3Dlabs Oxygen GVX210, User Manual

Page 1: ...The OxygenTM GVX210 Graphics Accelerator User s Guide 3Dlabs Inc 480 Potrero Avenue Sunnyvale CA 94086 408 530 4700 www 3dlabs com ...

Page 2: ...n a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures 1 Re orient or relocate the receiving antenna 2 Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver 3 Connect the equipment...

Page 3: ...all SoftEngine 6 To install Colorific 6 Registering Oxygen GVX210 7 Chapter 2 Software Configuration 8 The Oxygen GVX210 Driver 9 The Task Bar based Configuration Manager 9 The Display Control Panel 10 Information Screen 11 Setup Screen 12 Direct3D Support Screen 13 OpenGL Support Screen 15 Configuring Multiple Monitors 18 To configure a second monitor 18 Using the Window Manager 19 Configuring yo...

Page 4: ...Resolutions 26 Appendix B Software License 27 SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT 28 Software License and Restrictions 28 Limited Warranty 29 Limited Liability 29 Restricted Rights Notice 29 Termination 29 General 30 Appendix C Regulatory Statements 31 Declaration of Conformity 32 Appendix D Glossary 33 Terms and Definitions 34 Index 39 ...

Page 5: ...INTRODUCTION ...

Page 6: ...s high end geometry and rasterization graphics acceleration on a single AGP AGP Pro card for the most demanding workstation professional By integrating two 3Dlabs GLINT R3 rasterizers the new generation GLINT Gamma G2 geometry processor and 64MB of memory on a single card Oxygen GVX210 boosts the interactivity of huge models with a 256 bit memory bus Oxygen GVX210 ...

Page 7: ...s stored in main system memory Oxygen GVX210 allows you to manipulate up to 256MB of textures seamlessly from your favorite applications PowerThreads SSE OpenGL Drivers 3Dlabs new generation PowerThreads SSE and 3DNow OpenGL drivers are fully optimized for Pentium III and Athlon processors to dynamically load balance the geometry and lighting load between the GLINT Gamma hardware geometry processo...

Page 8: ... the advanced features of the AGP bus SoftEngine AutoCAD support SoftEngine enhances AutoCAD R12 R13 R14 and LT performance by up to four times on Windows NT systems Colorific screen to print color matching Colorific simplifies color matching without sacrificing accuracy Control Panel Application Configuration 3Dlabs advanced control panel and task bar applet let you optimize your system configura...

Page 9: ...Windows NT 4 0 Service Pack 4 0 or later or Windows 2000 or Windows 98 operating system The Windows 2000 driver will be available on www 3dlabs com s shortly after introduction 64 MB RAM Random Access Memory 16 MB available hard drive space AGP or AGP Pro expansion slot VGA multisync monitor The Oxygen GVX210 operates with Windows 98 However maximum performance can only be achieved with Windows NT...

Page 10: ... application together For the most current information about applications support testing and certification status please visit www 3dlabs com Software Application Web Site Address AutoCAD http www autodesk com Colorific http www colorific com 3D Studio MAX http www ktx com Lightscape http www lightscape com LightWave 3D http www newtek com Maya http www aw sgi com MicroStation http www bentley co...

Page 11: ...CHAPTER 1 INSTALLATION ...

Page 12: ...in the Installing Hardware section below then install the driver Once the basic installation is complete you can choose to install the SoftEngine and Colorific enhancements as described on page 6 Note Be sure to register your new card using one of the options described on page 7 Before You Start Take every possible precaution against static electricity as you prepare to install the card static can...

Page 13: ... peripherals 3 Unplug the monitor cable from the old card 4 Remove the cover from your system 5 Attach the anti static strap to your wrist and attach the other end to a bare conductive as opposed to painted or sticker covered area of your system s chassis 6 Remove any screws securing the card to the chassis 7 Lift the card out of the slot To install your Oxygen GVX210 card 1 Turn off and unplug th...

Page 14: ...ker covered area of your system s chassis 5 Remove the card from its anti static packaging Write down the serial number for registration and future use 6 Align the connector on the Oxygen GVX210 card over the AGP or AGP Pro expansion slot and seat it firmly Important See your system documentation for instructions on securing the card to the chassis Loose cards and connections can cause grounding a...

Page 15: ...ed 1 9 Oxygen GVX210 supports multi monitor functionality on one card for Windows NT 4 0 and Windows 2000 If you want to attach a second monitor connect the second monitor to connector 2 Dual monitor support is not available for Windows 98 10 Plug in and start up your system including peripherals and log on to your operating system VGA monitor connector 1 Stereo connector Connect first monitor to ...

Page 16: ...nd click Control Panel 3 Double click the Add Remove Programs icon 4 Click the name of the video card driver you want to remove 5 Click Add Remove and follow the instructions To install the Oxygen Windows NT driver 1 Start up Windows If you are running Windows NT log onto an account with administrator privileges 2 Place the Oxygen Product CD ROM in your CD ROM drive When the installation window op...

Page 17: ...ify for technical support You can complete the registration card and return it to us in the mail or register on line once your hardware and software installations are complete You must have Internet access to register on line 1 Open your Internet browser 2 Go to http www 3dlabs com register 3 Fill out the registration form that appears on your screen and click Submit when you are finished ...

Page 18: ...CHAPTER 2 SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION ...

Page 19: ... from System Tray lets you delete this task bar utility from your system You will still be able to access the driver configuration options with the Display Control Panel About 3DL Display Manager displays version information for this configuration utility Go to 3Dlabs Website takes you directly to www 3dlabs com through your existing Internet connection Pop up the Display Panel reaches the 3Dlabs ...

Page 20: ...troductory page appears It provides software version and basic hardware specifications and a point of entry to the full set of Oxygen driver customization tools Click the Advanced button for access to these panels Information Setup Direct3D Windows 98 and Windows 2000 only OpenGL Support Monitor Windows NT only The following sections describe each in detail ...

Page 21: ...he Information screen provides in depth information about your selected or the default settings as well as detailed hardware software and Direct3D specifications This information can be especially useful if you should need to contact technical support about your Oxygen GVX210 card ...

Page 22: ...n the selected resolution applies to both monitors See Configuring Multiple Monitors You can enable check or disable uncheck the Taskbar based Configuration Manager with a mouse click The default setting is enabled This application provides quick access to the main features of the Control Panel When the taskbar application is enabled it appears on the taskbar system tray each time the system is st...

Page 23: ... time Default will restore the factory default settings Texture Origin at Top Left Corner shifts textures slightly as they are applied to objects and may result in better image quality with some applications 8Bit RGB textures enables Direct3D support for 8bit textures that do not use a separate look up table to specify color These can be useful for applications that use the new features of DirectX...

Page 24: ...ct3D Gamma Controls lets you turn off DirectX gamma control if you experience an extremely dark screen potentially caused by an application s use of an incorrect default Gamma adjustment for this application affects the entire screen display As with the contrast on your television you can adjust this value if your application causes the display to consistently look too dark or too light ...

Page 25: ...cceleration For most applications 8 buffers are sufficient Size of each DMA buffer controls the size in bytes of the Direct Memory Access DMA buffer DMA is a technique whereby a device can directly read commands from host memory Number of DMA Sub Buffers lets you set the number of Direct Memory Access DMA buffers allocated for use by OpenGL DMA is a technique whereby a device can directly access m...

Page 26: ...instance when running benchmarks Stereo View Support can be enabled checked and disabled unchecked This option provides control over the export of stereo capable OpenGL pixel formats You should enable this option when there is a requirement to run OpenGL applications that require stereo support since additional graphics memory resources are consumed when stereo is enabled The stereo support provid...

Page 27: ...em automatically checks whether it is connected to a DDC type monitor If so the available modes will be displayed It is possible however for the display settings to fall out of synchronization This can happen for example if you hot swap monitors The Detect DDC monitor button lets you manually tell your system to look for the DDC monitor again The Type section shows which type of monitor was detect...

Page 28: ...ot available for Windows 98 To configure a second monitor 1 In the Display Properties Control Panel click the Settings tab 2 Click List All Modes 3 In the List of Valid Modes click a resolution and then click OK Select a resolution that is twice the width of your current resolution For example if your current resolution is 1024 x 768 select 2048 x 768 75 Hertz for your new resolution 4 On the Disp...

Page 29: ...tle bar of any window and select 3Dlabs WM from the drop down menu 1 Right click the toolbar 2 Select 3Dlabs WM select Preferences and then click Window Manager 3 Select the display options you want and click OK Maximize Function lets you maximize windows to one monitor screen or to span windows across the desktop of both monitor screens Display Placement lets you specify the placement of dialog b...

Page 30: ...you use a monitor with a screen refresh frequency of at least 100 Hertz In addition it is recommended that you turn off fluorescent lighting before viewing stereo images to prevent a possible headache To set up and configure stereo viewing 1 Connect the stereo hardware to the round stereo connector on the Oxygen GVX210 card See the documentation that came with your stereo hardware 2 In the Display...

Page 31: ...ick List All Modes 10 Select a screen refresh frequency of 100 Hertz or higher and then click OK If you are using a DDC type monitor modes with suitably high refresh rates should be available in the List of Valid Modes If no high refresh modes are listed open the Display Properties Control Panel click the 3Dlabs tab and then click the Monitor tab Click DDC and check for stereo settings If they sti...

Page 32: ...perties Panel click Test This tests the new mode on the monitor screen for five seconds 12 Click OK to test the new mode 13 Click OK if you saw the test bitmap correctly 14 In the Display Properties Control Panel click OK Your Oxygen GVX210 card is now configured for stereo viewing ...

Page 33: ...CHAPTER 3 TROUBLESHOOTING ...

Page 34: ...lutions Monitor screen information appears on page 17 in this guide Solution If the performance is different from what you expected check to see that the correct application or setting has been selected in the Optimized Application Setting in the Taskbar Based Configuration Manager Solution If the performance is different from what you expected check to see that the Wait for VBlank setting has bee...

Page 35: ...Q section at http www 3dlabs com support 8 You may need to update your system BIOS See your system documentation for system BIOS update information Question I m experiencing network problems since I installed my Oxygen card Solution You may need to reinstall or update your Ethernet driver See your system or Ethernet adapter documentation for more information Online Information If you cannot find t...

Page 36: ...Threads SSE Rasterizer Dual GLINT R3 rasterization engines RAMDAC frequency 300 MHz Memory 64MB SGRAM Monitor Resolutions Oxygen GVX210 is capable of supporting monitor resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 with one monitor or 4096 x 1536 with two monitors in color depths of 8 16 and 32 bits and with refresh rates from 60Hz to 200Hz dependent on your system hardware operating system graphics driver versio...

Page 37: ...Software License 3Dlabs Oxygen GVX210 User s Guide 27 APPENDIX B SOFTWARE LICENSE ...

Page 38: ...ed FEATURES all copies thereof and all intellectual property rights therein No title to the SOFTWARE FEATURES any copies thereof or any intellectual property rights therein are transferred to you You are hereby granted for your own internal use only a nontransferable nonexclusive perpetual revocable license to use one 1 copy of the SOFTWARE and FEATURES on the computer on which the SOFTWARE was or...

Page 39: ...CH DAMAGE OR LOSS IN NO EVENT SHALL 3DLABS INC ITS LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS LIABILITY ARISING UNDER THIS LICENSE EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE PRODUCT OR SOFTWARE GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY THIS LIMITATION IS INTENDED TO LIMIT THE LIABILITY OF 3DLABS INC ITS LICENSORS OR ITS SUPPLIERS AND SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY SOME STATES OR COU...

Page 40: ...ny reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this AGREEMENT or portion thereof to be unenforceable that provision of the AGREEMENT shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to effect the intent of the parties and the remainder of this AGREEMENT shall continue in full force and effect Should you have any questions concerning this AGREEMENT please write to 3Dlab...

Page 41: ...APPENDIX C REGULATORY STATEMENTS ...

Page 42: ... provisions of the 89 336 EEC Directive San Jose California December 1999 3Dlabs Inc Warning Any use of installation practices modifications or maintenance procedures carried out which are not in accordance with the issued instructions for use or approved by 3Dlabs Inc will nullify the CE certification of this product and could lead to prosecution We 3Dlabs Incorporated 480 Potrero Avenue Sunnyval...

Page 43: ...APPENDIX D GLOSSARY ...

Page 44: ...shed by gradually modifying the hue and saturation of pixels API Application Programming Interface The API translates the instructions from the application program into device commands that are specific to the screen s display controller the graphics board Atmospheric Effects The effect derived from adding one or more layers around an object Bilinear Sampling The process whereby texture mapping is...

Page 45: ...rs into thinking it s a different color Double Buffering With double buffering images are rendered in the back buffer and then displayed on the screen once the drawing is completed This results in the smooth flicker free rotation and animation of 3D models and scenes Driver A driver is a special interface program that is developed to perform the communication between the application program the de...

Page 46: ...AX and AutoCAD MIP Mapping for texture processing A feature that delivers photo realistic images by wrapping 2D bitmaps around 3D objects closely matching the texture to the object MIP Mapping allows different versions of a texture to be used for objects of different sizes It also enables faster performance as textures do not need to be scaled in real time Multiple Resolution Support The ability t...

Page 47: ...d graphics performance SGRAM Synchronous Graphics Random Access Memory allows data to be written in a single operation rather than a slower sequence of operations It also handles background and foreground image fills effectively SDTP Super Desktop Publishing SDTP runs at 1600 x 1200 Stencil Buffer Similar to stipple masking the stencil buffer assists with the creation of transparent effects Stippl...

Page 48: ...jects Transparency is generally accomplished on a polygon rendering system using either screen door transparency or alpha blending Vectors second Lines drawn per second VGA Video Graphics Array VGA runs at 640 x 480 VHR Very High Resolution VHR runs at 1280 x 1024 VRAM Video Random Access Memory is an expensive fast type of RAM that is used as display memory on high end graphics boards VRML Virtua...

Page 49: ...g 3 Oxygen GVX210 without daughter card 3 Oxygen Windows NT driver 6 Soft Engine 6 software 6 memory vii Monitor Resolutions 26 Monitor Screen 17 24 multi monitor support vii 5 12 19 Multiple Monitors 12 18 Online Information 25 OpenGL ii vii 10 12 15 16 20 21 24 36 partners x PowerThreads vii RAM ix rasterization processors vii registration 7 Regulatory Statements 31 Setup Screen 12 SGRAM vii 26 ...