User guide

DU-02451-001_v01 1
05/17/06
NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Technology
Chipset Overclocking
The purpose of this document is to guide users through overclocking NVIDIA
nForce 590 SLI technology chipset and use of the numerous tools and features that
will boost system performance, enhancing end-user gaming experience.
Overclocking PCs was once quite difficult and required people to physically change
hardware. In the past, companies that designed motherboards, CPUs, memory, and
graphics processor units were not supportive of overclocking nor were they
supportive of allowing users to tamper with qualified and tested settings.
Things have changed recently, however. Companies are more accommodating of
the urgent requests PC enthusiasts make. In fact, ASIC designers now incorporate a
lot of performance and overclocking headroom in the chips they produce.
Nowadays, with the availability of highly overclockable PC components and the
utilities that allow users to easily attain higher performance, overclocking has moved
into the mainstream.
NVIDIA
®
GPUs have enjoyed good reputations as products that are highly
overclockable. These products have provided higher performance for PC gaming
enthusiasts searching for the ultimate gaming experience.
NVIDIA specifically designed the NVIDIA nForce
®
590 SLI
™
technology chipset,
based on the new AMD AM2 Athlon processor, with overclocking enthusiasts in
mind. Even though the chipset itself is highly overclockable, NVIDIA built an
entire support platform around the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI core logic. This
platform includes:
 Software utilities such as the newly redesigned NVIDIA nTune 5.0 and its
highly sophisticated SBIOS
 Special high-performance memory with Enhanced Performance Profiles
Technology
 Recommended CPU coolers
 NVIDIA SLI
™
technology.