If you are a gamer or frequently use your PC for any other heavy tasks, such as video editing, then you have probably faced the problem of your computer becoming too hot every so often. At times, your PC may heat up for no apparent reason at all, especially if you are not an intensive user. The parts that heat up are the CPU and the GPU. Monitoring the temperature in these two areas is essential in keeping your gaming computer’s hardware at optimum working conditions for the longest time possible. Read on for some of the best strategies you can always use in monitoring your GPU and CPU temperatures and keeping them within the acceptable levels.
Utilizing the BIOS System
You can use a wide variety of utility programs to monitor CPU and GPU temperatures, but if that is not your thing, use your computer’s BIOS. To access this interface, you must restart your gaming computer and press the Delete button during the booting up process. The BIOS interface may appear daunting if you are not familiar with it, but it is quite easy to use. Navigate through the different options until you come across CPU settings – you will find the temperature reading here if it was not on the first screen. The downside of this approach is that you must restart your computer each time you want to check the temperature.
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MSI Afterburner
Sometimes, you may want to monitor the computer’s temperature in real-time, which wouldn’t be possible with the BIOS approach. Using utility programs, such as MSI Afterburner, comes in handy in this case. MSI Afterburner is a free utility program that not only helps in monitoring temperatures but is also essential in monitoring overclock rates and adjusting the speed of your GPU fans. This software is highly customizable, giving you total control over how you want it to work.
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Core Temp
Core Temp is a software that works by measuring the temperature of your CPU’s core values. It is one of the most accurate software you can find for this purpose. Besides checking temperature values, you can also use it for other purposes such as preventing overheating of the different parts of your gaming computer. Core Temp manages to pull off this function by shutting down or putting your computer to sleep when the temperatures reach a certain unacceptable level. If you use advanced keyboards with displays, you can receive important notifications from Core Temp.
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HWMonitor
HWMonitor shows various stats in your computer setup, including temperature, fan speed, and voltage. The most outstanding feature of this utility software is its simplicity – it breaks down all results within a single window divided into different layouts. It lists temperatures and voltages of the following components: the GPU, CPU, and the motherboard. These results come in three different values – maximum value, minimum value, and current value. HWMonitor comes in handy whenever you want to perform quick temperature checks on your gaming computer.
AMD and NVidia Control Panels for GPU’s
AMD and NVidia GPU’s come with their control panels. The latter features the NVidia Control Panel while the latter comes with the AMD Control Center. These features allow you to interact with your GPU in various ways, including monitoring its temperatures. Typically, you will get these features installed alongside the card drivers. If they are not available, you can easily download them from the respective manufacturer’s sites. The only shortcoming of these solutions is that they are somehow complex to use, but that is something that quick tutorials can fix.
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AMD and Intel Utility Programs for CPUs
Intel and AMD provide Extreme Tuning Utility and Ryzen Master programs respectively, which allow you to monitor overclocking and temperatures in your CPU. These utility programs are free and quite easy to use. Ryzen Master is essential when it comes to system monitoring since it covers both real-time monitoring and a histogram providing per-core temperature and clock rates plus average and peak readings. Extreme Tuning Utility helps in making small tweaks in Intel processors with the aim of improving performance, increasing battery life, or lowering temperatures. It displays temperature information alongside other essential data that show the performance of various components of your gaming computer.
How to Prevent Temperature Issues in Your Computer
Overheating of different components of your gaming computer may be due to different reasons. However, the most common cause of this problem is dust build-up. Computers always rely on constant airflow to keep the system cool. As the air flows, it carries some dust particles with it, which accumulate within the system over time. This phenomenon is more common in laptops but is still a problem in gaming desktops. The most convenient way of countering this problem is by cleaning your computer and then replacing the stock / worn out thermal compound with good thermal paste. You should be able to pull these procedures off, but if you doubt yourself, you can always seek for professional help.
To avoid overheating, you can also check if all the fans and cooling systems in the CPU and the GPU are functional. After doing that, ensure you place your computer in a cool location, and avoid positions that block the external fans. For laptops, you can invest in a cooling pad to support internal fans. Cooling pads reduce temperatures by a significant number of degrees (5-6°). For gaming PC’s you could consider investing in a closed loop AIO water cooler, they are cheap and easy to install.
Conclusion
Constant temperature monitoring goes a long way in maintaining the health of your gaming computer and ensuring that it works efficiently. Depending on your needs, you can employ any of the tools mentioned above. Some of them include other vital parameters that affect the performance of your computer, such as voltage and fan speed among others. If you notice that your gaming computer is continuously overheating or producing loud noises, then there’s probably a serious underlying issue that you should investigate as soon as possible. You can start by consulting your Task Manager and checking for any processes that are overworking the CPU. After identifying these problems, stop them or try to find out why they are behaving so. Also, check for any blocked vents or dust accumulation and take the necessary action.
