Today, modern computer games, as never before, have become very demanding on the hardware. In particular, this applies to video cards. But how to properly configure the graphics chip so that the gameplay is comfortable and the card works at its maximum? To do this, there is a special free utility MSI Afterburner. Setting up a video card in it at first glance is very simple. But this is only at first glance, since when setting certain parameters, some nuances must be taken into account so that the card does not fail.
MSI Afterburner Intro
In short, the MSI Afterburner application is a program for controlling all the parameters of video cards, tuning their performance and overclocking. That is why it is very popular among gamers who are trying to "squeeze" everything possible from the card, and overlockers.
But there is one caveat, which is that the MSI Afterburner setting only works in relation to officially released models of NVIDIA and AMD Radeon graphics chips. In addition, some application settings may be blocked, and the automatic application of parameters in the program is not the best. Below we will describe how to work with this utility, so that it does not disable the card.
Installation and initial setup of MSI Afterburner
The first step in the setup is to install the utility correctly. After starting the installer, the normal installation process will begin, during which the application will offer to install Riva Tuner Statistics Server additionally. This should be agreed without fail, as some functions and settings of the main program may not be available.
At the end of the installation, setting up MSI Afterburner for games involves changing some of the key interface elements. If the English version was installed by default, we use the Settings menu, where we select the User Interface section. Here you need to change the language and disable hints if they are not needed.
After that you need to use the basic settings tab. Check all the fields here, except for the top line for synchronizing the settings of identical GPUs (it is used only if there are several video cards), the line for boosting voltage and the check point for beta versions (optional). You can also set the start of the program when the operating system starts. After saving the presets, the application will need to be restarted for them to take effect.
Core Clock Options
The initial setup of MSI Afterburner is now complete. Now consider the main points with the available options. We pass to the frequency section of the GPU.
For starters, you can move the slider a little to the right (about 40-50 MHz). In a special window the current frequency will be displayed. After that, it is advisable to test the video card with any utility designed for this, for example 3D Mark or FurMark. In this case, you should pay attention so that during the test the temperature does not rise above 90 degrees, and the side effects do not appear on the monitor (stripes, flicker, irregularities in the color palette, etc.). If the test did not reveal anything critical, for reliability it is better to start some resource-intensive game and play for at least an hour. If everything is fine here, you can move the frequency slider to the right, but by a lower value (say, not 40, but 20 MHz) and run the test again. The further you move the slider to the right, the lower the value used.
In the process of passing the game, you can display the current settings on the screen in the form of a translucent window. As soon as the incorrect operation of the card at a certain value is noticed, the slider should be returned to the previous position and stop there.
Memory Clock Settings
For memory, there is a slider located just below. In principle, you can do the same as in the previous case. First, we shift it to the right by 50 units, test it, then add another 20 units, etc. Again, the value will need to be reduced by about 1.5-2 times, compared with the previous state.
MSI Afterburner: cooler setup
These parameters can be called up from the settings section, in which the corresponding tab is selected. For full access to them, immediately check the box next to the inclusion of the software user mode.
A graph is shown a little lower, showing a direct dependence of the fan speed on the temperature of the video card. Parameters can be changed by moving gray squares around the graph area, but for finer tuning it is advisable to use a larger number of them, simply by clicking on the dependency line from scratch and changing the position of certain points. But do not get carried away by setting maximum values at any temperature. So the cooler itself may fail. By combining the parameters of the graph and the above settings, you can achieve the optimal result.
Saving settings and profiles
To save the current settings, MSI Afterburner offers five user profiles to choose from.
On the corresponding tab in the 2D section, we leave everything unchanged, and in the 3D drop-down menu we select our newly configured profile in which the settings will be indicated (there is the value “Auto”, that is, this profile will be used by default when the application starts).
What to do if settings are unavailable?
Sometimes you can meet a situation where all the sliders are shifted to the right, and it is impossible to change their position. This is a normal lock in case the video card does not support overclocking. But there is a way.
First, in the directory where the program was installed, find the MSIAfterburner.cfg file and open it using Notepad. Scroll the contents to the line UnofficialOverclockingEULA. In it, after the equal sign, you need to write the text "I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overlocking limitations and fully understanding that MSI will not provide me any support on it", and then in the UnoficcialOverlockingMode line, put the unit after the equal sign.
Overlay monitor
These were the highlights regarding how to use MSI Afterburner. User reviews indicate that it is very convenient to call all the current characteristics of the video chip directly during the passage of the game.
To set the mode, we use the monitoring tab, where we select the necessary parameters, put the overlay display in the field values, and then assign buttons or keyboard shortcuts for the call and turn off the monitor on the OED tab, although in most cases it is enough to use only one key (F9 by default) .
Capture videos and screenshots
Finally, on the tabs for video capture and screenshots, you can specify the appropriate parameters and settings that will be applied to these processes (specify saved formats, file location, configure sound recording from the microphone, storyboard, hot keys for each procedure, and much more).
In the process of passing the game, you do not have to additionally call the program.
Reset and total
Finally, let's see how to reset the MSI Afterburner if something does not suit the user. This is done very simply.
In the section of the parameters of the graphic process and memory in the bottom middle there is a button with a circle with an arrow similar to the one that is displayed in web browsers to refresh the page. This is the Reset button, when clicked, all parameters are rolled back to the factory settings.
As you can see, setting up MSI Afterburner is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The main principle of manual overclocking and determining the optimal parameters is only to use increasingly smaller intermediate differences between the previous and subsequent parameters when increasing performance indicators.