ATI Technologies X1550 SERIES manual On what basis are different rendering modes chosen?

101

In this scenario both graphics cards will operate as 12-pipeline graphics cards while in CrossFire™ mode.

9What happens if two CrossFire™ graphics cards have different clock speeds?

Both cards will continue to operate at their individual clock speeds; neither card is “stepped down”. The compositing engine on the CrossFire™ card merges the resulting images independent of the clock speed on either graphics card.

10What are the rendering modes, and what are their specific advantages?

The following dynamic rendering modes are available:

•SuperTiling - CrossFire™ renders alternate 32x32 pixel squares in a fine-grained checkerboard pattern. This configuration increases image-rendering quality, as each card processes half of the complex 3D objects in the pixel squares.

•Scissor Mode - each graphics card renders up to half of the display, either vertically or horizontally depending on the game or application.

•Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to render alternate frames of the display. This configuration increases the detail of the 3D objects each card can render, as each card handles half of the total number of frames.

•Super Anti-aliasing- improves image quality by combining the results of full-screen anti-aliasing across two graphics cards in a CrossFire™ configuration. The two graphics cards work on different anti-aliasing patterns within each frame.

The first three features are performance features settings automatically selected by ATI's Catalyst™ Control Center. Super Anti-aliasing is a display quality mode selectable using Catalyst™ Control Center.

11On what basis are different rendering modes chosen?

When Catalyst™ A.I. is enabled in Catalyst™ Control Center, it determines the optimal rendering mode to use, based on the application or game being used. The default rendering mode is dependant on both the hardware configuration and the application being run; typically it will be either Scissor or SuperTiling mode. If Catalyst™ A.I. is not enabled, any Direct 3D® applications that are running on a system based on graphics cards with 16-pipeline graphics processors will use SuperTiling Mode.