ATI Technologies X1550 SERIES manual Offscreen Memory, OpenGL, ATI Overdrive

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flicker-free. The acronym refers to the National Television Systems Committee, which devised this color video standard in 1953.

Offscreen Memory

An area of memory used to preload images so that they can be quickly drawn to the screen. Offscreen memory refers to all of the remaining video memory not taken up by the front buffer, which holds the contents of the display screen currently visible.

OpenGL®

Short for “Open Graphics Library,” this is an industry standard for cross- platform 3D graphics development. It consists of a large number of functions that can be called upon in various programs, such as games, CAD, and virtual-reality systems, to produce complex 3D objects from simpler, more “primitive” building blocks. Implementations currently exist under Windows®, Mac OS® X, and various forms of Unix, including Linux®.

ATI Overdrive

ATI Overdrive maximizes the performance of the GPU by dynamically altering its speed to an optimal level depending on usage. An on-chip thermal sensor constantly monitors the temperature of the GPU, allowing for maximum clock speed to be maintained while avoiding overheating.

PAL

An acronym for “Phase Alternating Line”, the name for a video broadcast standard used in much of Europe (except France), most of Asia, the Middle-East, Africa and Australia. It draws a total of 625 vertical interlaced frames of video at a refresh rate of 25 Hz.

PCI

Acronym for “Peripheral Component Interconnect”, which is the specification for a type of computer bus used for attaching computer peripherals to a computer’s motherboard. PCI encompasses both integrated motherboard components (such as built-in graphical processors) and peripherals that fit into an expansion card slot, such as a separate graphics