Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS User manual

nVIDIA
GeForce 2 GTS
Multimedia VGA Controller
Installation Guide
Version 1.0
06/2000
Copyrights and Liabilities
The information contained in this manual has been validated at the time of this
manual’s production. The manufacturer reserves the right to make any changes and
improvements on the product described in this manual at any time and without notice.
Consequently, the manufacturer assumes no liability for damages incurred directly or
indirectly from errors, omissions or discrepancies between the product and the
manual. All registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright © 1999 All rights reserved. No reproduction of this document in any form
is permitted without prior written authorization from the manufacturer.
Trademark
All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
MM0GF2G-01E-00

FCC Notice
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
following two conditions:
(1) This device may not cause harmful interference.
(2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
Notice:
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
installation.
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 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 interference by one or more of the following measures:
.Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
.Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
. Plug the computer into a different outlet so that the two devices are on different
branch circuits.
. If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television
technician for additional suggestions.
Warning:
Shielded interface cables must be used in order to comply with emission limits.
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for
compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
CSA Notice:
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 Canadian
Department of Communications.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Overview..................................................................1
Chapter 2 Hardware Installation.............................................3
Chapter 3 Software Installation...............................................5
Chapter 4 Display Properties for Windows..............................8
Chapter 5 Expertool for Windows..........................................13
Chapter 6 Technical Information ..........................................17
Chapter 7 Trouble Shooting...................................................19

1
Congratulation on the purchase of your new graphics accelerator card! You are now
the owner of a state-of-the-art video adapter that offers features and functionality
equal to, and beyond any other in its VGA class.
System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for installing the graphics card are as
follows:
¾a personal computer with a Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III or compatible
microprocessor and at least 8MB of memory
¾a VGA analog monitor supporting a minimum 60Hz vertical refresh rate
¾an available AGP or PCI bus slot
¾a CD-ROM drive
Features
¾256Bit Graphics architecture
¾Support 2/4X AGP with Fast Write AND Execute mode
¾Integrated 350MHz RAMDAC, resolution up to 2048x1536 True Color @75Hz
¾Full acceleration for Microsoft DirectX7 and Open GL 1.2 ICD
¾2nd generation T&L Engines
¾32-bit color & 32-bit Z/Stencil buffer
¾Cube Environment Mapping
¾8 Texels Per Clock with Hypertexel
¾Order Environment Mapping
¾25M Triagngles/sec through Set-up & 1600M texels/sec.
¾DirectX Texture Compression
¾Enhanced Motion compensation for full speed DVD playback
¾Support DVI-I 1.0 Digital Flat Panel output (Optional)
¾Support NTSC/PAL TV-OUT with flicker filter (Optional)
¾S3TC Support
¾Support Video In (Optional)
¾Support VIP I/O port (Optional)
High Performance 256-bit 2D Acceleration
¾True-color hardware cursor
¾Multi-buffering for smooth animation and video playback
Chapter 1 Overview

2
Visually Stunning Interactive 3D
¾8 texture-mapped ,filtered ,lit texels per clock cycle
¾32-bit Z/stencil buffer (Floating point or integer)
¾32-bit ARGB rendering with destination alpha
¾High Quality Texture Filtering, including Anisotropic
¾Single pass multi-texture
High Quality HDTV/DVD Playback
¾8:1 up scaling and down scaling
¾Video acceleration for DirectShow, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and Indeo
¾Multiple Video windows with hardware color space conversion and filtering
Software Support
¾Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000
¾Microsoft Windows NT4.0
¾DirectDraw
¾Direct3D Direct Video
¾ActiveX

3
Back of
computer
Static electricity can severely damage electronic parts. Take these precautions:
)Before touching any electronic parts, drain the static electricity from your body.
You can do this by touching the internal metal frame of your computer while
it's unplugged.
)Don't remove a card from the anti-static container it shipped in until you're
ready to install it. When you remove a card from your computer, place it back
in its container.
)Don't let your clothes touch any electronic parts.
)When handling a card, hold it by its edges, and avoid touching its circuitry.
Before You Begin
Before you process further, make sure your computer system meets the peripheral
requirements and switch to the standard VGA display driver.
Prepare Your Computer for Installation
Prior to working on your computer, make sure the power of the computer and any
related equipment is turned off.
Select a Vacant Expansion AGP (PCI) Slot
Most computers have a combination of AGP, PCI and ISA expansion slots. AGP
slots are usually made from plastic of a contrasting brown color (beige color), and are
shorter than other slots in your computer. Your system manual should identify the
AGP or PCI slots, as appropriate for your model. Plugging your Graphic card into
an incorrect slot could damage the card, your computer, or both. Do not try to force a
card into a slot that does not accommodate it, as it is probably the wrong slot.
ISA slot
PCI slot
AGP vs. PCI vs. ISA expansion slots
AGP slot
Chapter 2 Hardware Installation

4
Insert your Graphic Card
Remove the cover for the slot you intend to use and save the screw for the mounting
bracket. Then, pick up the Graphic card and position it over the expansion slot
you’ve chosen. Push the card firmly and evenly until it’s fully seated in the slot.
Replace the screw to secure the bracket of the Graphic card to the computer chassis.
Connect the Monitor/DVI (Optional)
Plug your monitor/DVI cable into the monitor/DVI connector on your Graphic card.
Make sure the other end of the monitor/DVI cable is properly connected to your
monitor/DVI.
PCI expansion
slot
Graphics card
Bracket screw
Motherboard
Monitor Connector (Blue)
AGP
expansion slot
DVI Host Receptacle Connector

5
)Before installing the Display driver, make sure your Windows 95/98/2000/NT
was installed in VGA mode and functions properly.
)For Windows 95 systems, please install DirectX before attempting to use the
MPEG Movie Player.
)To use an AGP graphics card with NT4.0, you may need to re-install NT with
Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later version before installing the AGP card.
)If you are running Windows NT4.0, please note that some drivers are not
compatible with earlier releases of Windows NT. Consult your dealer or local
support to ensure you have the most recent releases for Windows NT and the
drivers.
)The pictures in this chapter are only for Win98 reference.
Before You Begin
If your system is running Windows 95/98/2000/NT, the New Hardware Found
dialog box will appear after restart. Select Driver from disk provided by
hardware manufacturer, click OK, then follow all on-screen instructions. If the
New Hardware Found dialog box does not appear, follow the instructions below.
Setup VGA Mode
Click the right mouse button anywhere on the Windows 95/98/2000/NT desktop and
select Properties from the pop-up menu that appears on screen. Select Settings │
││
│
Change Display Type (For OSR2 users, please select Settings│
││
│Advanced
Properties. For Windows 98 users, please select Settings│
││
│Advanced. For
Windows NT users, please select Setting│
││
│Display Type) and then click the
[Change] button for Adapter Type. When the Select Device dialog box appears on
the screen, please select [Standard display types] from the manufacturers list and
select Standard Display Adapter (VGA) from the list of models then click OK.
Chapter 3 Software Installation

6
Install Software Driver
Method 1 – Automatically install VGA Driver and Applications:
1. Turn on your computer and start Windows 95/98/2000/NT.
2. Insert the Driver CD into your CD-ROM drive.
3. Click the Start button on the task bar and then select Run button.
4. Type D:\cdsetup.exe [Enter] in the Run dialog box (where D:\is the location of
your CD-ROM drive).
5. The Expertool VGA Installation dialog box will appear on the screen, please
click “Continue” button and follow the instructions on screen to complete
installation.
6. Final, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Method 2 – Manually install VGA Driver without Applications:
1. Turn on your computer and start Windows 95/98/2000/NT.
2. Insert the Driver CD into your CD-ROM drive.
3. Click the right mouse button anywhere on the windows 95/98/2000/NT desktop.
4. Select Properties from the pop-up menu that appears on the screen. (Figure 3-1)
5. Select Settings│
││
│Advanced in the Display Properties dialog box. (Figure 3-2)
Figure3-1 Figure3-2

7
6. Click the Change button for Adapter item. (Figure 3-3)
7. Click Next button in the Update Device Driver Wizard dialog box. (Figure 3-4)
Figure3-3 Figure3-4
8. Select Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select
the driver you want check box and click Next button. (Figure 3-5)
9. Select Show compatible hardware check box and click Have Disk button.
Type the path to the folder containing the driver files and click OK. Choose the
compatible VGA Models from your Driver. Then chick Next button to continue
the installation. (Figure 3-6)
Figure3-5 Figure3-6
10. Final, restart your computer to allow the changes to take effect. (Figure 3-7)
Figure3-7

8
The pictures in this chapter are only for Win98 reference.
)If the Color Correction doesn’t appear, please adjust the color palette to High
color or True color.
Figure4-1 Figure4-2
Click the right mouse button anywhere on the Windows desktop and select
Properties from the pop-up menu that appears on screen. In Display Properties
dialog box, for Win95, please select GeForce 2 GTS item. For Win98, please select
Settings│
││
│Advanced button then choose GeForce 2 GTS item as Figure 4-2. Then
click Additional Properties button, the Additional GeForce 2 GTS Properties
dialog box will appear. In the Additional GeForce 2 GTS Properties dialog box,
select Color Correction item as Figure 4-3.
Chapter 4 Display Properties for Windows

9
Figure4-3 Figure4-4
(As Figure 4-3)
Active Color Channel: Allows you to select the color channel controlled by the
sliders. You can adjust the red, green or blue channels individually or all three
channels at once.
Brightness/Contrast/Gamma: The slider controls allow you to adjust the brightness,
contrast or gamma values for the selected color channel.
Automatically apply these settings at startup: Selecting this option will
automatically restore the color adjustments you have made here when Windows is
restarted.
Custom Color Settings: A list of the custom color settings you have saved.
Selecting an item from the list will activate the setting.
Save As: Lets you save the current color settings as a custom setting. Saved
settings will then be added to the adjacent list.
Delete: Delete the custom color setting currently that selected in the list.
Restore Hardware Defaults: Restore all color values to the hardware factory
settings.
(As Figure 4-4)
Performance and Compatibility Options: This option is used to turn fog table
emulation on or off.
Automatically generate mipmap levels: The NVIDIA graphics processor
automatically generate mipmaps to increase the efficiency of texture transfers across
the bus and provide higher application performance.
Auto-mipmap method: Allows you to select the auto-mipmapping method used by
the graphics processor.

10
Mipmap detail level: Allows you to adjust the LOD (Level of Detail) bias for
mipmaps. A lower bias will provide better image quality, while a higher bias will
increase application performance.
Custom Direct3D settings: A list of the custom settings (or ″tweaks″) you have
saved. Selecting an item form the list will activate the setting. To apply the setting,
choose the ″OK″or ″Apply″button.
More Direct3D: Display a dialog that allows you to customize additional Direct3D
settings.
Restore Defaults: Restores all settings to their default values.
Figure4-5 Figure4-6
(As Figure 4-5)
Performance and Compatibility Options: Allowing fast linear-mip-linear filtering
provide in increased application performance at the expense of some image quality.
Default color depth for textures: This option determines whether textures of a
specific color depth should be used by default in OpenGL applications.
Buffer flipping mode: This option determines the buffer flipping mode for full-
screen OpenGL applications.
Vertical sync: This option lets you specify how vertical sync is handled in OpenGL.
Use up to MB of system memory for textures in PCI mode: This allows the
graphics processor to utilize up to the specified amount of system memory for texture
storage [in addition to the memory installed on the display adapter itself.]
This setting applies only to PCI display adapters [or AGP display adapters running in
PCI compatibility mode.]

11
(As Figure 4-6)
Video Overlay Controls: Use these sliders to adjust the quality of video or DVD
playback on your monitor. You can independently control the brightness, contrast,
hue and saturation to achieve optimal image quality when playing back videos or
DVD movies on your computer.
Figure4-7 Figure4-8
(As Figure 4-7)
Monitor Timing: Allows you to select your monitor timing mode.
Auto-Detect [let Windows determine the proper mode]: Allows Windows to
receive the proper timing information directly from the monitor itself. This is the
default setting. Note that some older monitors may not support this feature.
General Timing Formula (GTF): It’s a standard used by most newer hardware.
Discrete Monitor Timings (DMT): It’s an older standard still in use on some
hardware. Enable this option if your hardware requires DMT.
Display the Quick Tweak icon in the taskbar: Adds the NVIDIA Quick Tweak
icon to the Windows taskbar. The icon allows you to apply any of the custom
Direct3D, OpenGL or color settings ″on the fly″from a convenient pop up menu.
The menu also contains items for restoring default settings and accessing the Display
Properties dialog.
Select taskbar icon: Allows you to choose the icon used to represent the Quick
Tweak utility in the Windows taskbar. Select the icon you want displayed from the
list. Then choose ″OK″or ″Apply″to update the icon in the taskbar.

12
(As Figure 4-8)
In NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS Properties dialog box, select Output Device item.
These options in this dialog box allow you to select the output display devices
[ monitor, digital flat panel or TV, depending on which devices your display adapter
supports.]
Device Setting button: Opens a window where you can customice the settings for the
active display device.
As Figure 4-8, click Device Settings button, the Output Device Settings dialog box
will appear. In the Output Device Settings dialog box, you can use the arrow
buttons to adjust the position of the desktop on your monitor as Figure 4-9.
Figure 4-9

13
)For maximum compatibility and flexibility, the Expertool utility can be loaded
and unloaded dynamically. Notice: Many features which by the Expertool and
only available when Expertool was actived.
)These pictures in this chapter are only for Win98 reference.
Expertool is a display control and desktop enhancement utility for Windows
95/98/2000/NT, specially designed and optimized for use with your graphics
accelerator. You should think of Expertool as a kind of supplementary “device
driver” which works in conjunction with your accelerator’s display driver.
Installation
Expertool will automatically install when you use the Setup program under Windows
95/98/2000/NT (refer to Chapter 3). Once installed, it can be activated by selecting
Programs│
││
│Expertool│
││
│Expertool (Figure 5-1) or clicking on the “Expertool”
(Figure 5-3) icon in the System tray to show the Expertool Properties on your screen.
(Figure 5-2)
Uninstall
1. Click Close button to close Expertool. (Figure 5-2)
2. Then click Start button on the task bar and select Settings│
││
│Control Panel│
││
│
Add/Remove Programs.
3. Choice Expertool item for Install/Uninstall and click the Add/Remove button.
4. Click OK to uninstall Expertool.
Figure5-1 Figure5-2 Figure 5-3
Chapter 5 Expertool for Windows
Expertool Icon

14
Figure5-4 Figure5-5
(As Figure 5-4)
DeskTop: Displays the current Resolution Setting, Color Setting, Font Size and
Refresh Rate for the monitor. Drag the slider to specify values for each setting and
click OK to put changes into effect.
(As Figure 5-5)
Information: Displays the current display settings and information of your computer.
Run this program each time Windows starts - check box: Select this option to run
Expertool immediately each time Windows starts.
Figure5-6 Figure5-7

15
(As Figure 5-6)
Screen Adjustment: Selects Adjust to adjust the screen position with the keyboard.
If you wish to cancel any changes you’ve made, select Default.
Monitor Information: Shows information about your monitor.
Hide modes that this monitor cannot display: Unchecking this box will allow you
to set your display to modes that this monitor cannot display correctly. This may
lead to an unusable display and/or damaged hardware.
Power Saving: Allows you to adjust the Power Saving settings for Standby, Suspend
or Shut-off mode.
Standby check box: This option instantly places your monitor in standby mode,
which delivers minimal power savings but provides optimal recovery time.
Suspend check box: This option instantly places your monitor in Suspend mode,
which delivers maximum savings but requires a somewhat longer recovery time than
Standby mode.
Shut-off check box: This option effectively turns your monitor off, and recovery time
is practically equivalent to turning the monitor on using the monitor's power switch.
(As Figure 5-7)
Color: Moves the slider to adjust the gamma value. The farther you slide this to the
right, the higher the gamma value, and the brighter your display will be. The more
you slide this to the left, the lower the gamma value, and the dimmer your display
will be.
Figure 5-8 Figure 5-9

16
(As Figure 5-8)
Memory/Core Clock Setting Slider Control: Allows you to adjust your video
memory/core clock for peek performance and maximum stability. The higher you
set the memory/core clock the greater the performance increase. But changing this
value will affect the stability of the VGA card. It is recommended that you use the
original setting.
(As Figure 5-9)
DirectX: DirectX properties vary depending on the version of windows you are
running, the version of DirectX installed, and the type of DirectX enabled drivers
installed. This dialog box will also display the system's DirectX capabilities, and
related information.
Figure 5-10
(As Figure 5-10)
Zoom In: Clicks on the client area and drags the mouse to zoom the desktop.
(As Figure 5-2)
Minimize: Close the menu and minimizes this application.
Close: Close this application and disables the features it supports.

17
Display Memory Configuration
Memory-Resolution/Color
Thetablebelowisforreferenceonly.
256 color 16bit 32bit
640x480 240Hz 240Hz 240Hz
800x600 240Hz 240Hz 240Hz
1024x768 240Hz 240Hz 200Hz
1152x864 200Hz 200Hz 170Hz
1280x960 170Hz 170Hz 150Hz
1280x1024 170Hz 170Hz 150Hz
1600x900 150Hz 150Hz 120Hz
1600x1200 120Hz 120Hz 100Hz
1920x1080 100Hz 100Hz 85Hz
1920x1200 100Hz 100Hz 85Hz
1920x1440 85Hz 85Hz 75Hz
2048x1536 75Hz 75Hz 60Hz
Monitor Connector Pin Assignments
Pin no. Function Pin no. Function
1 RedVideo 9 +5V
2 GreenVideo 10 SyncReturn(ground)
3 BlueVideo 11 NC
4 NC 12 DDC DATA
5 Ground 13 Horizontal Sync
6 RedReturn(ground) 14 VerticalSync
7 Green Return (ground) 15 DDC CLOCK
8Blue Return (ground)
Chapter 6 Technical Information