MSI Afterburner - Overclock the Video Card, FPS in Games, Adjust and Unlock Sliders


We looked at how to properly and safely overclock a video card for mining and gaming in the MSI Afterburner program

What is MSI Afterburner for? MSI Afterburner is a program developed by graphics card manufacturer MSI. It helps with overclocking, game monitoring, performance testing, and video capture.

The program also offers a whole bunch of interesting features and benefits, which we will discuss in more detail in this article.

Afterburner was originally designed with MSI cards in mind.

However, since its release, the software utility has been configured to work alongside all other video cards.

Currently, it is the most commonly used program for overclocking and monitoring games on the PC screen.

This article will discuss the main features of the utility, what they offer and how to use them.

Before we dive into this, let's first download and install the software.

How to Download MSI Afterburner

Downloading and installing MSI Afterburner is a fairly simple process that you've probably done a hundred times before. But for those who are new, here's how it's done:

  • Step 1 – Type “MSI Afterburner Download” into Google and click “Search”
  • Step 2 – Find the official MSI page and follow the link
  • Step 3 – This should take you to the official MSI Afterburner page, on this page scroll to the very bottom and you will see the download link. See the image below.

  • Step 4 – Click on the link above and download the installer
  • Step 5 – Once downloaded, run the installer and install Afterburner and Rivatuner.
  • Step 6 – Restart your computer and launch MSI Afterburner to start using the software

Latest drivers for GTX 660

Control programs for a video card are usually included with it upon purchase. However, if the disk has long been lost or damaged, you can download drivers for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 video card on the official website of one of the manufacturers (for example, on the Palit or Asus resource). The need to update Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 drivers usually arises when installing the operating system. Sometimes an update is required if problems arise in the operation of the adapter - for example, after exposure to a virus or incorrect user actions.

What does MSI Afterburner do?

The easiest way to understand what MSI Afterburner does is to break the utility's capabilities into categories.

Below are the main features that make up this software and exactly what they offer.

Overclocking

For many, overclocking is a challenging task that involves a fine line between better performance and hardware failure.

MSI recognizes this and has created its own overclocking utility in Afterburner that simplifies the process.

The overclocking feature provides precise settings that allow you to get the most out of your graphics card while protecting your hardware from permanent damage.

Clock speeds, core voltage, power limit

The software can adjust almost every aspect of the graphics card, including clock speeds, core voltage, power limiting, temperature limiting, memory clock speed, and fan speed.

Afterburner gives you all the tools you need to configure your GPU to your specifications, something other software applications don't offer.

To ensure that Afterburner works alongside all available graphics cards, it uses OC Scanner, a utility that uses an algorithm developed by Nvidia to detect any graphics card model (be it 960 or 2080 Ti).

Once the OC scanner detects which card you are using, it will set the highest and most stable overclock settings for that specific card.

It then applies the changes to your card for an immediate performance boost.

Fan control

Afterburner also allows users to fine-tune their fan profile, allowing you to select a custom fan speed curve that changes based on the temperature of your graphics card.

The higher the temperature, the faster the fan will rotate, the lower the temperature, the slower. It's quite simple.

All your overclocking profiles can be saved in the software and switched with the touch of a button.

Find the settings you need, save them and play!

Monitoring

Afterburner has a great monitoring feature that allows you to see the changes made to your graphics card and what's happening with every aspect of your graphics card.

The utility allows you to monitor everything from graphics card temperature, core and memory clock speeds, voltage, FPS and usage percentage through a series of graphs and full-screen display.

The screenshot also uses the Rivatuner statistics server, which can be pre-programmed for several different uses.

Monitoring GPU activity while games are running is an important part of benchmarking today, and the monitoring feature allows you to do this with FPS numbers and on-screen graphs.

Benchmarking

What is Benchmarking? Benchmarking is very popular among testers and enthusiasts today, especially now that there is so much competition around the graphics card industry. People want to know which card is better, and what better way to demonstrate that than in a fair, level playing field, benchmarking test.


What is MSI Kombustor?
MSI Afterburner includes a performance tool called MSI Kombustor that runs severe GPU stress processes to see how well your graphics card responds under load. This is a great way to see if your overclock settings have affected your graphics card's performance.

We'll take a closer look at how to use the software below.

Capture Video

There are many methods for capturing video, and as you might have guessed, Afterburner has its own unique capture software built right into it.

The app is called Predator and helps you capture in-game footage, tutorials, test results, and more.

You can shoot in different formats, qualities and frame rates.

Test bench configuration

-CPU Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.6 GHz (100×46) Intel Core i7-3970X @ 4.6 GHz (100×46) -ASUS P9X79 Pro motherboard -DDR3 RAM Kingston HyperX 4×2 GB @ 1600 MHz, CL9 - ROM Intel SSD 520 240 GB - Power supply Corsair AX1200i, 1200 W Seasonic Platinum-1000, 1000 W - CPU cooling Thermalright Archon - Case CoolerMaster Test Bench V1.0 - Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate X64 Service Pack 1 - Software for AMD GPU AMD Catalyst 13.4 -GPU software NVIDIA 344.07

To measure system power, a stand with a Corsair AX1200i power supply is used. Energy-saving CPU technologies are disabled in all tests. The PCI-Express bus operates in 3.0 mode. To activate PCI-E 3.0 on GeForce 600 and 700 series video cards in a system based on the X79 chipset, a patch from NVIDIA is used.

In the NVIDIA driver settings, the CPU is always selected as the processor for PhysX calculations. For AMD cards, the Tesselation setting is always transferred from the AMD Optimized state to Use application settings. In CrossFire configurations, the Frame Pacing option remains enabled.

Benchmarks: synthetic

API program Settings Anisotropic filtering, full screen anti-aliasing Resolution 3DMark 2011 DirectX 11 Extreme profile 3DMark DirectX 11 Fire Strike test (not Extreme) TessMark DirectX 11 Set 4 (2048×2048), tessellation x8/x16/x32/x64 AF Off 1920×1080 Unigine Heaven 4 DirectX 11 DirectX 11, max. quality, tessellation in Extreme AF mode 16x, MSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160

Benchmarks: games

API Program Settings Anisotropic filtering, full screen anti-aliasing Resolution

Far Cry 3 + FRAPS DirectX 11 DirectX 11, max. quality, HDAO.

1) Start of the mission Secure the Outpost AF, MSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Tomb Raider. Built-in benchmark DirectX 11 Max. quality AF 16x, SSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Bioshock Infinite. Built-in benchmark DirectX 11 Max. quality. Postprocessing: Normal AF 16x, FXAA 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Crysis 3 + FRAPS DirectX 11 Max. quality.

2) Beginning of the mission Post Human AF 16x, MSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Metro: Last Light. Built-in benchmark DirectX 11 Max. quality AF 16x, SSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Company of Heroes 2. Built-in DirectX 11 benchmark Max. quality AF, SSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Batman: Arkham Origins. Built-in benchmark DirectX 11 Max. quality AF, MSAA 4x 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Battlefield 4 + FRAPS DirectX 11 Max. quality.

3) Beginning of the mission Tashgar AF 16x, MSAA 4x + FXAA 2560x1440 / 3840x2160 Thief. Built-in benchmark DirectX 11 Max. quality AF 16x, SSAA 4x + FXAA 2560x1440 / 3840x2160

Benchmarks: Computing

Program Settings LuxMark 2.0 X64 Scene Room (Complex Benchmark) Sony Vegas Pro 13 Sony benchmark for Vegas Pro 11, rendering in XDCAM EX, 1920x 1080@30

CompuBench CL Desktop Edition X64, Ocean Surface Simulation – CompuBench CL Desktop Edition X64, Particle Simulation – 64K – SiSoftware Sandra 2014 SP3, Scientific Analysis Open CL / CUDA, FP64

How to Use MSI Kombuster

So, if you decide to overclock your graphics card, you need to know how to use Kombustor.

You need to understand how to use Kombustor because before we overclock our card, we need to know what kind of performance we are currently achieving at base levels.

The following short guide will tell you how to do this.

  • Open MSI Afterburner
  • Near the top, in the center, you should see three buttons. Select the letter “K” The “K” stands for Kombustor and should be highlighted like the others. If it is not highlighted and cannot be clicked, go to the MSI Afterburner website and download the Kombustor app.
  • Click on the “K” icon, which should be located above the “core voltage” indicator.
  • MSI Kombustor should start up immediately and begin stress testing your card
  • You can now track your GPU temperature, FPS, GPU load and more. This will give you an idea of ​​how your graphics card performs at basic levels.
  • After the test is completed, or before you close it, record your performance metrics so you can compare them to overclocked settings with improved performance.

At this point you will want to start the overclocking process. We recommend checking out what other users have achieved by overclocking the same card as you to ensure you're pushing your card to its limits.

Specifications

To make sure that the video card is up to date, you need to look at the characteristics of the GTX 970 in more detail. The video accelerator memory capacity is 4096 MB GDDR5, with a frequency of 1750 MHz and a memory bandwidth of 224.3 GB/s. The memory bus width is 256 bits.

This model is based on the Maxwell microarchitecture and the GM204 chip with a 28-nanometer process technology. The base GPU frequency is 1050 MHz. The frequency in acceleration mode is 1178 MHz. The number of transistors installed in the video accelerator is 5.2 billion, texture units are 104.

These graphics card power indicators are quite enough to cope with the launch of modern games and hardware-demanding programs for video and image processing.

How to Safely Overclock a Video Card?

The first thing you need to understand when you think about overclocking any hardware components is that overclocking is not without risk.

You run a high risk of causing permanent damage when overclocking, so don't approach this process recklessly.

If at any stage you feel that something is wrong, stop immediately and seek advice from more knowledgeable sources before continuing.

When overclocking in Afterburner, remember to follow the proven methods of testing your results.

Made a small change - check the results. We made one more small change - check the results again. This is the essence of safe overclocking.

Anyway, let's get started:

  • The first thing you need to do is set the "Power Limit" and "Temp Limit" sliders to maximum. With these increased settings, the graphics card will now be more power efficient and should reach higher temperatures than in base mode. It's worth noting - the graphics card will never reach its upper limits unless there is a hardware failure, so don't be surprised if the maximum temperature seems high.

  • Then increase the core clock speed slider in small steps, i.e. 20-30 MHz per step. Each unit on the slider refers to one MHz. If you move the slider to a positive position of +40, you will theoretically overclock the core clock by 40 MHz. We highly recommend increasing the clock speed by just 20-30 MHz each time and no more to ensure there is no damage in the process. Don’t forget to click the “Apply” button (checkmark) after each step.
  • Another tip is to always run Kombustor in the background. This allows you to monitor how your graphics card handles overclock settings, and you can determine when your graphics card starts to shut down under load. Any flickering, dimming, or crashing usually means that the graphics card is no longer stable at its current settings and will need to revert to factory or last known stable settings.

After a while, depending on what card you have, you will start to see a constant stream of graphical issues and your card will not be able to maintain consistent gaming performance

At this point you will realize that you have reached the limit of your card's capabilities.

Do not be surprised; All video cards have their limitations.

If your GPU screen is completely black or crashes, the card will reset the driver, allowing you to reduce the clock speed.

  • Start by reducing the clock speed in 5 MHz increments until all errors and crashes disappear. The combustor should be stable and work flawlessly when the settings can be controlled. If Kombustor is running stable, try running the game on high settings and boot up your graphics card to see if it can handle this scenario, if so, you have successfully overclocked your graphics card.

Comparison of parameters from different manufacturers

The video card is currently discontinued and is not available in stores. It can only be purchased on the secondary market. To compare versions released by different manufacturers, the price of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2Gb at the time of its release can be used.

The range of brands under which the video adapter was produced is quite large. Among them there are almost all well-known brands - from Asus and MSI to Palit and Zotac. Manufacturer Gigabyte is presented in two options with different amounts of memory.

BrandMemory capacity, GBMemory frequency, MHzProcessor frequency, MHzCost at the time of issue, rub.
Palit2610810067500
Asus2600810207400
MSI2600810337000
Inno3D2600810067100
Zotac2600810067350
Gigabyte2600810337300
36008103310500

Answering the question of how much a GTX 660 video card costs now is also not difficult. On sites where used components are sold, you can find it for an amount of 5 to 6 thousand rubles. The slight (within 20-30%) difference from the price of a new video adapter is explained by the high service life of video cards, thanks to which they can last more than 10 years.

Memory overclocking

The next step is to overclock the memory, and the same method is applied with slightly different steps. We recommend increasing the memory clock speed by 50-100 MHz per step.

  • Again, once you encounter regular errors and crashes in Kombustor, reduce the memory clock speed in small 10 MHz increments until you find a stable setting.

At this point, you should test the new settings over an extended period of time to ensure that the card is stable.

I would recommend running Kombustor for at least 10 minutes and watching the map as it does so. Just make sure there are no glitches, crashes, etc. If so, reduce the clock speed by 10 and repeat the test.

  • Once you are satisfied with the settings, everything will work stably. Save your settings as a profile by clicking the floppy disk icon and selecting one of the profile options.

Watch a detailed video on how to install and download MSI Afterburner

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Design

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming: the design of the cooling system masks its impressive dimensions. The rear surface of the circuit board is covered with a thin protective plate with numerous slots. A glowing WINDFORCE logo is mounted at the end of the video card. The heatsink extends far beyond the board area, so the device is quite long, despite the compact PCB. However, due to the fact that the thickness of the cooler fits completely into two slots, as well as the openwork design of the CO, the video card does not look bulky, but, on the contrary, light and elegant.

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming: the bottom reinforcement plate significantly extends the card The heatsink consists of three parts connected by heat pipes. In the block belonging to the GPU, the tubes are flattened, located close to each other and form a base that removes heat from the chip. Another block is used to cool powerful transistors in the power system. The third is a branch of the GPU unit, suspended on the same heat pipes above the edge of the printed circuit board.

Enabling Overlay on the screen with FPS

Using MSI Afterburner to display FPG on screen is a great way to show how good or bad your graphics card really is. You can easily configure the software to display temperature, workload, memory clock speed, clock speed, and everything else that comes with the graphics card.

How to enable FPS in games:

  1. Click on the settings tab and find the "Monitoring" tab
  2. In the Active Monitoring Graphs section, select the information you want to display on screen by clicking the desired fields and about. For example, if you are doing benchmarking, you can demonstrate FPS, core clock speed, memory clock speed, and temperature.
  3. Whenever you load a game, the on-screen display (OSD) will provide real-time information about your graphics card's performance.
  4. You can assign in-game hotkeys to turn the OSD on and off, which is ideal for everyday use.

Price category

Along with the flagship gaming video adapter based on the Maxwell architecture, a junior model with the same graphics processor, the GM204, was also released, with lower frequencies and partially blocked computing units. Well, and at a lower price. The recommended retail price of the GeForce GTX 970 for the USA is $329, for Russia – 14,990 rubles.

In the 900 line, the difference in price between the 80 and 70 models is especially large - $220, or 9 thousand rubles. (since the GTX 980 costs $549, or 23,990 rubles). For comparison: the GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 670 at first differed by only $100, and the GTX 670 itself was priced at $399.

Fan Profile Settings

Setting the fan profile is something that many people don't use for many years because the automatic settings do the job well. However, when overclocking, we feel that setting the fan profile is an important part of how efficiently your graphics card will ultimately perform.

Here's how to set up your own fan profile:

  1. Click on the settings tab in MSI Afterburner and find the Fan tab in the menu bar at the top.
  2. Select the "Enable custom software for automatic fan control" checkbox to begin configuring the fan profile.
  3. You will see a curve graph with "% fan speed" and "temperature" as the values. You can change the curve to suit your specific needs.
  4. Once you've designed your ideal fan profile, click Apply and close the window.

The scenario will depend on which fan profile you decide to use. What I mean is that you can go from 50% fan speed to 100% as soon as the graphics card temperature exceeds 60 degrees. Overclocking a GPU, for me, will always require a little careful work with the fans because you want the card to be as stable as possible.

Possible problems

It is not always possible to overclock a video card correctly using MSI Afterburner. Problems may arise during the process. For example, manufacturers of some video cards pre-install a block on their devices that prevents acceleration. To get rid of this block, you need to find the MSIAfterburner.cfg file and open it in Notepad. Next you will need:

  1. Find the line UnofficialOverclockingEULA.
  2. Write the following sentence after the “=” sign: I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it.
  3. In the window that appears, put one.

The sequence of actions presented above allows you to remove the blocking, but again, this does not work with all cards.

Performance: Gaming

Far Cry 3

The difference between the GTX 970 and GTX 980 is significant in WQHD mode, but not so noticeable in Ultra HD. The GTX 970 is equal to AMD's flagship Radeon R9 290X at Ultra HD resolution and even slightly ahead of it at WQHD. The same applies to the GeForce GTX 780.

Tomb Raider

The gap between the GTX 970 and the GTX 980 is hard to miss at both resolutions. The GTX 970 and GTX 780 are equivalent at Ultra HD resolution, but at WQHD the new product is significantly faster. The GTX 970 also competes head to head with the R9 290X in Ultra HD and even scores slightly more FPS at lower resolutions.

Bioshock Infinite

The GTX 970 is again far from the GTX 980. But we can record a confident victory of the new product over the GTX 780 and Radeon R9 290X.

Crysis 3

Due to the low frame rate, the difference between the GTX 980 and GTX 970 is not noticeable. The new product is also practically no different in performance from the GTX 780 and Radeon R9 290X.

Metro: Last Light

As in the previous test, there is a difference between the GTX 970 and GTX 980, but from a practical point of view it is small. The GTX 970 also beats the GTX 780 by a narrow margin and is hot on the heels of the Radeon R9 290X.

Company of Heroes 2

The GTX 980 is noticeably superior to the GTX 970 only at WHQD resolution; in Ultra HD mode the distance decreases. The GTX 970 is also slightly faster compared to the GTX 780. But AMD's two top-end graphics cards are ahead, although the gap between the GTX 970 and R9 290 is minimal.

Batman: Arkham Origins

GeForce GTX 970 is significantly different from its older companion. The GTX 780 has only a minimal advantage over the GTX 970, and only in WQHD mode. The new product is almost as good as AMD's flagship.

Battlefield 4

There is a huge difference between the GTX 970 and the GTX 980. Therefore, the GTX 970 is not much better than the GTX 780, but is about the same behind the Radeon R9 290.

Thief

The advantage of NVIDIA's flagship over the GTX 970 is more pronounced at WQHD resolution. In 4K the difference is not as noticeable due to the low frame rate. The performance of the GTX 780 is 1-2 FPS less. Radeon R9 290 is a fraction of FPS ahead of the new product.

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