ATI's FireGL™ cards are designed to accelerate 3D workstation applications based on OpenGL and Microsoft DirectX 9.0. With full certification on the leading computer aided design (CAD), architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) and digital content creation (DCC) applications, ATI FireGL™ is the high performance choice for graphics professionals working in Windows. These release notes provide information on the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1.
These release notes provide information on the following:
- Workstation family support
- Minimum System Requirements
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- Resolved Issues
- Known Issues
Workstation family support
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products:
- ATI FireGL™ 8800
- ATI FireGL™ Z1-128
- ATI FireGL™ T2-64
- ATI FireGL™ T2-128
- ATI FireGL™ X1-128
- ATI FireGL™ X1-256p
- ATI FireGL™ X2-256
- ATI FireGL™ X2-256t
- ATI FireGL™ X3-256
PCI Express Product Support
Minimum System Requirements
This section provides information on the system requirements for successful installation and operation. The following is a list of minimum system requirements:
- Intel Pentium 4/Xeon™, AMD Athlon/Opteron™ or compatible CPU
- PCI-Express x16 Bus for PCI-Express products
- AGP bus for AGP Products
- 128MB of system memory (256MB or more recommended)
- Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
- 300 watt or greater power supply (recommended)
Operating systems supported
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1 is designed to support the Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 operating systems.
New Features
This section provides information on new features found in this release of the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver. New features include:
- WMV8 and WMV9 Acceleration
- Component Detection Service
- User Defined LCD refresh rate
- Automatic Display Configuration Enhancement
- Combined FireGL and ATI Control Panel
- Rotation Support for FireGL™ Products
WMV8 and WMV9 Acceleration
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1 introduces an ATI Control Panel option to accelerate WMV8 and WMV9 playback. This feature is available on the following ATI FireGL™ products:
- ATI FireGL™ X2-256
- ATI FireGL™ Z1
- ATI FireGL™ T2
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
The feature is supported under the Windows XP operating system.
Component Detection Service
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1 introduces a re-architecture Component Detection Service (CDS). The CDS is a centralized service that details which ATI hardware/software components are installed on a system and updates an area of the registry with the information. Currently the CDS is very large and has become non-manageable along with some CDS coverage becoming obsolete. The new re-architecture CDS is more modular and easier to maintain. The new CDS consists of two export functions DoDetection and QueryCDSValue. When the DoDetection() function is enabled, the CDS will loop through the whole system to detect all the hardware and then write the detection information into the registry. The QueryCDSValue() is used to get specific information. QueryCDSValue() will call DoDetection() first to update and validate the current registry information and then return to specific information user is looking for. This feature is supported under the Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
User Defined LCD refresh rate
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.043.1.1 introduces a user defined LCD refresh rate which will allow the user to toggle between 50 and 60Hz. This goes beyond the current PowerPlay functionality that allows the user to set a minimum LCD refresh rate to 50Hz, while the default is set to 60Hz.This feature is supported under the Windows XP, and Windows 2000 operating systems. The feature is supported on the following ATI FireGL™ products:
- ATI FireGL™ Z1
- ATI FireGL™ X2-256
- ATI FireGL™ T2
- ATI FireGL™ V3100
- ATI FireGL™ V3200
- ATI FireGL™ V5100
Automatic Display Configuration Enhancement
This feature stores display settings, such as; resolution, color depth, refresh rate, rotation angle, display to CRT Controller mapping, and extended desktop settings in a display profile. The display profile is then applied based on the user selectable events such as:
- bootup (login)
- resume (login)
- user switch (login)
- fast user switch
- device switch through ACPI and SMI hotkeys
- hot plug/unplug
- lid close/open
- docking/undocking
It also stores other events controlled by the system BIOS through the Configure Displays int10 function call.
Note: On bootup and resume the display profile is applied after user login. A list of display profiles is maintained in the Windows registry on a per user basis. The display profile is created whenever the driver is requested to apply display settings and a new display device combination is detected.
Combined FireGL and ATI Control Panel
Previously the ATI Control Panel and the FireGL Control Panel were two different control panel applications. The FireGL™ Software Driver now provides one ATI Control Panel that supports the FireGL product line. The current ATI Control Panel has an automatic ser customizations packaging system and also has an automatic build system. The FireGL portion of the Control Panel will now be able to take advantage of these features found within the ATI Control Panel.
Rotation Support for FireGL™ Products
The ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver provides rotation support for all current shipping FireGL™ products. This feature enhancement provides three rotation modes, 90°, 180°, and 270°. This feature is supported under both the Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.
Resolved Issues
This section provides information on issues that have been resolved in this release of the ATI FireGL™ Unified Driver. These include the following:
- Running the Landmark multi-window graphics test with a single monitor connected to an ATI FireGL™ V3100 results in the video failing to respond when moving overlapping windows
- Enabling extended desktop mode under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ V3100 installed no longer results in the operating system failing the Landmark multi-window graphics test
- The lighting direction now remains static in 3ds max 6 when in DirectX 8.1 mode
- Setting the display properties to 1024x768 32bpp 75Hz refresh no longer results in icon corruption when attempting to play the demo application MrophTex.exe
- Setting the display properties to 1600x1024 and attempting to change the refresh rate from 60Hz to a higher refresh rate for certain monitors now results in the refresh rate changing to the higher rate
- Using the top level ATI uninstall tool on an ATI FireGL 8800 product line no longer results in the FireGL 3DStudioMAX driver is not being uninstalled
- Running the SPECapc test found in SolidWorks 2003 no longer results in an error message being displayed and the Windows XP operating system failing to respond when either an ATI FireGL X2-256 or T2-128 is installed
- When the width or height of a buffer is bigger than the R300_BUG_MAX_COORDS (2656x2656 render limitation) the function no longer render corruption
- Setting the display resolution to 1280x1024 32bpp and selecting Solidworks no longer results in the performance test rebooting the system
- Certain OpenGL application can no longer be resized above the 2048 addressable frame buffer area for FireGL 8800 cards under Windows XP
- The adapter string found in the adapter tab of the display properties now reports the device description
- Iconifying OpenGL programs no longer results in the Windows 2000 operating system failing to respond when the system is in span mode
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the ATI FireGL™ software driver version 8.043.1.1. These include the following:
- Running the application AVID DS 7.5 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ X2 installed results in the application rendering slowly. Further information on this issue may be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4594.html
- Playing the game Doom 3 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ T2 installed results in polygon corruption being seen when the system options for the game is set to Ultra Quality and the display properties is to 1280x1024. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4595.html
- Running Maya 6.0 or 6.0.1 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ X2 installed results in the operating system failing to respond when creating a scene and the option to Use All Lights and Smooth Shading is enabled in the panel menu. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4597.html
- A performance decrease of approximately 5% is noticed when the dual monitor SpecAPC benchmark is run under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ V3100 installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4598.html
- Running Viewperf 8.0 under Windows XP on a system containing 512mb of memory and an ATI FireGL™ V3100 installed results in a failure. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4600.html
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.
| ATI Technologies Inc. http://www.ati.com Voice: (905) 882-2600 Fax: (905) 882-2620 |