How To Check My Cpu Temperature For Free

There are mainly three different ways in which you may check or monitor you CPU's temperature. These are third party software, manufacturer software and bios. Third party software is software that is not made by your computer manufacture while manufacture software is the opposite. Bios stands for 'basic input output system', it basically holds all the essential data required to start up a computer and also some additional information. Don't worry, we will discuss these in more detail.

I personally use third party software to check my CPU temperature because it is easier to find compared to manufacturer software. There is also less of a chance of me changing something that will crash my computer. This can easily be mistakenly done in the computer bios if you don't know what you are doing!

So how to check CPU temperature using third party software? Personally I use a free software named speed fan. This not only measures the CPU temperature but also your hard drive temperature, CPU usage, and other temperatures. There are also other free software that measure CPU temperature but I will not mention them because I believe (after trying most of the rest) that speedfan is undoubtedly the best, free, lightweight, easy to use client.

If you are using Linux you may download lm-sensors to monitor computer hardware temperatures because speedfan does not work with Linux.

To use speedfan simply download it and install by following the on screen instructions. When finished simply start the program and wait until it loads! A window will pop up. After reading click close and the window shown below would be fully visible.

This is software that is made by your computer's manufacturer to specifically measure the temperature of your motherboard and it components.

To find this software you first have to know your motherboard's manufacturer and the version of your motherboard. To find this go to: Start > All Programs > Accessories > System tools > System information.

What you want from this window as said above, is your system manufacturer and system model.

To find your manufacturer software simply either Google your manufacturer and search their website for your motherboard model and then check for temperature monitoring software. Or, Google your motherboard model number and search for your manufactures website then check for temperature monitoring software.

To enter your computer's bios, press either: delete, F1 or the F2 button repeatedly as soon as you turn on your computer tower.

Some computers use different keys or functions to enter the bios. There is a way to view these but in some cases you have to be quick because the information disappears quickly! When the computer is turned on, a black screen with text should flash quickly then go to booting your OS (operating system).

At the bottom of the screen before it changes there would be some words. In the words it will tell you how to enter your bios or computer configuration. To view this page properly press, 'pause break' on your keyboard when the screen appears. This will pause the screen until you press pause break again.

The bios is normally a blue or grey screen. There is no mouse in this setting so we will be using the arrow keys, Enter and Esc (escape) to navigate. Press F10 to exit the bios.

Look for the headings, PC Health/Hardware monitoring/System temp or anything along this line.

Press enter when you have selected the setting. Then you CPU temperature and other information should appear.

Now you know how to check you cpu temperature. but how do you know when your PC is overheating and what can you do about it.

Symptoms of overheating

• Computer freezes randomly.
• Computer restarts randomly.
• Random error messages about overheating.
• Blue screen after some CPU usage.
• CPU temperature is over 50 degree Celsius when idle ( these stats are for desktop computers, CPU temp may be higher with laptops).
• When you turn on the computer it works fine but after a whiles starts to malfunction (freezing or sticking etc).
• CPU burns out!

How to solve overheating

• Reapply thermal paste. This is the layer between you CPU and its heatsink. It is supposed to adhere the two surfaces together in order to allow the most efficient method of heat transfer from the CPU to the heatsink. When the layer is too thick or somehow damaged or separated the CPU cannot distribute its heat properly therefore it overheats.
• Clean computer case from dust. You may find that article at this link: computer cleaning.
• Buy more fans for the case.
• Change heatsink.
• Heatsink not placed on the cpu properly.
• Change the cpu fan.