In reality, the benefits over less-integrated solutions are slight (is it really that hard to run two programs side by side?), but Kombustor is a good enough utility that this still seems like a feature. The concept here is that you overclock with Afterburner and then immediately test with Kombustor, which is available via a button on Afterburner’s interface. MSI promotes Kombustor’s integration with Afterburneras a one-stop tweaking solution for FPS-obsessed gamers, and it’s a pretty good pitch. The longer Kombustor tests feature filters, depth-of-focus, and other advanced hardware tricks. The results aren’t as comprehensive as larger suites, but they are reliable and revealing nevertheless. The result is a reasonably accurate picture of capability, especially cooling capacity. The PhysX tests have fewer options but run longer, and provide more diverse scripts with plenty of fireworks to keep things interesting. MSI dials back the pain a bit, but augments that product’s burn-in features with expanded benchmarking capabilities, support for DirectX, linkages to Afterburner for test-and-tune sessions and a whole lot more objects, scenes and settings to look at while it all gets done. Kombustor is based on Furmark, a stress test famous in the enthusiast community for frying videocards alive in its quest to probe GPUs’ outer limits.

Kombustor’s fur test is anything but soft on your GPU. It’s a benchmark called Kombustor, and it’s aptly named. Hardware manufacturer MSI, creators of Afterburner, have conjured up a way to make your overachieving videocard sweat for a change. This and other inconsistencies mean you need to go beyond FRAPS and your favorite game when looking at overclocked GPU stability. Your clock-cooked Radeon may sneer at Skyrim on max settings, but those same speeds can make your computer crash and burn when playing Witcher II. Pushing up memory and core speeds on video hardware has consequences, not all of them readily apparent.

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