The way forward for the favored MSI Afterburner overclocking utility has been thrown into doubt after developer Unwinder claimed that MSI had “semi-abandoned” the undertaking and “ceased to work”. [its] obligations.” Unwinder, who TechPowerUp Studies are Russian nationwide Alexey Nicolaychuk means that MSI hasn’t paid him in almost a yr and that he might have to cease creating Afterburner “and transfer on to one thing else, permitting me to pay my payments.”
However in a press release, MSI says it plans to proceed creating the software program. An organization spokesperson says PC Gamer that “absolutely [intends] to proceed with MSI Afterburner.” They added that MSI has been engaged on an answer and expects it to be resolved “quickly.”
Doubts arose after Nicolaychuk wrote that “the MSI Afterburner undertaking might be lifeless” on the Guru3D boards, the place he supplies growth updates for the undertaking. “I attempted to nonetheless fulfill my obligations and labored on the undertaking alone for the final 11 months, however nothing however disappointment resulted; I really feel like I am simply beating a lifeless horse and [wasting] power on one thing that’s now not wanted [the] firm.”
MSI Afterburner is without doubt one of the hottest applications used to overclock graphics playing cards, permitting expert customers to – amongst different issues – get extra efficiency out of their hardware by rising clock speeds and adjusting voltages. Regardless of its identify, MSI Afterburner helps each Nvidia and AMD graphics playing cards from quite a lot of distributors past MSI, making it a preferred instrument that you will typically see advisable in overclocking guides like this one from PC Gamer or this from Rock Paper Rifle.
Nicolaychuk says the reason for the obvious fee drawback is “warfare and politics,” and the timeline he describes aligns with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to robust financial sanctions on the nation by the worldwide neighborhood.
In a press release given to him wccftechto Hassan Mujtaba, an MSI spokesperson stated that “its product advertising and accounting staff is now coping with this challenge. As a result of warfare, our fee couldn’t be efficiently transferred to the writer’s checking account. We’re nonetheless in contact with him and determining learn how to resolve this.” Neither MSI nor Nicolaychuk instantly responded The Verge’s request for remark.
If an answer can’t be discovered, it’s unclear how lengthy MSI Afterburner will proceed to be usable with fashionable hardware and Home windows updates. The final steady model of the software program was launched in December 2021, however it’s nonetheless able to recognizing extra just lately launched graphics playing cards such because the Nvidia RTX 4090. (Though in our testing it was solely in a position to modify clock speeds, not the tensions.)
Whereas he is indicated his need to maneuver on from MSI Afterburner, Nicolaychuk says he plans to proceed engaged on RTSS, a intently associated utility typically used alongside Afterburner to show details about hardware efficiency throughout video games. A famous competitor to MSI Afterburner is EVGA’s Precision X1 app, however with EVGA exiting the graphics card enterprise, it is unclear how lengthy its overclocking software program will proceed to be supported. Hopefully one other producer is keen to throw their hat within the ring if MSI and Nicolaychuk cannot discover a answer.