Geforce RTX 5000: How to Enable the Hotspot Sensor in MSI Afterburner
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Unwinder has explained on the Guru3D forum why MSI Afterburner does not display the Geforce RTX 5000 hotspot temperature. Nvidia's closed interface is reportedly to blame, but HWiNFO and a plug-in can still feed the value into the overlay.
Owners of a Geforce RTX 5000 who want to know how hot the warmest point of the graphics chip actually gets are still out of luck in MSI Afterburner. HWMonitor 1.65 has once again reported the hotspot temperature since July 14, HWiNFO has since followed suit, and Nvidia's internal MODS diagnostic tool had access to the value all along, although it is not officially available to the public.
MSI Afterburner, the most popular tuning tool for Geforce graphics cards, remains the notable exception. Its developer, Alexey "Unwinder" Nicolaychuk, has now publicly explained the reason for this limitation on the Guru3D forum.
Why MSI Afterburner Does Not Display the Hotspot
Alexey Nicolaychuk provided a detailed response to questions about the missing hotspot support. Better known in the community as "Unwinder," the developer has maintained MSI Afterburner on behalf of Taiwanese manufacturer MSI since 2008. That contractual relationship is at the heart of the issue and explains why the hotspot temperature still cannot officially be displayed.
Nvidia Keeps the Hotspot Interface Locked Down
Nvidia only makes the monitoring interfaces for hotspot and memory temperatures available to its own internal software. Even board partners are denied access. Nicolaychuk described this policy on the forum as difficult to understand.
Any Windows application that displays a hotspot temperature on Geforce graphics cards relies on reverse-engineered NVAPI features. With the Geforce RTX 5000 series, also known as Blackwell, even that is no longer sufficient: Direct access to the GPU's registers is now required. Unsurprisingly, Nvidia takes a dim view of such practices, and MSI complies with its requirements.
Afterburner With Nvidia's Approval and Nvidia's Rules
MSI Afterburner is officially licensed partner software and may therefore only read sensors that Nvidia exposes through the public NVAPI. Legal and marketing considerations prevent the feature from being implemented; there are no technical obstacles.
As long as Nvidia does not officially document the sensor, the hotspot field in Afterburner will remain empty. In his private project Rivatuner Statistics Server, or RTSS, which is independent of MSI, Alexey Nicolaychuk has already demonstrated access to the value. His suggestion to the community was that someone could write a corresponding plug-in to close the gap unofficially.
How to Read the Geforce RTX 5000 Hotspot Anyway
The workaround uses HWiNFO. Since version 8.51, the program has been able to read the Geforce RTX 5000 hotspot and pass the value to MSI Afterburner via shared memory. The required plug-in has been included with Afterburner since version 4.4.0.
Setting Up HWiNFO as a Sensor Source
Users must install HWiNFO 8.51 or newer, then right-click the tray icon and open the general settings. "Shared Memory Support" must be enabled; without this option, the sensor remains invisible to other applications. The hotspot temperature will then appear below the GPU temperature in the sensor view. HWiNFO must continue running in the background.
Adding the Value to the Afterburner Overlay
In MSI Afterburner, open the settings, switch to the "Monitoring" tab, and enable HwInfo.dll under "Active Plug-ins." The configuration menu can then be used to select the hotspot sensor from the list of exported values.
It will subsequently appear in the graph list, where it can be enabled using "Show in On-Screen Display." As usual, Rivatuner Statistics Server handles the in-game display.
Alternatives Without Afterburner
HWMonitor 1.65 displays the hotspot without any configuration, but does not provide an overlay. CapFrameX has announced support for version 1.9.0. Igor's Lab uses its IBHE tool to estimate the value from raw data, power consumption, and fan control, avoiding the need for direct sensor access.
The Geforce RTX 5000 hotspot reading is currently an unconfirmed approximation. HWiNFO developer Martin Malík found two temperature sensors but cannot yet say with certainty which one refers to the graphics chip.
The working assumption is that the second sensor monitors the voltage regulators. It also remains unclear whether this is the same type of sensor exposed by the Geforce RTX 4000 series.
CPUID has yet to explain how HWMonitor accesses the value. Even so, it can still serve as a diagnostic indicator: A difference of 10 to 20 degrees Celsius relative to the GPU temperature is considered normal, while 30 degrees or more may indicate dried-out thermal paste or poor contact with the cooler. The Brazilian Geforce RTX 5070 Ti reported on last week showed a difference of 39 degrees Celsius, with the graphics card reaching its thermal limit at 107 degrees Celsius.
Quelle: Unwinder via Guru3D
