MSI Afterburner Overlay – How to Use And Download it [Complete Guide]

MSI Afterburner is considered one of the most recognized graphic utility which provides you complete control over your graphic card. It is developed by the GPU manufacturing company MSI. While the Afterburner is mainly known for its overclocking feature, it has a wide range of other functions such as monitoring graphic performances, benchmarking, video capture, etc.

Afterburner is one of the most common graphic utilities used all over the world. Although at first, it was only compatible with MSI cards. But now, it has been modified to work with almost every GPU available in the market. So, if you are looking forward to reaching new heights with your gameplay, this is what you are going to need.

If you are planning on going for the MSI Afterburner, then you are at the right place. We have got you covered with everything you need to know about the MSI afterburner available at your fingertips. Let us head straight into it.

Features of MSI Afterburner

The following are some of the great features of the MSI Afterburner, which help give you the best gaming experience you deserve. Let us jump into it.

Overclocking

Overclocking is increasing the clock rate of your computer, causing it to run at higher speeds than it was designed. The MSI Afterburner help unleashes the ultimate limits of your GPU, allowing you to attain maximum benefits from it while at the same time protecting your hardware from any damage.

The Afterburner uses the OC scanner, which allows it to function with all types of graphic cards. The OC scanner uses an algorithm developed by Nvidia, which determines the model of GPU you are using. Once that is done, it will set you up with the most optimized and firm overclocking settings compatible with your model.

The Afterburner attains providing you with the best performance by giving you control over the power limit, core voltage, fan speed, clock speed, temperature limit, and so much more. These features will allow you to bring the best out of your GPU. Overclocking profiles can be saved with the parameters you have set, allowing you to switch your performance requirements based on your needs quickly.

Monitoring

The MSI Afterburner also allows you to monitor various hardware performance details. These details include Memory Clock Speed, voltages, Usage Percentage, Frames Per Second, Temperature. You can have these activities are monitored through various graphs and On-screen displays. You can keep track of all your GPU activity, taking your experience to the peak.

Different games require different workloads from the GPU, and it is beneficial to have all the stats right in front of you. That way, you can make adjustments to get high performance.

Benchmarking

Another fantastic feature that comes along with the Afterburner is Benchmarking. Through this, you can put your overclock and graphics settings to test and check your performances. It shows you the fine tunes that have been made when overlocking was performed and gives information on how those tweaks will influence the performance.

The benchmarking tool that comes with the MSI Afterburner is the MSI Kombustor. This functions in benchmarking thermal performance and stability, acting as the burn-in GPU stress utility. Later on in this article, we will tell you how the kombustor is used.

Video Capture [Predator]

One of the most impressive features the MSI Afterburner comes with is video capturing. This allows you to capture your gameplay videos, which can come in handy for you, especially if you like editing and posting your gameplay videos.

Afterburn comes with a built-in software named Predator. The predator functions in allowing you to capture your gameplay or anything else, such as tutorials, etc. It also lets you choose the format, quality, and frame rates. Does it get any better than this?

Other features

Besides the features mentioned above, the Afterburner comes with some other unique features: Custom Fan Profiles, Custom User Skins, FPS counter, Multilanguage Support, and so much more.

Compatibility

Before we head deeper into the Afterburner, let us talk a little about its compatibility. The Afterburner is one of the most versatile and compatible utilities in the market. Although at first, they were only manufactured to be compatible with MSI cards. With time, they have undergone modifications and are now made compatible with every GPU regardless of the model, chipset, and manufacturer.

If your GPU was manufactured within the last ten years, it will most likely be compatible with the MSI Afterburner. It can be connected with both Nvidia and Radeon. Another upside to it is that the Afterburner is entirely free of charge.

Download Procedure

Downloading the MSI Afterburner is a piece of cake. Make sure is it downloaded from the official website to avoid mishaps. Follow the steps below.

1. First, open your browser. Go to google and type in MSI Afterburner, and press search.
2. Find your way to the official MSI page and click on it.
3. Once the page opens, scroll down and find the download link button.
4. Allow the download to complete. When completed, click on it to open the installation wizard.
5. Follow through the steps of the installation wizards.
6. Do not forget to download the RivaTuner Statistic Server (RTSS) when this option comes forward. This feature will let you create customizable On-Screen Displays.

By now, you should have everything set up, and now you will be ready to use this program.

MSI Kombuster And How to Use It

Now that you have decided to overclock your GPU, you will have to learn how to use the Kombuster. This way, we can be aware of the level of performance we are getting at base levels. So, learning how to work and read the kombustor is a very crucial step here. Follow the steps given underneath, and you will master them in no time.

1. Launch the MSI Afterburner.
2. At the top of the window, you will find three buttons. One of these buttons will be the “K” button. “K” stands for Kombustor. If the “K” icon is not highlighted and will not launch, you must download it separately from the MSI Afterburner website.
3. Once done, click on the “K” icon, which will launch the Kombustor and run the benchmark stress test.
4. Monitor the GPU load, GPU temperature, FPS, and more to see how your graphic card functions at default base levels without any overclocking.
5. Before closing the Kombustor, please keep a record of the performance at the base level to be compared later with the performance achieved after overclocking.

Now you are ready to perform overclocking. But before you head into it, we would recommend you do some research on what your card can achieve with overclocking. That way, you can have an idea of the limit to which you can push your GPU to abstain from any potential damage.

How Is the Overclocking Feature Used?

Before we dig into using the overclocking feature, a word of caution must be given. Overclocking can have its risks and, if not done correctly, can produce permanent damage. Therefore, it is advised to seek help from someone with experience if you have no knowledge about it. With that said, let’s head into it. Follow the steps below to learn how to use the Overclocking feature.

1. First, what you are going to do is set your Power Limit and Temperature limit to the maximum. Now that you have maximized the limits, your GPU will now reach much higher temperatures and will function more power-efficiently. Note that this is totally safe as the maximum limit you just chose is the limit set by the GPU manufacturer.
2. Next, you will have to increase the core clock speed step by step. To keep your device from getting damaged, it is recommended that you raise your clock speed by 20-30Mhz with each step. Click the Apply button once done.
3. While performing this, keep the Kombustor running in the background. Through this, you can monitor the way your GPU is affected by the overclocked settings. Look for when your GPU starts to crash as you will see flickering, glitching, or blackouts. This shows how the current settings are affecting the GPU as it can no longer handle those settings. Therefore, the settings must be reverted to the last stable settings, or they should be reset back to default.
4. After some time, you will come up with graphic issues, which will mean that you have reached the limit to which your card can operate. This can vary depending on different types of cards.
5. Next, you start to reduce the clock speed and see whether the flickering and glitches disappear. Keep reducing the clock speed by 5Mhz until you see no errors. Check the kombustor until it’s running untroubled and stable. If you can run a game smoothly on those higher settings, congratulations, you just overclocked your GPU settings.
6. So, you head on over to overclocking the memory clock speed. The same procedure must be applied here as well, but there is one difference. In this process, we increase the clock speed for each step to 50-100Mhz per step.
7. As you keep increasing, you will start to face glitches and errors. So, we reduce the memory clock speed by 10Mhz per step until we reach a stable configuration.
8. What you do next is test the new settings for a longer time to check if the card is stable. You can monitor the card for a while standardly for about ten minutes and check the kombustor. If you still face glitches, reduce the memory clock speed by 10Mhz and perform this step again. Once your reach the settings you are satisfied with and you stop experiencing glitches and errors, go ahead and save the settings.

Setting Up A Fan Profile

You can increase the efficiency of the device by customizing your fan profile when you are overclocking your GPU. This can have a good effect on the GPU. Follow on to learn how to set up a fan profile.

1. Go to the settings tab option and click on it. In the menu, find the Fan tab and click on it.
2. Now you enable the fan control by clicking on the “Enable user-defined software automatic fan control.” This will enter you to the fan profile, where you can adjust the settings.
3. Click on the curve which shows you the “Temperature” and “Fan speed percentage” and adjust the point to where you need it to be.
4. When you have set your fan profile to the settings you desire, click on apply and head on out of it. Your fan profile setup has now been updated.

Using MSI Afterburner Overlay [Enabling on Screen Display]

With MSI Afterburner Overlay, you can easily display various specifications like memory clock speed, clock speed, workload, temperature, and so much more. Follow the steps below to unlock this feature.

1. Click the settings tab and in the menu, click on monitoring.
2. When that is open, click on “Active hardware monitoring graphs.” You can click on the name of the information you want to view, like FPS, GPU temperature, GPU voltage, fan speed, etc. Get this done by setting the properties to “in OSD.”
3. Now, whenever you run a game, you will be provided with your GPU’s performance by the OSD.
4. Hotkey’s can also be assigned to switch the On-Screen Display (OSD) on and off. You can do this under the On-Screen Display tab.

MSI Afterburner Overclocking For Beginners

Wind-Up

Well, by now, you probably know a lot about the MSI Afterburner. It is helpful software and will enhance your gaming experience to a whole new level. Especially if you are a pro gamer and want to get the best out of your GPU, nothing comes close to the MSI Afterburner.

In our opinion, it is definitely the best tool you can use to manage your GPU. Hopefully, you would have found this article very useful, and you have learned how this program is operated.

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