CPU-Z Editor's Review

Get detailed information about your computer hardware with this handy, free Windows utility.

Troubleshooting PC issues isn't always easy. Hardware issues...Software issues...Issues with software and peripherals...sometimes it's difficult to know which end of your PC is giving you grief. This is one of the reasons why I like CPU-Z. It’s a hardware detection tool for Windows.

CPU-Z is freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. It gives you the name and number of your CPU, its core stepping and process information, package information, core voltage information, as well as information on instructions sets and cache information.

When it comes to your motherboard, you get vendor, model and revision; BIOS model and date, Chipset (Northbridge and Southbridge) and sensor; as well as the Graphic interface and amount of memory. Speaking of memory, when it comes to the RAM installed in your system, you'll also get the specifics of frequency and timings, Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect), as well as vendor, serial number, and a timings table.

Pros: Free,

Cons: Doesn't work well in virtual machine environments.

Conclusion: Getting detailed information on your hardware can be very important if you're trying to troubleshoot your PC or if you've purchased a PC third hand, and need to find out what's installed in it so you can safely modify or upgrade it. CPU-Z is a great little utility for providing you specific information on your PC's components. If you're running a virtual machine, though, don't look to get too much information from it. I tried and was unable to get it to give me much more information other than the type of processor I had.