Keeping an eye on your computer’s performance is essential. If you’re not careful, some components or apps might overburden your system and slow down your Windows 10 PC. Over time, that can lead to component damage and even a complete breakdown.
To prevent that from happening, you should get a performance monitoring app. But which one is the best PC Performance Monitoring Software for Windows 10? In this article, we’ll review five of the best available.
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Best PC Performance Monitoring Software for Windows 10 Reviews
Speccy
Speccy is one of the Best PC Performance Monitoring Software for Windows 10. It is a neat and free tool, though a premium version is available. That said, the free option offers more than enough for the average user. If you want the full package, you should know that it isn’t the cheapest.
Speccy allows you to look into all the nooks and crannies of your PC. With it, you can see all the components and peripherals. The list of monitored devices includes the motherboard, hard drives, RAM, GPU, CPU, speakers, modem, and others.
Also, you will get a detailed report on each detected device and its impact on your computer’s performance. Information snapshots are included, and you can save them if you want to show them to your tech guy.
This little tool comes with a well-designed user interface, which is a big plus. System monitoring tools usually have bare-bones UI and complex layouts. However, when you install and launch Speccy, you will see the menu with all relevant categories on the left side of the window, and the contents of the selected tab on the right.
One of the downsides of this excellent program is the lack of real-time monitoring. You can’t see which app is currently eating up your system resources. Also, this app doesn’t have benchmarking tools. Without them, you can’t see the amount of power your PC has.
Pros
- Free
- Monitors a wide range of devices
- Information snapshots
- Smooth user interface
Cons
- No real-time monitoring
- No benchmarking tools
CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo is not the most attractive performance monitoring app, and it doesn’t pretend to be. It is a to-the-point app that monitors the status and health of your data drives, both hard disk and solid state. If you need to keep an eye on this section of your Windows 10 PC, CrystalDiskInfo is the tool for the job.
This app is free and open-source, meaning that you can customize its code if you want to. You can get it from various download sites, though we recommend going to the developer’s official website.
CrystalDiskInfo offers a bunch of useful features, such as resident monitoring and health and temperature alarm. With this app, you can check each of your hard drives’ temp at any moment by clicking on the temp icon hidden in your computer’s system tray.
This app also offers the so-called SMART (self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology) info on each of your drives. It covers the current, worst, and threshold values, among others. Also, you get SMART graphs for your drives.
Alert mail is another neat feature of this app. You can set it to send you an alert should a problem arise. Also, you get AAM and APM controls. With Automatic Acoustic Management, the app does most of the heavy lifting, as opposed to the user having more control under Advanced Power Management.
On the downside, CrystalDiskInfo can’t help you with your GPU, motherboard, or CPU.
Pros
- Free and open source
- System tray and email alerts
- Automatic and advanced manual controls
- SMART monitoring system
Cons
- Not the best-looking
- Only monitors data drives
CPU-Z
If you need something to keep an eye on your CPU, CPU-Z may be the Best PC Performance Monitoring Software for Windows 10. This mighty software tool hails from France, and it offers a varied toolbox for advanced PC users. You can also use it to overclock your CPU.
The app doesn’t look like much, as the developers went for a no-frills approach. You won’t get any cascading menus or shiny graphics. What you will get is a compact window with well-organized tabs. Each tab offers a plain and smart layout that’s loaded with info. Thanks to its simple looks, the app is easy to learn and use.
You can monitor your CPU, cache memory, motherboard, RAM, SPD, and GPU in real-time. That’s something not all monitoring apps offer. Also, you can track the names of all relevant components in your rig if you’re building a custom PC. You can verify them through CPU-Z, as well.
A cool thing about CPU-Z is that you can save all your performance reports as text or HTML files. That’s handy if you want to show them to your tech expert or your company’s tech support team.
Finally, you can download CPU-Z from the developer’s official site. Aside from the standard English and Chinese versions, you can also get a bunch of custom versions adjusted for specific families of CPUs. For example, there are Gigabyte, ASUS ROG, and MSI Gaming versions, among others.
Pros
- No-frills design
- Exhaustive reports
- Monitors RAM, SPD, motherboard, and GPU, as well
- Custom versions
- Free
Cons
Can’t help with hard disk performance
Performance Monitor
If you don’t trust 3rd party apps, you can go to your computer’s built-in monitoring tools. Performance Monitor is Windows 10’s very own performance app. It offers useful info and simple operation.
Previous versions of Windows also came with Performance Monitor, and the one in Windows 10 is slightly more modern in appearance and features. The best things about it are that it is free, doesn’t need installation, and you can be sure that it’s 100% compatible with your system.
You can find it by clicking on the Windows button in the bottom-left corner and typing “Performance Manager” in the search field. A single click on the top search result will launch the app. By default, the app shows processor time. It will tell you the percentage of system resources you are using at the moment.
However, you can easily add other counters if you click on the green Plus icon in the top menu. You can add disk usage, search index size, and many others. Many GPU, memory, and network counters are also at your disposal.
Pros
- No installation required
- Free
- Easy to use
- User-friendly interface
Cons
Shows very little info by default
HW Monitor
HW Monitor is a lightweight performance monitoring app and one of the best. You can get it for free, though there are also two paid versions – Standard and Extended. The former is more affordable and the latter unleashes the app’s full might.
Like many other monitoring tools, this one offers a get-down-to-business design. Clarity of information and performance take precedence over flashy looks. HW Monitor looks a lot like Windows’ Device Manager app down to the device tree.
The app can monitor your computer’s CPU, fans, GPU, and hard drive. You can get info on hard drive temperature at any given moment, thanks to SMART technology. It can also tell you your GPU’s temperature.
Via TCP/IP connection, you can monitor remote devices, as well. That makes HW Monitor the perfect tool for network admins.
Conversely, the app might clash with some AMD processors.
Pros
- Free
- Intuitive menu design
- Remote monitoring
- Lightweight app
Cons
Potential problems with AMD CPUs
Final Word
Now you know the best PC Performance Monitoring Software for Windows 10. If you want a modern-looking all-rounder, we’d suggest Speccy. CrystalDiskInfo is for those who think that the HDD or SSD is slowing down the PC. HW Monitor and CPU-Z are for users who need to troubleshoot hardware. Finally, you can just use the built-in Performance Monitor if you don’t want to bother with 3rd party apps.