User's Guide DISCLAIMER The manufacturer (MFR) reserves the right to make changes to this document and the products which it describes without notice. The MFR shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions made herein; not for incidental or consequential damages resulting from the furnishing, performance, or use of this material. The MFR makes no representation that the interconnection of products in the manner described herein will not infringe on existing or future patent rights, nor do the descriptions contained herein imply the granting of license to make, use or sell equipment constructed in accordance with this description. The PCI accelerators have been designed to support the PCI local bus standards. Some computers use proprietary local bus circuitry and therefore may not be fully compatible with the MFR's local bus cards. Although tested successfully in a wide variety of computer systems, the MFR cannot be held responsible for any incompatibilities which may occur between this card and the system configuration you plan to use. We recommend that you check with the dealer or distributor for your computer system before installing your card. © Copyright 1999 Fire GL Graphics. All rights reserved 2 Table of Contents 1 ABOUT FIRE GL1................................................... 5 HARDWARE FEATURES............................................................ 6 SOFTWARE FEATURES ............................................................. 6 PROFESSIONAL 3D RENDERING ............................................ 7 CARD LAYOUT ........................................................................ 8 2 HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL ................................ 9 MANUAL CONVENTIONS ....................................................... 9 3 INSTALLING FIRE GL1............................................ 10 INSTALLING THE HARDWARE ................................................ 10 Preparing your Computer.......................................... 11 Opening the Computer Cabinet .............................. 13 Installing the Card......................................................... 14 Reassembling Your Computer .................................. 15 Connecting the Monitor Cable ................................. 16 After Installing the Card ............................................. 17 INSTALLING SOFTWARE.......................................................... 19 General Information .................................................... 19 Software Installation for Windows NT4.0............. 20 4 FIRE GL1 SOFTWARE UTILITIES............................ 22 CHANGING THE VIDEO SETTINGS ........................................ 23 Setting Resolution and Color Depth ....................... 24 Choosing Monitors and Display Refresh Rates .... 25 Adjusting the Monitor Display .................................. 27 Setting Multiple Monitor Configuration.................. 31 MODIFYING APPLICATION PROFILES..................................... 33 5 REMOVING THE FIRE GL1 DRIVERS ..................... 36 3 Table of Contents 6 TROUBLESHOOTING...............................................37 COMMON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS ............................... 37 A TECHNICAL DETAILS ..............................................40 FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE ............................................. 40 Hardware........................................................................ 40 Software.......................................................................... 41 Hardware Performance .............................................. 42 PIN ASSIGNMENTS ................................................................... 42 VIDEO MODES.......................................................................... 43 BLOCK DIAGRAM .................................................................... 44 B GLOSSARY ...............................................................45 C TRADEMARKS ..........................................................57 D EMI COMPLIANCE INFORMATION ........................58 4 1 HARDWARE FEATURES SOFTWARE FEATURES CARD LAYOUT ABOUT FIRE GL1 PROFESSIONAL 3D RENDERING Diamond Fire GL1 is based upon the IBM 256-bit Graphics Rasterizer, integrating the functionality of a VGA controller, a 2D/3D Raster Engine with Geometry Pipeline Setup processor, and a 250 MHz RAMDAC in a single package. Diamond Fire GL1 delivers a balance of 2D power and superior 3D acceleration providing power for professional 2D and 3D NT graphics applications: Mechanical Engineering Analysis (MEA) Mechanical Computer Aided Design (MCAD) Electrical Design Automation (EDA) Digital Content Creation (DCC) Animation Visualization About Fire GL1 5 HARDWARE FEATURES IBM 256-bit Graphics Rasterizer 32 MB SGRAM used for unified framebuffer, Z-, Alpha-, Overlay-, Window ID and Clip/Stencil buffers, and texture storage Single short form factor AGP and PCI versions AGP ATX/NLX bus, AGP2x version 2.0 compliant, with sideband addressing PCI bus 32-bit 33/66 MHz version 2.1 compliant 100 MHz clock on raster engine and frame buffer 64 KByte BIOS FlashROM, reprogrammable by software 32-bit RGB True color 2D and 3D acceleration Accelerated, double-buffered 32-bit TrueColor up to 1920 x 1200, at 75 Hz refresh rates 24-bit Z- buffer, 4-bit double-buffer, 8-bit single-buffer overlay Video engine supports YUV conversion, point and bilinear scaling Standard blue 15-pin D-Type video output connector SOFTWARE FEATURES OpenGL 1.2 ICD Supports Windows NT 4.0 Multiprocessor system support Software driver supports up to 4 displays DDC2B support on all operating systems 6 Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions (70 New Instructions) in the new Intel Processors Customized application settings for individual ISV applications Multithreaded OpenGL pipeline and ThreadSafe OpenGL 1.2 ICD support for dual processors. Multihead display driver supports up to 4 screens DDC2B monitor support on all operating system platforms PROFESSIONAL 3D RENDERING Full OpenGL 1.2 feature set Gouraud shading Bilinear and trilinear MIP-mapping Alpha blending Fogging and depth cueing Anti-aliased lines and sorted polygons Scissoring and stippling Overlay and stencil buffers Z-buffering For more information on features and performance of your Fire GL1 please refer to the section Technical Details. Important -- You must be running Windows NT 4.0, updated with Service Pack 4 (or newer) prior to installing the Fire GL1 drivers. The Service Pack is available from Microsoft's web page, www.microsoft.com. For most languages you can perform the Service Pack 4 update from the SuperCD when you run the Quick Start utility. About Fire GL1 7 CARD LAYOUT Fire GL1 with AGP bus interface 1 2 3 IBM 256-bit Graphics Rasterizer with fan SG-RAM chips - also on solder side DB-15 monitor connector 4 5 6 Flash BIOS PROM Oscillator 3.3V/5V voltage supply support with heatsink Fire GL1 with PCI bus interface 8 2 HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL For your convenience, this online User's Guide has been formatted as an Adobe® Acrobat® PDF file. This format gives you great flexibility when using this documentation. You can easily print this manual to access it off-line; it will look like any standard document with a table of contents and page numbers. You can also read it online--important links, such as table of contents entries, worldwide web, and email addresses are active. This manual might be displayed with slightly-reduced magnification in your Reader. If you experience any difficulty reading certain image files online, use the Reader's Zoom To feature from the View menu and increase the magnification to about 133%. For printing the User's Guide, a print resolution of 600 dpi is recommended. MANUAL CONVENTIONS Your Fire GL1 User's Guide is organized in a standard, familiar way. A few icons are used to point out important information: This icon marks useful tips or important operational notes. This icon is a warning about possible electrical/software hazards or problems. Hypertext links are active. If you are reading this manual online, place your mouse cursor over Table of Contents entries or main headings. If the hand icon changes to a pointing index finger, simply click and you will move to that place in the document. Some email or World Wide Web addresses inside this manual may be active as well. Go directly to a Web, FTP site, or email program simply by clicking on an active link. How to Use this Manual 9 3 INSTALLING FIRE GL1 INSTALLING THE HARDWARE INSTALLING SOFTWARE INSTALLING THE HARDWARE Notes: If you plan to set up a multi-monitor system you must install the primary display adapter and the drivers first, before installing additional graphics cards. With the drivers provided you can operate a maximum of four Fire GL1 Graphics Accelerators. The drivers are designed exclusively to support Fire GL1 Graphics Accelerators with the Windows NT 4.0 operating system (updated with Service Pack 4 or higher). The drivers DO NOT SUPPORT any other type or brand of graphics card or operating system. Your Fire GL1 may be either an AGP or PCI type. Follow the instructions for the specific card that you purchased. Please note that the illustrations provided in this section are for instructional use only; the card shown may look different than the one you purchased. 10 System Requirements and Tools To use this card, you must have the following: a motherboard with free PCI/AGP 1.X slots for the number of Fire GL1 cards you want to install. a Pentium II PC (or better) Windows NT 4.0 operating system with Service Pack 4 (or newer) A screwdriver to remove and reinstall the PC cover screws and card mounting screws. See your PC manual for specific requirements. SuperCD CD-ROM for Fire GL1 Preparing your Computer Before removing your old card... If you are installing your Fire GL1 in place of a card from another manufacturer, we recommend that you de-install the old card first. Do the following: Use the uninstall program for your existing card, if one is available. Consult the documentation for your old card if necessary. If no uninstall program is available, install the standard VGA driver via the Display Properties applet. For more information refer to the following section, titled Installing the Standard VGA Driver. Installing Fire GL1 11 It is recommended that you set your display driver to Standard VGA before you shut down your computer and remove the installed (AGP, PCI, or ISA) VGA card. Some systems have an integrated graphics solution on the motherboard. Please refer to the manual or contact your motherboard manufacturer to determine how to disable your onboard graphics. The applications for which you want to install drivers also have to be completely installed for Standard VGA - 640 x 480 on your system prior to using the new software. It is a good idea to do this before removing an existing graphics adapter as not every application may permit the configuration of its video mode from the operating system level. Installing the Standard VGA Driver To avoid possible driver conflicts between your old and new graphics card, install the standard VGA driver for your operating system before installing the new card. Windows NT 4.0 To set your display to Standard VGA under Windows NT 4.0: 1. From the Start menu, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel, then double-click on Display. The Display Properties sheet appears. 2. Click the Settings tab; then click the Display Type button. 3. Under Adapter Type, click the Change button. The Change Display window appears. 4. Under Manufacturers, select (Standard display types). Under Display, choose VGA compatible display adapter. 5. Click OK. You may need to insert your Windows NT 4.0 CDROM. 12 6. Click Close and OK as often as necessary to accept the changes. 7. Windows asks you if you want to restart your computer. Click No. 8. Shut down your computer. You are now ready to remove your old graphics card and install your new Fire GL1 card. Opening the Computer Cabinet Warning! Prevent static electric damage. Avoid touching any electronic components. Static discharge can cause severe damage to electronic equipment, but here are some easy ways to see that it doesn't happen: Don't touch edge connectors or exposed circuitry. If possible, ground your body. A metal power supply in your computer is generally considered the best place to ground yourself. Make as few movements as possible to avoid building up static electricity from your clothing, carpets and furniture. 1. Switch off your computer and all external options (printer, display, and others) and unplug all power cables from the electrical source. Physically remove the power cable from the system and wait 15-30 seconds for Flea Power to dissipate. Damage can occur to add-in components if power is not physically disconnected from the system during installation procedure ...