Manuals

Introduction: Diamond Fire GL1 User's Guide

Overview

Diamond Fire GL1 is based upon the IBM 256-bit Graphics Rasterizer, integrating the functionality of a VGA controller, a 2D/3D Raster Engine with Geometry Pipeline Setup processor, and a 250 MHz RAMDAC in a single package.

Diamond Fire GL1 delivers a balance of 2D power and superior 3D acceleration to provide power for professional 2D and 3D NT graphics applications in

Mechanical Engineering Analysis (MEA)
Mechanical Computer Aided Design (MCAD)
Electrical Design Automation (EDA)
Digital Content Creation (DCC)
Animation
Visualization

NOTE: Dell configured this video card to operate as shipped. No other modifications are necessary.
Dell™ systems shipped with the Fire GL1 will have Microsoft Windows NT 4.x with Service Pack 4 pre-installed. If you re-install Windows NT 4.x, you must first apply Service Pack 4 before loading the Fire GL1 graphics drivers.

Features

Hardware Features

IBM 256-bit Graphics Rasterizer
32 MB SGRAM used for unified framebuffer, Z-, Alpha-, Overlay-, Window ID and Clip/Stencil buffers, and texture storage
250 MHz RAMDAC speed
Support for Plug-n-Play monitors
Power management support: DPMS, ENERGY STAR compliant, ACPI
AGP ATX/NLX bus, AGP2x version 2.0 compliant, with sideband addressing
100 MHz clock on raster engine and frame buffer
64 KByte BIOS FlashROM, reprogrammable by software
32-bit RGBa True color 2D and 3D acceleration
Accelerated, double-buffered 32-bit TrueColor up to 1920 x 1200, at 76 Hz refresh rate

NOTE: To display at a specific resolution with the desired refresh rate, both the video card and monitor must support it. Refer to the documentation that came with your monitor for a list of supported video resolutions.

24-bit Z- buffer, 4-bit double-buffer, 8-bit single-buffer overlay
Video engine supports YUV conversion, point and bilinear scaling
Standard blue 15-pin D-Type video output connector

Software Features

Supports Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or above
Multiprocessor system support
Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions (70 New Instructions) in the new Intel Pentium III Processors
Customized application settings for individual ISV applications
OpenGL 1.2 ICD and DirectX support
Multithreaded and ThreadSafe OpenGL pipeline support for dual processors.
DDC2B monitor support

Professional 3D Rendering

Full OpenGL 1.2 feature set
Gouraud shading
Bilinear and trilinear MIP-mapping
Alpha blending
Fogging and depth cueing
Anti-aliased lines and sorted polygons
Scissoring and stippling
Overlay and stencil buffers
Z-buffering

For more information on features and performance of your Fire GL1 please refer to the section Fire GL1 Specifications

Fire GL1 Software

Your system’s video drivers were installed by Dell and are operative when you receive the system. No further installation or configuration is necessary.

Store the driver diskettes that came with your system in a safe place in case you ever need to reinstall the drivers.

To enjoy the full benefits of the Fire GL1 you must be running Windows NT 4.0, updated with Service Pack 4 (or above). The Service Pack is available from Microsoft's web page, www.microsoft.com.

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