MSI N295GTX Quick user guide

Quick Installation

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MSI Features

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Hardware

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.

below

expansion

System Requirements

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.

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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.

Installing MSI Live Update

MSI Live Update offers you with brand-new update service experience, which can
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-to-use 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, and then the
system 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.

7. Note that to ensure the best SLI performance, please
visit MSI website to update the latest driver.

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.

MICRO-STAR INT'L
MS-V801

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

VGA is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

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Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

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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.

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TEL. [phone]

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FAX. [phone]

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http://www.msi.com.tw

WARNING!!

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

N295GTX series

G52-V8012XR

December 2008

Overview

6-pin Power Connector

Coaxial SPDIF Connector**

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11

1

2

896MB DDR3 memory

NVIDIA GeForce 295GTX

PCI Express Interface

SLI Interface**

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HDMI Connector

DVI-I Ports

- HDCP supported

- Dual dual-Link DVI output
supported

Refer to the section of Enabling SPDIF Input Function for

**1

details.

**2 To ensure the best SLI performance, please visit MSI website to

update the latest driver.

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

Dual-Card Assembling

8-pin Power Connector

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896MB DDR3 memory

NVIDIA GeForce 295GTX

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3

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Getting Started

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Unpacking

Please check out the following items to make sure that you
get the complete product, and consult your dealer immediately
if anything is missing or damaged.

VGA card
Disk: Drivers, documentation, and applications

System Requirements

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

PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0 - compliant motherboard

with one x16 graphics slot

6-pin and 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors

Minimum 550W or greater system power supply (with a
minimum 12V current rating of 40A)

Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP class processor or higher.

100MB of available hard disk space

1 GB system memory (2 GB recommended)

Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows XP Operating System (32

or 64-bit)

CD-ROM / DVD-ROM for driver installation

Visiting MSI website for further information of operating system

support

CD-ROM / DVD-ROM for driver installation

Visiting MSI website for further operating system information

Card Features

NVIDIA

Fully unified shader core dynamically allocates processing
power to geometry, vertex, physics, or pixel shading
operations, delivering up to 2x the gaming performance of
prior generation GPUs.

Microsoft DirectX 10 Support

DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers
unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects

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Quad NVIDIA SLI Technology

Industry leading Quad NVIDIA SLI technology offers amazing
performance scaling by implementing 4-way AFR (Alternate
Frame Rendering), for the world's fastest gaming solution
under Windows Vista with solid, state-of-the-art drivers.

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For reference only

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unified architecture

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NVIDIA CUDA Technology

CUDA technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processor
cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks - such
as video transcoding - delivering up to 20x performance over
traditional CPUs.( Requires application support for CUDA
technology.)

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.

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NVIDIA SLI Multi-Monitor support
Switch seamlessly between multi-display desktop mode and
full screen 3D gaming with SLI. And enjoy full multi-GPU
support for dual-display capable 3D games such as World in
Conflict, Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, and Flight
Simulator X.

GigaThread Technology

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

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.

HDMI Output

Support forHDMI output enables sending both high-definition
video and audio signals to an HDTV via a single cable.
(Requires DVI-to-HDMI dongle and SPDIF audio cable from
motherboard to graphics card)

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.

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2.1 Optimization and Support

Quick Installation

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Dual-stream Hardware Acceleration

Hardware

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.

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).

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NVIDIA

NVIDIA

Enabling SPDIF Input Function

1. Use the compliant SPDIF Internal cable to

2. Make sure to (1) plug the black cable to

3. Note that wrong installation may cause the

PureVideo HD Technology

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.

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Lumenex Engine

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

Optional

SPDIF Internal cable (optional)

connect both the SPDIF connectors on the
VGA card and your mainboard.

the SPDIF-pin and the orange one to the
GND-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.

damage to the VGA card.

Plug the 2-pin white connector
to the SPDIF connector on the
VGA card.

Plug the black (BK) cable to the
SPDIF-pin and the orange (OG) one
to the GND-pin on the mainboard.

OG

BK