Install MSI Afterburner Safely: GPU Tuning and Monitoring

MSI Afterburner is one of the best-known tools for adjusting a graphics card’s behaviour. Despite the name, MSI makes it available free of charge for graphics cards from all brands.

Main uses

• Overclocking: Raise core and memory clocks for a little extra performance.
• Undervolting and power limits: Lower power draw and heat, often with only a small performance cost.
• Fan control: Set your own fan curve instead of the card’s default behaviour.
• On-screen display: Show FPS, temperatures and usage while you play.

Download only from official sources

MSI warns that phishing sites distribute modified Afterburner installers, and recommends downloading it only from msi.com or guru3d.com.

1. The Download button opens the MSI Afterburner page on msi.com.
2. Run the installer. It usually offers RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) as well; keep it if you want the in-game overlay.
3. If you skipped RTSS, it can be downloaded separately from Guru3D later.

Tuning without trouble

Change one setting at a time and test it in a demanding game for a while before going further. If you see crashes, artefacts or driver resets, step back to the last stable value. Keep an eye on temperatures in the monitoring graph, and remember that your card’s own limits decide how much headroom there is; not every card responds the same way. You can always return to default values with the reset button.

If you only want to read hardware details, a lighter tool such as GPU-Z is enough; Afterburner is for when you want to change how the card runs.