ATI Technologies X1950 PRO manual

Radeon ® X1950 Pro CrossFire ™ Getting S t arted Guide P/N 137-41210-10[...]

ii Copyright © 2006, A TI T echnologies In c. All rights reserved. A TI, the A TI logo, and A TI product and produc t-feature names are tradem arks and/or registered trademarks of A TI T echnologies Inc. All other company and/or p roduct names are trad emarks and/or registered trademarks of their res pective owners. Feat ures, perform ance and sp [...]

iii Note: This graphics card is for use on ly with compatible UL Listed personal computers that have Installation Instructions detailing user installation of card cage accessories. L IMPORT ANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS • Read Instructions - All the safet y and operating instructions should be read before the product is operated. • Retain Instruction[...]

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v T able of Content s Installing CrossFire ™ Graphics Cards . . . . . . . . . . 1 Installing the CrossFire ™ Bridge Interco nnects 3 Display Configurat ions 4 Installing Software and Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Windows ® New Hardware Found 5 Installing the Catalyst ™ Software Suite 5 Enabling CrossFire ™ . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

vi Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Troubleshooting 21 Product Registration 25 Customer Care 25 Additional Accessories 27 Compliance Info rmation 27 FCC Compliance Information 27 Industry Canada Compl iance Statement 28 CE Compliance Information 28 Informations de conformité de la CE 28[...]

1 CHAPTER 1: Getting S t arted Congratulations on the purchase of your Radeon ® X19 50 Pro card . The CrossFire ™ Getting Started Guide will help you to successfully install you r new graphics card and associated software, and enable CrossFire ™ .[...]

2 System Requirement s External Connections • DVI-I output. • 15-pin VGA. •S - V i d e o . Hardware • Intel ® Pentium ® 4 or AMD Athlon ® . • 512MB of system memory; 1GB or more for best performance. • Optical drive for installation software (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive). • S pecialized PCI Express ® 450 watt or greater power supply r[...]

3 Uninst all Previous Graphics Card Drivers To ensure the successful installatio n of yo ur new Radeon ® X1950 Pro card, you must uninstall the drivers fo r the existing graphics card before removing it from your computer. T o uninstall previous drivers With your current graphics card still in your computer: 1 Close all applications th at are curr[...]

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5 CHAPTER 2: Inst alling CrossFire ™ Graphics Cards The following set of instructions assumes th at one Radeon ® X1950 Pro graphics card has already been successfully installed in the primary slot (slot zero), and that the secondary slot (slot on e) is empty. If you have not already done so, see the Getting St arted Guide that came with the grap[...]

6 1 450 W att (or greater) Power Sup ply 2 Radeon ® X1950 Pro Graphics Card 3 Radeon ® X1950 Pro Graphics Card 4 2 CrossFire ™ -Bridge Interconnects W ARNIN G: Always handle the C rossFire ™ Bridge Interconnects by the connector only . Do not push or pull on the flexible circuit cable.[...]

7 1 T urn off the computer , monitor , and other peripheral devices. 2 Unplug the computer ’ s power cord and disconnect all cables from the back of your computer . 3 Remove the computer cover . If necessary , consult your computer ’ s manual for help in removing the cover . 4 Unscrew or unfasten and remove any non-CrossFire ™ supported graph[...]

8 2 Press one end of the CrossFire ™ Bridge Interconnect onto one of the connections on o ne of the graphics cards. 3 Press the opposite end of the CrossFire ™ bridge interco nnect on to corresponding connection of the second graphics card . Repeat the above steps to connect the second CrossFire ™ Bridge Interconnect to the graphics cards. 4 [...]

Windows ® New Hardware Found 9 CHAPTER 3: Inst alling Sof tware and Drivers This chapter will guide you through the installation of the drivers and software associated with your Radeon ® X1950 Pro graphics card. Windows ® New Hardware Found Windows ® may start the Add New Hardware Wizard to install the Standard VGA Driver. To correctly install [...]

10 Installing the Catalyst ™ Software Suite T o install t he Catal yst ™ software su ite Note: Optical drive refers to any dr ive capable of reading CD-ROM media. 1 Insert the A TI Installation CD-ROM into your optical drive. If W indows ® runs the CD-ROM automatically , proceed to step 5. 2 Click St ar t > Run . 3 T ype the following: D:A[...]

11 CHAPTER 4: Enabling CrossFire ™ To take full advantage of running dual graphics cards, you must enable CrossFire ™ and configure it in the Catalyst ™ Control Center.Launching Catalyst ™ Control Center Launch Catalyst ™ Control Center from one of the following acces s points: • W indows ® Sta rt M en u • W indows ® System T r ay ?[...]

12 Launching Cataly st ™ Control Center Using Hot Keys • Y ou can press the predefin ed combination of keys Ctrl+Alt+C to launch Catalyst ™ Control Center , or you can define your ow n hot key sequence by using the Catalyst ™ Control Cen ter’ s Hotkey Manager . Enable Cros sFire ™ 1 From the T ree V iew pane, click CrossFir e ™ in Adv[...]

CrossFire ™ Overview 13 CHAPTER 5: W elcome to CrossFire ™ ATI CrossFire ™ is the ultimate multi-G PU perfo rmance gaming platform, using ATI CrossFire ™ ready motherboards an d ATI graphics cards. CrossFire ™ Overview This section provides an overview of the main featur es and configurations for CrossFire ™ . These topics will be cover[...]

14 CrossFire ™ Rendering Modes The first three are performance-oriented modes, while Super Anti-aliasing is a quality-oriented mode. Each mode uses a different met hod 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 automati[...]

15 CHAPTER 6: CrossFire ™ FA Q The following are frequently as ked questi o ns about CrossFire ™ . For the late st informatio n, please consult th e CrossFire ™ Web site at: ati.com/cro ssfire 1 What combination of products ar e requir ed to build a working CrossFir e ™ system based on the Radeon ® X1950 Pro? T wo components are required: [...]

16 2 What motherboards support CrossFir e ™ ? Motherboards from other manufactur es will be certified as CrossFire ™ Ready when they become availabl e. For a comprehensive list of qualified motherboards, plea se consult the CrossFire ™ W eb site at: ati.com/cro ssfire 3 Are ther e specific CMOS motherb oard settings for CrossFir e ™ ? On so[...]

17 5 How are the graphics cards connected on a CrossFir e ™ system? T wo Radeon ® X1950 Pro cards ar e connected by two CrossFire ™ Bridge Interconnects, connecting the custom DV O ports on each card together . T o see where the DVO ports are located on the Radeon ® X1950 Pro cards, see the picture of the Radeon ® X1950 Pro CrossFire ™ imp[...]

18 • Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to render alternate frames of the disp lay. This configuration increases the detail of the 3D objects each car d can render, as each card handles half of the total number of frames. The features above are performan ce features settings automatically selected by ATI's Catalyst ?[...]

19 12 How many independent displays can be connected to a Cr ossFire ™ 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 s tandard CrossFire ™ system, it is possible to drive four separate sets of monitors a[...]

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Troublesho oting 21 CHAPTER 7: Reference This chapter provides information on troubleshoot ing, where to get ad ditional accessories, and how to regi ster your product, plus warranty and compliance information. T roubleshooting The following troubleshooting tips may help if you experience problems. ATI’s documentation con tains helpful install at[...]

22 Troubleshootin g No Display • Check that the card is seated properly in its expansion slot. • Ensure that the monitor cable is securely fastened to the card. • Make sure that the monitor and computer are plugg ed in and receiving power . • Make sure that you selected the appropriate monitor when you installed your enhanced driver . Scree[...]

Troublesho oting 23 CrossFire ™ -Specific T roubleshooting Problem Possible Solution CrossFire ™ is Not Functioning In order for CrossFire ™ to function, the CrossFir e ™ Bridge Interconnects must correctly connect the CrossF ire ™ graphics cards. 1. Connect one end of the CrossFir e ™ Bridge Interconnect to the internal VMO connection [...]

24 Troubleshootin g Screen Rotation Function Does Not Work or is Unavailable Screen rotation is not an ava ilable feature on CrossFire ™ systems. Vi deo displ ays flicker du ring system startup This is a normal as CrossFire ™ starts up. CrossFire ™ start s in software mode This is a normal when starting up for the first time after installing [...]

Additional Accessor ies 27 Additional Accessories Additional and replacement cables, installation CD-ROMs, manuals, and other accessories for ATI pr oducts can be purchased from the online ATI store at: ati.com/online/accessories Compliance Information This section details the complian ce information for thi s produ ct. FCC Compliance Information T[...]

28 Compliance Information Industry Canada Compliance St atement ICES-003 This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003. Cet appareil numérique de la Classe B est con forme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada. For further compliance informat ion: ATI Research Inc. 62 Forest St reet. Marlborough, MA 01752 USA 508-303-3900 CE Compliance In[...]