If you’ve recently plugged in an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000-series GPU—whether a desktop 5090 or a laptop 5080—and launched MSI Afterburner to check temperatures, you likely noticed that the “GPU Hotspot” reading you relied on with older cards is nowhere to be found. It’s not a bug in your Afterburner installation, and reinstalling drivers won’t fix it. The reason points directly to NVIDIA: the company changed how it exposes sensor data on its Blackwell architecture, and that has left popular monitoring tools unable to show what’s happening at the hottest point of your GPU die. The good news? A combination of two free utilities already installed on many gaming PCs can restore that critical reading with just a few clicks.

Why the Hotspot Sensor Vanished from Afterburner

MSI Afterburner normally gathers GPU telemetry through NVIDIA’s documented public monitoring interface, known as NVAPI. For the RTX 5000 series, however, NVIDIA decided not to report the hotspot junction temperature—or the memory junction temperature—through that standard route. As a result, Afterburner’s hardware monitoring list simply omits those entries, even though the physical sensor exists on the card. Other tools that read sensors directly, such as HWiNFO, can still access the data, but the standard NVAPI call won’t return it.

This isn’t a temporary oversight. According to a story first published by Guru3D, NVIDIA has deliberately locked down certain thermal readouts on Blackwell, likely to prevent third-party overclocking utilities from manipulating or exposing what it considers sensitive low-level parameters. The side effect: millions of RTX 5000 owners are flying blind on one of the most important GPU health indicators.

What Losing Hotspot Monitoring Means for You

For everyday gaming and light content creation, the core GPU temperature displayed by Afterburner is usually enough. But for anyone who overclocks, undervolts, or just wants to monitor the health of their expensive hardware, the hotspot temperature is a vital sign. It represents the highest temperature recorded by the network of thermal sensors spread across the GPU die. Under load, a typical hotspot delta—the difference between the average core temperature and the hotspot—can range from 10 to 25°C depending on the cooler, power limit, and ambient conditions. If that delta suddenly widens over time with the same workload and settings, it can signal dried-out thermal paste, uneven mounting pressure, or dust-clogged cooling fins.

Without a hotspot reading, you lose an early-warning system. A card might report a comfortable 70°C core while its hotspot quietly bumps against 95°C, gradually degrading performance and longevity. Enthusiast communities have relied on hotspot data for years to fine-tune fan curves and verify cooler installations. Now, RTX 5000 users are left guessing.

How We Got Here: HWiNFO Steps into the Gap

The RTX 5000 series launched earlier this year, and from day one, MSI Afterburner users reported the missing hotspot. Since MSI develops Afterburner as a free community tool with only occasional updates, many assumed a fix would come from the developer. But because the root issue lies in NVIDIA’s restricted API, not a bug in Afterburner, a simple patch cannot add the sensor back.

Independent hardware monitoring tool HWiNFO, already a staple for PC analysts, took a different approach. Its developer reverse-engineered the low-level i2c communication path that NVIDIA’s driver still uses internally but doesn’t expose via NVAPI. In July 2026, HWiNFO released a pre-release build (version 8.09 or later, according to reports) that added explicit support for the Blackwell GPU hotspot sensor. This was confirmed by multiple outlets, including VideoCardz, which reported that AIDA64 also received similar support around the same time. Suddenly, the data was accessible again—just not inside Afterburner on its own.

The community quickly built the missing bridge: using HWiNFO to read the hotspot value and RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS), which ships with Afterburner, to display it in the same on-screen overlay that shows frame rate, GPU usage, and core temperature. That’s the method we’ll explain below. A third, riskier path involves a community-created DLL plugin named BlackwellHotspot.dll, released by a developer called Talon2016, which can inject the hotspot reading directly into Afterburner’s monitoring list. We’ll cover that as well, along with the necessary precautions.

How to Get Your Hotspot Back Safely

The most reliable and least intrusive way to monitor your RTX 5000’s hotspot temperature is to pair the latest HWiNFO with RTSS. This method doesn’t alter any GPU clock, voltage, firmware, or driver settings, and it keeps Afterburner fully functional for its usual fan and overclocking controls.

Step 1: Update HWiNFO to a Blackwell-ready build

If you already have HWiNFO installed, check that your version is newer than the mid-July 2026 releases. Download the portable or installer version directly from the official HWiNFO website. After launching, choose “Sensors-only” mode and click Start. Under the NVIDIA GPU section, look for an entry labeled “GPU Hot Spot Temperature” (or similar). If you don’t see it, run a brief GPU load—some sensors only become active when the card is working—and close any other monitoring tools that might be polling the same sensor bus.

Step 2: Enable shared memory in HWiNFO

For RTSS to grab the hotspot data, HWiNFO must write its sensor readings to a shared memory region. In the sensors window, click the gear icon to open Settings, then go to the “User Interface” tab. Tick the box for “Shared Memory Support” and click OK. Keep the sensors window open. Note that the free edition of HWiNFO may disable shared memory after 12 hours of continuous use; if the reading disappears later, simply re-enable it or consider the Pro license for long monitoring sessions.

Step 3: Verify Afterburner and RTSS are running

Launch MSI Afterburner as usual and confirm that the RivaTuner Statistics Server is active (its icon appears in the system tray). In Afterburner’s settings under the Monitoring tab, keep your preferred core temperature, usage, power, and frame rate items enabled for the on-screen display.

Step 4: Add the hotspot sensor to the RTSS overlay

Back in HWiNFO’s sensors window, right-click the GPU Hot Spot Temperature entry. From the context menu, select the option to add it to the RTSS overlay (the exact wording may be “OSD (RTSS)” or similar). A small configuration dialog may appear; you can rename the label to something short like “Hotspot” and confirm. Now fire up any game or benchmark in fullscreen or borderless mode. The RTSS overlay should display the new hotspot reading alongside your existing stats.

For a clean layout, arrange the overlay to show:
- GPU temperature
- Hotspot temperature
- GPU power
- Fan speed or percentage
- Frame rate
A sample line might read: Hotspot: 82°C | GPU: 68°C | Power: 310W | Fan: 62% | FPS: 144.

Step 5: Interpret the numbers

Once you have the hotspot data, use it to monitor trends, not absolute thresholds. After a stable workload (e.g., a 15-minute FurMark run or a repeated benchmark pass), note the hotspot delta. On a well-cooled RTX 5080, you might see 12–18°C delta. On a power-hungry 5090, it could be higher. If, over weeks, that delta grows significantly under identical conditions, it’s time to consider repasting or cleaning. Do not compare readings across different monitoring tools—HWiNFO, HWMonitor, and AIDA64 may all poll the sensor slightly differently early in Blackwell’s lifecycle.

Risky alternative: The community plugin

If you prefer to see the hotspot directly inside Afterburner’s own monitoring list, the BlackwellHotspot.dll plugin exists. It has proven functional in several community reports, but it’s an unsigned DLL from an independent developer. Any DLL loaded by Afterburner runs with full application privileges, potentially giving malicious code access to your system, overclocking profiles, and RivaTuner settings. If you decide to experiment, follow these safety steps strictly:
- Create a Windows restore point and back up your entire MSI Afterburner installation folder.
- Download the DLL only from the developer’s original forum post, never from file-sharing sites or video descriptions.
- Scan the file with Microsoft Defender and VirusTotal.
- Follow the plugin’s installation instructions to the letter, then restart Afterburner.
- After installation, look for the new hotspot entries under Settings > Monitoring and enable them for the on-screen display.
- If Afterburner crashes or behaves erratically, remove the DLL and restore your profile backup.

Method to avoid: Editing RTCore.cfg

Some older guides suggest adding your RTX 5000’s PCI device ID to Afterburner’s RTCore.cfg under [GPU_10DE] to force low-level access. This is a dangerous, unsupported hack that can lead to hardware instability, corrupted tuning profiles, or even GPU firmware issues. With the HWiNFO+RTSS method working so reliably, there’s no practical reason to go this route. If you’ve already made such changes, restore the original RTCore.cfg immediately.

Outlook: Will NVIDIA Ever Open the Hotspot?

NVIDIA rarely rolls back sensor access restrictions once they’re locked. The company’s focus is on pushing first-party telemetry through GeForce Experience and its own performance overlay, rather than aiding third-party overclocking tools. MSI Afterburner’s future development has also been sporadic; the developer, Alexey “Unwinder” Nicolaychuk, has openly discussed the challenges of maintaining the tool with little support from NVIDIA. As a result, the HWiNFO-plus-RTSS pairing is likely to remain the standard for hotspot monitoring on RTX 5000 cards for the foreseeable future.

The good news is that the HWiNFO team is actively refining Blackwell support, and subsequent releases should stabilize readings and improve compatibility. If you’re building a new system or troubleshooting an existing RTX 5000 build, adding HWiNFO to your utility belt is no longer optional—it’s essential for a complete picture of your GPU’s thermal health.

For now, the workaround is straightforward, free, and risk-free. Until NVIDIA changes its stance or MSI ships a magical update, keep HWiNFO and RTSS running together, and you’ll have the critical hotspot data your expensive graphics card deserves.