MSI Afterburner is finally of use to Radeon RX 9000 owners, as v4.6.6 Beta 6 Build 16591 adds support for the series. There are undoubtedly some kinks to work out before final release, but RDNA 4 GPUs are now tuneable via the application. The update also extends memory overclocking for Nvidia GeForce cards and brings the underlying RivaTuner statistics server (RTSS) to a newer version.
In case you missed it, MSI didn’t release any Radeon RX 9000 cards, with Radeon RX 7600 being the brand’s last collaboration with AMD on the graphics card front. As such, Afterburner didn’t receive support for RDNA 4 GPUs, meaning users familiar with the interface had to look elsewhere after upgrading to the likes of Radeon RX 9060 XT and its siblings.
In the wake of popular community demand the application’s developer, Alexey Nicolaychuk, has taken matters into their own hands in providing unofficial support for RDNA 4 GPUs. Better known as ‘Unwinder’, Nicolaychuk is also the brains behind RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS). MSI mainly funds some of the development costs and supplies graphics cards for validation purposes, but Unwinder is the one doing the heavy lifting. So, without Radeon 9000 samples to work with, they couldn’t add support, until now.
I see the value in MSI Afterburner despite the fact that AMD provides much of the same functionality in its own driver software. Speaking from experience with my own Radeon RX 7900 XT, the former is somehow easier and more reliable when it comes to creating overclocks and other custom settings but it does require more technical knowledge. Meanwhile AMD Software is easier to pick up but strangely too aggressive for my liking.
Because MSI doesn’t manufacture Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics cards, this update is deemed unofficial. It’s unclear whether this beta version will integrate into future versions, but it seems likely. Regardless, it’s great to see many tinkerers reunited with their preferred performance tuning tool of choice.
