MSI Afterburner

MSI Afterburner is a graphics card utility published by MSI that combines hardware monitoring with manual overclocking controls. Despite the MSI branding, it is not limited to MSI-made graphics cards and works with the large majority of NVIDIA and AMD GPUs on the market, which is a large part of why it has become a de facto standard tool in the enthusiast and gaming community.

The overclocking side lets users adjust core clock, memory clock, voltage and power/temperature limits, either manually or through an automated "OC Scanner" that tests for a stable overclock. It also supports undervolting, which some users prefer for reducing heat and noise rather than for chasing extra performance. Custom fan curves let users trade acoustics for cooling by defining how fan speed should ramp up with GPU temperature, replacing the card's default automatic curve.

On the monitoring side, Afterburner reads a wide set of GPU (and general system) sensors and can display them in a configurable on-screen overlay during games, showing things like frame rate, GPU/CPU load and temperature. It also logs sensor data over time, which is useful for diagnosing thermal throttling or instability after a hardware change.

The tool is aimed at people who want direct control over their graphics card rather than casual users who never touch clock speeds. Overclocking and undervolting inherently carry some risk of instability or, in rare cases, hardware stress, so it is most useful to users comfortable testing settings incrementally and reverting if something goes wrong.