Graphics Interface - Kontron microETXexpress-SP User Manual

4.3.6 Graphics Interface

The microETXexpress®-SP uses the graphics accelerator GMA500 with 200MHz GPU clock integrated in the Intel®
US15W System Controller Hub, which delivers shader-based technologies and high-performance 2D, 3D and video
capabilities. The GMA500 graphics engine supports a variety of LCD panels with single clock, color depths of 18/24 bit
and resolutions up to WXGA (1366x768). The maximum supported pixelclock of the US15W SCH is 112 MHz.
Hardware video decode acceleration relieves the decode burden from the processor and reduces the power
consumption of the system. Full hardware acceleration of H.264, MPEG2, VC1 and WMV9 eliminates the need of a
software codec and offloads the CPU.
The graphic adapter uses the onboard RAM as graphic memory. The preallocated memory is defined through BIOS
settings.
Possible settings include:
» 1MB
»
4MB
» 8MB
The total amount of graphics memory in the operating system depends on the size of system memory and the used
driver settings. The graphics media accelerator driver GMA uses DVMT to manage allocating of system memory
according to the needs of running applications. The Intel® Embedded Graphics Driver IEGD allocates the maximum of
graphics memory depending on system memory and driver settings.
Physical Memory
of microETXexpress®-SP
512MB
512MB
512MB
1024MB
1024MB
1024MB
Note : When using 1MB pre-allocated memory, a Operating Systems without active GMA or IEGD may have problems
displaying a screen (e.g. during WinXP installation).
VGA
The microETXexpress®-SP graphics subsystem integrated in the Intel® US15W System Controller Hub does not
natively support VGA output.
Note: Systems that require VGA support need to include a component on the carrier board. It is recommended to
implement a SDVO-to-VGA conversion (e.g. from Chrontel)
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microETXexpress®-SP / microETXexpress®-SP COM Express® Connector
Preallocated Memory
in BIOS Setup
1MB
4MB
8MB
1MB
4MB
8MB
Maximum Graphics Memory
with GMA Driver
127MB
126MB
125MB
255MB
254MB
253MB
Maximum Graphics Memory
with IEGD
352MB
352MB
352MB
352MB
352MB
352MB