How to overclock Graphics Card with MSI Afterburner

In this article we will explain how to overclock Graphics Card with MSI Afterburner. Your graphics card is the most important part of your gaming PC. It has the most impact on the quality and speed of the graphics you see on screen. If you’re willing to do some tweaking, you can overclock your graphics card to make it work even better than it does out of the box. Overclocking your video card is similar to overclocking your CPU, but it’s a bit easier: you’ll slowly increase your graphics card’s core frequency, testing its stability with a benchmarking tool each time you push it a little further.

MSI Afterburner is a program that lets you manage and change your GPU once you’ve put it in your computer. With it, you can make fan curves, change the speed of the fans, change the voltage, and make the card’s clock speed faster or slower. When you’re ready to overclock, each of these makes a difference. If you have one of Nvidia’s newer RTX cards, the software we suggest in this guide may have a new auto-overclocking feature called “Nvidia Scanner” that can help you skip a lot of this process. We’ve used it before, and for a one-click process, it’s pretty good. However, if you’re willing to spend a little more time, a manual overclock will give you bigger speed boosts. Here we are mentioned below are the steps how to overclock Graphics Card with MSI Afterburner.

What is overclocking?

Overclocking is the process of running a computer’s hardware, usually the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), at higher clock speeds than their default settings. Clock speed is the rate at which these parts do things like make calculations and run programs. The goal of overclocking is to get better performance out of the hardware, which means that tasks will be done faster and with more processing power.

But this makes more heat and, if not done carefully, could cause problems with stability or even damage to the hardware. Most of the time, overclocking is done by changing settings in the computer’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) or by using software tools like MSI Afterburner for GPUs. It’s a common thing for gamers, computer fans, and professionals who need the most out of their systems to do this.

The risks of overclocking

1. Stability Issues: Overclocking can lead to system instability, causing crashes, freezes, and even blue screens.
2. Heat Generation: Overclocking increases power consumption and heat output, possibly leading to overheating if not managed properly.
3. Component Wear: Overclocking can accelerate wear and tear on the GPU, potentially reducing its lifespan.
4. Voiding Warranty: Overclocking often voids the warranty, leaving you responsible for any damages.
5. Driver Corruption: Overclocking can cause driver conflicts, impacting graphical performance and functionality.
6. Data Loss: Extreme overclocking can result in data loss due to crashes or system failures.
7. Artifacts and Glitches: Incorrect settings might cause visual artifacts, glitches, or distorted graphics.

How to overclock Graphics Card with MSI Afterburner

Once you’ve checked to see if it’s safe to overclock your GPU, you can download the tools you need. You’ll need the Unigine Heaven benchmarking tool and the MSI Afterburner overclocking and hardware monitoring tool. MSI Afterburner lets you set custom fan curves, monitor your GPU’s temperature and voltage, and overclock it. You can test how stable your overclock is with Unigine Heaven. To safely overclock your graphics card with MSI Afterburner, do the following:

1. Set up MSI Afterburner using the provided link to avoid fake links.
2. Run MSI Afterburner. Bottom half: Overclocking controls. Top half: GPU readings.
3. Advanced settings in the left menu.
4. Core Clock and Memory Clock sliders are important.
5. Core Clock: GPU speed, performance. Memory Clock: GPU memory speed, low bandwidth.
6. Unlock Power Limit and Temp Limit sliders. Set Power Limit to 110%, Temp Limit to 89%.
7. If no sliders, proceed to the next step.
8. Install Unigine Heaven benchmark for graphics testing.
9. Run benchmark at default settings to compare pre and post overclocking performance.
10. Click “Benchmark” at the top when the video plays.
11. Note the score at the end of the run.
12. Go to Afterburner. Increase Core Clock by 10-20 MHz.
13. Start Heaven benchmark. Monitor: FPS improvement, temperature (<80C), glitches.
14. If no issues, increase core clock again. Repeat checks.
15. If problems (temp, artifacts), decrease clock in 1-2MHz steps.
16. Compare benchmark scores between regular and overclocked performance.
17. Run Heaven benchmark in a loop for >30 mins to test stability.
18. Test GPU with demanding games while monitoring temperature.
19. If hot, slow down clock to prevent stuttering/crashing.
20. Adjust Memory Clock if needed, observing performance effects.
21. Save settings in a profile by clicking numbers on Afterburner’s main screen.
22. Up to five profiles can be saved with Afterburner.

How to monitor your graphics card temperature and voltage

1. Start MSI Afterburner like any other app.
2. Click gear icon on left for Settings.
3. Navigate to top, select Monitoring tab.
4. Ensure GPU Temperature chosen under Active hardware monitoring graphs.
5. Optional: Select other metrics, uncheck unwanted ones.
6. Apply, then OK.
7. Choose bottom icon (looks like EKG screen) from left menu.
8. This opens monitoring graph for GPU temperature.
9. Track temperature changes over time.
10. Graph records temperature rises and falls while open.

Checking Compatibility and System Requirements

Questions and Answers