HWMonitor Pro

Seeing the readings of the sensors on your PC can be useful. Knowing the operating speeds, temperatures, voltages, fan speeds, and more, can make you aware of the state of your system and its true performance thresholds.

Where does one go to find such information, though? You may find it in your BIOS if you have a motherboard that allows for that, but that's not too convenient. Third-party alternatives exist to make life easier, and HWMonitor Pro is a popular example: it gets its data directly from your sensors, comprehensively presenting it.

Sensor lists

The information available in HWMonitor is plentiful. Upon booting up the app, you'll see your component names along with their sensor readings. The first few elements on the list display the machine's temperature, followed by the system memory usage.

The layout can offer information in great detail. The following elements entail info about your processor, hard drives, graphics card, and even the battery capacity and wear level — in the case of laptops. Details about your network card and the airflow temperatures are also grouped into their lists.

Regarding the more specific hardware readings, the app can reveal the voltages that go into your processor, along with the temperatures and power draw that come with it. Clocks are also displayed, and the same applies to the graphics card.

A logging feature is available in HWMonitor Pro, helping you chart the status of your hardware over a certain amount of time. This is especially useful when you're overclocking or suspect your system is throttling performance. To help with that even further, the app can generate a .csv file for you to inspect later, based on the log recordings.

There's also the possibility of adding the reading of a specific sensor to the tray, allowing you to monitor it more easily. In the Pro version, the app is also capable of looking into your network adapters to provide download and upload values.

If you know what to do with the information that HWMonitor offers through its interpretation of your hardware readings, it's quite an indispensable program. And even if you don't, it's still rather exciting to find out.