GPU-Z is probably the most used software to be able to see all the info and settings of the graphics card, and it has been with us for many years (and we hope there will still be plenty of it because it is really very useful as you can see it below.). However, in addition to showing information on the graphics card, it has many more advanced functions including monitoring system sensors which can be of great help, so let’s see what this software offers us to find out. use any of its functions.
GPU-Z, the best monitoring tool for graphics cards
As soon as we open GPU-Z we find the info screen that you can see above these lines in the form of a screenshot, so let’s start by seeing what all this info showing us means. :
- Last name: this is the name of the graphics card in a generic way, that is, even if you have a graphics from an assembler, it will show you the Intel, NVIDIA or AMD model. On the right we find the Search button which we will explain later what it is for.
- GPU and Revision– The name of the GPU used by your graphics card, as well as its revision code.
- Technology y Matrix size: technology tells us the lithography in nanometers with which the chip was made, while Die Size literally tells us the size of the chip in square millimeters.
- Release date y Transistors: the first parameter tells us the release date of the chip, while Transistors tells us the number of transistors it contains.
- BIOS version: this indicates the BIOS version, and on the right you can see a checkbox that marks us if it is compatible with UEFI. There is another button that we will see later.
- Sub-supplier y Device ID: the first parameter indicates the assembler, in this case Asus. The second, the ID of the specific device.
- ROP / TMU and bus interface: both are self-explanatory, the first tells us the number of ROPs and TMUs and the second the interface that is currently in use. Here we can see on the right a question mark which we will also explain later what it is for.
- Support for shaders and DirectX: the first indicates the number of Shader processors on the chip and the second the support of the DirectX graphics API.
- Pixel fill rate and texture fill rate– Both are theoretical performance parameters, the first for pixel padding and the second for textures.
- Memory type y Bus width: the first indicates the generation of VRAM and its manufacturer, in this case GDDR6 made by Samsung. The second indicates the memory bus.
- Memory size y Bandwidth: the first parameter indicates the size of the memory in MB, in this case 8 GB, and the second the memory bandwidth.
- Driver version: This indicates both the version of the drivers we are using and, ultimately, the operating system.
- Driver Date y Digital signature: the first data indicates the launch date of the installed graphics driver, while the second indicates whether the driver is Beta or WQHL.
- GPU Clock, Memory, Boost and Default Clock: these two lines indicate, in the first, the operating speed of the GPU, memory and Boost mode, while the second line indicates the default values of these three parameters.
- NVIDIA SLI and resizable bar: here it simply tells us if these two technologies are activated.
IT and Technologies : again, it tells us if the graph is compatible and if OpenCL, CUDA, DirectCompute, DirectML, Vulkan, Ray Tracing, PhysX and OpenGL 4.6 technologies are enabled.- At the end, there is a drop-down list with the name of the graphics card; In the event that several GPUs are installed on the PC, we could select the one for which we want to see the information.
The second tab, called Sensors, shows us information about the sensors not only of the graphics card but also of the processor. Here we can see in real time the operating speed of the GPU, the memory or the fans, as well as the workload of the GPU, the memory controller, the temperature of the GPU or its “Hot Spot” (your point. hot), as well as the total and partial consumption of the components of the graph.
If we click on the black triangle next to one of the settings, we can access the following menu:
Hide is used to hide this sensor, while “Show in GPU-Z window title” is used to show this sensor in the GPU-Z title bar. The next four options are to select if we want the sensor to show us the current reading, respectively the lowest, the highest or the average, and at the end “Log to file” is used to mark the sensor to be recorded in a log file file.
How is it used? If you look at it, under the sensors there is a box called “Log to file” that if we mark it we can create a CSV file with the readings from the sensors, which we can use later, for example, to take graphics. Finally, we have a Reset button that resets all readings to zero and starts over.
We go to the Advanced tab, in which we can see advanced information about the graphics card with parameters such as power limit or temperature limits, as well as information about the monitor (s) connected to the graphics card, including their connection mode, bandwidth, resolution and whether the monitor supports it, even color profiles.
Finally, we have the Validation tab which is simply used to add the data from our graphics card to the software database, no more, no less. If you download a report, you can save it with your email and you will be able to access a web view of all the data.
Advanced features you might not know about
In the previous section, we talked about a handful of features that we promised to explain later, so there you go. We start with this “Search” button that appears to the right of the name of the graphics card; if you tap on it, a web browser will simply open and take you directly to your graphics card in the TechPowerUp database.
We also leave for later the button with the arrow that we find to the right of the BIOS in the first tab. If you click on this arrow, you will be offered two options, the first being to be able to save the BIOS to a file on the PC (very useful thing to restore it later if you plan to make changes), and the second option is to send your graphics BIOS to an online database.
At the top of GPU-Z, you might have noticed that there are three buttons that we haven’t told you about yet.
The first button, in the shape of a camera, is used precisely to take a screenshot of what the application is displaying at that moment and to save it on your hard disk, while the second button is used to refresh the information. , something useful, if in parallel you are overclocking the graph and you want to see the values reflected in the information displayed.
The button with the three horizontal lines takes us to the GPU-Z configuration menu, which consists of two tabs.
In this first tab, called General, we can select options for the behavior of the software such as:
- Always Foreground GPU-Z Window: Always brings the GPU-Z window to the foreground, even when entering a game (unless the game is full screen).
- Minimize on close: this means that when you press the X to close, the app will be minimized instead (in this case, to close it you will have to click on the start bar button and select Close, or click on Close in the area at the bottom right of GPU-Z).
- Load GPU-Z when Windows starts (and start minimizing): this will make GPU-Z run automatically every time the PC starts up, and the second option is to do it directly minimized and not in the foreground.
- Activate help tooltips: when you leave the mouse over one of the parameters, an informative “bubble” appears on what you see. It also allows you to select the language.
- Minimize to System Tray: This means when the app is minimized, instead of staying in the start bar, it will go to the icon area on the right, next to the clock.
- Active tab at startup: allows you to select the tab you want to see each time you open the application.
- Check for updates automatically – This will allow the app to automatically check for updates when you start it. There is a “Check Now” button to search for them now.
- Launch GPU-Z Installer: this software does not require installation, but if you want to install it you can also do it with this button.
Finally, we have the configuration of the sensors in the Sensors tab. The first box “Refresh sensors while GPU-Z is in the background” allows you to update the sensor information even if you do not have the software in the foreground. The second box “Temperature sensors use Fahrenheit” is for the temperature to be displayed in Fahrenheit instead of degrees Celsius.
Then we also have the option to select whether, by default, the sensors display the current reading (Current), lowest (Lowest), highest (Highest) or average (Average). We also have a drop-down list that allows us to select the frequency of updating the sensors, which by default is every second but can be changed between 0.1 seconds and 10 seconds.
Finally, in the Active Sensors section, we can turn the sensors on and off in case we want to stop seeing some of them or if at some point we have hidden one (with the Hide function we talked about earlier).
