I relatively recently got my first AMD GPU (Sapphire), and until now it's been fine, but am getting crashes on one game. Trying to figure out the culprit. Could be my CPU just as easily.

So I did a browser search for some hardware monitoring software, and came back with Hardware monitor and MSI afterburner. I only have the one monitor, an Intel CPU, and would like to be able to monitor temps and other stats of CPU and GPU while gaming. Could anyone make a recommendation between the two based on my requirements?

Thanks.

Hello there!

I like to have some monitoring on my 3rd monitor while gaming. Adrenaline was perfect, but with my new build it decided to put everything in one column and to see it all i'd have to scroll up and down. Recently learned there isn't an option to re-arrange the metrics manually. Baffles me but it is what it is.
HWinfo is giving me everything i need and then some. But it is a bit too much for being on the side while i game. I need just a few things and i'd like them with small graphs or graphic representation of some other kind. A bar or chart thing... So that i can throw my eyes there for a split second and see what i want to know.
I'd like to have at a glance:
GPU utilization
GPU temp
GPU hotspot temp
GPU vram use
GPU pwr
GPU fan speed
CPU utilization
CPU clock
CPU temp
CPU fan speed
System RAM use
FPS

As i said, the way adrenalin shows it is perfect for me, but i can't have all that at once on the screen right now...

Any other software you'd recommend that can show all that graphically? Or if someone knows of a way to put the metrics in adrenaline side by side.
Image to show what i mean, everything under the red line on the left to move to the red box on the right.

Thanks

Just curious about the best monitoring softwares for monitoring my hardware. Building a PC this weekend, just got all of the parts in and would like to get those early and be prepared for when I boot up for the first time to make sure everything is running ok. Thanks!

Just curious what the community here thinks. I use Libre hardware monitor (formerly Open hardware monitor) as it's very simple and I mainly watch for temps, fans speed, and GPU and CPU clocks. I have heard HW info 64 is better and more accurate though. Any truth to that or are either good?

Alright guys, here it is! Even though this was something I thought up on my own, I'm very likely NOT the first person to do something like this, so I can't really take full credit for it. I came up with this mod a while back shortly after I built my first rig (you'll see it later on) and posted it on the overclock forum, but hadn't formatted it for Reddit, so I figured I'd finally get around to that!

Hardware monitors are essential for overclockers, and just overall a super handy resource even for regular PC users/gamers. Temps, clock speeds, useage, and framerates are all things that are very nice to be able to watch while you have a game fullscreen.

However, the options that are currently available "commercially" quite plainly suck. They look horrible, are usually bulky and annoying to look at or use, and they can only do a small handfull of things.

You can just go oldschool and use an overlay, totally ruining the beauty of the game you painstakingly built your PC to experience with it's bright yellow or green 8 bit font. Or you can buy a 5.25" bay insert, if you're really desperate. I won't even go there.

So I decided this wasn't gonna cut it and I embarked on a journey to find the best working and best looking hardware monitor I could build.

I feel as if I was successful

And when I moved into my new Build also

Before I start with everything, with my method I use the screen as an extension of my desktop, and I route the HDMI cable it uses through my case, out the back and up into my video card. You can use it with a Rpie and remote into it if you please, but you'll still have cables running for the Rpie itself, and that will increase the cost drastically

The parts

Now, you have two options, buy from china and save a good bit, or buy from the US and spend way more than $50. I'm using a mixture of the two. In this case, it's worth waiting the extra week or so because you save yourself almost $20.

The monitor itself: 5" HDMI Rasberry Pi Touchscreen LCD. UPDATED LINK 1/17/21 ((Now this is one that comes with the acrylic bracket that I used the hardware from to get it all mounted. You can buy one without the bracket (You have to put it on yourself anyhow) but I feel like it helps protect the PCB and screen itself. Not to mention it gives you more options on how to use the screen. ))

The cable: 3ft ultra slim HDMI UPDATED LINK. Ultra slim makes it much easier to cable manage, and for the size of the screen you won't have any issues with it. (Read the bottom of this post if you only have one HDMI port on your GPU)

The adapters: 90 or 270 degree HDMI angled adapter UPDATED LINK. This is for one of each, you'll need the 270 to make the HDMI cable run towards the back of your case.

Edit 8/8/21 I found some INTERNAL USB 2.0 header mounted ports that should help with the USB power cable needing to snake outside of the case also. (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07YFXH5K9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details)

(I actually use two additional 270 degree adapters to attatch both of the HDMI cables I have running into my graphics card so the cables run parallel to the case instead of straight into it, personal preference)

OR

One of these adapters to make the HDMI cable run straight down

How you plan to route the cable will determine which adapter you will need.

PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH ADAPTER IS WHICH WHEN PURCHASING, THEY'RE VERY EASY TO MIX UP

Pictures for mounting instructions for you visual learners like myself

Mounting to an acrylic case window

If you want to hard mount it to your acrylic window like I did on my original build, to get your holes drilled in the correct spots, just set the screen face down on the acryllic where you want to have it mounted, hold it there snugly and use something sharp (I used a tiny screwdriver) to go through each corner hole to make marks where your bolt holes are on each corner. Take the screen and put it aside for now, next, use a drill with a bit slightly larger than the bolts that come with the screen kit and carefully drill out your holes. Make sure they are smaller than the heads of the screws though.

I mounted my screen FLUSH to the inside of the acrylic, so I put the bolts through the front, next was the screen, then the plastic spacers, acrylic backplate (I did not use the front plate for this mounting method) and then finally bolts. Be VERY careful, remember this is just a tiny little LCD with no protective layer in front of it.

Using the cross pattern just like a cpu cooler tighten down your bolts till they're snug. Not crazy tight but snug. By having the screen pressing on the acrylic, it acts like the front glass does on your cellphone LCD and gives you a nicer picture, and keeps dust from getting between the two.

Tempered glass cases

If you have a tempered glass window for your case like I do on my new build, just attatch the FRONT plate to the screen and use the included stand and rest it on your PSU shroud. Not attatched solidly, but it still performs exactly how it's supposed to and looks nice and clean. You can use some zip ties to keep the stand where you want it if you really want it to not move at all.

There really isn't a way to mount it similarly to the acrylic window method, unless you want to epoxy the bolt heads to your window. It's plausible, but I can't say I recommend it. u/RUST_LIFE pointed out that there is UV activated glues that would also work to mount via this method.

If you happen to have enough room between your PSU shroud and your window, that would be a perfect little nook to slip it into without really having to mount it. I was hoping my case had enough room, but sadly it does not, and I'm not about to go cutting metal just yet.

HOWEVER If you do that, make sure you insulate the rear of the screen somehow, just in case it decides to try and short (It is just bare pcb after all).

You could always cut the screws so they're just long enough to put the rear plate on from the mounting kit and still fit in that little nook if you're skilled enough.

I currently have mine set up so the very top of the front bracket of the screen is resting against the front of my GPU so it stands straight up to make the viewing angle better.

Alternate alternate mounting methods

If your case has 5.25" bays with removeable covers, it could very well fit in the space of 2 of them if you want it to face out the front of your case. Vertically it should fit, horizontally you may have to figure out how to fill in a gap. If you are crafty enough you COULD dremel out your covers to mount the screen to them, and snap the covers back into place.

If you do decide to dremel your covers, first off please make sure to wear safety glasses and ear protection, but also it will be a huge help if you epoxy the two covers together on the small surface where they touch, this will allow you to have ONE cover to cut instead of trying to line up two different ones

And finally you can just use the included stand and bracket and set it up outside of your case wherever you please, on top of your PC, beside your PC, under your.. PC..(?) Basically you can use this any which way you want to!

Software and setup

I use Rainmeter and HWinfo64 for all of the information that I want to see. What skins you decide to use are fully up to you, there are literally thousands to choose from. I personally recommend and use Illustro Gadgets since it's clean, simple and effective.

You will also need the HWinfo Rainmeter plugin in order to access the HWinfo SMV or "Shared Memory Viewer" in order to set up your skins to read and display the correct information. There are tons of tutorials already on how to do this so there's no need for me to reiterate.

And there you have it! Sorry if it's not as crazy difficult to do as you thought, but I thuroughly enjoy my little mod and HIGHLY doubt I'll ever build another PC without it.

Please, feel free to ask any questions I'll try to answer them the best I can!

And make sure to share pictures if/when you do this to your rig! Tag me!

T3ch Hippie out!

Edit: Added a few more pointers, and mounting methods

If you only have 1 HDMI output on your GPU and use that for your main display you will need to buy one of these Displayport to HDMI cables. If you use this adapter cable to run the mini screen you will have to use a micro USB cable to supply the screen with power, for some reason they don't pull enough power over the adapter cable. You can alternatively just get a longer DP->HDMI and use it for your main display and shouldn't have any problems, and won't need the microUSB for the hardware screen

What software do you use for monitoring loads and temperatures of CPU and graphics card load and temperature?

I really like Open Hardware Monitor, it does tell me everything I need, but the graphs themselves aren't really that great - I'd really like the line widths to be a lot thicker.

Is there any other hardware monitoring software with a better interface?

HWMonitor, PC-Wizard, CPU-Z, GPU-Z, GKRellM, NZXT CAM, Speccy, HWiNFO64 e.t.c so many to choose from. Which is the easiest to use for checking my system from time to time?

Hello is there a similar software to task manager performance that I can view later on? Like graphs and such of performances? My games run for awhile but get random fps tanks so just trying to diagnose it thank you.

Does anybody have any good tutorials on how to make a device that monitors a laptops internals (cpu, ram, etc…)using an arduino or esp33 ???

Just a quick question when I look up hw monitor I see a few downloads such as cpuid and some others and I don’t know what one is official so could someone tell me what’s the official one

I have found a lot when googling, but most of the articles are out of date. What do you guys prefer? I am most interested in CPU cores, temperatures, and GPU.

Heya! I hope this is the right place to ask.

Obviously there's a lot of hardware monitors, but I'm looking for one that I can have constantly open on my second screen, with transparent background (or some sort of customizing the look), automatically opens when i boot into windows, kind of like a widget or rainmeter.

I had some problems with rainmeter in the past, so i'm looking for an alternative.

Thanks!

Looking to find a CPU temp monitor tool for my grandparents Intel pentium g5400 since and adrenaline only supports and hardware, and only shows temps for the wx 4100 I have in it. I know there is a program called cpuz but I'm just looking for something safe and I can put onto it since I'm trying to figure out if the GPUs 85c temp under full load affects the CPU near it. The desktop is a hp slimline that you find at a Walmart as a reference to the desktop if anyone asks why the GPU reaches 85c under full load, HP only made one intake vent on the cover shell, hence the 85c on the wx 4100.

In need of cool looking resource/hardware monitors for my Windows 10 pc. I will also accept Python code or GitHub repos.

I've tried many over the years, and I keep coming back to MSI afterburner for its ability to show FPS+Frame Time, other GPU statistics and CPU core usage in graphs right next to each other. However, it doesn't do everything, as I have to load up CPU-z to get my CPU stats, and lately that's borked showing an incorrect voltage, so I'm also loading up the shit-tastic Asrock A - Tuner just to check my voltages.

Is there something that can link it all together AND show it in graphs? Is there a prettier alternative to the Afterburner spartan theme?

I have been using Trigone's Remote system monitor for a while now, and I love it. It is very customizable and looks great and very easy to see required info. I just got a second monitor and would like to use it to monitor resources while gaming instead of my tablet or phone. I have tried HWMonitor and it is just not as appealing to me, I like the graph's and gauges. Any suggestions would be great.