Quality: Rivatuner Overlays Best Extra
Here’s a practical, developer-focused guide to creating a truly useful RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) overlay — not just FPS, but actionable data for tuning, debugging, and monitoring.
Step 1: Install the Dynamic Duo
Never install RTSS alone. Download MSI Afterburner (which bundles RTSS). Afterburner provides the hardware monitoring server. RTSS provides the OSD. Install both. rivatuner overlays best
The "Benchmark Suite": A comprehensive layout used for testing hardware. It displays 1% Lows, Average FPS, Frame Time graphs, and detailed per-core CPU usage. To see these metrics, you must map a key to "Begin recording" in the MSI Afterburner benchmark settings. Here’s a practical, developer-focused guide to creating a
CPU Usage (Overall or per-thread): Useful for identifying games that heavily rely on a single core. MSI Afterburner (The Data Source): This application reads
The best overlays don't distract from the game. Here are a few ways to level up your look:
- MSI Afterburner (The Data Source): This application reads your sensors (GPU temp, CPU usage, clock speeds, RAM usage, fan RPM). You select which metrics appear.
- RTSS (The Renderer): This takes the text data from Afterburner and draws it onto your game screen. It controls fonts, colors, background opacity, and positioning.