MSI Afterburner – the ultimate tool for graphics card tuning.
A must-have for gamers and enthusiasts.
MSI Afterburner is a free utility that gives you full control over your graphics card—whether it’s from NVIDIA or AMD. It’s developed by MSI but works with almost all brands and models of GPUs. Gamers, enthusiasts, and benchmarkers use it to fine-tune performance, noise levels, and temperatures.
You can adjust core clock, memory clock, fan speed, and voltage. At the same time, you get real-time monitoring via an in-game overlay, so you can see temperature, FPS, power draw, and more while you play.
Features and user experience
1. Overclocking and undervolting
With MSI Afterburner, you can overclock your GPU to get more FPS in games—or undervolt it so it uses less power and runs quieter. Everything is handled with sliders in a user-friendly interface.
2. Fan control and cooling profiles
You can manually control your fans or create automatic profiles based on temperature. That means low noise during desktop use and maximum cooling while gaming.
3. In-game overlay
The included RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) makes it possible to display data like FPS, GPU temperature, and usage directly in your games. The overlay is highly customizable.
4. Hardware monitoring and logging
Afterburner logs your components’ performance over time, so you can analyze bottlenecks in your games or evaluate stability after overclocking.
5. Compatibility
The software works with both NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards—and it also supports multi‑GPU setups such as NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire.
Is MSI Afterburner safe to use?
Yes, it’s 100% safe as long as you know what you’re doing. Incorrect settings can potentially lead to instability, but MSI Afterburner has safeguards built in—such as the ability to reset to default settings at any time. It’s recommended to overclock in small steps and test continuously.
Tips and tricks for users
Save profiles
You can save your settings as profiles, which is especially useful if you switch between different scenarios. For example, have one profile for gaming where you maximize performance and fan speed, and another for office work where the focus is low noise and energy efficiency. There’s room for multiple profiles, and you can even assign hotkeys for quick activation.
Use together with HWInfo
MSI Afterburner is powerful on its own, but even stronger combined with HWInfo. HWInfo provides extremely detailed hardware data—such as VRM voltages, per‑component power draw, and temperature readings from multiple sensors. By enabling the HWInfo plugin in Afterburner, you can show these advanced metrics directly in the in‑game overlay.
Auto-start with Windows
To ensure your tweaks are always applied, enable “Start with Windows” and “Apply overclocking at startup” in Settings. That way, your GPU settings and fan profiles are automatically applied at boot—without manually opening the app every time.
Benchmark feature
MSI Afterburner includes a simple benchmarking option via RTSS that can measure FPS, min/max/avg performance, and variance over time. This is especially useful when you want to compare performance before and after overclocking—or see the impact of new drivers and game updates.
Screen recording and video overlay
Did you know MSI Afterburner can also capture gameplay? You can enable video capture and choose format, resolution, and bitrate—completely free and without watermarks. That makes the app a solid alternative to, for example, OBS for basic recordings.
Undervolting and power optimization
If you want a cooler and quieter GPU without necessarily chasing more performance, you can undervolt your card. MSI Afterburner offers a Voltage/Frequency Curve Editor that helps you find the sweet spot where your card runs stably with lower power draw and temperatures—often with no loss in performance.
Hotkeys and shortcuts
You can assign hotkeys to switch profiles, enable/disable the overlay, or start/stop video capture. It’s quick and easy to control the app straight from the keyboard without interrupting your game.
Overlay customization (RTSS)
RivaTuner Statistics Server, which ships with MSI Afterburner, lets you customize the overlay completely. Choose font, color, position, size, and which data to display—so you get an overlay that’s as discreet or informative as you want.
Troubleshooting and stability testing
When you change GPU settings, you should always test stability. Use tools like FurMark, 3DMark, or simply your most demanding games to ensure the system runs stably without crashes or visual artifacts. Overclocking should always be done gradually with testing in between.
Safety tip
Always finish by saving your default state as a separate profile. That way you can quickly restore a stable configuration if anything goes wrong while experimenting. MSI Afterburner also allows “Reset to defaults” with a single click.
