NVIDIA Control Panel Quick Start Guide

NVIDIA Control Panel Quick

Start Guide

Release 256 | May 21, 2010

User’s Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction.......................................................................... 1

About the NVIDIA Control Panel .................................................. 2

Overview .......................................................................... 2

Feature Differences from the Classic Control Panel ....................... 2

Changes in Release 256 ......................................................... 3

Supported Operating Systems.................................................. 4

Supported NVIDIA Products..................................................... 4

Supported Languages............................................................ 5

Other NVIDIA Software Applications .......................................... 5

Getting Support and Information ................................................ 6

Online Help ....................................................................... 6

Technical Support................................................................ 6

System Information.............................................................. 6

2 Understanding the NVIDIA Control Panel....................................... 7

Opening and Closing the New NVIDIA Control Panel ........................... 8

About the NVIDIA Control Panel Interface....................................... 9

Using the Main Task Area ...................................................... 10

Using the Select a Task Pane .................................................. 11

Using the Tool Bar .............................................................. 12

Using the Menu Bar ............................................................. 13

3 Accomplishing NVIDIA Control Panel Tasks....................................18

Starting the NVIDIA Control Panel ............................................... 19

Accomplishing NVIDIA Control Panel Tasks ..................................... 20

NVIDIA Control Panel Feature List ........................................... 21

Correlating to the NVIDIA Classic Control Panel ........................... 26

NVIDIA Control Panel Groups.................................................. 28

NVIDIA Control Panel Quick Start Guide Release 256 | i

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 NVIDIA Control Panel (Windows XP Example) ................................. 9

Figure 2.2 NVIDIA Control Panel (Windows Vista Example) ............................. 10

Figure 2.3 NVIDIA Control Panel Select a Task pane ..................................... 11

Figure 2.4 Navigation History Menu ........................................................ 12

Figure 2.5 NVIDIA Control Panel View Settings ........................................... 12

NVIDIA Control Panel Quick Start Guide Release 256 | ii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 File Menu Commands ............................................................. 14

Table 2.2 Edit Menu Commands ............................................................. 14

Table 2.3 View Menu Commands ............................................................ 15

Table 2.4 Help Menu Commands ............................................................ 16

Table 2.5 Profiles Menu Commands......................................................... 16

Table 2.6 Display Menu Commands ......................................................... 17

Table 2.7 3D Settings Menu Commands .................................................... 17

Table 2.8 Workstation Menu Commands ................................................... 17

Table 3.1 NVIDIA Control Panel Features .................................................. 21

Table 3.2 Graphics Driver Tasks in the NVIDIA Control Panel ........................... 26

NVIDIA Control Panel Quick Start Guide Release 256 | iii

01

INTRODUCTION

This quick start is addressed to users of the NVIDIA

®

Control Panel software. This guide focuses on getting you up and running with your NVIDIA software.

For technical details on the features and benefits of the NVIDIA Control Panel software and details about supported products, drivers, and other software, refer to the NVIDIA web page — www.nvidia.com

.

This chapter discusses the following major topics:



“About the NVIDIA Control Panel” on page 2



“Getting Support and Information” on page 6

NVIDIA Control Panel Quick Start Guide Release 256 | 1

Chapter 01 : Introduction

About the NVIDIA Control Panel

Welcome to the NVIDIA Control Panel, designed for Microsoft

®

Windows

®

XP,

Windows Vista, and Windows 7. You can use NVIDIA Control Panel to control your

NVIDIA hardware and access other NVIDIA software installed on your system.

Overview

In addition to setting up basic display configurations such as display resolution, refresh rate, and multiple display use, you can:



Tune your 3D settings with real‐time preview to maximize performance or image quality



Customize how 3D applications work in your system



Adjust your screen colors and contrast



Set custom timings



Control video image settings



Change your HDTV format



Control your notebook system power using PowerMizer



Control special workstation features such as Frame Synchronization.

Feature Differences from the Classic Control Panel

The following are features that were available in the NVIDIA classic control panel, but which are not available in the new NVIDIA Control Panel:



Creating/Importing Color Profiles



High Resolution Scalable Desktop



Video Zoom



Full‐screen video mirroring



Edge Blending

 nView Desktop Manager nView Desktop Manager is available through the Windows control panel as a separate applet (Windows XP only).



MultiView Display Mode (for NVIDIA Quadro NVS graphics cards)

As of driver Release 173, MultiView is available from the Windows Display

Properties‐>Settings‐>Advanced tab for Windows XP only.



Changes in Release 256

Workstation Category



ECC State

New page for GPUs that support ECC (error correction code). The page lets you

•

Change the Error Correction Code (ECC) state for GPUs.

•

View GPU memory details.



The SDI Capture page is now available with Windows Vista and Windows 7 drivers.



Manage Quadro Plex Settings page renamed to SLI Mosaic Mode.

Display Category



Adjust Desktop Color Settings page

•

Added the ability to select the content type reported to the display. Some digital displays can automatically adjust its settings to present the content with the best image quality. Available on Windows Vista and later.

•

Gamma slider: The gamma range is increased to 0.3—2.8, but the range available to the slider may be limited, depending on the Brightness and Contrast settings.



Adjust Desktop Size and Position page

•

Added the ability to select the desktop resizing mode reported to the display.

Some HDMI displays can use the information to properly present the content onto the screen with minimal overscan or borders. Available on Windows Vista and later.

3D Settings Category



Set SLI and PhyX pages

Changed and improved the controls for configuring SLI and PhyX:

•

SLI choices now reflect use ‐ Maximize 3D performance, activate all displays, or disable SLI.

•

Visual diagram shows which displays are connected and active, how GPUs are grouped in SLI configurations, which GPU is used for PhysX, and the displays that are PhysX accelerated.

•

Added the ability to dedicate a GPU for PhyX.

•

The SLI focus display is the primary display as specified in the Set Up Multiple

Displays page.



Manage 3D Settings page

Removed the following Global and Program Settings

•

Antialiasing full screen gamma



•

Conformant texture clamp

•

Error reporting

•

(OpenGL) Extension limit

•

Force Mipmaps

•

HDR lighting

•

Maximize texture memory

•

Stereo ‐ SLI rendering mode

•

Texture color depth

Added new Global and Program Settings

•

CUDA‐GPUs lets you specify which GPUs to use for CUDA applications.

•

Deep color for 3D applications lets 3D OpenGL applications be displayed in a color depth higher than what is supported by the Windows desktop, depending on application and display support.

Supported Operating Systems

NVIDIA Release 256 Graphics drivers are available for the following Microsoft

®

Windows

®

operating systems:

•

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2

•

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005/2004

•

Windows XP Professional

•

Windows XP Home Edition

•

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

•

Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

•

Windows Vista Home Basic

•

Windows Vista Home Premium

•

Windows Vista Business

•

Windows Vista Enterprise Edition

•

Windows Vista Ultimate

•

Windows 7 32‐bit and 64‐bit Editions

Supported NVIDIA Products

Refer to the release notes and NVIDIA driver download site for the list of products supported by the driver version that you have installed on your computer.



Supported Languages

The NVIDIA Graphics Driver supports the following languages in the NVIDIA Control

Panel:

English (USA)

English (UK)

Arabic

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese (Brazil)

Portuguese (Euro/Iberian)

Russian

Slovak

Slovenian

Spanish

Spanish (Latin America)

Swedish

Thai

Turkish

Other NVIDIA Software Applications

If installed, other NVIDIA software that you can access from the NVIDIA Control Panel includes:



NVIDIA System Tools–Performance group and System Update



NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D



NVIDIA MediaShield

TM



NVIDIA Network Access Manager

See the respective user documentation for information about these applications and instructions on how to use them.



Getting Support and Information

Online Help



To open the online help, either :

•

Press F1 on your keyboard, or

•

Select Help from the NVIDIA Control Panel menu bar and then select NVIDIA

Control Panel Help.



Help on various topics can be viewed using the Contents, Index, or Search tabs.

Technical Support

To access the NVIDIA Technical Support web page go the following web address: http://www.nvidia.com/page/support.html

System Information

You can get detailed information about your system and the NVIDIA Control Panel configuration as well as version and copyright information.



To view copyright and version information about the NVIDIA Control Panel:

From the Help menu, select About NVIDIA Control Panel.



To view detailed system information:

Open the System Information dialog box by either selecting System Information from the Help menu, or by clicking the System Information link at the lower left corner of the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Click any of the tabs in the System Information dialog box.


02

UNDERSTANDING THE NVIDIA

CONTROL PANEL

This chapter describes the NVIDIA Control Panel in the following sections:



“Opening and Closing the New NVIDIA Control Panel” on page 8



“About the NVIDIA Control Panel Interface” on page 9


Chapter 02 : Understanding the NVIDIA Control Panel

Opening and Closing the New NVIDIA Control Panel



You can open the NVIDIA Control Panel in several ways:

•

Right‐click the Windows desktop, then click NVIDIA Control Panel from the context menu, or

For Windows XP

•

From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel, then in the Control Panel window, double‐click on the NVIDIA Control Panel icon.

For Windows Vista/Windows 7

•

From the Classic View of the Windows Control Panel, click the NVIDIA Control

Panel icon, or

•

From the Control Panel Home view of the Windows Control Panel, click Additional

Options and then click NVIDIA Control Panel from the Additional Options page.



To close the NVIDIA Control Panel,

•

From the File menu, select Exit, or

•

Click the Close box in the upper right corner of the program window.



About the NVIDIA Control Panel Interface

The NVIDIA Control Panel provides an easy‐to‐use interface for managing your system.

When you start the program for the first time, the NVIDIA Control Panel opens to the first page listed in the navigation tree. On subsequent visits, the control panel reopens to the last page visited. The NVIDIA Control Panel user interface consists of these main

areas, as shown in Figure 2.1

and

Figure 2.2

:



Main Task Area



Select a Task (Navigation tree)



Menu bar



Toolbar .

Tool Bar

Menu Bar

Select a Task Pane

Control Panel Main Task Area

Figure 2.1 NVIDIA Control Panel (Windows XP Example)


.

Tool Bar Menu Bar


Select a Task Pane

Control Panel Main Task Area

Figure 2.2 NVIDIA Control Panel (Windows Vista Example)

Using the Main Task Area

The main task area, in the right pane, displays the application task pages. This area of the screen is where you will focus most of your attention as you use the NVIDIA Control

Panel to accomplish your goals. You can access specific pages using the navigation tree in the Select a Task pane.



Using the Select a Task Pane

The navigation tree in the Select a Task pane shows all the primary NVIDIA Control pages that are installed on your system.

The pages are grouped according to the same categories that existed in the previous version of the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Click to expand or collapse the group list.

Click to open the corresponding page in the main task area.

Figure 2.3 NVIDIA Control Panel Select a Task pane



Using the Tool Bar

The Toolbar provides quick back and forth navigation between pages, and also lets you choose a view setting.

Using the Navigation Buttons

The back and forward buttons let you navigate sequentially among pages that you have visited.

You can also navigate directly to a previously visited page by clicking the list arrow next to the back button. The drop‐down menu lists all the previously visited pages in the queue. Click the page that you want.

Figure 2.4 Navigation History Menu

Working with View Settings

The currently selected view determines what options on each page are available..

Figure 2.5 NVIDIA Control Panel View Settings

There are three available views:



Standard



Advanced





Custom

Most commands are available for both Standard and Advanced views. However, some options are available only if the Advanced view is selected before opening the page.

Also, task page options may different depending on the selected view. If the command you’re looking for is not displayed, select a different view.

To change the view:



From the View menu, select Standard, Advanced, or Custom.

For the Custom command to be available, you must define a custom view as described in the following section.

Defining Custom Views

You can customize NVIDIA Control Panel to display only the task pages you want to see and use.

To specify which the pages to display:

1

Select View > Define Custom View... or for quicker access, use the toolbar if you have it enabled.

2

On the Create Custom View page, select (check) the check boxes for the pages that you want to view and click OK.

3

To leave the Custom View mode, select either Standard or Advanced from the View menu or for quicker access, use the toolbar if you have it enabled.

4

To switch back to your custom view, select Custom.

Using the Menu Bar

The Menu bar contains standard Windows menus and menus specific to the NVIDIA

Control Panel, such as the View and Profiles menus.

Menus that are available on the menu bar may vary, depending on the NVIDIA Control

Panel group (such as, Display, Mobile, 3D Settings, or other group) you are using.



File Menu

Commands related to printing, applying changes, and exiting the program are available on the File menu.

Table 2.1

File Menu Commands

File Menu

Command

Page Setup ...

Description

Print...

Print

Preview....

Exit

Set up the current task page for printing. This control may not

be available.

Print the current task page. This control may not be available.

Preview the page before sending it to the printer. This control

may not be available.

Close the NVIDIA Control Panel program.

Edit Menu

Commands related to cutting, copying, pasting, and selecting items are available on the

Edit menu.

Table 2.2

Edit Menu Commands

Edit Menu

Command

Cut

Description

Copy

Paste

Select All

Cut the selected text and place in the clipboard. This control


Copy the selected text and place in the clipboard. This control


Paste the text currently in the clipboard to the location of the

Windows cursor. This control may not be available.

Select all items on the current page. This control may not be

available.



View Menu

Commands related to viewing the various pages in the NVIDIA Control Panel application modules are available on the View menu.

Table 2.3

View Menu Commands

View Menu

Command

Standard

Description

Advanced

Custom

Define Custom

View

Add Desktop

Context Menu

Add "Run with graphics processor"

Option

Display GPU

Activity Icon in

Notification

Area

Select to view and access the majority of commonly used and simpler tasks in the NVIDIA Control Panel applications. When the Standard command appears with a check mark, this means that the Standard view is currently active on your NVIDIA

Control Panel active.

Select to view and access certain complex tasks in the NVIDIA

Control Panel applications. These tasks often require some advanced experience using graphics hardware and software

(drivers). When the Advanced command appears with a check mark, this means that the Advanced view is currently active on your NVIDIA Control Panel.

Select to choose a custom view. This command appears on the

View menu only if you have used the Define Custom Views command to customize showing/hiding specific screens.

To see only those application pages you want to see and use based on the application modules (Display, 3D Settings, etc.) that are installed on your system, select Define Custom Views from the View menu.

This is selected by default, and adds the NVIDIA Control Panel menu item to the desktop context menu.

Select this option to add "Run with graphics processor" to the program context menu.

When this option is selected, you can choose which graphics processor to use when starting a program as follows:

1. Right-click the program icon.

2. Click Run with graphics processor and then click the graphics processor to use.

The selection applies only at the time the program is launched.

NOTE: This menu option appears only with systems using

NVIDIA © Optimus™ technology.

Select this option so that the GPU Activity icon appears in the

Windows notification area of the taskbar. You can then click the icon to see which programs and displays are using the

NVIDIA GPU.

NOTE: This menu option appears only with systems using

NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology.



Table 2.3

View Menu Commands

View Menu

Command

Show

Notification

Tray Icon

Description

(Windows XP only) Select to show the NVIDIA Control Panel notification tray icon in the Windows taskbar notification area.

Clicking the NVIDIA Control Panel notification icon offers a quick way to configure key NVIDIA Control Panel settings.

Help Menu

Commands related to accessing help, system information, and copyright and version information are available on the Help menu.

Table 2.4

Help Menu Commands

Help Menu Command

NVIDIA Control Panel

Help

System Information

Description

Access the NVIDIA Control Panel online help.

About NVIDIA Control

Panel

View detailed information about your system and the

NVIDIA Control Panel configuration.

View NVIDIA Control Panel version and copyright information.

Group-Specific Menus

These menus appear only when pages from a specific group are open.

Profiles Menu

Commands related to saving, loading, and deleting profiles are available on the Profiles menu.

Table 2.5

Profiles Menu Commands

Profiles Menu Command Description

Load...

Save...

Delete...

Load a profile of display settings you have previously saved. Click to open the Load Desktop Profile dialog box and select a .nvp file.

Save the current configuration to a profile file. Click to open the Save Desktop Profile and enter a name and path for the .nvp file.

Delete a profile. Click to open the Delete Desktop

Profile dialog box and locate a profile to delete.



Display Menu

This menu item appears only when a Display group page is open.

Table 2.6

Display Menu Commands

Display Menu Command Description

Identify Displays Select to identify the displays configured with your system.

3D Settings Menu

This menu item appears only when a 3D Settings group page is open on an SLI system.

Table 2.7

3D Settings Menu Commands

3D Settings Menu

Command

Description

Show SLI Visual Indicators Select to verify that SLI rendering is enabled and working.

Show PhysX Visual

Indicator

Select to verify the type of PhysX acceleration the game is using - CPU or GPU - or if PhysX acceleration is being used at all.

Workstation Menu

This menu item appears only when a Workstation group page is open.

Table 2.8

Workstation Menu Commands

Workstation Menu

Command

Refresh View

Description

Select to refresh the graphical representation of the displays and graphics cards installed on your system.


03

ACCOMPLISHING NVIDIA CONTROL

PANEL TASKS

This chapter provides instructions on how to use the NVIDIA Control Panel to accomplish common tasks. It contains the following sections:



Starting the NVIDIA Control Panel



Accomplishing NVIDIA Control Panel Tasks

Note: For Windows Vista/Windows 7 – Several features are currently under development and are not yet supported in the NVIDIA

Control Panel. Consult the release notes for the latest list of unsupported features.


Chapter 03 : Accomplishing NVIDIA Control Panel Tasks

Starting the NVIDIA Control Panel

1

Launch the NVIDIA Control Panel:

Under Windows XP:

•


•

From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel, then in the Control Panel window, double‐click the NVIDIA Control

Panel icon.

Under Windows Vista/Windows 7:

•


a

Click the Start icon, then from the Start menu click Control Panel.

b

From the Classic View of the Windows Vista Control Panel, click the NVIDIA

Control Panel icon, or

From the Control Panel Home view of the Windows Vista Control Panel, click

Additional Options and then click NVIDIA Control Panel from the Additional

Options page.

The groups that appear in the Select a Task pane depend on the NVIDIA hardware software is installed on your system. For example, the Mobile group is not available on desktop systems.

2

From the navigation tree in the Select a Task pane, click one of the links to open a specific task page.



Each group in the navigation tree lists different tasks that you can accomplish, and each task page provides instructions on how to accomplish what you want. Move the cursor over listed options to see a description and typical usage scenario for that option.

Detailed instructions for each task are also available through the online help.

Accomplishing NVIDIA Control Panel Tasks

The NVIDIA Control Panel provides an intuitive layout for locating graphics driver controls, including most of the controls that were available with the Classic NVIDIA

Control Panel.

•

“NVIDIA Control Panel Feature List” on page 21 lists the current features available in the

NVIDIA Control Panel.

•

“Correlating to the NVIDIA Classic Control Panel” on page 26 shows where a Classic Control

Panel feature is found in the new NVIDIA Control Panel.

•

“NVIDIA Control Panel Groups” on page 28

provides an overview of the NVIDIA Control

Panel pages by group.



NVIDIA Control Panel Feature List

Table 3.1

NVIDIA Control Panel Features

Feature

Values (Default in bold) a

Display/TV Controls

Mode control

Resolution Non-HD display - the native resolution or the highest safe resolution from the monitor EDID is the default.

HD display - the highest progressive resolution is the default.

Refresh rate

Color depth/quality

Custom timings/resolutions

TV Signal Format Selection

Connector Selection

M/NTSC, PAL, M/PAL, N/

PAL, Select by country

Auto-select,

DVI - PC display,

VGA - PC display,

S-Video - SDTV,

Component,

Composite - SDTV,

Composite - HDTV,

HDMI - HDTV (audio enabled (Vista and later)),

HDMI-HDTV (audio disabled

(Vista and later)),

DisplayPort - HDTV,

DisplayPort - PC display,

LVDS - laptop display

Color Control

Brightness

Contrast

Gamma

Digital Vibrance

Image sharpening

0 - 100%, (50%)

0 - 100%, (50%)

0.50 - 1.50, (1.00)

0 - 100%, (0%)

0 - 100%, (0%)

Notes

Available values depend on the actual connection.

For DVI, VGA, or

Component connectors, the values are static and cannot be changed.

Not available with

GeForce 8 series and later GPUs.



Table 3.1


Feature

Hue

Flicker Filter

Gray border option

Digital color format selection

Content type (ITC) reported to the display


0 - 359 degrees (30)

0 - 100%, (50%)

Disabled

RGB, YCbCr

Auto select, Desktop programs, Full-screen videos, Photos, Movie,

Games

Notes

For GeForce 8 series and later GPUs

For analog TVs

For analog TVs; presents unused black TV borders as gray

For HDMI and

DisplayPort connections

Window Vista and later;

Some HDMI displays only

- available values dependent on display support

Rotation

Desktop Size and Position

Move CRT screen position

Flat panel scaling

Adjust screen size and position

Resize HDTV desktop

Pan HD desktop when not resized

Desktop resizing mode reported to the display

Multi-display Options

Single-display mode

Dualview (extended mode)

0, 90, 180, 270 degrees

NVIDIA scaling

NVIDIA scaling with fixedaspect ratio

Display’s built-in scaling

No scaling

For VGA displays

For non-HD display modes on DVI/HDMI/

DisplayPort connection

Auto-select, Overscan,

Underscan, Do not report

For analog TVs

For HD display modes

(over DVI/HDMI/

DisplayPort/Component connections) that support underscan or desktop resizing.

WIndows XP only;

For HD display modes

(over DVI/HDMI/

DisplayPort/Component connections) that support underscan or desktop resizing.

Windows Vista and later;

HDMI displays only



Table 3.1


Feature

nView Clone Mode nView Spanning Mode

Video Controls

Values (Default in bold) a Notes

Windows XP only

“Use video player settings” is the default. If “Use

NVIDIA settings” is selected, the following values apply.

Color Settings

Brightness

Contrast

Hue

Saturation

Gamma (including separate RGB)

Advanced Color Settings

Dynamic Range

Dynamic Contrast Enhancement

0 - 100%, (50%)

0 - 100%, (50%)

0 - 100%, (0%)

0 - 100%, (50%)

0.3 - 3.00, (1.00)

Full (0—255)

Limited (16—235)

Disabled

Color Enhancement

Disabled

GeForce 9 series and later GPUS

GeForce 9 series and later GPUs

Image Settings

Edge Enhancement

Noise Reduction

Inverse Telecine option

Internet Video Enhancement option

0 - 100%, (0%)

0 - 100%, (0%)

Disabled

Disabled

Select GeForce 8 series and later GPUs

Digital Audio

Portal to the Windows Sound Settings panel

For GPUs that support digital audio when an

HDMI or DisplayPort connection is made.

HDCP

Capability verification page For GPUs that support

HDCP.

3D Application Controls

Ambient Occlusion

Anisotropic filtering

Off, Performance, Quality Windows Vista and later;


Application-controlled,

Off, card-specific settings



Table 3.1


Feature

Antialiasing - Mode

Antialiasing - Setting

Antialiasing line gamma

Antialiasing - gamma correction

Antialiasing - transparency

Buffer-flipping mode

CUDA - GPUs

Deep color for 3D applications

Enable Overlay



Off, Enhance the application setting,

Override any application setting

Application-controlled, card-specific settings

Off, On

Off, On

Off, Multisampling, supersampling

Auto-select,

Block transfer

[All CUDA-capable

GPUs]

Allow, disable

Off, On

Exported pixel types

Maximum pre-rendered frames

Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration

Multi-GPU performance mode

OpenGL Rendering GPU

Power management mode

Preferred Refresh Rate

SLI performance modes

Notes

NVIDIA Quadro cards


NVIDIA Quadro cards

Windows XP only

NVIDIA Quadro cards 8-bpp and/or RGB555 format, None

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Limits frame prerendering

Single, Compatible, or

Multiple display performance modes single-GPU, alternate frame rendering 1 & 2, split frame rendering, or multi-GPU antialiasing

Auto-select,

Adaptive, Prefer maximum performance


Highest available single-GPU, alternate frame rendering 1 & 2, split frame rendering, or

SLI antialiasing

NVIDIA Quadro FX or NVS cards

GeForce 9 series and later GPUs; Windows

Vista and later

Windows Vista and later



Table 3.1


Feature


Stereo - Display mode

Stereo - Enable

Stereo - Force shuttering

Stereo - Swap eyes

Texture filtering - anisotropic mip filter optimization

Select to match stereo viewing hardware

Off, On

Off, On

Off, On

Off, On

Texture filtering - anisotropic sample filter optimization

Off, On

Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias Allow, Clamp

Texture filtering - Quality High quality, Quality,

Performance, High performance

Off, On Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization

Threaded optimization Off, On

Notes

NVIDIA Quadro cards

NVIDIA Quadro cards

NVIDIA Quadro cards

NVIDIA Quadro cards

Balance between quality and performance

For systems with multiple CPUs

Triple buffering

Unified back/depth buffer

Off, On

Off, On NVIDIA Quadro cards

Windows XP only

Vertical sync

Use the 3D application

setting, Force off, Force on

PhysX Configuration

SLI/Multi-GPU Configuration

For systems with PhysXcapable GPUs, a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory, and a minimum of 32 processor cores

For systems with SLI or multi-GPU ready GPUs.

3-way SLI Mode

Quad SLI Mode a. Defaults for the 3D application controls are for the Global Settings tab. Under the Program Settings tab, Use global setting is typically the default setting.



Correlating to the NVIDIA Classic Control Panel

Table 3.2

lists the features as presented in the Classic Control Panel and identifies the page in the NVIDIA Control Panel where you can find the corresponding controls.

Table 3.2

Graphics Driver Tasks in the NVIDIA Control Panel

Feature NVIDIA Control Panel

Group - Page

Advanced Timings

Antialiasing

Application Profiles

Color Depth

Custom Timings

Desktop Color Settings

Driver Settings

Desktop Overlap

Frame Synchronization

HDTV Setup

Display - Change

Resolution

3D Settings - Manage

3D Settings


3D Settings

Display - Change

Resolution

Display - Change

Resolution

Display - Adjust

Desktop Color Settings


3D Settings

Workstation - Adjust

Edge Overlap

Workstation -

Synchronize Displays

Display - Change

Resolution

Multi-display configuration Display - Set Up

Multiple Dislays nView Clone Mode Display - Set Up

Multiple Displays nView Span Modes

NVRotate

Performance and Quality

Settings

PowerMizer

Display - Set Up

Multiple Displays

Display - Rotate

Display

3D Settings - Adjust

Image Settings with

Preview

Mobile - Change

PowerMizer Settings

Notes

Available only with NVIDIA Quadro

FX cards.

Available with NVIDIA Quadro G-

Sync cards.

Available only with Windows XP.

Available only with notebook computers.

Available only with Windows XP.



Table 3.2

Graphics Driver Tasks in the NVIDIA Control Panel

Feature NVIDIA Control Panel

Group - Page

Refresh Rate Settings

Resolution Settings

Screen Position on CRT

Screen Position on TV

Display - Change

Resolution

Display - Change

Resolution

Display - Adjust

Desktop Size and

Position

Display - Adjust

Desktop Size and

Position

SDI (Graphics to SDI Output) Workstation - Send

Graphics to SDI

Output

SLI Configuration

Temperature Settings

3D Settings - Set SLI

Configuration

Performance

Notes

Available only with NVIDIA Quadro

FX SDI cards.

Requires NVIDIA System Tools software

TV Setup

Video Color Settings

Overclocking

Display - Change

Resolution

Video - Adjust Video

Color Settings

Performance Requires NVIDIA System Tools software



NVIDIA Control Panel Groups

This section provides an overview of the NVIDIA Control Panel groups.



“Using the Display Pages” on page 28



“Using the Video Pages” on page 29



“Using the 3D Settings Pages” on page 29



“Using the Stereoscopic 3D Pages” on page 29



“Using the Mobile Pages” on page 29



“Using the Workstation Pages” on page 30



“Using the Networking Pages” on page 30



“Using the Storage Pages” on page 31



“Using the Performance Pages” on page 31



“Using the System Update Pages” on page 31

Note: For Windows Versions – Support for some features under

Windows Vista or Windows 7 is in development and may not be available with your GeForce graphics driver version. Consult the release notes for the latest list of unsupported features.

Using the Display Pages

The actual tasks available on your system depend on your system hardware, such as the number and type of displays connected. Use the Display group pages to:



Run the wizard to optimize your display configuration.



Change the display resolution.



Change the scaling on your flat panel display.



Adjust desktop color settings.



Rotate the display.



Adjust custom timings.



Configure multiple displays, including Spanning or Clone modes.

Spanning modes are available only with Windows XP.



Adjust your television picture quality and video color settings for the best possible viewing in its environment.



Change the position and size of the desktop/video to best fit your television or HDTV

(high definition television) screen.



Change the signal format to use for your standard television or HDTV as well as change country‐specific signal or the HDTV format.





Verify the HDCP capability of your system.



Access digital audio controls.

Using the Video Pages

The actual tasks available on your system depend on your system hardware, such as whether or not you have a TV connected and enabled. Use the Video page to:



Adjust video and image color settings.

Using the 3D Settings Pages

The actual tasks available on your system depend on your system hardware, such as whether or not you have an SLI‐ready system. Use the 3D Settings page to:



Change the image and rendering settings of your 3D applications and games that utilize Direct3D and OpenGL technology.



Assign specific 3D settings to a game so that these settings automatically load when a game is launched (available under Advanced view).



Set up your SLI or multi‐GPU configuration as well as PhysX configuration.

GPU temperature monitoring and GPU overclocking features are not included in the 3D

Settings page. To use this functionality you must install NVIDIA nTune software.

Using the Stereoscopic 3D Pages

The Stereoscopic 3D pages are part of the NVIDIA 3D Vision software for viewing 3D programs and games in stereoscopic 3D. Use the Stereoscopic 3D pages to:



Control stereoscopic 3D settings.

Enable stereoscopic 3D, adjust 3D depth, select a 3D laser sight, view and set the keyboard shortcuts, and run the setup wizard and various tests.



View game compatibility.

See a stereoscopic 3D compatibility rating for a number of games, along with possible issues and recommendations for each game.

Using the Mobile Pages

The Mobile group is available if the NVIDIA software is installed on a notebook computer under Windows XP.

Use the Mobile page to extend your notebook computer’s battery life using NVIDIA

PowerMizer technology



Using the Workstation Pages

The Workstation group is available if you have an NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics card installed.

The actual tasks available depend on which NVIDIA Quadro FX product you have installed. Use the Workstation page to:



Synchronize your displays using frame sync or genlock technology.



View a graphical representation of the displays and graphics cards installed on your system.



Manage serial digital interface (SDI) output (requires NVIDIA Quadro FX SDI solution.)



Configure SLI Mosaic mode (requires Quadro Plex unit) to combine multiple displays into a larger virtual canvass.



Overlap the edges of adjacent displays.

Display edge blending is no longer available.

Using the Networking Pages

The Networking group pages are part of the nForce drivers Networking software for

NVIDIA nForce‐based PCs.

Use the Networking pages to optimize your network performance and increase your network bandwidth with the following technologies:



NVIDIA FirstPacket offers a new way to manage the traffic on your personal computer, allowing you to more effectively manage and improve the performance of networked games and other applications that are sensitive to network delay (latency), such as Voice‐over‐IP (VoIP).



NVIDIA TCP/IP Acceleration technology is a networking solution that moves the processing of TCP/IP network traffic from your computer’s CPU to its nForce hardware resulting in greatly improved system performance.



NVIDIA Teaming technology combines all the NVIDIA Ethernet interfaces on your system to form a team, resulting in increased bandwidth and network redundancy.



Alert Standard Format (ASF) controls lets you set up alerts and remote system management in an OS‐present or OS‐absent environment.



Using the Storage Pages

The Storage group pages are part of the nForce drivers MediaShield Storage software for


Use the Storage pages to



Create and manage RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, and spanning arrays.



Run SMART tests on your RAID array disk drives.

Using the Performance Pages

The Performance group pages are part of the nForce drivers System Tools software for


Use the Performance pages to:



Manage system tuning and profiles for nForce MCP clocks, voltages, timings, and fans.



Manage Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) components.



View detailed system information for your nForce‐based PC.



Overclock your GeForce GPU.

Using the System Update Pages

The System Update pages are part of the nForce drivers System Tools software for


Use the system update pages to:



Automatically check for nForce and GeForce driver updates.



Update your system BIOS.



Update firmware for the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) components.


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