Tessellation, ​Anti-Aliasing, And Other PC Graphics Terms, Explained

You've successfully made a new gaming PC. Congrats! It was the best, and it was also the worst. (But in general, it was the best.) Now, it's time to play some games. What's the first thing you do?

Well, the first thing you do is probably download a few games. But once you fire one of those games up, you almost certainly go into the graphics settings and begin tweaking.

GameSpot's Reality Check has run the first of two videos helpfully explaining what all those various settings—MLAA, FXAA, Vsync, Tessellation—actually mean for your games, using visual aids to help explain each concept. I'm looking forward to part 2.

Also worth checking out: This Lifehacker article that breaks down a whole bunch more PC graphics stuff.