MSI Afterburner Overlay : A Step-by-Step Guide

When you’re gaming or engaging in resource-intensive tasks like video editing or 3D rendering, keeping track of your PC’s hardware performance is essential. 

High-performance components like CPUs, GPUs, and RAM generate a lot of heat and require efficient cooling. 

Monitoring these components ensures that your system is running optimally, avoiding overheating or performance bottlenecks. 

MSI Afterburner is one of the most popular tools for hardware monitoring, especially for gamers and PC enthusiasts. 

This guide will help you set up and customize the MSI Afterburner Overlay, allowing you to display real-time system stats during gaming or heavy workloads.

What Is MSI Afterburner?

MSI Afterburner is a powerful software designed for monitoring the performance of your PC’s hardware, primarily the GPU. 

It gives users access to real-time data, such as temperature, usage, clock speeds, and fan speeds, which are essential for optimizing gaming performance or overclocking. 

While it’s widely recognized for its GPU tweaking capabilities, it also provides detailed insight into other system parameters.

Key Features of MSI Afterburner:

• Real-Time Monitoring: Tracks GPU temperature, load, fan speed, and more.
• Overclocking Tools: Allows users to adjust GPU clock speeds, core voltage, and memory clocks.
• On-Screen Display (OSD): Shows critical system metrics while gaming or working.
• Customizable Layout: Personalize the display with various color schemes, fonts, and data types.
• Graphical Data: Visualize performance trends through graphs directly on the screen.

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Installation and Setup

To start using MSI Afterburner, you need to first install it on your system. Here’s how to download, install, and configure MSI Afterburner for optimal performance.

Step 1: Download MSI Afterburner

• Official MSI Website: Download MSI Afterburner
• MSI Afterburner comes bundled with the RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), which helps monitor frame rates and record gameplay. RTSS is optional but recommended.

Step 2: Install the Software

• After downloading, extract the zip file and run the installer.
• During the setup, you’ll be asked if you want to install RivaTuner. You can opt out, but for full functionality, it’s recommended to install it as well.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

Step 3: Launch MSI Afterburner

• Once installation is complete, launch MSI Afterburner by selecting Run MSI Afterburner in the setup window or by finding it in your Start menu.

Step 4: Configure the Software

• Click the Settings gear icon in the main window.
• Navigate to the Monitoring tab to enable which hardware parameters you’d like to track (such as GPU temperature, RAM usage, etc.).
• Make sure to enable the “Show in On-Screen Display” option for each parameter.

Customizing the Overlay

After installing MSI Afterburner, you’ll likely want to customize how the data is displayed. The software provides plenty of options to personalize the on-screen display (OSD) so it fits your preferences.

Color and Layout Adjustments

Changing the colors of the parameters in your OSD can help improve visibility and match your system’s aesthetics. You can also adjust the layout to ensure the data is displayed in a readable and convenient way.

Steps to Change Colors:

• Navigate to the Monitoring tab.
• For each parameter, click the color box next to it and select your preferred color.
• You can either choose from the color palette or input a specific hex code.

Grouping Metrics Together

Grouping similar data points together will make your overlay cleaner and more organized. For example, grouping GPU usage and temperature into a single “GPU” category reduces clutter.

Steps to Group Parameters:

• In the Monitoring tab, enable the “Override Group Name” checkbox.
• Assign a group name like GPU, CPU, or Memory to group related metrics.
• Apply the changes to see them reflected in the overlay.

Group Name	Parameters Included
GPU	Temperature, Usage, Clock Speeds
CPU	Core Usage, Frequency, Temperature
Memory	RAM Usage, Clock Speed

Changing Units and Size

You can also change the size of the text displaying units like percentage (%), MHz, or FPS. This is useful for enhancing readability, especially when using different screen resolutions.

Steps to Adjust Units Size:

• Navigate to the Units Size section under Active Layout.
• Choose from three options: Default, 50% Larger, or 50% Smaller.

Advanced Features: Graphs and Fonts

MSI Afterburner provides advanced options for monitoring performance, such as adding graphs or changing fonts.

Adding Graphs to the OSD

For those who prefer a more visual representation of performance data, MSI Afterburner allows you to overlay real-time graphs of metrics like frame rates. This can help identify performance dips during gameplay.

Steps to Add a Graph:

• Select Framerate or any other parameter you wish to graph.
• Enable the Show in On-Screen Display option.
• In the drop-down menu, choose Graph to visualize the data as a graph along with the numerical value.

Customizing Font Style and Size

You may also want to change the font of the overlay to match your system’s theme. MSI Afterburner allows this via the RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) software.

Steps to Change Font Style:

• Open RivaTuner and go to Raster 3D settings.
• Choose your preferred font style, size, and formatting options like bold or italic.

Positioning the Overlay

MSI Afterburner gives you full control over the positioning of the overlay on your screen. This is especially useful when you’re playing games that may already have a lot of HUD elements in the top-right corner.

Steps to Adjust Position:

• In RivaTuner, manually adjust the Horizontal and Vertical coordinates.
• Use the preview feature to see where the data will appear before saving.

Hotkeys and Quick Controls

Sometimes, you need to toggle the overlay quickly while gaming. MSI Afterburner allows you to set custom hotkeys to enable or disable the OSD without pausing your game.

Steps to Set Hotkeys:

• Open the On-Screen Display tab in MSI Afterburner.
• Set your preferred hotkey for toggling the OSD on and off.
• Press the keys to confirm and Apply.

Action	Hotkey Function
Toggle OSD	Enable/Disable overlay
Show/Hide Graph	Display frame rate graph

 

Conclusion

MSI Afterburner is an indispensable tool for anyone looking to monitor and optimize their PC’s performance. 

Whether you are gaming, streaming, or engaging in heavy computational tasks, MSI Afterburner helps you keep tabs on your hardware’s health. 

The software’s robust customization options allow you to fine-tune the on-screen overlay, add graphs, and even group related data points for a cleaner display. 

Additionally, by configuring hotkeys and adjusting the font and positioning, you can make sure the overlay is both functional and visually appealing.

With these steps, you’ll be able to get the most out of MSI Afterburner, ensuring that your PC operates at peak performance without compromising on efficiency.

People May Ask

Can MSI Afterburner be used on non-MSI hardware?

Yes, MSI Afterburner works with most GPUs, not just MSI-branded cards. It’s compatible with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards.

How can I change the font in MSI Afterburner?

To change the font, open RivaTuner Statistics Server, go to Raster 3D, and select your preferred font and size.

How do I add a graph to monitor performance in-game?

In the Monitoring tab, choose a parameter like FPS, enable “Show in On-Screen Display,” and select “Graph” from the dropdown menu.

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