nZone Community FAQ, Read Before Posting a Question! Options

[Amorphous]

The nZone FAQ is the advice of other forum members, and is not a substitute for the assistance of a qualified technician. Please keep in mind that users of the nZone and SLI Zone User-to-User forums are not representatives of NVIDIA Corporation.

Drivers
1.1 Where can I download drivers?
  1.1.1 What about mobile, GeForce Go series drivers?
  1.1.2 Where do I download Beta drivers for NVIDIA products?
1.2 How do I install, reinstall, or update my graphics drivers?
  1.2.1 What should I do if the drivers do not find any compatible hardware?
1.3 How do I install, reinstall, or update my NVIDIA-based motherboard's chipset drivers?
1.4 What is driver rollback?

Display/Video
2.1 How can I increase the picture quality on my computer?
2.2 How can I display my full desktop on my HDTV?
2.3 What is the best way to connect my graphics card to my TV/HDTV?
  2.3.1 What's the black port on the back of my graphics card?
2.4 What is HDCP?
  2.4.1 Do I need an HDCP compliant graphics card?
2.5 What are PureVideo and PureVideo HD?
  2.5.1 Does my graphics card support PureVideo HD?
  2.5.2 Does PureVideo HD support both Blu-ray and HD DVD?
  2.5.3 Do I need the PureVideo Decoder to play movies with PureVideo?
  2.5.4 Which movie players play HD DVD and Blu-ray movies?
  2.5.5 Where can I find more information about PureVideo and PureVideo HD?
2.6 What are the differences between DVI and VGA ports?
2.7 How many displays can I run off of my graphics card?
  2.7.1 How can I add more displays?
2.8 What is the maximum display resolution of my graphics card?

Hardware
3.1 How can I tell which graphics card will work in my system?
  3.1.1 What are the power requirements of a graphics card?
3.2 How do I install a new graphics card?
  3.2.1 How should I connect my PSU to my graphics card?
  3.2.2 Can I upgrade my notebook computer's graphics card?
3.3 What are integrated or onboard graphics?
  3.3.1 How do I remove an integrated graphics solution?
3.4 What are BIOS and POST?
  3.4.1 How can I reset my BIOS?
  3.4.2 How do I update my BIOS?
3.5 What is a PSU; why does it matter?
  3.5.1 How can I tell how much power my PSU produces?
  3.5.2 What are +12V rails?
  3.5.3 How can I tell if a PSU is powerful enough for my system?
  3.5.4 Will having too much power harm my computer or increase my electricity bill?

SLI
4.1 What is SLI?
  4.1.1 What is 3-way SLI?
  4.1.2 What is Quad-SLI?
4.2 Can I run SLI?
  4.2.1 How do I install/enable SLI?
  4.2.2 Are there additional power requirements for SLI?
  4.2.3 Do I need SLI-ready certified RAM PSU, or case?
4.3 What are the advantages of SLI?
4.4 Are there any disadvantages to SLI?
  4.4.1 How many displays can be used with SLI enabled?
Need more SLI-related help? Check the SLI Zone User-to-User Forums and SLI Zone FAQ

Performance
5.1 Which graphics cards offer better performance?
  5.1.1 What is TurboCache?
5.2 What is the best graphics card for my system?
5.3 How can I tell if my computer's 3D performance is where it should be?
5.4 How can I increase my computer's performance?
  5.4.1 What is a CPU bottleneck?
5.5 What is overclocking?
  5.5.1 What is a factory overclock?

Troubleshooting
T.1 I have problems after updating my graphics drivers.
T.2 My graphics card's memory is reported at half the speed it's supposed to be.
T.3 My computer reboots itself randomly.
T.4 My computer partially or completely shuts down when running 3D applications/games.
T.5 What is a BSOD?
  T.5.1 I am getting a BSOD with an nv4_disp.dll error message.
  T.5.2 I am getting a BSOD with an IRQ error message.
  T.5.3 My BSOD has a different error message.
  T.5.4 I am getting multiple BSOD with different error messages each time.
T.6 How do I know if my graphics card or CPU is overheating?
  T.6.1 What can I do about overheating?
T.7 While running 3D applications random black or colored polygons appear on my screen.
T.8 While running 3D applications multi-colored blocks appear on my screen.
  T.8.1 Multicolored blocks appear on my screen all of the time.
T.9 I have a high-end graphics card, but my performance is poor.
T.10 How do I know if my graphics card has enough power?
  T.10.1 A power warning pops up when Windows loads.
  T.10.2 My graphics card is not getting sufficient power.
T.11 My screen seems blurry, blocky, or otherwise distorted.
  T.11.1 My monitor's native resolution is not listed in my display properties.
T.12 My TV is not being detected by my graphics card.
T.13 Text on my TV is too blurry or small to read.
T.14 The picture on my TV is black and white.
T.15 My desktop is too big for my HDTV; parts of it are cut off.
T.16 My motherboard or graphics card is beeping at me.
T.17 SLI of 8 series graphics cards is broken in Windows Vista.
T.18 Where can I find more troubleshooting information?

Miscellaneous
M.1 I have a complaint about an NVIDIA product.
M.2 How can I receive support from NVIDIA?
M.3 I have a bug to report.
M.4 What is the best graphics card manufacturer?
M.5 How can I add to this FAQ?
M.6 May I link other users to this FAQ?
  M.6.1 Can I use this FAQ on another forum?
M.7 The FAQ is wrong!
M.8 Glossary/Nomenclature
M.9 FAQ Tips