How to Undervolt GPU for Gaming: Lower Temperatures and Boost Sustained FPS (2026)

What is GPU Undervolting and Why Does It Increase Gaming FPS?

Modern graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD are configured at the factory with aggressive voltage tables. Manufacturers do this to guarantee that every silicon chip works out of the box, regardless of manufacturing variance. However, this safety margin causes GPUs to draw more electrical power than necessary, generating excess heat that triggers thermal throttling within minutes of intense gaming.

GPU undervolting is the process of manually adjusting your graphics card voltage-frequency curve. By supplying lower millivolts (mV) at your target core clock speed, your GPU runs cooler, draws less wattage, and sustains higher boost frequencies without hitting power or thermal ceilings. Unlike traditional overclocking, undervolting reduces hardware degradation while often improving 1% low frame rates.

Pairing hardware-level voltage tuning with an automated system fps tweak utility creates the ultimate performance foundation, stripping Windows operating system bloat while your GPU runs at peak electrical efficiency.

Tools You Need Before Undervolting

Before modifying voltage curves, download these verified hardware utilities:

• MSI Afterburner: The industry standard for monitoring and tuning NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards.

• HWiNFO64: For monitoring GPU hot spot temperature, memory junction thermals, and real-time core voltage.

• Unigine Superposition or 3DMark Time Spy: For benchmarking baseline performance and stress testing voltage stability under sustained graphical workloads.

Step-by-Step GPU Undervolting Guide with MSI Afterburner

Follow these exact steps to undervolt any modern NVIDIA GeForce RTX or GTX series graphics card:

1. Establish a baseline: Run Unigine Superposition on the 1080p Extreme or 4K Optimized preset. Record your average clock frequency, peak temperature, and benchmark score.

2. Open MSI Afterburner: Click the gear icon to open Settings. Under General, check Unlock voltage control and Unlock voltage monitoring. Click Apply and restart Afterburner.

3. Open the Curve Editor: Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard to open the Voltage/Frequency curve window.

4. Identify your target voltage: Most modern RTX 30 and 40 series cards run stock at 1.050V to 1.100V. A proven starting sweet spot is 925mV to 950mV for standard boost clocks, or 875mV to 900mV for maximum thermal reduction.

5. Flatten the curve: Select the point on the curve corresponding to your chosen voltage (e.g. 925mV). Drag that point upward to match your desired core clock (e.g. 1950 MHz). Select every point to the right of 925mV, hold Shift, and drag them down below your target line. Click the checkmark on Afterburner main window to flatten the line.

6. Save to a profile: Click the floppy disk icon in Afterburner and select profile slot 1 to save your custom curve.

Undervolting AMD Radeon Graphics Cards via AMD Adrenalin

If you have an AMD Radeon RX 6000 or RX 7000 series GPU, you do not need third-party tools. AMD includes built-in voltage offset controls directly inside the driver software.

Follow these steps inside AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition:

1. Open Adrenalin and click on the Performance tab, then select Tuning.

2. Under Manual Tuning, select Custom.

3. Enable GPU Tuning and toggle on Advanced Control.

4. Locate the Voltage (mV) slider. The stock value is typically 1150mV on modern RDNA3 cards.

5. Reduce the voltage slider in small increments of 25mV (e.g. drop from 1150mV to 1125mV, then to 1100mV).

6. Click Apply Changes in the top-right corner.

For more detailed AMD driver optimizations, explore our dedicated guide on best AMD Radeon settings for gaming.

Stress Testing and Verifying Stability

A curve that passes a 5-minute benchmark might still crash in ray-traced titles or during long multiplayer sessions. To ensure your undervolt is 100% rock solid:

• Run 3DMark Time Spy or Speedway Stress Test: Pass at least 20 consecutive loops with a stability score of 97% or higher.

• Test ray tracing workloads: Ray tracing engages hardware RT cores, increasing transient power spikes. Test titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2 with RT enabled for 30 minutes.

• Monitor hot spot temperatures: Open HWiNFO64 and verify that your GPU Hot Spot delta is within 12C to 15C of the average GPU temperature. If hot spot exceeds 95C, check cooler mounting or repaste thermal compound.

If your PC crashes or exhibits sudden stuttering under load, learn how to troubleshoot thermal throttling and FPS drops.

Check if your system has sufficient thermal and power headroom with our live hardware analysis widget:

Complementing Your Undervolt with System-Level Tweaks

Once your GPU operates cooler and quieter, refine your operating system settings to maximize your system frame pacing:

• Configure driver power plans: In NVIDIA Control Panel, select Optimal Power or Normal rather than Prefer Maximum Performance when undervolting. This allows the GPU to downclock to 210 MHz at idle desktop states, saving electricity when not gaming. Review our NVIDIA Control Panel optimization guide for optimal 3D settings.

• Tune BIOS and Windows power plans: Pair your GPU efficiency with proper CPU power plan settings covered in our comprehensive PC optimization for gaming guide.

Frequently Asked Questions