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All specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation.
Memory |
2MB or 4MB of high-speed WRAM |
Performance |
28.9 Million WINMARKS in 1024 x 768, 256 colors at 75Hz on a 133MHz Pentium running Winbench ‘96 |
Bus |
32-bit PCI local bus; 64-bit acceleration |
Accelerator |
Matrox MGA (64-bit) with 64-bit VGA-compatible driving engine |
Resolution, color depth, vertical refresh for 2MB |
1600 x 1200, up to 256 colors, up to 72Hz
|
Resolution, color depth, vertical refresh for 4MB |
1600 x 1200, up to 65K colors, up to 72Hz
|
Connector |
Standard 15-pin video |
Software platform support |
DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX |
Drivers |
Windows 95, Windows, AutoCAD for DOS, AutoCAD for Windows, MicroStation, Windows NT 3.5, OS/2 PM 2.1, and OS/2 Warp |
Monitor support |
Standard VGA 640 x 480 analog monitors or better |
Electrical |
.6A typical with 2MB WRAM
|
Mechanical |
Board dimensions excluding brackets=16.5cm x 9.5cm x 1.2cm |
Environmental |
Operating temperatures: 0°C - 55°C (ambient)
|
Many Gateway 2000 products are custom engineered by our suppliers to Gateway 2000 specifications, and may vary with similarly marketed products.
Your system contains a Matrox MGA 2MB PCI video card. This card takes advantage of 64-bit graphics engine technology, which provides you with the fastest graphics and video acceleration available.
Although the Matrox MGA extends performance beyond the scope of other graphics technologies, it remains 100% VGA compatible. It provides many additional features including a high-speed, high-resolution, flicker-free display.
The Matrox MGA’s hardware accelerated 3D capabilities render dazzling, full-screen 3D animations and designs in real time. Your texture-mapped and smooth-shaded 3D CAD, games and business applications fly onto your screen in full-motion, photo-realistic scenes. The Matrox MGA accelerates color-space conversion and video-up scaling directly from the hardware to deliver high-quality, professional video playback and true multimedia functionality.
For each of the software utilities described in this manual, online Help files have been included for your convenience. Although the information in this manual is extensive, sometimes information is available in the Help files that has not been included in the manual.
To access the Help files in Windows 95 utilities, click on the Help menu at the top of the screen. Several choices are available such as Contents, Search, etc. Click on one of these choices to bring up the Help menu. Utilities may have different Help options; follow the on-screen prompts to navigate through the files. Some utilities may also have a question mark icon in the upper-right corner of the dialog box. If so, click on the question mark icon. The mouse pointer now has a question mark attached to it. Place the mouse pointer with the question mark on top of the part of the screen you want information about and click. A pop-up window appears with helpful details.
To access the Help files in earlier versions of Windows, click on the Help menu at the top of the screen, or if there is a Help button in a dialog box, click on the button to bring up the Help menu. If you know exactly what you are looking for, you can click on Search and follow the on-screen prompts. If you prefer to browse through the information in the Help file, click on Contents.
Before handling your video card, carefully read the following static electricity procedures and precautions.
Static Electricity Preventions
1. WEAR A GROUNDING WRIST STRAP (available at most electronic stores).
2. Turn off the system power.
3. Touch the back of the power supply fan, located on the back of the case.
4. UNPLUG ALL CORDS FROM WALL OUTLET.
5. Remove the system case cover.
Static Electricity Precautions
• Avoid static-causing surfaces such as plastic and styrofoam in your work area.
• Remove parts from their antistatic bags only when you are ready to use it. Do not lay parts on the outside of antistatic bags since only the inside provides antistatic protection.
• Always hold cards by their edges and their metal mounting bracket. Avoid touching components on the cards and the edge connectors that connect to expansion slots.
• Never slide cards or other parts over any surface.
When you add a PCI component to a PCI system, the system BIOS automatically maps it to an available memory space for you. This technology is known as "Plug and Play," which means you should not have to set switches or change jumpers on your board.
However, this video card has two DIP switches that can be set if necessary. See the previous illustrations and note where switches are located on the video card. To change a DIP switch setting, use a small screwdriver or a ball-point pen. Avoid using a pencil tip, which can leave electrically-conductive graphite residue.
If you decide to upgrade your video BIOS in the future, you will need to reprogram the Flash EPROM. This safe and simple operation is accomplished with a software utility and a BIOS upgrade file that can be downloaded from the BBS. The utility is called UPDBIOS.BAT.
By default the VGA of your video card is enabled (Switch 2=OFF) for single-screen operation. This means that you must remove your existing VGA adapter or disable any on-board VGA. If the VGA is on the system board of your PCI system, it should be disabled automatically.
This switch must be set to ON if you want to work in a dual-screen configuration. In this case, you will also be using a VGA card either in another slot or on the system board, or another video card for output to the second monitor.
If you purchased the video card with the computer, you can skip this section.
The Matrox MGA video card is plug and play compatible, so Windows 95 automatically recognizes and configures the video card. Should you later want to make changes to the card’s configuration, see "Installing the Software" for information about using the video utilities. If your system uses Windows 95, skip the following section and continue with the section beginning with static electricity procedures and precautions.
If you are installing this card in a system with an earlier version of Windows, please complete the following steps first.
edit autoexec.bat
cd\windows
setup
Before opening the case to install the card, please observe all static electricity procedures and precautions.
If your system shipped with the video card installed, you can skip this section.
Once the video card has been installed in the system, there are only a few short steps left to complete the installation procedure.
a:\setup.exe
Choose the destination location listed in the box (the default location) by clicking on Next.
Click on Yes if you want to use the Windows 95 monitor mechanism to select your monitor. Click on No if you want to use the MGA Matrox utility to make the monitor adjustments for the new card.
a:
The installation program creates an MGA Settings tab in the Display Properties window. To get to the Display Properties window, double-click on the Display icon in the Control Panel window.
Once you have opened the Display Properties window, click on the MGA Settings tab to see these alterable features.
Click on the Advanced button to access the MGA Advanced Settings tabs where you can adjust the characteristics of the MGA Matrox video card for maximum performance. A description of these tabs and the information they present is found on the next few pages.
The first tab in the MGA Advanced Settings window is the Performance tab. Click on this tab to see its window.
Click in the various boxes to select or deselect each option.
When you select the Use Device Bitmaps Caching option, and then reboot the system, hardware acceleration is used to cache some bitmapped objects in the video memory. This caching process speeds up screen redraws and some drawings in bitmaps.
When you select the Use Rectangle acceleration option, and then reboot the system, hardware acceleration is used for drawing bordered rectangular objects.
When you select the Use Polygon acceleration option, and then reboot the system, hardware acceleration is used to draw complex polygon objects.
When you select the Circle & Ellipse acceleration option, and then reboot the system, hardware acceleration is used to draw circles and ellipses.
When you select the 3D Acceleration option, and then reboot the system, 3D hardware accelerations and double-buffering are enabled under the following modes:
The second tab in the MGA Advanced Settings window is the PowerDesk options tab. Click on this tab to see its window.
Use the three HotKey settings to choose keys to press to instantly access the features listed. Setting a PixelTOUCH hot key allows you to instantly enable hardware accelerated panning and zooming features. Press the hot key you defined to toggle through the 3 zoom factors; these zooms are centered around the current mouse position on the screen.
Setting a CenterWINDOW hot key allows you to instantly center the display on the current active window when you press the defined key or key combination.
Setting a PanLOCK hot key allows you to instantly enable or disable panning and scrolling features when you press the defined key or key combination.
The third tab in the MGA Advanced Settings window is the Information tab. Click on this tab to see its window.
This window provides you with information about the video card that is installed in your system. The information changes only if you install a different Matrox video card or if you install a different version of the Matrox drivers.
To get the best performance from your video card, you must install and run the video software. Your Matrox MGA diskettes contain software utilities, PowerDrivers, applications for Windows 3.1, AutoCAD, MicroStation and more. If you plan to use a particular driver, the corresponding program must already be installed on your system.
Most of the files are installed under the MGA directory, each program in its own subdirectory. You should read any README files that are copied to these subdirectories by the installation program. The README files may contain last minute information and additional notes not included in the manual.
If you purchased your card with the system, the software installation has already been done. However, if this card is different from the card it replaces or if you decide to reinstall the video software, follow the directions for the software you are installing.
This section contains information about installing the Windows 3.1 drivers, the PowerDesk utilities, a screen saver, a DCI driver, and DynaView 2D and 3D for Windows. Instructions for installing optional driver and operating system software support are included in "Optional Software Installation."
a:\setup
Resolution |
Bits/Pixels
|
Bits/Pixels
|
Max. Refresh
|
640 × 480 |
8, 16, 24 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
800 × 600 |
8, 16, 24 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
10240 × 768 |
8, 16 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
1152 × 882 |
8, 16 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
1280 × 1024 |
8 |
8, 16, 24 |
90MHz |
1600 × 1200 |
8 |
8, 16 |
72MHz |
Click on the desired resolution and pixel depth. After you click on the OK button in the Startup Display Mode dialog box, the installation program either reboots your system (in the case of a first-time installation) or reboots Windows (in the case of any upgrade). Rebooting the system on a first-time installation is essential to set the MGA environmental variable.
An MGA environment variable is automatically added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file by the installation program. Make sure you don’t delete the
set mga=c:\mga\setup
The installation program creates a Matrox MGA PowerDesk program group icon. To open the program group and access the application icons, double-click on the program group icon. The program group window contains icons for each application included with the software installation. To start an application, double-click on the icon.
The Matrox MGA Control Panel is invoked by double-clicking on the Control Panel icon in the Matrox MGA PowerDesk utilities program group window.
The Matrox MGA Control Panel allows you to set up to four different video modes. It also has several other features you can enable or disable according to your preference.
Modes — You can configure up to four different video modes in the Control Panel. The Setup button lets you choose the desired settings for each mode. To enable a mode, click in the button to the left of the preferred mode. The setting information is displayed below the mode.
CenterPOPUP — If the CenterPOPUP feature is enabled, pop-up windows appear in the center of the visible screen.
MaxVIEW — If the MaxVIEW feature is enabled, it maximizes any window you open within the boundaries of the visible desktop area.
Zoom — Allows you to pan and zoom; click on the desired range.
ModeSWITCH with QCDP — QCDP hardware dithering simulates true color in 8- and 16-bit modes at resolutions up to 1600 × 1200. Enabling the mode switch allows you to change the resolution and color depth setting of fixed or virtual desktop modes without restarting Windows. Click again to disable the ModeSWITCH function.
Hotkeys — Click here for a list of the default hotkeys or to change a desired hotkey setting.
Cursor — Click here to change the properties of the mouse cursor.
The Quick Access menu is a convenient toolbar that can be opened by double-clicking on the Quick Access icon in the Matrox MGA PowerDesk utilities program group window.
Number pad — Click on the number of the desired mode that was configured in the Control Panel to activate it.
This button enables the ModeSWITCH with QCDP.
PanLOCK — Click here to lock the virtual desktop working area in place.
CtrPOPUP — Click here to enable or disable the CenterPOPUP function.
MaxVIEW — Click here to enable or disable MaxVIEW.
Zoom — Click on the plus button to increase the zoom ratio. Click on the minus button to decrease the zoom ratio. The active zoom ratio is displayed here.
The monitor selection program allows you to select and test a monitor selection. Double-click on the Monitor Selection icon in the Matrox MGA PowerDesk utilities program group window to start the program.
Selection — Click here to bring up the Monitor Selection list dialog box.
Test — Click here to test a monitor selection. If the screen appears scrambled, an inappropriate monitor has been selected. Choose another and repeat the test.
This program allows removal or disabling (and later re-enabling) of all or parts of the Matrox MGA Windows and DynaView software. To start the Uninstall program, double-click on the MGA Uninstallation icon in the Matrox MGA PowerDesk utilities program group window. When you have made your selections, click OK. Answer appropriately to the windows that appear. The program exits Windows to delete the selected software and reboots the system so the changes take effect.
To open the Board Information dialog box, double-click on the Board Information icon in the Matrox MGA PowerDesk utilities program group window. The Board Information dialog box allows you to quickly survey technical information about the video card.
The dialog box only displays information about the card. To exit the dialog box, click on OK.
The information in this manual briefly outlines the various programs and how they work. For more extensive information on using a certain program, click on the Help button in the program’s dialog box.
The Matrox MGA screen saver displays 3D images created with the DynaView 3D software. A few 3D images are included on the disks. The screen saver also supports DPMS, for EnergyStar-compatible monitors.
Online help is provided; click on the Help button.
The Matrox MGA DCI (Display Control Interface) driver is a driver that accelerates the MPEG software player, as well as playback of Video for Windows 1.1D (only the 1.1D upgrade supports DCI). The DCI driver and some upgrade files for Video for Windows are installed in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
You must be using "DCI-aware" codes in order to have video window acceleration. See the README.WIN file for a list of known DCI-aware applications.
The DCI driver is installed by the installation program, but only enabled at your request during the installation process. If you wish to enable or disable the DCI driver after the initial installation, it can be done with the Uninstall utility.
This product comes in two parts: the 3D Viewer program and the ADS program. The installation program adds an icon for the 3D Viewer (and its associated README file) in the PowerDesk group.
For the 3D Viewer to display Gouraud shading, the Matrox MGA Windows driver must be "3D-enabled."
When the 3D option is enabled, the available range of resolutions and pixel depths is reduced. Online help is available for DynaView 3D; just click on the Help button.
The following sections pertain to optional software included on your diskettes. Each section contains its own installation instructions and information about the software.
a:\install
When you select a program or driver, Install decompresses it from the diskette, places it under the MGA directory and then returns to the Main menu so you can install another. See the following sections for information regarding the installation options.
This selection installs utilities such as the Flash EPROM Programmer and the DOS Setup program. If you have already installed the Windows drivers and selected a monitor with the Monitor Selection program, you don’t need to install the Setup program.
When you select this option, you are prompted for the following information:
We recommend you accept the default directories.
This selection installs the AutoCAD for DOS driver, with its DynaView 2D and 3D features. Install this if you have AutoCAD 11, 12, or 13 for DOS. This driver also supports 3D Studio and AutoShade.
When you select this option, you are prompted for the following information:
We recommend you accept the default directories.
The MicroStation PC driver supports MicroStation 5.0 only.
We recommend you accept the default directories.
The MGA Windows NT 3.5 Display driver supports 8-bit (256 colors), 16-bit (64K) colors), and 24-bit (true color) display modes under Windows NT, in resolutions ranging from 640 × 480 to 1600 × 1200. This driver also supports dual-Matrox MGA configurations. Use the following steps to change a display driver.
Resolution |
Bits/Pixels
|
Bits/Pixels
|
Max. Refresh
|
640 × 480 |
8, 16, 24 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
800 × 600 |
8, 16, 24 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
10240 × 768 |
8, 16 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
1152 × 882 |
8, 16 |
8, 16, 24 |
120MHz |
1280 × 1024 |
8 |
8, 16, 24 |
90MHz |
1600 × 1200 |
8 |
8, 16 |
72MHz |
If your system does not reboot at the expected resolution, it is probable that your card does not support the selected resolution and/or pixel depth combination. Open the Control Panel’s Display program and click on the List All Modes button to obtain a list of all the modes that are available for your card. You can also experiment with the Color Palette and Desktop Area controls to select a new mode. Use the Test button to ensure that the new mode is supported by your monitor.
Whenever you want to change the display resolution, run the Control Panel’s Display program. The available modes can be displayed via the List All Modes button.
The current version of the driver supports multiple Matrox MGA video cards, enabling use of a single large desktop that spans multiple monitors. The multi-board modes that are supported by your hardware configuration can be selected and tested (as with any regular mode) using the Control Panel’s Display program.
By default, the display driver assumes that you have a 60Hz monitor. If your monitor is capable of higher refresh rates, you can customize your monitor to reflect these.
No resolution higher than the set limit appears in the Display program window list. Deleting the MGA.INF file removes all monitor limits to the resolution, but the refresh rate defaults to 60Hz.
In a multi-board configuration, the MGA.INF file settings affect all monitors. We recommend that the monitor you select in the MGA Monitor program be compatible with the least-capable monitor in your system. For more information, refer to the README.NT file on the installation disk.
This MGA OS/2 PM driver supports 8-bit (256 colors), 16-bit (64K colors), and 24-bit (16M colors) display modes under OS/2 2.1 up to "Warp," in resolutions ranging from 640 × 480 to 1600 × 1200. The driver also includes a Seamless Windows driver.
a:\os2\install
If you are installing this driver for the first time, OS/2 restarts in the default MGA resolution (640 × 480 × 256 colors). It is advisable to select the desired resolution immediately before rebooting, by means of the OS/2 System Setup folder.
By default, the driver assumes that you have a monitor which supports all resolutions available to your video card at a 60Hz refresh rate (non-interlaced). If you have a monitor that is capable of refresh rates higher than 60Hz, you can customize the monitor configuration with the MGAMON program. This program creates a file called MGA.INF, which contains the appropriate video parameters for your monitor. The MGA.INF file is read by the MGA display driver when OS/2 boots.
The MGAMON program is located in the C:\MGA\OS2 directory. It is a DOS program, so it must be run in a DOS session (either windowed or full screen).
cd\mga\os2
mgamon
For more information about this driver, refer the README.OS2 file on the distribution diskette. Topics covered include uninstalling the driver, dual-boot limitation, and BIOS-related issues for older MGA graphics accelerators.
If there is another VGA card in your system remove it. If the VGA card is on the system board, it should have been disabled, but check the Technical Reference that shipped with your system to see if this has to be done manually.
Is the program compliant with version 1.2 of the VESA standard? Some programs are written to run in Super VGA modes that are not VESA compliant. They depend on a specific chip to be used for VGA and are probably not compatible with this VGA’s extended modes.
Check the README.WIN file for the list of changes normally made to SYSTEM.INI, WIN.INI, and PROGRAM.INI.
To insure that the drivers work correctly with this program, it is essential that AutoCAD’s environment variables be set correctly. In particular, verify the following variables: ACAD and ACADDRV.
This publication is protected by copyright and all rights are reserved. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form, without prior consent in writing from Gateway 2000.
The information in this manual has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate. However, Gateway 2000 assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this manual. In no event will Gateway 2000 be liable for direct, indirect, special, exemplary, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any defect or omission in this manual, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
In the interest of continued product development, Gateway 2000 reserves the right to make improvements in this manual and the products it describes at any time, without notice or obligation.
AnyKey, cow spot motif, CrystalScan, Destination, Field Mouse, Gateway 2000, GW2K, HandBook, TelePath, Vivitron, stylized "G" design, and motto "You’ve got a friend in the business" are registered trademarks and EZ Pad, Family PC, and Gateway Solo are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc. Intel, Intel Inside logo, and Pentium are registered trademarks and MMX is a trademark of Intel Corporation. Microsoft, MS, MS-DOS, and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other product names mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only, and may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Copyright © 1997 Gateway 2000, Inc. 610 Gateway Drive, N. Sioux City, SD 57049 USA
This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio and 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:
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus as set out in the radio interference regulations of Industry Canada.
Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites applicables aux appareils numériques de Classe B prescrites dans le règlement sur le brouillage radioélectrique édicté par Industrie Canada.
This Information Technology Equipment has been tested and found to comply with following European directives:
[i] EMC Directive 89/336/EEC amending directive 92/31/EEC & 93/68 EEC as per
- EN 50081-1:1992 according to
EN 55022:1995 Class B
EN 61000-3-2:1995 or EN 60555-2:1986
EN 61000-3-3: 1995
- EN50082-1:1992 according to
EN 61000-4-2:1995 or IEC 801-2:1984
ENV 50140:1994 or IEC 801-3:1984
EN 61000-4-4:1988 or IEC 801-4:1998
[ii] Low Voltage Directive (Safety) 73/23/EEC as per EN 60950: 1992
This equipment is in the Class 2 category (Information Technology Equipment to be used in a residential area or an adjacent area thereto) and conforms to the standards set by the Voluntary Control Council for Interference by Information Technology Equipment aimed at preventing radio interference in such residential area.
When used near a radio or TV receiver, it may become the cause of radio interference. Read instructions for correct handling.
This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to the Australian/New Zealand standard AS/NZS 3548 set out by the Spectrum Management Agency.