{
  "id": 19721529,
  "title": "I've used MSI Afterburner for years, but Intel PresentMon showed me what I was missing",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/ive-used-msi-afterburner-for-years-but-intel-presentmon-showed-me",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-12T22:30:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "XDA Developers",
    "slug": "xda-developers",
    "url": "https://www.xda-developers.com/ive-used-msi-afterburner-for-years-but-intel-presentmon-showed-me-what-i-was-missing/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "MSI Afterburner has been a staple in PC gaming for years, allowing users to monitor a vast array of metrics like GPU usage, temperatures, and frame times. However, Intel's PresentMon tool has revealed a new perspective on performance optimization. While GPU usage has been the go-to indicator for many, PresentMon's GPU Busy metric offers a more granular view of the GPU's workload. This metric measures the time a GPU spends rendering each frame in milliseconds, providing valuable insights into potential bottlenecks. When GPU Busy is close to the frame time, the GPU is likely GPU-bound. Conversely, if GPU Busy is significantly lower than the frame time, the GPU may be waiting on another component. PresentMon's GPU Busy metric complements the frame time metric, giving users a clearer picture of performance issues. For a comprehensive analysis, PresentMon also allows users to monitor CPU Busy alongside GPU Busy. By creating a custom preset, users can visualize all three metrics on the same graph, helping identify the true source of performance limitations. While Afterburner will remain a valuable tool for its extensive monitoring capabilities and custom undervolt profiles, PresentMon has become an indispensable companion for accurately diagnosing performance issues.",
  "summary": "If only Afterburner had this one metric.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}