Quick answer
The FPS counter is drawn by RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), which comes with Afterburner. You pick which metrics to show, send them to the On-Screen Display, and add a hotkey to toggle it. Download Afterburner (with RTSS) first.
Download MSI Afterburner
MSIAfterburner466.exe · v4.6.6 · ~53 MB · free, from this site
Step-by-step guide
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1
Make sure RTSS is running
Both Afterburner and RivaTuner Statistics Server must be open — look for the RTSS icon in the system tray. The overlay will not appear without it. -
2
Pick your metrics
Open Settings, Monitoring. Tick the graphs you want — GPU temperature, GPU usage, memory, and Framerate for the FPS counter. -
3
Send them to the overlay
With a metric selected, tick Show in On-Screen Display. Repeat for each one you want visible in-game. -
4
Set a toggle hotkey
In the On-Screen Display tab, assign a Toggle On-Screen Display hotkey so you can show or hide it mid-game. -
5
Style it in RTSS
Open RTSS to change the overlay position, size and colour. Recent RTSS also adds DirectX 12 support and NVIDIA Reflex latency readouts.
If the FPS counter will not appear
Other overlays — Steam, Discord, Xbox Game Bar, GeForce Experience — can clash with RTSS. Turn duplicates off. Some competitive games with strict anti-cheat block overlays entirely. More in fixes.
Add CPU stats too
Afterburner can show limited CPU temperature and usage in the same overlay, which helps you spot whether a stutter is GPU-bound or CPU-bound. For deeper sensor data, pair it with HWiNFO — see Afterburner vs HWiNFO.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my FPS counter not showing? +
Make sure RTSS is running and no other overlay (Steam, Discord, GeForce Experience) is conflicting. Some anti-cheat games block overlays.
Do I need RivaTuner for the FPS counter? +
Yes. RTSS draws the overlay. Without it there is no in-game FPS display.
How do I hide the overlay quickly? +
Assign a Toggle On-Screen Display hotkey in the OSD tab and press it in-game.
Can it show CPU usage too? +
Yes, limited CPU temperature and usage can be added to the same overlay.