Most gamers understand the concept of overheating and its negative impact on performance, even if they don’t thermal regulation. They know that this temperature-related performance slowdown must be avoided at all costs, but they don’t even realize it. This is because the power your graphics card can draw is not limited to “100%”. You can actually tweak it to some extent, add more power and expand it to get more performance. All you need to do is adjust a simple slider in MSI Afterburner or AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. You can make significant gains by increasing your GPU’s power limit, but you also need to ensure that your PSU and cooling don’t become bottlenecks.
GPU power limit may exceed 100%
With a simple pinch
It may seem wrong, but the default GPU power limit, which is 100%, does not actually represent 100% of the GPU’s power limit. This is almost always lower than what your graphics card can handle. GPU manufacturers use a lower power target to ensure GPU stability, longevity and optimal performance. However, this is not a hard-coded limit that you cannot “crack”. You can do it manually using Afterburner or Adrenalin Edition Increase the maximum power the GPU can draw. This Power Limit admission located under FAN Section in Afterburner and below Power Tuning In Adrenaline Edition. These tools allow you to give your graphics card a 15-20% power boost depending on your model.
It should be noted that a 15% increase in maximum available power does not mean an equivalent jump in performance. Even if the game you’re playing allows the GPU to hit the new power ceiling, the actual FPS increase doesn’t change the game. Still, despite all the graphical optimizations, it might be worth it if you’re struggling to get past 60 FPS in a demanding title. Depending on the energy costs in your area, the extra energy costs may not be a big deal to you. Not the maximum FPS that can be improved; even your minimum FPS may improve slightly, making your gameplay smoother.
I saw some real FPS gains by cranking it all the way
10% is nothing to scoff at
I was interested to know How much extra performance can I get from the RTX 3080? in Forza Horizon 6, I started playing last weekend. Using the custom graphics preset with medium ray tracing and DLSS Balanced, I was already able to get between 60 and 85 FPS depending on the area in Japan. However, I wanted to know if moving the power slider in Afterburner would get me extra frames, especially in the low end. So I cranked the power up to 115% and jumped into a few races both day and night. While previously I was getting a spread of 85 FPS and 57 FPS at maximum and minimum respectively, the increased power limit pushed those numbers to 93 FPS and 61 FPS respectively. Needless to say, it wasn’t a crazy upgrade, but I still got 8-10% hit with 15% extra power. That’s a respectable trade-off in my eyes.
- Released
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May 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone / Light Lyrics, User Interactions, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
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Playground Games
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios
You need to pay attention to the temperature ceiling
Undervolting may actually be a better choice
As I mentioned before, you don’t want your GPU thermals to be the bottleneck. This will simply result in poor thermal regulation, destroying any gains you may have made from the increased power limit. A decent GPU cooler, tuned fan curves, and a power supply that can take the extra load are essential for this exercise. Without it, you’re stressing the GPU for no reason and probably shortening its remaining lifespan. It should also be noted that you should also investigate it slows down your graphics cardcomparing the results with power limiting and deciding which is worth it in the long run.
Even if you don’t see a jump in FPS, lower voltages can generally be better if your GPU runs cooler at the same performance level. In many cases, lower temperatures create additional thermal headroom, which helps your card power over longer clocks and makes your gaming more reliable. Of course, a GPU running a few degrees cooler doesn’t hurt either. Depending on the level of performance you get at the default settings, you can choose between increasing or decreasing the GPU’s power limit.
GPU power limit is a hidden performance booster
Most gamers run the GPU at default settings for predictable behavior and decent performance. However, changing your card’s power settings can unlock additional performance that you may have previously overlooked. It may not be night and day, but it’s still a free boost. Lowering the GPU voltage can sometimes be better than increasing the power limit, as it can unlock additional performance by lowering the operating temperature. Try each of them to decide which one is best for your computer.
