In MSI Afterburner, the Core Voltage and Power Limit sliders on the main window control the primary electrical limits, while the Curve Editor changes the voltage/frequency relationship. Fan behavior is configured separately under Settings > Fan by enabling Enable user defined software automatic fan control and editing the temperature-to-speed curve. What you can actually change depends on the GPU model, firmware, driver, and—especially on laptops—the manufacturer’s fan design.
Find each control before changing anything
Open MSI Afterburner and identify the control you intend to adjust. MSI’s interface and terminology are documented in its Afterburner tutorial. The controls do different jobs, so changing one is not a substitute for changing another.
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| Control | Where it is | What it changes | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Voltage | Main window | Requests a different GPU core-voltage operating point when supported. | The slider appears or works only when the card and firmware permit voltage control. |
| Power Limit | Main window | Sets the board-power limit within the range exposed by the GPU. | The range is card-specific; a percentage is not a universal wattage or performance target. |
| Temperature Limit | Main window | Sets a temperature limit used by the GPU’s control logic. | It may be linked to Power Limit, and it is not a promise that the GPU will hold that exact temperature. |
| Curve Editor | Main window Curve Editor button, or Ctrl+F | Edits the voltage/frequency relationship point by point. | Firmware can clip, ignore, or constrain the resulting curve. |
| User-defined software automatic fan control | Settings > Fan | Maps GPU temperature to a requested fan speed. | Some laptop and manufacturer-controlled fans do not accept a custom software curve. |
These are limits and requests rather than guarantees. The GPU’s firmware, driver, power circuitry, cooling system, and workload decide the final clock, voltage, temperature, power draw, and fan response.
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Enable voltage controls in Settings > General
Turn on the two voltage options
Choose the gear icon to open Settings, select the General tab, and look for Unlock voltage control and Unlock voltage monitoring. Enable the options you need, accept the change, and restart Afterburner if it asks you to. MSI lists these options in its interface instructions at msi.com/support/technical_details/VGA_MSI_Utility_AfterBurner.
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“Unlock” means that Afterburner is allowed to expose the control or telemetry path; it does not add voltage support that the card’s firmware lacks. A card can show a voltage readout while refusing software voltage changes, or it can expose a narrow range that is much smaller than the slider’s visual scale suggests. If the slider is missing, disabled, or has no observable effect after applying a value, treat that as a hardware or firmware limitation rather than a setting you should force.
Use the Core Voltage slider carefully
On the main window, Core Voltage is the direct slider for a supported voltage adjustment. Set a small change, click Apply, and observe the reported voltage and clock under a repeatable workload. The control may be expressed as a percentage or another interface-specific unit; do not convert it into a fixed number of volts unless your particular card and version explicitly display that value.
Higher requested voltage can give the GPU more electrical headroom for a higher clock, but it can also increase power draw, heat, and fan noise. Lowering voltage can reduce those demands when the card remains stable at the selected frequency. Neither outcome is guaranteed across NVIDIA GPU models. MSI’s overclocking and undervolting guide presents voltage changes as a process of selecting a point, testing it, and monitoring the result—not as a universal preset.
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Use the Curve Editor for voltage-frequency tuning
Open the editor
Click Curve Editor on the main window, or press Ctrl+F, as described in MSI’s walkthrough. A graph appears with voltage on the horizontal axis and GPU frequency on the vertical axis. Each point represents a possible voltage/frequency relationship that the GPU may use.
What a curve change actually does
Moving a point changes the requested clock associated with that voltage. This is different from simply dragging the Core Voltage slider: you are shaping the relationship between voltage and frequency, often to seek a lower-voltage operating point at a useful clock. The GPU may still select another point, reduce the clock under a power or temperature limit, or flatten a section of the curve according to firmware rules.
- Record the default core clock, memory clock, voltage, temperature, board power, and fan speed during a repeatable workload.
- Open the editor with Ctrl+F and select one voltage point or a small, related group of points.
- Make a modest frequency change at the chosen voltage, close or apply the curve as the version of Afterburner requires, and click Apply on the main window.
- Run the same workload while watching for visual artifacts, driver resets, crashes, stutter, unexpected clock drops, or excessive temperature.
- If the result is unstable, return to the previous point or press the reset control, then apply the default profile.
Firmware can constrain the achievable curve, so a point that appears moved in the editor may be clipped or have little effect in practice. Judge the result from the monitored voltage and clock under load, not from the graph alone.
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Power Limit and Temperature Limit
Power Limit
The main-window Power Limit slider sets the maximum board-power behavior that the card is allowed to request within its supported range. It does not directly set a constant wattage, and it does not guarantee a particular frame rate. When a workload reaches the limit, the GPU can reduce voltage or clock to remain within that envelope; when it does not reach the limit, moving the slider may change nothing measurable.
MSI’s guide demonstrates adjusting power limiting and checking power and performance during a workload at msi.com/blog/msi-afterburner-overclocking-undervolting-guide. The percentages shown in an example are procedures for that hardware, not safe targets for every NVIDIA card. A board with a small permitted range cannot be made equivalent to one with a larger range simply by entering the same percentage.
Temperature Limit and its link to power
Temperature Limit is a related limit control. On some cards, a chain or link icon ties it to Power Limit, so moving one can move the other. Unlinking or changing them independently—when the interface allows it—changes how the control logic prioritizes those ceilings. The temperature value is a limit used by the GPU, not a guarantee that the card will stabilize at that number: cooling capacity, ambient temperature, workload, and fan policy still determine the actual temperature.
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Raising a temperature limit does not improve cooling. It merely permits operation up to a higher ceiling, which can increase heat and fan noise. Lowering it can encourage earlier clock reduction and quieter operation, but performance may fall if the workload was previously temperature-limited.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Set a custom fan curve
Enable software automatic control
Open the gear icon, select Fan, check Enable user defined software automatic fan control, and inspect the graph. The horizontal axis represents GPU temperature and the vertical axis represents requested fan speed. Click or drag the curve nodes to define the speed requested at each temperature, then click Apply and return to the main window. MSI describes this workflow in its technical tutorial and summarizes the feature on its Afterburner product page: “Afterburner lets you fully customize a predefined fan speed curve, allowing you to determine cooling performance all the way!”
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A lower curve can reduce fan noise at light or moderate loads, but it leaves less cooling capacity when a game or compute job sustains high usage. A steeper curve removes heat sooner at the cost of more noise and potentially faster fan cycling. There is no single safe curve for every card, case, room, or workload. Watch the actual temperature and clock behavior for the applications you use.
Laptop and manufacturer limits
MSI notes that laptop GPU fans may be preset by the manufacturer and unavailable for a custom Afterburner curve. Desktop cards can also expose only partial control if the board’s fan controller or firmware rejects software commands. If the checkbox is missing, the graph cannot be edited, or fan speed does not follow the requested curve, use the manufacturer’s supported thermal controls instead of repeatedly forcing the setting.
Monitor the right values while testing
Before changing a control, establish a baseline under a repeatable workload. Afterburner’s monitoring and on-screen-display guidance is available at msi.com/blog/msi-afterburner-on-screen-display. Record the values that explain both performance and safety:
- GPU core clock and memory clock, to see whether a change is sustained or immediately throttled.
- GPU voltage, if the card exposes usable voltage telemetry.
- GPU temperature and, where available, hotspot or related thermal readings.
- Board power or power percentage, to identify power-limit behavior.
- Fan speed and the requested fan curve, to distinguish a software request from the fan’s actual response.
Change one control, or one closely related set of curve points, at a time. Apply it, run the same workload, and look for artifacts, flickering, driver recovery, application crashes, stutter, unexpected fan behavior, or temperatures that continue climbing. A fan setting that is too low under load can cause overheating and thermal throttling even when the desktop appears quiet.
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Choose the control by the result you want
| Goal | Primary Afterburner control | What to verify | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expose supported voltage telemetry or adjustment | Settings > General: voltage unlock options; then Core Voltage | Actual voltage and clock under load | Support varies by firmware; voltage can raise heat and power. |
| Reduce power consumption within the card’s limits | Power Limit, or a voltage/frequency curve | Board power, sustained clock, temperature, stability | Lower power can reduce performance if the workload becomes limit-bound. |
| Seek a specific lower-voltage clock point | Curve Editor | Observed voltage, clock consistency, artifacts, crashes | The GPU may clip the curve or select a different point. |
| Keep a GPU cooler under sustained load | User-defined software automatic fan control | Temperature, fan RPM, noise, and throttling | More fan speed means more noise; some devices reject custom curves. |
| Permit operation at a higher ceiling | Power Limit and, where available, Temperature Limit | Power, temperature, clock stability, and cooling capacity | Higher limits can increase heat, noise, and energy use. |
Recover from an unstable setting
- Open Afterburner and click the reset button to return sliders and the curve to defaults, then click Apply.
- If Windows starts with an unstable profile, disable Apply overclocking at system startup before applying changes again.
- Re-enable only the fan-control option or voltage-monitoring option you need, leaving the unstable voltage, power, or curve change at default.
- Test one adjustment at a time and save a profile only after it survives the workloads you actually run.
Keep a known-good profile and note your baseline readings. If the card continues to crash at defaults, remove Afterburner’s changes and investigate drivers, cooling, dust, power delivery, or the application itself rather than increasing voltage or power limits.
What you should not assume
- A visible slider does not prove that the GPU accepts the requested value.
- The same Power Limit percentage, fan percentage, or voltage setting does not represent the same electrical or thermal behavior on different cards.
- Raising Temperature Limit is not a cooling improvement.
- A quieter fan curve is not automatically safer; verify temperatures and clocks under real load.
- A curve that looks correct in the editor is not validated until telemetry and stability testing confirm it.
For the exact NVIDIA card in front of you, the reliable method is to identify the supported controls, capture a baseline, make a small change, monitor the result, and keep only settings that remain stable at acceptable temperature, power, and noise.
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