ATI Mobility Radeon X300

ATI Mobility Radeon X300 This is an ATI video adapter Features Chipset: ATI M22 PCI ID: 1002:5460 PCI Express x16 32 or 64MB GDDR1 on-chip video memory "HyperMemory": can use system memory for graphics processing "PowerPlay 4.0" technology for dynamic engine clock, memory clock and core voltage, refresh rate reduction and thermal status reporting.

See specifications from ATI, as well as the "snapshot" data sheet (referes to the 32MB on-chip, 128MB "HyperMemory" version).

Linux driver

The X.org radeon driver works well and support most (but not all) features. ATI provides fglrx, a closed-source alternative adding some functionality such as TV out and 3D acceleration.

3D acceleration

The X.org radeon driver, in conjuction with the R300 DRM driver, provides 3D acceleration. This is experimental, does not support all feature and may be unstable.

You may also use fglrx, a closed-source ATI driver provided by ATI.

ThinkPad LCD

Display on the internal LCD works as long as you set the monitor settings correct.

External VGA port

There are known problems. Both the radeon and fglrx drivers turn off the switching between internal and external port.

With the vesa driver

Using the "vesa" driver built into X.org, mode switching modes. However, this loses acceleration and some capabilities.

With the radeon driver

On-the-fly swiching doesn't work. To activate both ports in clone mode with a reasonable CRT refresh rate, use the following in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
       Identifier  "Videocard0"
       VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
       BoardName   "ATI Radeon Mobility X300"

       Driver      "radeon"
       Option      "DynamicClocks" "on"

       Option      "MergedFB" "on"
       Option      "MonitorLayout" "LVDS, CRT"
       Option      "CRT2Hsync" "50-75"
       Option      "CRT2VRefresh" "50-82"
EndSection

Note that without the MonitorLayout option, if the external monitor is connected when X starts then the LCD will be deactivated and you will need to restart X.

(Tested wth Fedora Core 4 on ThinkPad T43).

See also the related discussion about Additional options for the radeon driver.

With the fglrx driver

On-the-fly switching doesn't work either. To use both ports, either have the monitor connected during X startup, or force activation of both ports by adding

Option  "ForceMonitors" "lvds,crt1"

to the Device section in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Powering the CRT port consumes 400-500mW, regardless of whether a CRT is attached.

S-Video port (TV-out)

Works with the proprietary fglrx driver (as of version 8.19.10). To activate, add

Option  "ForceMonitors" "lvds,tv"

to the Device section in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and restart X.

DVI port

??

3D acceleration

OpenGL 3D acceleration is provided by the proprietary fglrx driver (when DRI is enabled). Note that performance is affected by the power saving mode.

The open source r300 DRM module also aims to provide 3D acceleration. This currently requires the CVS/GIT versions of X.org, DRM and Mesa, and has been observed to occasionally crash (e.g., when running Google Earth or ppraceron a T43). You can install it experimentally for testing.

Linux kernel Framebuffer driver

radeonfb might cause problems with hardware acceleration under X on some systems, vesafb and vesafb-tng on the other hand has been reported to work just fine.

Clock rates, voltage and power

Clock rates, voltages and power ¹

Mode	core freq	memory freq	voltage	idle	3DMarks (Windows, 1600x1200, LCD only)
Performance	300	230 MHz	1.15V	2.98 W	8.28 W
Balanced	183	210 MHz	1.00V	1.71 W	3.88 W
Battery	120	105 MHz	1.00V	1.61 W	2.74 W

ATI drivers for Windows ² and fglrx

Mode	core freq	memory freq
Performance	297.00	229.50
Balanced	209.25	182.25
Battery	104.63	121.50

Experimentally, the difference between the Performance and Battery settings under Linux with the radeon driver and DynamicClocks enabled is roughly 0.3W and 3-4 degrees in GPU temperature on a ThinkPad T43. Further frequency reduction leads to display flickering or corruption.

See How to make use of Graphics Chips Power Management features for details on how to control this using Rovclock, DynamicClocks option to the radeon driver and or the fglrx driver.

Presently the lowest idle-mode power consumption is achieved using the proprietary fglrx driver and

# aticonfig  --set-powerstate=1 --effective=now

ThinkPads this chip may be found in

• R52
• T43
• Z60m

FOOTNOTES [Δ]

1. according to the "Snapshot" data sheet (which refers to the 32MB on-chip, 128MB "HyperMemory" version)
2. inspected using Notebook Hardware Control