This device 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. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installa-
tion. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with manufacturer's instructions, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by
turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the inter-
ference by one or more of the following measures:
• Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which
the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
WARNING: The useof shieldedcables forconnection ofthe monitorto thegraphics
card is required to assure compliance with FCC regulations. Changes or modifica-
tions to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance
could void the user's authority to operate this equipment.
CanadianDepartment of CommunicationsStatement
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions
from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Cana-
dian Department of Communications.

ASUS 3DP-V500TX 1
I. INTRODUCTION
Features
The ASUS 3DP-V500TX boards have been designed for high performance profes-
sional 3D graphics acceleration. This device combines workstation class 3D graph-
ics acceleration and state of the art 2D performance. All 3D rendering operations
are accelerated by 3Dlabs’s Glint500TX chip including Gouraud shading, texture
mapping, depth buffering, antialiasing and alpha blending. The addition of Delta
chip enhances performance by off-loading the host of both the rendering and setup
calculations, whilst also reducing the PCI bandwidth requirements.
Based on the powerful ASUS 3DP-V500TX plus Delta combination, this boards
provides the ultimate 3D system performance for the power user. The ASUS 3DP-
V500TX provides greatly enhanced hardware support for texture mapping and sig-
nificant performance improvements.
System Capabilities
•Onboard SVGA
•8Mbytes VRAM and 8Mbytes DRAM
System Requirements
•Suitable for use in computers supporting the PCI bus e.g. IBMAT compatible
computers with 80486, Pentium or Pentium Pro CPUs
•One available PCI slot
•VGA, XGA, SuperVGA or Extended VGA compatible monitor
I. INTRODUCTION
Feature/Requirement

2ASUS 3DP-V500TX
II. HARDWARE INSTALLATION
Jumper Settings
VGA (Enable / Disable)
VGA En/Dis
123H1
123H1 123H1
Enable (Default) Disable
VGA (Enabled)
The onboard SVGA chip can be Enabled or Disabled.
Parts of the ASUS Card
II. HARDWARE
Parts / Jumpers
Monitor
output
256x16x16 VRAM (8MB) (Front&Back)
ALI VGAChip Glint Delta Chip Glint 500TX Chip
IBM Palette DAC
1Mx16x4 DRAM
(8MB) (Front&Back)

ASUS 3DP-V500TX 3
II. HARDWARE INSTALLATION
Introduction
The board will have been configured for the options installed at the factory. Before
installing the board, please check that the jumper settings are correct and that you
have taken note of the static electricity precautions.
Static Electricity Precautions
1. ASUS 3DP-V500TX boards are supplied with disposable grounding wrist
straps. Follow the supplied instructions.
2. Alternatively, before handling any components or touching anything inside
the system unit, discharge your body static electric charge by holding onto a
grounding surface. If the system unit is connected to a grounded outlet, you
can touch a suitable part of the system metal chassis.
3. Do not remove boards from their antistatic bags until you are ready to install
them.
4. When handling boards, hold them by their edges and their metal mounting
brackets. Avoid touching components on the board and the edge connectors
that plug into the expansion slots.
5. Avoid plastic, vinyl and styrofoam in your work area.
II. HARDWARE
Static Precautions

4ASUS 3DP-V500TX
Installing the ASUS 3DP-V500TX Board
Installing theASUS 3DP-V500TX board in your system is simple, so please follow
the instructions carefully. To install the board:
1. Switch off your system and all peripheral devices.
2. Follow the static precautions described above.
3. Remove the cover from your system.
4. Remove any existing video boards installed in the system. To do this, detach
the monitor cable from an existing video board, remove the screw that holds
the board in place and then pull it out from its expansion slot. Store the old
video board in an antistatic bag.
5. Find a free PCI expansion slot in your system.
6. Remove the metal cover plate from the slot you have chosen and put the screw
to one side.
7. Ensure the onboard jumpers are correctly set on your ASUS 3DP-V500TX
board (see earlier chapter).
8. Align the board PCI slot connector with the expansion slot in our PC and
gently lower and push the board into the free slot.
9. Secure the board to the expansion slot with the screw you removed from the
metal plate.
10. Replace the cover on your system and plug in the power cord.
11. Reattach the video cable to the devices video output connector.
12. Turn on the monitor and power up the system.
Installing a Second ASUS 3DP-V500TX Board
Asecond Board can be installed in a similar manner to the first. The jumper settings
on the second board should normally be set to be the same
*
as those on the first.
Only one board will act as the VGA even if the jumpers on both boards are set to
enable VGA. To obtain a picture during boot up, it may therefore be necessary to
connect the video cable to the second 3DP-V500TX rather than the first.
*
(Insomesystems,theBIOScanbeconfusedbyhavingVGAenabledonboth boards.
When this occurs, the VGA jumper should be fitted on one Board to disable VGA.
However, it is then necessary that the Board with enabled VGA is positioned in a
PCI slot so that it is recognized before the VGA disabled Board. Determining the
correct slot is a nontrivial task so this is best resolved by trial and error.)
II. HARDWARE INSTALLATION
II. HARDWARE
Installation