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 8.062.
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 8.062 software included in this package is designed to support the following ATI FireGL™ products:
- ATI FireGL™ 8800
- 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 8.062 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:
- Beta Driver Support for XP64 Operating System on AMD64 and Intel IA32e 64 bit processors
- Packaging Option for Reduced Blanking
- Setup.exe Switches for Setting the Resolution and Refresh rate
- Windows XP (SP2) Support
Beta Driver Support for XP64 Operating System on AMD64 and Intel IA32e 64 bit processors
The FireGL™ Unified Driver software release version 8.062 introduces the first beta software driver for Microsoft's AMD64 operating systems. The beta software driver provides support for all ATI FireGL™ products currently shipping.
Software driver support is provided for the following operating systems:
- Microsoft® Windows ServerT 2003 Enterprise Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems
- Microsoft® Windows XP 64-Bit Edition For 64-bit Extended Systems
- Microsoft® Windows ServerT 2003 Standard Edition for 64-bit Extended Systems
All modes currently supported under Windows XP (subject to the usual hardware restrictions) will also be supported on this platform.
Packaging Option for Reduced Blanking
The FireGL™ Unified Software Driver version 8.062 introduces the option to set Reduced Blanking. The feature adds an option button in the ATI Option page for Reduced Blanking. The feature is supported under both the Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.
Setup.exe Switches for Setting the Resolution and Refresh rate
The FireGL™ Unified Driver version 8.062 introduces an option to the install program that allows for the selection of the intitial resolution and refresh rate from the command line. The option works in the following way; "-dXxYrR", where X stands for the horizontal resolution, Y stands for the Vertical resolution, and R stands for the refresh rate; d denotes that the user is specifying the Resolution, and r denotes that the user is specifying the refresh rate. For example the command line could look like "d1280x1024r75" for a display of resolution of 1280x1024 and a refresh rate of 75 Hz.
Windows XP (SP2) Support
This release of the FireGL™ Unified Driver introduces support for the Mircrosoft Windows XP (SP2) operating system.
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 an OpenGL application with quad buffer stereo under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL X1 installed no longer results in the operating system failing to respond when selecting No to a display property mode change
- Running the application Studio Tools under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL T2-128 installed no longer results in the work area becoming a solid magenta color when clicking on viewports and having dual monitors configured
- Installing the software driver on non OpenGL systems no longer results in a message indicating: Please wait while setup installs FIRE GL driver for 3D Studio MAX/VIZ
- Loading the perfCul scene attempting to do a hardware render scene in Maya 6.0 no longer results in the Windows XP operating system failing to respond when an ATI FireGL X3-256 is installed
- Running XSI 4.0 RC4 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL V3100 installed no longer results in textures extending beyond the dialog box and overwriting the display in a frame
- Playing the game Doom 3 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL T2 installed no longer 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
- A performance decrease of approximately 5% is no longer noticed when the dual monitor SpecAPC benchmark is run under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL V3100 installed
- Running the application AVID DS 7.5 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL X2 installed no longer results in the application rendering slowly
- Switching modes under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL X1 installed no longer results in color corruption and flickering when FAST_SWAP is enabled
- Connecting a StereoGraphics Emitter to the 3-pin connector on the ATI FireGL V3200 no longer results in the emitter becoming disabled when running any Quad Buffer Stereo OpenGL sample
- Running the Inventor 9 Perforation Test 10 under Windows XP with ATI FireGL V3200 installed no longer results in a report indicating the graphics driver has generated one or more serious errors
- Setting the secondary display adapter to 1280x1024 32bpp and running Inventor R8 Perforation test no longer ressults in display corruption being seen on multiple window tests
- Running Maya 6.0 or 6.0.1 under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL X2 installed no longer 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
- Opening multiple windows in Solidworks 2003/2004 no longer slows down system performance when trying to zoom, pan or rotate
- Running Viewperf 8.0 under Windows XP on a system contianing 512mb of memory and an ATI FireGL V3100 installed no longer results in a failure
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the ATI FireGL™ software driver version 8.062. These include the following:
- Setting the display properties to 1024x768 75Hz and attempting to rotate the display results in an error message indicating that the rotation mode is not supported by the current display mode. This issues is known to occur under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL™ V3100 installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4668.html
- Setting the display properties to 1280x1024 32bpp and running the Punish stress test with driver verify enabled for 4 hours or more results in the Windows XP operating system failing to respond when an ATI FireGL X2-256 is installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4669.html
- Connecting a 9 Mega-Pixel Monitor to the DVI port of an ATI FireGL™ X3-256 results in the synchronisity being lost when rebooting the system and the graphics driver starts to load. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4670.html
- Connecting both a Digital and non-DDC analog monitor to the ATI FireGL T2-64 under Windows XP results in no second display option being available. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4671.html
- Running the Descreet benchmark for 3DSMAX R4.26 under Windows XP with either an ATI FireGL X1 or Z1 card installed using the ATI MAXimum driver, results in flashing or missing textures while the animation is playing. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4672.html
- Resuming from standby mode for the second time when running both X29 and Billboard results in display corruption and flickering being noticed under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL X1 or X2 installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4673.html
- Attemping to launch 3D Studio MAX R4 and R6 when set to use OpenGL results in the application failing to launch under Windows XP with an ATI FireGL 8800 installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4674.html
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.
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