MSI N260GTX Quick user guide

MSI Features

MICRO-STAR INT'L MS-V801

Macrovision Corporation Product Notice

This product incorporates copyright protection technology that is protected by method claims of certain U.S. patents and other intellectual property rights owned by Macrovision Corporation and other right owners. Use of this copyright protection technology must be authorized by Macrovision Corporation, and is intended for home and other limited viewing uses only unless otherwise authorized by Macrovision Corporation. Reverse engineering or disassembly is prohibited.

* All trademarks used in this manual are the sole property of their respective owners.

VGA is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

R R

Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

R R

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

CAUTION!!

Do not force the GPU cooler against the fragile GPU to avoid

damage to the GPU.

Under the European Union ("EU") Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Directive 2002/96/EC, which takes effect on August 13, 2005, products of "electrical and electronic equipment" cannot be discarded as municipal waste anymore and manufacturers of covered electronic equipment will be obligated to take back such products at the end of their useful life.

TEL. 886-2-32345599

FAX. 886-2-32345488

http://www.msi.com.tw

WARNING!!

DO NOT touch the cooling system since it may produce a certain heat while processing tasks.

G52-V8012XN

May 2008

Installing MSI Live Update

MSI Live Update offers you with brand-new update service experience, which can significantly save your time while searching files. MSI Live Update is capable to automatically analyze and list drivers, BIOS, and utilities you need. With the easy-touse updating approaches, you can increase the performance of your system easily and quickly. Follow the instructions below, with a few mouse clicks, you can acquire the related files for the system updating.

Installing from the Disk

1. Insert the supplied disk into the CD-ROM drive, and start the Setup program.

2. Click the Utility tab on the setup screen.

3. Click the MSI Live Update. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Installing from the MSI Web Site

1. Link to MSI's website at http://www.msi.com.tw

2. Find and click Live Update Online on the left side of the web page to enter MSI Download Center.

3. Click Start to Check to download the Live Update application.

4. Click Install the continue.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

6. Launch MSI Live Update and to enter the main page of this utility as shown here.

Using MSI Live VGA Driver Update

This service enables you to update the latest VGA driver for your VGA card.

1. To update the MSI Live VGA Driver, click Live VGA Driver item on the left column of the main page.

2. This utility will start checking your platform and the information on the VGA card, and display the information in a list.

3. Click the graph button on the bottom to connect MSI Live Update Series Server. Then, it will automatically connect the Internet and compare the version of the driver in the database.

4. It may take several minutes to detect the required drivers. Please wait while proceeding detection.

5. Click the InstallShield Wizard button on the right side of the table to download and update the driver. All actions will proceed automatically.

6. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the updating procedure.

Using MSI Live VGA BIOS Update

This service enables you to update the latest VGA BIOS for your VGA card.

1. To update your VGA BIOS, click Live VGA BIOS item on the left column of the main page.

2. If your VGA card does not support the Live VGA BIOS function, you will receive a warning message on the screen.

3. If your VGA card do support the Live VGA BIOS function, please pay attention to the message shown on the screen telling you that in what circumstance flashing BIOS may fail to reboot.

4. Click Yes if you would like to try it at your own risk or No to return to the main page with everything unchanged.

5. If you click Yes to continue, it will check the information and BIOS version of your VGA card, and list them in a table.

6. Click the graph button at the bottom to connect the MSI Live Update 3 Server.

7. The MSI Live VGA BIOS will automatically connect the Internet and search the supported BIOS in the database of MSI.

8. If it has found one (or several) supported BIOS for your VGA card, click the InstallShield Wizard button on the right side of the table to have the new BIOS downloaded and updated automatically.

9. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the updating procedure.

N260GTX series

Overview

Note: The VGA card shown here may vary from the actual card. For further information, please visit MSI website at www.msi.com.tw

Fan Connector

Power Connector

SPDIF Connector**

1G DDR3 memory 896MB DDR3 memory

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

PCI Express Interface

SLI Interface**

TV_Out Connector

HDTV-Output integrated

DVI-I Ports

- HDMI supported**

- HDCP supported

- Dual dual-Link DVI output supported

Power LED Indicator**

Reserve Hole

Refer to the section of Enabling SPDIF

**1

Input Function for details.

**2 To ensure the best SLI performance, please

visit MSI website to update the latest driver.

**3 For the details of Power LED Indicator,

please refer to the Special Note.

**1

Getting Started

Unpacking

Please check out the following items to make sure that you get the complete product: VGA card Disk: Drivers, documentation, and applications Consult your dealer immediately if anything is missing or damaged.

System Requirements

To install the VGA card, your computer system needs to meet the following requirements:

PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0 -

Two

Minimum 500W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 36A) **Minimum system power requirement based on a PC configured with an Intel Core2Extreme

processor Qx9650

CD-ROM / DVD-ROM for driver installation Visiting MSI website for further information of operating system support

Card Features

2nd Generation Unified Architecture

NVIDIA

Second generation architecture delivers 50% more gaming performance over the first generation through 240 enhanced processing cores that provide incredible shading horsepower.

NVIDIA

GeForce GPU support for NVIDIA PhysX technology,enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with GeForce.

3-way SLI Technology

NVIDIA

Industry leading 3-way NVIDIA SLI technology offers amazing performance scaling by implementing 3-way AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) for the world's fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista with solid, state-of-the-art drivers.

Microsoft DirectX 10 Support

DirectX 10 GPU with full ShaderModel 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects for today's hottest games.

NVIDIA

CUDA technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processing cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks - such as video transcoding - delivering up to 7x performance over traditional CPUs.

PCI Express 2.0 Support

Designed for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture offering the highest data transfer speeds for the most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications, while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support.

GigaThread Technology

Massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs.

NVIDIA

Delivers stunning image quality and floating point accuracy at ultra-fast frame rates.

R R

6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors

For reference only

PhysX - Ready

CUDA Technology

Lumenex Engine

compliant motherboard with one dual-width x16 graphics slot

Getting Started

16x Anti-aliasing Technology

Lightning fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges.

128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) Lighting

Twice the precision of prior generations for incredibly realistic lighting effectsnow with support for anti-aliasing.

OpenGL

Ensures top-notch compatibility and performance for OpenGL applications.

Dual Dual-link DVI Support

Able to drive the industry's largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600 and with support for Hign-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP).

NVIDIA

The combination of high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video.

Discrete, Programmable Video Processor

NVIDIA PureVideo is a discrete programmable processing core in NVIDIA GPUs that provides superb picture quality and ultra-smooth movies with100% offload of H.264 video decoding from the CPU and significantly reduced power consumption.

Dual-stream Hardware Acceleration

Supports picture-in-picture content for the ultimate interactive Blu-ray movie experience.

Dynamic Contrast Enhancement & Color Stretch

Dynamically provides post-processing and optimization of High Definition movies for spectacular picture clarity.

HDCP Capable

Designed to meet the output protection management (HDCP) and security specifications of the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats, allowing the playback of encrypted movie content on PCs when connected to HDCP-compliant displays

. Integrated SD and HD TV Output

World-class TV-out functionality via Composite, S-Video, Component or DVI connections. Supports resolutions up to 1080i/1080p, depending on connection type and TV capability

Enabling HDMI Output

4. Use the compliant SPDIF Internal cable to connect both the SPDIF connectors on the VGA card and your mainboard. Make sure to (1) plug the black cable to the pin and the orange one to the -pin on the mainboard; and (2) plug the other end (2-pin white connector) of the cable to the SPDIF connector on the VGA card. Note that wrong installation may cause the damage to the VGA card.

2.1 Optimization and Support

PureVideo HD Technology

Follow the steps to enable HDMI Output function:

1. Find the DVI-to-HDMI adapter that comes with the package, if provided. is not provided.

2. Attach the

3. Ensure that the adapter is firmly installed.

GND

below

Consult your dealer to purchase the adapter if it

DVI-to-HDMI adapter to the DVI connector.

SPDIF Internal cable (optional)

Plug the 2-pin white connector to the SPDIF connector on the

SPDIF

VGA card.

Plug the black (BK) cable to the

-pin and the orange (OG) one

SPDIF to the -pin on the mainboard.

GND

Quick Installation

Hardware

below

expansion

TM TM

please follow the steps below:

Tip : If, on your computer, the Autorun program does not execute automatically, please 1) enable the CD-ROM drive Auto-detect function from Control Panel; or 2) find and run the setup.exe file manually from the CD.

Follow the steps to install the VGA card:

1. Remove the computer case.

2. Locate the expansion slot on your mainboard. Warning: Inserting the VGA card into a wrong slot may damage your card (refer to your mainboard manual for more Information).

3. Put the card directly over the slot and press one end of the card into the slot first. Gently but firmly press the other end until the card is fully seated in the slot.

4. Secure the card with a bracket screw.

5. Install all other cards and devices and connect all the cables, and then install the case.

6. Connect the monitor. Now, you are ready to install the software on your computer.

Software

To install the driver of the VGA card to your computer,

1. Turn on the computer.

2. Insert the into the CD-ROM drive. The Autorun program will start the Setup program, and show the setup screen as follows:

Installing MSI Live Update 3

3. Click NVIDIA VGA Drivers. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

4. After finishing the installation, restart the computer as instructed.