CPU-Z 2.12

★ Winner of Best System Info Tool in 2017 and 2014.

Overview

There’s a lot more to your processor, motherboard and memory than the built in Windows tools can tell you. CPU-Z is an application that aims to list out all the information power users may need to know about their machine. Read on to find out if it does this well.

Installation

Installation is simple and quick. No hitches anywhere, and no bundled toolbars, adware or anything of that sort. You should be able to have CPU-Z running seconds after you finish the small 3MB download. However, you may want to take a look at the Hardware supported by CPU-Z first. You can find a list on the publisher’s site. CPU-Z runs on any Windows OS, XP onwards.

Interface

The interface is perfect for what the application is meant for. The minute you run it, all the system information you need is displayed. No menus to get through and no options to set. It works like a charm. Information is neatly organized in tabs and the layout in every tab is great as well, making everything accessible and understandable. It’s not a flashy interface by any means, and integrates well into the standard Windows style. Overall, a great interface that is probably as good as it can be, considering what it’s designed for.

Pros

There are several reasons why many people consider CPU-Z the best system information tool available. To start with, it’s pretty comprehensive, especially when it comes to CPU information. It displays the core speed, number of cores, number of threads, code name, core voltage, stepping, revision, multiplier, bus speed, instruction set support, processor family, size and type of all available caches and more. That’s really impressive for freeware. It even displays information about your motherboard, the memory installed as well as the graphics adapter.

A useful feature that’s present is the ability to save a comprehensive report of the hardware of your computer as a text file. You’ll find this feature in the “About” tab. This report can help anyone who’s trying to help you fix a computer problem diagnose it better, thus making this tool useful even for people who aren’t power users. Also, a nice tweak that’s built in is that when the program is minimized, it displays the clock speed in the taskbar instead of just the program name.

Cons

While CPU-Z is quite comprehensive, there is some information it leaves out; most noticeably, the core temperatures. This would have been a nice addition, since it’s something most users like to keep an eye on. Another caveat is that it’s meant mainly for power users. Most users will find all the terms and abbreviations confusing. Something that could have been avoided if there was some kind of explanatory text where needed.

Alternatives

Two widely used alternatives are CrystalCPUID and Central Brain Identifier. However, neither of them can really match up to CPU-Z, which despite its shortcomings is a great application nonetheless.

Conclusion

CPU-Z is probably the best system information tool you can find. Its interface and the long list of hardware properties it is capable of displaying make it a must-have application.