How do I do that? B UILDING A G AMING PC PART 2:

T ODAY ’ S L EARNING T ARGET  Overclocking…isn’t that bad?  Running multiple cards with SLI

T ODAY ’ S S PONGE  1. What’s a GPU?  2. What are textures?

O VERCLOCKING 101 Overclocking your CPU=BAD! Overclocking your video card’s GPU=GOOD!

 Overclocking allows a video card’s GPU to run faster than the normal speed designed by the manufacturer.  Faster operation=better performance  Like a car with a well-tuned engine that’s been modified for more horsepower. “OVERCLOCKING”

F PS ?  The higher the fps rate (frames per second) the smoother the animation  The more realistic the everything looks in the game, from a flag waving in the breeze to a huge alien slashing at you with a correspondingly huge axe!

Y OU SHOULD NOT OVERCLOCK A CPU. CPUs are meant for executing program instructions, so your PC is likely to lock up over time if you overclock your CPU.

D ON ’ T FORGET !  Windows utilities can automate much of the fine- tuning and testing required for an overclocked card!  For Example, the RivaTuner utility can overclock your card.  You can download RivaTuner from and start overclocking today!

O VERCLOCKING S ETTINGS  Use the latest drivers-check your card manufacturer’s website for the latest video drivers for your hardware.  Start small-bump up the speed in small increments  Watch your heat…don’t attempt to overclock your card unless your GPU has a heatsink or a built-in fan.

R UNNING M ULTIPLE C ARDS !  If you have to push every single feature to the max in your games  Consider adding a second (or even a third!) video card!  NVIDIA calls this feature SLI (short for Scalable Link Interface).  It allows you to link two or three cards.  The linked cards share the graphics processing tasks.

“T HE B RIDGE ”  Video cards running in SLI mode are connected to each other by a special connector…”A BRIDGE”  The bridge provides the additional bandwidth that allows the cards to work together at their full rated speed.  Mobo must have an NVIDIA BIOS and chipset that supports SLI mode.  Need 2 or 3 high-end NVIDIA video cards to populate your system  Not every game supports SLI either!