ATI Technologies 9000 - Radeon Pro User manual

RADEON
™
9000
User’s Guide
P/N 137-40442-10
Copyright © 2002, ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.
ATI and all 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 the diagrams.
Reproduction of this manual, or parts thereof, in any form, without the express written
permission of ATI Technologies Inc. is strictly prohibited.

ii
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 or this documentation, for any
interruption of service, loss or interruption of business, loss of anticipatory profits, or
for punitive, incidental or consequential damages in connection 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 non-infringement.
Product Notice
MACROVISION
A.Apparatus Claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,631,603, 4,577,216, 4,819,098, and
4,907,093 licensed for limited viewing users only.
B.In the printed collateral material that accompanies the Product, the following notice
must be printed in an appropriate place in such materials:
This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method
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and other limited viewing uses unless otherwise authorized by Macrovision
Corporation. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.

iii
Table of Contents
Disclaimer .............................................................................................. ii
Product Notice........................................................................................ ii
MACROVISION.................................................................................... ii
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Features At A Glance .................................................................................. 2
ATI’s Catalyst™ Software Suite ................................................................ 3
Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming Experience...................................... 3
Direct3D® and OpenGL® ..................................................................... 3
HydraVision™ ....................................................................................... 4
Connecting Your Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Display Configurations................................................................................ 6
Catalyst™ Software Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ATI Displays Tab......................................................................................... 7
Ratiometric Expansion ........................................................................... 7
ATI Color Tab ............................................................................................. 8
ATI Options Tab........................................................................................ 10
ATI Overlay Tab ....................................................................................... 11
Video Overlay ...................................................................................... 11
Direct3D® Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Main and Custom Settings........................................................................ 13
Direct3D® Compatibility Settings ........................................................... 16
OpenGL® Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Main and Custom Settings........................................................................ 18
OpenGL® Compatibility Settings............................................................ 21
SMARTGART™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Set AGP Settings .................................................................................. 23
Fast Write ............................................................................................. 23
Retest All.............................................................................................. 24
Using TV Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
View your PC’s display on a TV.......................................................... 25
Connecting to a TV or a VCR .................................................................. 26
Starting Windows® with TV Display Enabled .................................... 27
Using SCART Connectors for European TVs ..................................... 28
How To Enable/Disable The TV Display ............................................ 28

iv
Using and Adjusting TV Out................................................................ 28
Using a Monitor vs. Using the TV Display.......................................... 29
Adjusting Monitor Display................................................................... 29
Viewing Text on a TV.......................................................................... 29
Reducing Edge Distortion .................................................................... 30
Changing Display Configurations ........................................................ 31
Using Games and Applications ............................................................ 32

1
Introduction
The RADEON™ 9000 graphics accelerator delivers
ground breaking 3D graphics performance.
• Designed and built by ATI Technologies Inc.
• Powered by the RADEON 9000 Visual Processing
Unit (VPU).
• Awesome 3D gaming performance.
• Support for OpenGL®applications.
• Support for Direct3D®applications.
• High resolution in 3D up to 2048x1536.
• Best performance for today’s and tomorrow’s
applications.
• Supports TV-Out to connect your PC to your TV or
VCR.

2
Features At A Glance
The RADEON 9000 provides high performance
acceleration for today's demanding 3D graphic
applications. Its main features includes:
• VIDEO IMMERSION™ which provides industry-
leading DVD playback and digital TV decode
capability.
• CHARISMA ENGINE™ II performs complex
transformation, clipping, and lighting calculations
faster than the CPU or 3D graphics chip.
• PIXEL TAPESTRY™ II which can apply 6
textures per pass to a complex 3D gaming scene.
• TV output support.
• TRUFORM™ technology which makes the curved
surfaces of 3D objects look smoother and more
life-like.
• SMARTSHADER™ technology which can
realistically create the visual properties of any
material, like glass, metal, wood, and produce 3D
depth by rendering the object’s shadows.
• SMOOTHVISION™ which provides users with
various degrees of jagged edge removal from 3D
images, allowing users to configure their own high
quality or high performance gaming experience.

3
ATI’s Catalyst ™ Software Suite
Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming Experience
ATI’s Catalyst Software Suite provides multiple
display functionality, and the advanced graphic
features, such as TRUFORM, for the ultimate 3D
gaming experience. For help on installing the
Catalyst Software Suite, refer to the Getting Started
Guide.
The Catalyst Software Suite installs the ATI display
tabs. These tabs are accessed through the Windows®
Display Control Panel, through the Advanced...
button located on the Settings tab. For a detailed
explanation of each ATI tab, refer to Catalyst™
Software Suite on page 7.
Direct3D®and OpenGL®
The Catalyst Software Suite also supports the latest
versions of Direct3D®and OpenGL®. Many new 3D
game titles, and the latest versions of older titles, will
virtually come to life as they utilize their advanced
Direct3D®or OpenGL®features. Gamers can tweak
their settings for the ultimate experience in 3D image
quality or 3D gaming performance.
ATI’s Direct3D® and OpenGL®tabs are available
through the Windows®Display Control Panel,
through the Advanced... button located on the
Settings tab.
For a detailed explanation of the Direct3D®and
OpenGL®tabs, refer to Direct3D® Control Panel
on page 13, and OpenGL® Control Panel on
page 18.

4
HydraVision™
In addition to the multiple display functionality
available with ATI’s Catalyst Software Suite, you can
also use HydraVision for advanced multi-display
(CRT + TV) management. For more information on
HydraVision, please refer to the HydraVision User’s
Guide PDF located on your ATI Installation CD.

5
Connecting Your Monitor
The RADEON 9000 provides hardware support for
one VGA monitor. A TV can also be used to expand
your desktop by using the S-Video out.
Turn off computer before connecting monitor.
Plug the monitor cable into your card then turn
on the PC and monitor.
S-VIDEO OUT
VGA
CONNECTOR
FROM
MONITOR
STANDARD VGA
S-VID OUT
CRT
MONITOR CONNECTOR

6
Display Configurations
Your RADEON 9000 card provides support for TV
Out. The following table lists the different ways you
can connect displays to your card.
Display
Configuration Connector(s) Used Comments
One CRT
display VGA connector CRT- cathode ray tube analog display
One TV S-Video Out
The S-Video Uut can also
support a composite
connection via the S-Video-
to-Composite adapter
CRT display +
TV
VGA connector +
S-Video Out

7
Catalyst™ Software Suite
The following section provides an explanation of
each ATI tab available after installing the Catalyst
Software Suite.
ATI Displays Tab
Here you enable/disable TV Out. For complete
information see How To Enable/Disable The TV
Display on page 28.
Ratiometric Expansion
Your graphics accelerator card offers ratiometric
expansion (or digital panel scaling as it is commonly
known). This expands a low resolution image to fill a
higher resolution panel.
Features presented in the following pages may not
be supported in all operating systems and/or may
appear differently.
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8
ATI Color Tab
The ATI Color tab is used to adjust the color settings.
You can change the red, green and blue display
colors. Desktop brightness and Game Gamma
(brightness in Direct3D®and OpenGL®) can also be
changed.
ATI Color Tab
Desktop
Brightness
This increases or decreases the brightness of your
desktop. The higher the gamma value, the higher the
brightness of your display.
Color Curve This adjusts the selected color (red, green or blue check
button) by moving the color curve with your mouse.
Game Gamma
button This accesses Game Gamma Properties.
Defaults
button
This allows you to reset the desktop brightness and
color settings to default values.

9
Clicking the Game Gamma button accesses the
Game Gamma Properties.
Game Gamma Properties
Red Green
Blue sliders
These controls allow you to increase or decrease the
color brightness of Direct3D®and OpenGL®games
played in fullscreen mode.
RGB Lock Uncheck this to adjust the RGB sliders individually.
Check this to adjust all three sliders at the same time.
Defaults
button
This allows you to reset the Game Gamma settings to
default values.

10
ATI Options Tab
The ATI Options tab provides detailed driver
information and access to the card’s specifications.
You can also enable or disable the ATI taskbar icon.
ATI Options Tab
Version Information Provides the Catalyst version number, 2D version
number and the driver build information.
Details button Provides access to the Details tab which lists the
card’s hardware details and driver information.
Reactivate all
warning messages
This allows you to reactivate any disabled
graphics warning messages.
Enable ATI taskbar
icon application
Unchecking this allows you to disable the ATI
taskbar applications and removes the ATI icon
from your system tray.
Show ATI icon on
taskbar
Unchecking this allows you to remove the ATI icon
from your system tray without disabling the ATI
icon applications.
Disable quick
resolution feature
Quick resolution feature is accessible by left-
clicking the ATI icon in the system tray. Checking
this option disables the feature.

11
ATI Overlay Tab
The ATI Overlay tab allows you to configure the
brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and gamma
properties of your video overlay.
Video Overlay
Video overlay allows for the viewing of full-motion
video on your PC. The video overlay controls are
automatically activated during playback of any video
file type that supports overlay adjustments.
Reduce DVI
frequency on high-
resolution displays
Fixes display corruption or no displayed image at
high resolutions on your DVI-I display. This setting
has no effect on cards using a DVI-I-to-VGA
adapter.

12
ATI Overlay Tab
Brightness Use this slider to adjust the brightness of the video
image.
Contrast Use this slider to adjust the contrast in the video image.
Saturation
Use this slider to adjust the vividness of the color.
Sliding it all the way to the left removes all color and
produces a black and white picture.
Hue Use this slider to adjust the pureness or tint of the red,
green and blue components of the color.
Gamma Use this slider to adjust the overall intensity of the video
image.
Defaults
button
This allows you to reset the Overlay settings to default
values.

13
Direct3D
®
Control Panel
Using this control panel, you can optimize the
display settings for your Direct3D®games.
Main and Custom Settings
In the Main Settings you can maximize overall
performance by moving the slider to the left, or you
can enhance overall image quality by moving the
slider to the right.

14
Main Settings
slider
This allows you to emphasize what kind of application
experience you’d like to have. Moving the slider to the
left will maximize application performance, while moving
the slider to the right will provide excellent 3D image
quality. Moving this slider from one position to the next
changes the individual Custom Settings sliders found
below.
Custom
Settings
checkbox
When Custom Settings is checked, the Main Settings
slider is disabled, allowing you to move each individual
slider in the Custom Settings section below. Setting the
individual sliders gives you complete control over your
application experience. Using Custom Settings is
recommended for advanced users only.
Anisotropic
Filtering
checkbox
Anisotropic filtering uses a texture filtering technique
that blends multiple texture samples together. Selecting
Application Preference will result in high quality
textures, with a negligible reduction in the application’s
performance.
Anisotropic
Filtering slider
The number of samples taken when anisotropic filtering
is performed can vary. By moving this slider to the right,
as the number of samples taken increases, the quality
of the final image increases significantly. 16X provides
extremely detailed, crisp-looking images as a result of
the largest number of texture samples possible.
Anti-aliasing
checkbox
Anti-aliasing improves image quality by removing
jagged edges from 3D images, resulting in smoother,
more natural-looking objects. Selecting Application
Preference will result in high quality images, with a
negligible reduction in the application’s performance.
Texture
Preference
slider
Selecting this decides whether your application should
use high quality or high performance textures. Moving
the slider to the right delivers the highest quality
experience. Moving the slider to the left emphasizes a
high performance solution while still providing good
visuals.

15
Mipmap Detail
Level slider
This will allow you to choose the texture quality of the
mipmaps the application will use. Mipmaps are a
collection of different sized textures of the same image.
As the user moves closer to a 3D object the image
quality should increase, requiring a higher quality
texture of the same image. The base mipmap is the
highest quality texture, and all subsequent mipmaps are
smaller sized textures of the same image. Moving the
slider to the right selects a higher quality base mipmap,
delivering the highest quality application experience.
Moving the slider to the left selects a lower quality
mipmap, delivering the highest application performance.
Wait for
Vertical Sync
Wait for vertical sync will lower the frame rate of full
screen games but reduce the image tearing that can
occur with the higher frame rate. Selecting Application
Preference allows the application to decide whether or
not it should display its frames at the refresh rate of the
monitor. Selecting Always Off allows the application to
run at its highest possible frame rate, regardless of the
monitor’s refresh rate which is typically less than the
frame rate at which the application will run.
Compatibility
Settings
button
This button allows you to access advanced settings that
can solve compatibility issues for a few specific
Direct3D®applications.
Defaults This button allows you to reset the Direct3D®settings to
default values.

16
Direct 3D® Compatibility Settings
Support W-
buffer
This will enable W-Buffer support for 3D games. It is
recommended to disable this for games that do not
support this feature. Certain applications require the
increased precision of W-Buffering and will exhibit
artifacts unless the W-Buffer is enabled.
Support 32-bit
Z-buffer depth
Z-Buffer Bit Depth can be 16 bits, 24 bits, or 32 bits. 16
and 24 are selected by default to achieve optimum
performance. Very few applications require a 32 bit Z-
Buffer, so in most cases this feature should be disabled.