MSI Afterburner "Unofficial Overclocking" GUIDE

[RyNinDaCleM]

I have been seeing many many people asking "How do I OC farther than CCC will allow?" So I will do this, so I don't have to keep typing it out!
To overclock beyond CCC limits, Download MSI Afterburner here: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

To use (properly) Install to your desired location. For simplicity, I will use C:\programs\MSI Afterburner. Yours may be different!
-Launch MSI Afterburner, then immediately close it!
-Navigate to the install directory, and locate MSIAfterburner.cfg (In my case for this guide, it will be C:\programs\MSI Afterburner\MSIAfterburner.cfg), and open in notepad.
-Change these values
     -"Enable Unofficial Overclocking" to 1 (Omitted on newer versions/combined with the EULA)
     -"Unofficial Overclocking Mode"   to 2
     -Then copy and paste the line below to "Unofficial Overclocking EULA"
I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
-save and exit
-Re-launch MSI Afterburner Enjoy!

Some helpful notes:
-This works on MOST if not ALL GPUs! You need not have an MSI GPU for this to work!
-Go to settings and set a custom fan curve
-If applicable, unlock voltage control and monitoring
-Save OC settings to a profile
-DO NOT CHECK THE "Apply Overclock at system start-up" BOX
-To set a low memory speed, you may need to lower the slider all the way down, hit apply, exit MSI AB, re-launch, and you should be able to lower farther. Repeat if necessary!

To run multiple GPUs
In the settings, there is a check box for "Synchronize settings for similar graphics processors"! Check that, then set your clocks/fan as you would for a single GPU! There is a monitoring screen to the right that will show: GPU1 usage, GPU2 usage, GPU3 usage etc. This monitoring window also shows temp, voltage (on some GPUs), fan speed, clock speeds, amongst others. You can also go into the settings and choose what you see in the monitoring window. The most necessary info would be % usage, temp, fan speed, but you could use any combination of parameters!

For individual clocking of multiple GPUs, you would leave the "Synchronize" box un-checked, then you can go into settings, at the top there is a selection bar. Select which GPU you want to alter, click OK!

[tictok]

Thanks

I usually mine in ubuntu, but its nice to have something to play with when I'm forced to boot into windows for work..

[RyNinDaCleM]

Not a problem! It's easier to link to this than rewrite it ten times a day! 

[fascistmuffin]

Thank you so much! I've tried to get my cards past CCC, but quickly gave up after all the programs failed to get past the limit. For afterburner, most places online say to change UnofficalOverclockingMode to 1. Changing that to 2 and the ELUA did the tick. I didn't have a EnableUnofficialOverclocking in my cfg file, but it still works.

[RyNinDaCleM]

Thank you so much! I've tried to get my cards past CCC, but quickly gave up after all the programs failed to get past the limit. For afterburner, most places online say to change UnofficalOverclockingMode to 1. Changing that to 2 and the ELUA did the tick. I didn't have a EnableUnofficialOverclocking in my cfg file, but it still works.

I believe they omitted the "Enable unofficial OC" in the newer versions! The 1 or 2 just changes the ULPS state. 1 Allows the clocks to drop to a low power state during low utilization, and "2" bypasses this ULPS (Ultra Low Power State) aka Power Play!

[fascistmuffin]

It was the EULA that did it, as I found out when I was configuring my other machine. Weird that the guides I got from searching google a while back said nothing about this.

[qed]

Thank you so much! I've tried to get my cards past CCC, but quickly gave up after all the programs failed to get past the limit. For afterburner, most places online say to change UnofficalOverclockingMode to 1. Changing that to 2 and the ELUA did the tick. I didn't have a EnableUnofficialOverclocking in my cfg file, but it still works.

I believe they omitted the "Enable unofficial OC" in the newer versions! The 1 or 2 just changes the ULPS state. 1 Allows the clocks to drop to a low power state during low utilization, and "2" bypasses this ULPS (Ultra Low Power State) aka Power Play!

1 is keeping PowerTune active, 2 is disabling it.

[RyNinDaCleM]

Thank you so much! I've tried to get my cards past CCC, but quickly gave up after all the programs failed to get past the limit. For afterburner, most places online say to change UnofficalOverclockingMode to 1. Changing that to 2 and the ELUA did the tick. I didn't have a EnableUnofficialOverclocking in my cfg file, but it still works.

I believe they omitted the "Enable unofficial OC" in the newer versions! The 1 or 2 just changes the ULPS state. 1 Allows the clocks to drop to a low power state during low utilization, and "2" bypasses this ULPS (Ultra Low Power State) aka Power Play!

1 is keeping PowerTune active, 2 is disabling it.

That's what I said! Except you called it power tune, and ATI calls it Power Play! (Not the same as the power control slider in CCC!) "1" (Power Play enabled) is what allows the GPU clocks to drop to 157/300 when not in use! "2" (Power Play disabled) will keep the clocks at full user programed clocks ALL the time, even when idle!

[PC Surgeon]

Can you overclock 3 GPU's on the same board? (3x5830's) Create profiles?

[RyNinDaCleM]

Yes! In the settings, there is a check box for "Synchronize settings for similar graphics processors"! Check that, then set it as you would for a single GPU! There is a monitoring screen to the right that will show: GPU1 usage, GPU2 usage, GPU3 usage etc. This monitoring window also shows temp, voltage (on some GPUs), fan speed, clock speeds, amongst others. You can also go into the settings and choose what you see in the monitoring window. The necessary info would be % usage, temp, fan speed, but you could use any combination of parameters!

For individual clocking of multiple GPUs, you would leave the "Synchronize" box un-checked, then you can go into settings, at the top there is a selection bar. Select which GPU you want to alter, click OK!

[PC Surgeon]

Yes! In the settings, there is a check box for "Synchronize settings for similar graphics processors"! Check that, then set it as you would for a single GPU! There is a monitoring screen to the right that will show: GPU1 usage, GPU2 usage, GPU3 usage etc. This monitoring window also shows temp, voltage (on some GPUs), fan speed, clock speeds, amongst others. You can also go into the settings and choose what you see in the monitoring window. The necessary info would be % usage, temp, fan speed, but you could use any combination of parameters!

For individual clocking of multiple GPUs, you would leave the "Synchronize" box un-checked, then you can go into settings, at the top there is a selection bar. Select which GPU you want to alter, click OK!

You, Sir, absolutely rock! Thank you!

[RyNinDaCleM]

NP! I think I'm going to add that post to the OP! Seems many people will want to know the same!

Updated the OP!

[Dimsum]

thanks! very helpful =)

[thefussydutchman]

Thanks for this. I do believe this is what I spent a few hours looking for last night.

[mike85123]

Since you seem to be a guru when it comes to Afterburner, any chance you can help me get it to work with a quadfire??

You can see what I have done already here: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=21352.0

I am offering a handsome reward of 2 btc to get it working.

[fxgmblr]

very nice thank you for this guide!

[Transisto]

No way to under-clock ram to 300mhz ?

[CyberPhunk]

Oh, God, why couldn't I find this BEFORE I flashed my 6950 with a 6970 bios?!?!?

Thanks for this, I'll probly go back to the stable 6950 bios and tweak from MSI.

Much appreciated. 

[CanaryInTheMine]

I added a 6850 card to 2 6990s and now when i try to run msi afterburner i get "failed to initialize display driver wrapper"

Any idea what might cause this?

I posted this originally at: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25151

Had some good suggestions, but still have this issue.

Should I give it up or is there some hope?

[RyNinDaCleM]

No way to under-clock ram to 300mhz ?

You can set a lower mem clock by lowering the slider all the way down, exit AB, and re-launch! The the clock should still be the same as before, but the slider will be in the middle. Lower farther, repeat if necessary!

I added a 6850 card to 2 6990s and now when i try to run msi afterburner i get "failed to initialize display driver wrapper"

Any idea what might cause this?

I posted this originally at: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25151

Had some good suggestions, but still have this issue.

Should I give it up or is there some hope?

Since you seem to be a guru when it comes to Afterburner, any chance you can help me get it to work with a quadfire??


You can see what I have done already here: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=21352.0

I am offering a handsome reward of 2 btc to get it working.

Unfortunately, I have read all the suggestions given to you guys, and I am at a loss! My first thought would have been driver, but that seems to not be the case! I run mixed gen. cards together just fine, but I only have 3 cards per rig, so I have no experience with quad+ setups!

The only other thing I could think of would be to un-check the "Synchronize similar GPUs" box in the settings!

Oh, God, why couldn't I find this BEFORE I flashed my 6950 with a 6970 bios?!?!?

Thanks for this, I'll probly go back to the stable 6950 bios and tweak from MSI.

Much appreciated.  

very nice thank you for this guide!

Thanks for this. I do believe this is what I spent a few hours looking for last night.

thanks! very helpful =)

NP! We all need help sometimes! I do what I can!