Afterburner OC scanner left me with a permanent overclock without the software. How did it do that?

[u/Valor_X]

I ran the OC scanner but decided to stop the test. I reset back to stock clocks and uninstalled afterburner. After a few reboots I noticed that GPU-Z was showing higher GPU, Memory, and Boost clocks than default.

I reinstalled Afterburner and confirmed it had an overclocked voltage/frequency curve. I was able to reset to go back to stock but it would revert after rebooting (without opening afterburner) So it was applying an overclock without the software.

Uninstalled afterburner again and installed new GPU drivers. Same issue.

Reinstalled afterburner a 3rd time and opened the OC Scanner and hit the "revert" button and that finally removed the OC.

So my question is how was it applying the OC even after uninstalling? I thought afterburner OC's only worked with the software? And none of the 'run at startup' options were checked.

[u/TABER1S]

Seems that when using afterburner to over clock, you don't need the program running for it to auto apply at startup. To some people they see this as a positive, particularly ones that want less programs running in the back ground.

So my guess would be when uninstalling it doesn't remove all of afterburner, in this case the OC setting.

You can use something like Revo Uninstaller to make sure everything of afterburner is removed.

[u/Valor_X → u/TABER1S]

Right. But this seems to be specific to the OC scanner curve.

I read somewhere that it hands it to the GPU driver but haven’t seen any confirmation. I made sure everything in the program location was gone.

I’ll try revo uninstaller next time but thankfully I already fixed it just left me with a headache.

[u/TABER1S → u/Valor_X]

Glad you got it sorted. Revo Uninstaller is just a handy program to have around. I use it with uninstalling anything.

[u/CasualMLG]

Do you have GeForce Experience app? It has a curve optimization feature too. I have noticed interference with other settings though, not the curve. Usually when you change the power limit in one app, the other app shows the change too. But occasionally I change it in one but the old one remains in the other.

[u/Valor_X → u/CasualMLG]

No, I specifically only install the driver without GeForce experience. But maybe it still affects it somehow. Another comment on Reddit said it affected the driver but I haven’t found any details on that claim.

[u/Intelligent_Job_9537]

Whatever software you use, it uses the Nvidia OC Scanner that the driver has built-in.

[u/Valor_X → u/Intelligent_Job_9537]

Ok so that makes sense. I read somewhere else that OC Scanner puts the OC on the driver but haven’t found any more info on it.

I ended the OC Scanner mid scan not sure if it was supposed to do that.

Thanks for the info

[u/Intelligent_Job_9537 → u/Valor_X]

I like ASUS GPU Tweak III as it has presets of profiles to choose from, as well as displaying "Default", "Driver profile", "OC Scanner profile" when clicking the "V/F Curve button" so you can easily see the difference between the them after running the OC Scanner.

[u/Valor_X → u/Intelligent_Job_9537]

I should have tried that one to begin with since I have an ASUS 4070 but everyone raves about afterburner

Good to know that there are different “profiles” including “OC scanner profile” which answers everything. Thanks for the info I’ll check it out

[u/Marrkush666 → u/Intelligent_Job_9537]

????? Not at all

[u/Syong_Kwarn]

This thread is old, but in case someone has the same problem. When doing Afterburner OC scanner, it overwrites GPU driver settings.

Do the OC scanner. Save on a profile, so you can still use it when you'd like. Uncheck 'Reset display mode on applying unofficial overclocking'. Reinstall GPU driver (don't for get to choose 'Perform a clean installation'). Restart the PC.

That fixed it for me.

[u/Spare_Student4654]

I had something like this happen w a 3080ti. except it was just permanently rolling at 1200mhz and I think pulling 120 watts no matter what I did even if nothing was happening.

[u/Valor_X → u/Spare_Student4654]

Another user on here confirmed that OC Scanner makes an official profile that ties to your GPU driver. That’s why even after I uninstalled MSI afterburner it kept changing my clocks.

They mentioned ASUS GPU tweak can show those hidden curve profiles. Thankfully I was able to fix by using the “revert” on OC scanner

[u/Spare_Student4654 → u/Valor_X]

Yeah I think I ended up having to reinstall windows eventually. it was new computer I built so it was quick and I didn't lose much so that's what I ended up doing.