ATI Technologies RADEON 8500 User Manual
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ATI Technologies RADEON 8500 User Manual

Diamond multimedia radeon graphics card user's guide
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RADEON
RADEON
RADEON
User's Guide
Version 5.0
P/N 137-40282-50 Rev. D
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.
™
8500
™
8500LE
™
7500
i

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  • Page 1 RADEON RADEON RADEON User’s Guide Version 5.0 P/N 137-40282-50 Rev. D 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.

  • Page 2: Product Notice

    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,...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Introduction........1 Features At A Glance ... 2 RADEON 7500 ... 2 RADEON 8500 and RADEON 8500LE ... 2 ATI’s CATALYST™ Software Suite ... 3 Multiple Displays and 3D Gaming Experience... 3 Direct 3D®...
  • Page 4 Viewing Text on a TV... 27 Reducing Edge Distortion ... 28 Changing Display Configurations ... 29 Using Games and Applications ... 29...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    Introduction The RADEON family of graphic accelerators delivers ground breaking 3D graphics performance. • Designed and built by ATI Technologies Inc. • Powered by the RADEON Visual Processing Unit (VPU). • Awesome 3D gaming performance. • Support for OpenGL • Support for Direct 3D •...

  • Page 6: Features At A Glance

    3D images, allowing users to configure their own high quality or high performance gaming experience • PIXEL TAPESTRY™ II which provides even greater 3D rendering power • Digital flat panel support (RADEON 8500 only)

  • Page 7: Ati's Catalyst™ Software Suite

    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.

  • Page 8: Multiple Displays

    Multiple Displays Connecting Your Monitor(s) The RADEON 8500 provides hardware support for one DVI-I monitor or two VGA monitors using the DVI-I-to-VGA adapter. A TV can also be used to expand your desktop by using the S-Video out. The RADEON 7500 provides support for one VGA monitor and Composite output to a TV.

  • Page 9: Catalyst Software Suite

    CATALYST Software Suite The following section provides an explanation of each ATI tab available after installing the CATALYST Software Suite. ATI Displays Tab The ATI Displays tab provides the multi monitor features. Here you can enable/disable display devices and swap the assignment of Primary and Secondary displays.

  • Page 10: Enabling/Disabling Secondary Displays

    Enabling/Disabling Secondary Displays Access the Windows click Display. Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced... button. Click on the ATI Displays tab. Click the enable/disable button display device you want to enable/disable. Click OK or Apply to save the changes. Enabling Extended Desktop Mode Access the Windows click Display.
  • Page 11 To enable Extended Desktop Mode, refer to the section Enabling Extended Desktop Access the Windows click Display. Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced... button. Click on the ATI Displays tab. The ATI Displays tab shows you the display(s) that are active.

  • Page 12: Virtually Repositioning Your Displays

    Virtually Repositioning Your Displays On the Settings tab, click and drag the appropriate monitor icon to the desired position. For example, the secondary display can be dragged to the left of the primary display, allowing it to be virtually on the left, as shown below.

  • Page 13: Ati Color Tab

    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) can also be changed. This increases or decreases the brightness of your Desktop desktop.
  • Page 14 Clicking the Game Gamma button accesses the Game Gamma Properties. These controls allow you to increase or decrease the Red Green color brightness of Direct 3D and OpenGL games Blue sliders played in fullscreen mode. (NOTE: Game Gamma is NOT supported in Windows NT4.0) Uncheck this to adjust the RGB sliders individually.

  • Page 15: Ati Options Tab

    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. Version Information Details button Reactivate all warning messages Enable ATI taskbar icon application ATI Options Tab Provides the CATALYST version number, 2D version number and the driver build information.

  • Page 16: Ati Overlay Tab

    Show ATI icon on taskbar Disable quick resolution feature 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.
  • Page 17 Use this slider to adjust the brightness of the video Brightness image. Contrast Use this slider to adjust the contrast in the video image. Use this slider to adjust the vividness of the color. Saturation Sliding it all the way to the left removes all color and produces a black and white picture.

  • Page 18: Direct 3D® Control Panel

    Direct 3D Using this tab, gamers can tweak the settings of their Direct 3D 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.
  • Page 19 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 Main Settings the slider to the right will provide excellent 3D image slider quality. Moving this slider from one position to the next changes the individual Custom Settings sliders found below.
  • Page 20 Selecting this decides whether your application should use high quality or high performance textures. Moving Texture the slider to the right delivers the highest quality Preference experience. Moving the slider to the left emphasizes a slider high performance solution while still providing good visuals.

  • Page 21: Direct 3D® Compatibility Settings

    ® Direct 3D Compatibility Settings This will enable W-Buffer support for 3D games. It is recommended to disable this for games that do not Support support this feature. Certain applications require the W-buffer increased precision of W-Buffering and will exhibit artifacts unless the W-Buffer is enabled.
  • Page 22 When applications use both dithering and alpha blending, visual artifacts can occur. This option allows Alpha you to select how the application should handle both dithering features at the same time. In most cases Error method Diffusion will handle this situation quite well, but there are a few cases where selecting Ordered may be necessary.

  • Page 23: Opengl® Control Panel

    OpenGL Using this tab, gamers can tweak the settings of their OpenGL 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.
  • Page 24 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 Main Settings the slider to the right will provide excellent 3D image slider quality. Moving this slider from one position to the next changes the individual Custom Settings sliders found below.
  • Page 25 Selecting this decides whether your application should use high quality or high performance textures. Moving Texture the slider to the right delivers the highest quality Preference experience. Moving the slider to the left emphasizes a slider high performance solution while still providing good visuals.

  • Page 26: Opengl® Compatibility Settings

    ® OpenGL Compatibility Settings Force Z-buffer This allows you to explicitly set the Z-Buffer depth. Most depth applications will work best when Disabled is selected When applications use both dithering and alpha blending, visual artifacts can occur. This option allows Alpha you to select how the application should handle both dithering...

  • Page 27: Using Tv Out

    European TVs on page 25 your PC to your European TV. Connecting to a TV or a VCR To connect your RADEON 8500 to a TV or a VCR, use an S-Video cable. To connect your RADEON IMPORTANT INFORMATION for European Customers...
  • Page 28 Turn on your PC and your TV (or VCR). S-Video In Composite In TV or VCR NOTE: Newer TVs may have the Video Input on the front panel RADEON 8500 S-Video Out S-Video Cable Composite Cable RADEON 7500 Composite Out...

  • Page 29: Starting Windows® With Tv Display Enabled

    SCART CONNECTOR The above illustration shows how to connect your RADEON 8500 to a European TV using the SCART. The SCART connector supports only the Composite video format, which means you will have to use an S-Video-to-Composite Video Adapter Cable. If...

  • Page 30: Using And Adjusting Tv Out

    Click on the ATI Displays tab. Click on the TV button. Click the enable/disable button. Click OK or Apply to save the changes. Using and Adjusting TV Out For information about how to use TV display, right click the ATI taskbar icon, point to Help, then point to ATI Television Display.

  • Page 31: Adjusting Monitor Display

    Adjusting Monitor Display The size of the display on your monitor may be smaller and not perfectly centered when you have TV display enabled. These effects are caused by the changes required to provide a proper display on the Use the controls available on the Adjustments tab on the Monitor Properties page (accessible by clicking on the Monitor button on the ATI Displays tab) to adjust the display on your monitor only.

  • Page 32: Reducing Edge Distortion

    Reducing Edge Distortion When using a TV for your PC’s display, you may see some edge distortion on the left and right side of your TV screen. This effect depends on your TV and the PC application you are running. To reduce edge distortion, you can increase the TV display’s horizontal size.

  • Page 33: Changing Display Configurations

    Drag the Contrast slider to the right to increase the contrast. Click OK or Apply to save the changes you have made. Changing Display Configurations If you move your PC to a place where you are using TV display only, make sure that you have the TV display feature enabled.

This manual is also suitable for:

Radeon 8500leRadeon 7500

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