One of the best GPU utilities is under threat

One of the best GPU utilities is under threat

A popular GPU tool, MSI Afterburner, is reportedly under threat, though despite the controversy that has just erupted around the app, MSI claims there are no plans to abandon the utility (which is used for overclocking and more).

Tech Powerup (opens in a new tab) originally resumed this story and found a post by Afterburner developer Alexey Nicolaychuk, known as "Unwinder" on the Guru3D discussion forums (opens in a new tab), in which he posted a message about giving in the app

In a thread about an issue with Afterburner, Nicolaychuk responded by saying that "MSI Afterburner project is surely dead", and when asked about this statement, he clarified that "war and politics are the reasons".

He continued: "I didn't mention it on the MSI Afterburner development newsfeed, but the company has half-neglected the project for quite some time... I'll try to continue supporting it myself. Even while I have free time, more surely I shall let it go and move on, allowing me to pay my bills.(sic)

The underlying problem here is that Nicolaychuk is a Russian citizen, and after the invasion of Ukraine, MSI suspended his payments, leaving him to work on the project on his own throughout XNUMX without any salary, a situation with which he was discouraged. little by little more. . He states elsewhere: "I feel like I'm beating up a dead horse and wasting energy on something the company no longer needs." (sic)

PC Gamer (opens in a new tab) further notifies this that MSI confirmed that "payments have been suspended due to the UK-AU war and subsequent economic regulations", but the company insists that Afterburner is not is deceased or neglected.

MSI told PC Gamer: “We intend to continue with MSI Afterburner. MSI has been working on a fix and hopes it will be resolved soon.

Analysis: Hopeful signs that a solution can be located

What kind of solution could that be? Well, there's a clue elsewhere, as Tech Powerup noticed that a Wccftech editor delivered an update from MSI via a tweet (opens in a new tab), in which the company said: "Our marketing team and product accounting addresses this issue now.. Due to the war, our payment could not be successfully transferred to the author's checking account.We are still in contact with him and are studying how to fix this issue.

If no financial resolution is reached in terms of being able to pay the existing developer, then possibly MSI is looking at other angles, like a different developer, maybe? We'll need to continue to watch this space, as it appears that, despite Nicolaychuk's assertions, MSI doesn't want the project killed.

Not surprisingly, Afterburner is a popular tool that can be used for overclocking as we mentioned, but also for other GPU tricks like undervoltage, which causes the graphics card to draw less power and make less noise (something that RTX XNUMX owners have been most interested). since the launch of the card).

We at TechRadar also find Afterburner really useful for matching games that don't have their benchmark runtime built in. We hope that MSI stands by its statement here and that a solution is found soon enough, now that more and more stories are starting on the net about this.

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