How to download MSI Afterburner
MSI Afterburner is an excellent program for video cards, not only cards by MSI, that can best be described as an overlocking/underclocking utility for Windows with extra features baked into the application.
My first review of MSI Afterburner dates back to 2010, followed by a tutorial in 2011 on recording game video using the software. While many MSI Afterburner users use the software to get more out of their video cards, I liked its ability to create fan profiles to reduce the noise emitted by the video card's fans.
If you have been to the MSI Afterburner website lately, you may have noticed that you cannot download the program anymore. There is a download link, but clicking on it does nothing. I tried it in different browsers and even on different systems, and the result was always disappointing.
Technically speaking, MSI is linking to a ZIP file that no longer exists on the linked page. You can verify that by checking the source of the page and searching for "zip". You find the download link but when you load it manually, you get a file not found error. The page needs to be updated, but since that has not happened for quite some time, it is unlikely that it is going to happen anytime soon.
Feel free to share your experience in the comment section below.
There is a way to download MSI Afterburner from the official site. You can also check out downloads on third-party sites, but if you prefer to download from an official site, this is what you may do.
Download MSI Afterburner for Windows
While the download is broken on MSI Afterburner's main site, it is not broken on another official MSI site. Your best bet is to use that site instead of the official site to download the latest stable version or beta of MSI Afterburner. Here is how that is done:
- Load https://de.msi.com/Landing/afterburner in your browser of choice. It is the German landing page of the program. Unlike the English version, it is listing direct download links that actually work. The downloaded program is in English, but you can switch to another language in the settings.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the MSI Afterburner download sections.
- Select the download button of the stable version or the beta version. The official ZIP file is downloaded.
- Extract the zip archive on your system and run the installer.
MSI Afterburner is installed on the device and you can start using the software.
Closing Words
The design of the official MSI Afterburner download page is a good example of how a download page should not be designed. The resource-intensive page with its custom cursor is one thing, breaking the download link is another.
Now You: have you used MSI Afterburner in the past?
Guru3d is my choice of downloadsite for MSI AB. It’s also official since Unwinder, the create of MSI AB, frequents the forums there and even has his own thread for AB there.
There used to be “all” the old downloads, iirc 10 years+ of MSI AB versions on this page, guess Unwinder is cleaning up. https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/msi-afterburner-beta-download.html
Wow that Afterburner site is a monstrosity. My i7 CPU was choking trying to load that stuttery mess they call a webpage. It embodies the absolute worse of “modern” web design trends. I hate dynamic scrolling. I’m old-school and prefer static pages. The less javascript the better.
IT WONT OPOEN
Maybe try Asus GPU Tweak II instead. It works better for me:
“One of the advantages of this software is that it is compatible with any current graphics card. In addition to overclocking functions, the application also has a one-click performance boost for your gaming needs.”
FYI It should be noted that RivaTuner comes packaged with Afterburner. It provides data to Afterburner, most notably for framerate (FPS).
Some games and other programs don’t like the way RivaTuner hooks and will CTD when starting them. For those you need to open RivaTuner and create a profile for that program and set the detection level to ‘none’.
Note: If you don’t see the tray icon for RivaTuner when Afterburner is running you need to open the Afterburner settings and move to the far right tab “User Interface” and uncheck “Single tray icon mode” and then click ‘apply’.
Also, windows updates tend to break RivaTuner. If that happens head over to Guru3D (where you should be downloading Aftereburner anyways) and see if there’s a newer version that will work.
There’s no need for uninstall you can just install the newer version over the old one, for both Afterburner and RivaTuner.
I’m currently using RivaTuner V 7.3.0 Beta 10 on Windows 10 20H2.
actually its rather RivaTuner sponsored by MSI for quite some time now. guru3d is my landingpage for it for years.
The download link on the English language site seems to be working now. Go to https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards and click on the “DOWNLOAD AFTERBURNER” link. It just worked for me.