ATI Technologies X850 - Radeon Xt Platinum Edition 256 Mb Agp User manual

Radeon®X850
CrossFire™Edition
User’s Guide
P/N 137-40863-10

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.
Reproduction of this manual, or parts thereof, in any form, without the express 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 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.
Macrovision
Apparatus Claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,631,603, 4,577,216, 4,819,098, and 4,907,093
licensed for limited viewing uses only.
This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method
claims of certain U.S. patents and other intellectual property rights owned by Macrovision
Corporation and other rights owners. Use of this copyright protection technology must be
authorized by Macrovision Corporation, and is intended for home and other limited viewing
uses only unless otherwise authorized by Macrovision Corporation. 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 feature
information.

iii
LIMPORTANT 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 - All card securement pins shall be completely
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.

iv

v
Table of Contents
CrossFire™ FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Welcome to CrossFire™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CrossFire™ Overview 7
Allowable CrossFire™ System Components 7
CrossFire™ Rendering Modes 7
SuperTiling 8
Scissor Mode 9
Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Mode 10
Super Anti-aliasing Mode 11
Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
System Requirements 15
External Connections 15
Before You Begin 16
Record Your Serial and Part Numbers 16
Uninstall Previous Graphics Card Drivers 16
Installing Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Installing the Radeon® X850 CrossFire Edition Master Graphics
Card 20
Using Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connecting devices for CrossFire™ 23
Display Configurations 24
Connecting Your Monitors for Multiple Display 24
Enabling Multiple Displays 27
Installing Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Installing Drivers and Software in Windows® 29

vi
Software Installation Prerequisites 29
Monitor Configuration 31
Reinstalling Drivers 32
Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite 32
Catalyst™ Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center 35
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Start Menu 36
Other Quick Launch Access Points 36
Help 37
Displays Manager 37
Video 39
Display Options 39
Color 40
Monitor Properties 40
Component Video Properties 41
Digital Panel Properties 41
Hotkeys Manager 41
Profiles Manager 42
Preferences 42
CrossFire™ 43
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Troubleshooting 45
Product Registration 49
Customer Care 49
Warranty Information 51
Hardware Warranty Service Statement 51
Warranty Service 51
Limitations 52
Getting Additional Accessories 52
Compliance Information 53
FCC Compliance Information 53
Industry Canada Compliance Statement 53
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE) Directive Compliance 54
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

vii
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

viii

1
CHAPTER 1:
CrossFire™ FAQ
The following is a listing of frequently-asked questions about CrossFire™.
For the latest information, please consult the CrossFire™ Web site at:
ati.com/crossfire
1What combination of products are required to build a working
CrossFire™ system?
Three components are required:
• a CrossFire™ Edition graphics card that works as the Master
graphics card.
• a CrossFire™ Ready graphics card from the same brand-family
that works as the Slave graphics card.
• a CrossFire™ Ready motherboard (which contains two PCIe™
X16 slots).
More information on the requirements for each of these components
can be found within this FAQ.
2What graphics cards work with CrossFire™?
A CrossFire™ graphics card works with all members of the same
brand-family. Thus a Radeon® X850 CrossFire™ Edition can be used
as the Master graphics card with any Radeon® X850 product.
3What motherboards support CrossFire™?
The optimal configuration for a CrossFire™ system is one based on a
Radeon® Xpress 200 CrossFire™ Edition motherboard.
Motherboards from other manufactures will be certified as
CrossFire™ Ready when they become available.
4Are there specific CMOS motherboard settings for CrossFire™?
On some motherboards, the CMOS may be set by default to support
only a single PCI Express® X16 slot. Ensure that both PCIe™ X16
slots are enabled in the CMOS.

2
5Which slot does the CrossFire™ Master card go into on the
motherboard?
The CrossFire™ Master card must go into the primary PCI Express®
slot (slot zero) on the motherboard.
Note: To determine which PCIe™ slot is the primary slot, consult
your motherboard manual.
Alternately, to determine whether or not a CrossFire™ Edition card is
in the correct slot, connect your display directly to the DVI-I
connection on the Master graphics card instead of using the
CrossFire™ DMS-59™ connector, with both graphics cards seated in
their respective slots on the motherboard. If an image appears on the
screen upon boot-up, the card has been placed in the correct slot on
the motherboard.
6Are there any software settings required for CrossFire™ to
work?
Yes, there is a setting in the Catalyst™ Control Center that needs to be
enabled for CrossFire™ to operate. When all of the hardware and
software has been properly set up and installed, the following
CrossFire™ aspect appears in Catalyst™ Control Center:

3
To access and enable CrossFire™ in Catalyst™ Control Center, do
the following:
•ClickCrossFire™ in Advanced View. Then, select Enable
CrossFire™.
When CrossFire™ is successfully enabled, all display devices except
the one used by CrossFire™ will be disabled. Multiple monitors/
displays that are disabled when CrossFire™ is enabled reappear after
CrossFire™ is disabled.
7What is the difference between a CrossFire™ Edition graphics
card and a standard graphics card from the same family?
CrossFire™ Edition graphics cards include a “compositing engine,” a
chip that takes the partially rendered image from the Slave graphics
card and merges it with the partially rendered image from the Master

4
graphics card. The result is a complete frame rendered at up to twice
the performance of a single graphics card.
8How are the graphics cards connected on a CrossFire™ system?
The two cards are connection by an external cable. The cable is
attached from the Slave graphics card’s DVI-I connection to the
CrossFire™ Edition’s DMS-59™ connection, which is used to
convey information from the Slave graphics card to the Master
graphics card and transmit the combined signal to a display device.
9Which games/applications work with CrossFire™?
CrossFire™ works with all 3D games and applications. If Catalyst™
A.I. is enabled in the Catalyst™ Control Center software, the optimal
rendering mode available for the application is automatically selected.
10 Is a driver profile required to make CrossFire™ work?
No. CrossFire™ is enabled by default for all 3D games and
applications.
11 What happens if you pair a 12-pipeline CrossFire™ Edition
graphics card with a CrossFire™ Ready 16-pipeline graphics
card?
In this scenario both graphics cards will operate as 12-pipeline
graphics cards while in CrossFire™ mode.
12 What happens if the CrossFire™ Edition graphics card and the
CrossFire™ Ready graphics card have different clock speeds?
Both cards will continue to operate at their individual clock speeds;
neither card is “stepped down.” The compositing engine on the
CrossFire™ Edition card merges the resulting images independent of
the clock speed on either graphics card.
13 What are the rendering modes, and what are their specific
advantages?
The following dynamic rendering modes are available:
• SuperTiling - CrossFire™ renders alternate 32x32 pixel squares in
a fine-grained checkerboard pattern. This configuration increases
image-rendering quality, as each card processes half of the
complex 3D objects in the pixel squares.

5
• Scissor Mode - each graphics card renders up to half of the display,
either vertically or horizontally depending on the game or
application.
• Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to
render alternate frames of the display. This configuration increases
the detail of the 3D objects each card can render, as each card
handles half of the total number of frames.
• Super Anti-aliasing - improves image quality by combining the
results of full-screen anti-aliasing across two graphics cards in a
CrossFire™ configuration. The two graphics cards work on
different anti-aliasing patterns within each frame.
The first three features are performance features settings
automatically selected by ATI's Catalyst™ Control Center. Super
Anti-aliasing is a display quality mode selectable using Catalyst™
Control Center.
14 On what basis are different rendering modes chosen?
When Catalyst™ A.I. is enabled in Catalyst™ Control Center, it
determines the optimal rendering mode to use, based on the
application or game being used. The default rendering mode is
dependant on both the hardware configuration and the application
being run; typically it will be either Scissor or SuperTiling mode. If
Catalyst™ A.I. is not enabled, any Direct 3D® applications that are
running on a system based on graphics cards with 16-pipeline
graphics processors will use SuperTiling Mode.
15 What type of performance improvement is expected?
Performance enhancements experienced on a CrossFire™ system
depend on the application or game being used. Performance
improvements can be increased up to 100%, and the latest graphics-
intensive programs will generally see over 80% performance
improvement at high resolutions and image-quality modes.
16 How many independent displays can be connected to a
CrossFire™ system?
While CrossFire™ is designed for optimal use on a single display, it
is possible to drive multiple monitors using a CrossFire™ system
when CrossFire™ is not enabled. On a standard CrossFire™ system,
it is possible to drive three separate sets of monitors and still have one

6
of those displays as a dedicated CrossFire™ display. If the
motherboard contains an integrated video connection and
SurroundView™ is enabled, more displays can be added.
Additional issues are covered in the “Troubleshooting” chapter in the
User’s Guide.

CrossFire™ Overview 7
CHAPTER 2:
Welcome to CrossFire™
ATI's CrossFire™ propels gaming PCs with the ultimate multi-GPU
consumer graphics solution.
CrossFire™ Overview
This section provides an overview of the main features and configurations
for CrossFire™. These topics will be covered in more detail in other
chapters of this manual.
Allowable CrossFire™ System Components
The basic requirements of a CrossFire™ system are a CrossFire™ certified
motherboard with two PCI Express® slots, a Radeon® CrossFire™ Edition
graphics card (the Master graphics card), and a compatible Radeon®
graphics card (the Slave graphics card).
Compatible Slave graphics Cards for the Radeon® X850
CrossFire Edition
• Radeon® X850XT Platinum Edition
• Radeon® X850XT
• Radeon® X850 Pro
For an up-to-date listing of CrossFire™ certified motherboards, see:
ati.com/crossfire.
CrossFire™ Rendering Modes
A CrossFire™ system has four possible display modes:
• SuperTiling
• Scissor Mode

8 CrossFire™ Rendering Modes
• Alternate Frame Rendering
• Super Anti-aliasing.
The first three are performance-oriented modes, and Super Anti-aliasing is
a quality-oriented mode. Each mode uses a different method for dividing
the workload required to render a 3D image across multiple GPUs. Only
one mode can be in operation at any given time.
The ATI Catalyst™ display driver will automatically select the best of the
three performance modes when a 3D application is started, without
requiring user intervention. The user can also choose to improve image
quality by selecting the new Super Anti-aliasing modes in the Catalyst™
Control Center.
SuperTiling
In this mode, each frame to be rendered is divided into a number of tiles in
an alternating checkerboard pattern, so that half of the tiles are assigned to
each of the two GPUs. Each tile is kept to a relatively small 32x32 pixel
square, so this method does a good job of balancing the workload across
each GPU regardless of what is being rendered on the display, doing so
without any software overhead.

CrossFire™ Rendering Modes 9
SuperTiling has the advantage of being able to work with practically any
3D application. However, there are a small number of applications where
the SuperTiling workload distribution does not provide optimal
performance. For these special cases, Scissor Mode can be used.
Scissor Mode
In this mode, each frame is split into two sections, with each section being
processed by one GPU. The split can be either horizontal or vertical, and
the split can be even (50/50) or uneven (such as 60/40 or 70/30). The ideal
configuration is determined automatically for each application.
1PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
2Radeon® X850 CrossFire Edition Master Graphics Card
3Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
4Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Master Graphics Card
5Final Rendered Frame on Display

10 CrossFire™ Rendering Modes
Although Scissor Mode is generally a less efficient means of splitting the
workload than using SuperTiling, there are a few cases where it can be
more efficient. It is supported by CrossFire™ in order to maximize
compatibility and performance.
Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Mode
In this mode, all even frames are rendered on one GPU, while all odd
frames are rendered on the other. The completed frames from both GPUs
are sent to the Compositing Engine on the CrossFire™ Edition card, which
then sends them on to the display. By allowing both GPUs to work
independently, AFR provides the greatest potential performance
1PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
2Radeon® X850 CrossFire Edition Master Graphics Card
3Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
4Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Master Graphics Card
5Final Rendered Frame on Display

CrossFire™ Rendering Modes 11
improvements of all the available modes. It is also the only mode that
allows the full vertex processing performance of both GPUs to be
combined.
The main limitation of this mode is that it cannot be used in applications
where the appearance of the current frame is dependent upon data
generated in previous frames, since AFR generates successive frames
simultaneously on different GPUs. In these cases, the SuperTiling or
Scissor Mode is used instead.
Super Anti-aliasing Mode
Anti-aliasing (AA) is a rendering technique designed to remove jagged
edges, shimmering, and pixelation problems that are common in rendered
1PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
2Radeon® X850 CrossFire Edition Master Graphics Card
3Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card
4Partial Frame Rendered on PCI Express® Master Graphics Card
5Final Rendered Frame on Display

12 CrossFire™ Rendering Modes
3D images. Rather than simply determining the color of each pixel on the
screen by sampling a single location at the pixel’s center, anti-aliasing
works by sampling multiple locations within each pixel and blending the
results together to determine the final color.
The latest generation of ATI’s Radeon® GPUs with SmoothVision™ HD
technology uses a method known as Multi-sample Anti-aliasing (MSAA).
This method takes samples from 2, 4, or 6 programmable locations within
each pixel, and uses gamma correct sample blending for high-quality
smoothing of polygon edges. The new CrossFire Super Anti-aliasing mode
takes advantage of the programmable sample capability of
SmoothVision™ HD to provide higher quality anti-aliasing on CrossFire™
systems.
It works by having each GPU render the same frame with anti-aliasing
enabled, but uses different sample locations for each. When both versions
of the frame are completed, they are blended in the CrossFire Compositing
engine. The resulting image has effectively twice the number of samples,
so 4x and 6x Anti-aliasing becomes 8x and 12x Super Anti-aliasing,
respectively.
1PCI Express® Slave Graphics Card