Hi guys, I need some advice with afterburner. The only reason I ever downloaded it was when I first got my new computer and went through nickn's setup guide for win7 64bit, he says during the setup you must download msi. So I did without understanding or knowing what it did. I also noticed that when I tried to set my settings like his (his screenshots), my settings didn't really match his so I thought I'd get your opinions on my settings here and if they need changing you can help me in making them work best. The pictures are below. I use an Nvidia 580GTX. Also, I'd like some opinions on the update drivers for the 580GTX from nvidia which are 296.17. I haven't downloaded them yet because I don't know how they are with FSX, currently I use the 285.62 drivers.

Hi,What is it you are trying to achieve exactly?Are you sure you are not mixing up MSI Afterburner with NVIDIA Inspector for tweaking graphics settings?Afterburner is really only used for overclocking your graphics card, not tweaking display settings...

Hi,What is it you are trying to achieve exactly?Are you sure you are not mixing up MSI Afterburner with NVIDIA Inspector for tweaking graphics settings?Afterburner is really only used for overclocking your graphics card, not tweaking display settings...

Not quite. MSI AB is also used to manipulate the fan speed. I believe the 400 series fan would sit @ 40%,MSI increases the fan speed, as they do run very hot. If you looked at the screenshot showing the fan control properties, you will see what I mean.Not sure if this still applies to the 500 series, as Nick wrote the guide before the 500's hit the shelves. I have not used it since upgrading to the 580, no issues here.

Agreed - it does indeed have a few other applications as far as the GPU is concerned - fan speed, monitoring functions etc.That said, I see it most used for manipulating GPU clockspeed (up or down!)I may be very wrong here (in which case I apologise!) but I wasn't aware of the NickN Win7 configuration guides referencing Afterburner, hence my question!

Not quite. MSI AB is also used to manipulate the fan speed. I believe the 400 series fan would sit @ 40%,MSI increases the fan speed, as they do run very hot. If you looked at the screenshot showing the fan control properties, you will see what I mean.Not sure if this still applies to the 500 series, as Nick wrote the guide before the 500's hit the shelves. I have not used it since upgrading to the 580, no issues here.

Agreed - it does indeed have a few other applications as far as the GPU is concerned - fan speed, monitoring functions etc.That said, I see it most used for manipulating GPU clockspeed (up or down!)I may be very wrong here (in which case I apologise!) but I wasn't aware of the NickN Win7 configuration guides referencing Afterburner, hence my question!

Sometimes it is hard to find certain items, as Nick has threads spread all over the place. A lot of his tweaks are out of date now, so you need to be mindfull of that.This is what Nick wrote:there has been a rash of FAN SPEED problems related to some newer Nvidia drivers,, to resolve this I highly suggest the use of the software MSI AFTERBURNER http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm in which you can enable FAN CONTROLIn the settings, FAN TAB check ENABLE USER SOFTWARE FAN CONTROLand make a simple DRAG speed/temp point for the MIN and MAX fan speed. I suggest a HIGH END of 85c = 100% fan speed, the low end is based on your ambient and video card temp, I would say 49c = 35% for minimum fan noise when surfing, but you must make that call. All Modern NV cards automatically DROP their CORE SPEED to run cooler when not under 3D load and you do not need to do anything to make that work.http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34141&PID=198220#198220You must SET the software to START WITH WINDOWS so total fan control is maintained... it has a very SMALL footprint and OK to run at startupAlso, I would DISABLE all monitors on the MONTIORING TAB exceptCORE CLOCKCORE TEMPFAN SPEEDMEMORY SPEEDThats it, but its also up to you what you wish to monitor.. I would at lease leave CORE TEMP and FAN SPEED enabled to check if all is working right.

Once again, I stand corrected!Cheers:)

Once again, I stand corrected!Cheers:)

No worries.

The topic is two questions, I realize MSI AB is for GPU fan speeds/temp etc and the second question was asking what opinions people had on the latest nvidia drivers for the 580GTX.For the first question I'm basically wanting to understand if my selections look good or if maybe I should change the temps, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to graphic stuff and the speeds/temps of them.

The topic is two questions, I realize MSI AB is for GPU fan speeds/temp etc and the second question was asking what opinions people had on the latest nvidia drivers for the 580GTX.For the first question I'm basically wanting to understand if my selections look good or if maybe I should change the temps, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to graphic stuff and the speeds/temps of them.

1) Do you feel your card is getting too hot under its default settings? My 570 barely ticks over when running FSX - usually sits around 65C or so max. If I have both cards active running in SLi playing something like BF3, then the hotter of the two peaks at about 75 or so. If your 580 isn't busting 85C for sustained periods when under load then I wouldn't worry about it! Monitor the temps in game and then push the fan speed up if it is overheating. Most modern cards are design to run safely into the 80s for sustained periods...and most will clock down to protect themselves in an overheat situation.2) I have the latest drivers and have noticed no appreciable change either positive or negative within FSX from the last 5 or so driver sets I have run..!

^{Check here.}_{http://forum.avsim.net/topic/329986-hardware-drivers-threads-please-read/}

My 580SC was overtemping so I was using Afterburner to force the fan to 100% (also needed a firmware upgrade from EVGA). Noisy as a vacuum cleaner. I RMAd it and the replacement runs so cool I don't even mess with the fan. EVGA has an app (Precision) that seems to be the same thing, just a different skin on it. I did d/l the 296.10 but doubt they will make any diference over the 280.26 I've been running a while now.scott s..

I imagine any new driver updates are only to fix bugs in recent games and add support for the 680 cards