Open Hardware Monitor - real-time monitoring of PC performance

Open Hardware Monitor is a free, open source utility that provides a centralized interface where you can easily monitor various aspects of hardware performance, including fan speed, temperature sensors, voltage consumption, load and processor clock speeds. This software is compatible with most of the microcircuits with which modern popular cards are equipped.

CPU temperature control using Open Hardware Monitor.

General information

With a strikingly small file size of only about 520 kB, the Open Hardware Monitor downloads and installs in less than 2-3 minutes. The software is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. It can work in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, and is also compatible with all x86-based Linux operating systems.

Interface

The user interface is relatively simple. In the upper part of the main window there are only four menus (“File”, “View”, “Parameters” and “Help”). All computer attributes are displayed in a neatly organized list that classifies statistics based on the operating system and the name of the indicator. You can click on the device to expand the report on its work and find out the current, as well as the minimum and maximum values. For faster and more continuous monitoring of parameters, you can use a customizable gadget for the desktop or customize the program to work in the system tray.

Benefits:

  • Can be run at system startup.
  • Compatible with most control chips of modern boards, including Winbond, ITE and Fintek.
  • It allows you to display monitored values ​​in three different ways - in the main interface window, using a personalized, customizable desktop gadget and in the system tray.
  • Monitoring and displaying the temperature of the processor processors Intel and AMD.
  • Monitoring sensors for ATI and Nvidia video cards.
  • Provides continuous reverse SMART (self monitoring, analysis and reporting) communication for almost all computer hard drives.
  • Determines the critical voltage values ​​of the Vcore processor and battery.
  • Displays the temperature of the system and the processor in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit, as well as the rotational speed of the upper, lower and rear fans, as well as the power source.

disadvantages

  • The average computer user may find it difficult to understand what the various statistics mean. Therefore, to effectively analyze the results of the reports created by the software, professional help may be required.
  • Since this is a beta version, the software can sometimes produce minor bugs.

Features and Goals

Open Hardware Monitor is a completely free software package designed to enable users to monitor many aspects of their operating system in real time. Not only can this be useful for developers, such software is ideal for anyone who wants to increase the operational capacity of their system or access additional troubleshooting solutions. The main goal of the Open Hardware Monitor is to display all the most important physical indicators of the operating system. The processor temperature, voltage consumed by all hard drives, the speed of any built-in cooling fans, etc. are measured on a regular basis. These factors can help improve the efficiency of the hard drive and increase the overall life of the computer. One-click functionality makes using the program as simple as possible. The utility can also be configured to run automatically in the background.

Application Usage

Unzip the downloaded archive to any convenient place and run the file OpenHardwareMonitor.exe from it. The main program window will open. The main window contains a tree list of all components of your PC:

  • Motherboard;
  • CPU;
  • RAM;
  • Video card;
  • Hdd

To display detailed information about each item, expand it. Each of the hardware items has its own characteristics. It can be:

  • Voltages - voltage (processor);
  • Temperatures - component use temperatures;
  • Fans - fan speed;
  • Controls - setting the fan rotation speed manually;
  • Clocks - the clock frequency of the cores of the processor and video card;
  • Load - component load level;
  • Data - the degree of physical memory usage (loading of RAM and filling HDD).

Additional options are available in the menu bar. In File, you can disable components that do not need monitoring. The View item allows you to reset the average indicators of the program, hide or show hidden sensors, and also hide or delete a chart (to use it, you must put the birds in front of the indicators that should be displayed on the chart in the main program window) and the gadget. The Options item allows you to change some settings - minimize to tray, enable or disable startup at Windows startup, select the temperature value, as well as the sensor update interval.

Other benefits

With open source, this package is beneficial for anyone who does not want to pay for similar third-party platforms. The program has been developed and updated over the years, and its work requires very little memory. If you are interested in getting the most out of your computer's hardware, you've probably already tried overclocking to get a little extra performance without having to upgrade your PC hardware. Since removing hardware beyond their maximum performance limits is quite dangerous, controlling the temperature and voltage of the main components of a PC will help to increase power without compromising hardware.

This easy-to-use portable application allows you to monitor the status of all hardware devices, including the processor and hard disk. If you're experimenting with overclocking, this information will help you determine which settings will be safe. The program can be configured to automatically start Windows, so you will always have the necessary information. Open Hardware Monitor uses SMART sensors to inform you about the temperature of the processor and hard drives, as well as the status of the video card. When it comes to the processor, you can also control the speed of the bus and the core, as well as the overall load level.

If you prefer not to use the standard program window for monitoring your equipment, it is possible to add a gadget to the desktop. You can add several different sensors to it so that the necessary information is always at hand. The ability to view data as a graph means that over time you can track changes without having to manually record previous indicators.