CPU-Z

Transcription

Hello and welcome. What is CPU-Z? CPU-Z is a freeware system profiler application for Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7.CPU-Z detects and collects information on your systems Central Processing Unit(CPU), Random Access Memory(RAM), Graphics/Video cards, motherboard chipset, and other hardware features common on computers. Windows does have a “System Information” component that provides some of the same information, but it is nowhere near as robust or easy to use. In many cases after using “System Information” you would still need to open your computer case to find out what was on the inside. This is largely eliminated with CPU-Z.How to download and install CPU-Z.Open a web browser like Internet Explorer.I have Google set as my home page. If you don’t have google set as your homepage, enter www.google.com in the address bar, and press enter. In the Google search field enter “CPUZ” and press enter.The top link should be “www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html” Click this link. On the CPU-Z page, the downloads are available on the right side of the page. The easiest thing to do is just download the setup file. Some firewalls may block executable files. If this is the case, download the zip file, extract the executable, and then run it. Click “1.59 setup, english” link. On the “Downloading CPU-Z” page, click the “Download Now!” button. On the “Download Information Bar” you can save the file to your computer and then run it, but I prefer to just run the file. This means it will download the file and then automatically start the installer for us. Click the “Run” button. After the download finishes the “Setup - CPUID CPU-Z” window will open. On the “Welcome to the CPUID CPU-Z Setup Wizard” screen, click the “Next” button. On the “License Agreement” screen, click the radio button to select “I accept the agreement”, and click the “Next” button. On the “Select Destination Location” screen, you can change the installation folder if you like, or if not click the “Next” button. On the “Select Start Menu Folder” screen, click the “Next” button. On the “Install the Ask Toolbar” screen, unselect all options and click the “Next” button. On the “Select Additional Tasks” screen, leave “Create a desktop icon” checked, and click the “Next” button. On the “Ready to Install” screen, review the information, and click the “Install” button. On the “Completing the CPUID CPU-Z Setup Wizard” screen, uncheck the option to “view cpuz_readme.txt”, and click the “Finish” button. How to use CPU-Z You can open CPU-Z in one of two ways. Option 1 - Double-click on the “CPUID CPU-Z” icon on the desktop. Option 2 - Click on the Windows “Start” button, “All Programs”, “CPUID”, “CPU-Z”, and then the “CPU-Z” icon. The CPU-Z application window will open. Let’s look on the CPU tab Under Processor “Name”. The name is the name of the processor(CPU) you have installed in your computer. This is typically the name that the CPU is marketed under. You could search for exactly what is listed under name in google or another search engine to find a replacement or reviews. In my case I have an “AMD Phenom 2 X3 720”.“Code Name”. This is the name of the processor core architecture. “Max TDP”. TDP stands for “Thermal Design Power”. This is the Maximum amount of power that the processor will use. I’m my case the max TDP is 94 watts.“Package”. Package shows the name of the motherboard socket your computer is designed to fit in. In my case the package is a “Socket AM3 (938)”. This means that I use the AMD socket AM3, which is made up of 938 pins. If you wanted to replace your processor you could now go to the Internet and shop for a new socket AM3 processor. Any one designed to work in socket AM3 could be dropped into the computer. “Technology”. Technology shows the processing geometry used to create the processor. In this case it is “45 nm”. This means the processor was built using a 45 nanometer(nm) process technology. 1 nanometer is one billionth of a meter. The smaller the process technology used, the more transistors that can be packed into the available space. This allows processors to become faster and use less energy with every generation. “Core Voltage” - The core voltage is the power supply voltage supplied to the CPU. This, along with Max TDP, is often important to individuals who are overclocking their computers. In this case the voltage is 1.411 Volts.“Specification” - Specification shows the processor information, and in many cases is the exact same name as the “Name” field from above. “Family and Ext. Family” - This section refers to the stepping information for the processor. This is used to determine the revision of the processor. Once a processor goes into production, as time goes on minor updates and bug fixes are made to the processor. Each update is a new revision, or “Stepping”. You could use this to see if your processor revision is the one with or without a bug. “Instructions”. Instructions refers to the “Instruction Sets” that the processor is capable of running. This is the basic set of commands or instructions the processor is capable of understanding. In this case this processor supports “MMX, 3DNow, SSE versions (1,2,3,4A), x86_64, AMD-V. Under “Clocks” it shows the core information of one of the processor cores. All cores are identical. “Core Speed”. The core speed is the frequency that the processor is running at. In this case it shows “3110.5 MHz”. Modern computers are speed rated in Gigahertz(GHz) not Megahertz(MHz). 1000 Megahertz is equal to 1 Gigahertz. So this processor is running at 3.11 Gigahertz. The processor speed is determined by taking the speed of the CPU bus, and then multiplying it by the Multiplier.“HT Link”. This processor is an AMD processor so it has the HT Link, or HyperTransport Link. If you had an Intel processor it would show QPI Link or QuickPath Interconnect. These links are the system bus that connects the various components of the computer. Under “Cache” it shows information on the cache on the processor. CPU cache is used to reduce the average time to access the memory. The cache is memory that is faster than main memory, and is directly inside the CPU package. Cache stores copies of the most frequently used data from main memory. Each core has it’s own 64 KB Level 1 Data cache, 512 KB Level 2 cache, and all cores share a 6 MB Level 3 cache. At the bottom it shows that this processor has 3 cores, and can run 3 threads. Some processors have HyperThreading, which allows them to run 2 threads on each core instead of 1. We can skip the Caches tab, as its the same information we just covered. The “Mainboard” tab provides information on the motherboard. “Manufacturer”. Here you will see the maker of the motherboard. In this case it is made by “ASUSTek Computer INC”. “Model”. The model of the motherboard is listed here, along with a revision number. This is a “M4A78T-E”. This is extremely useful in determining what drivers to download. The “Chipset” is an “AMD 790GX” with an “AMD SB700” “Southbridge”. The chipset controls communication between the processor and other devices on the motherboard. “Bios”. BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. The Bios initializes and controls the devices on the computer at the hardware level. Under the bios section it lists the manufacturer of the bios, along with the version, and the date of the installed BIOS. If it’s old there is probably an update that might improve performance or fix bugs, that could be downloaded at the motherboard manufacturers web site. In this case the BIOS is manufactured by American Megatrends, it’s version 2208, and was created on 10/28/2009. You would download this at the page of the motherboard manufacturer, not the bios manufacturer. Under “Graphic Interface” it shows that the graphics interface for this computer is a 16x PCI-Express slot. The next two tabs “Memory” and “SPD” provide information on the system memory(RAM). Let’s look at “Memory” first. Let’s look under the “General” section “Type”. Here the memory interface type is listed. In this case the memory is ‘DDR3”. DDR stands for Double Data Rate. “Size”. Here you will find listed the total amount of memory in the system in MegaBytes. 1024 MegaBytes is 1 Gigabyte, so this system has 4096 Megabytes, or 4 GigaBytes of memory. “Channels#”. Channels refers to the number of channels available to the memory controller. A dual channel configuration has double the bandwidth of single channel memory, triple channel has three times the data rate, and so on. “DC Mode”. This will be either be “Ganged” or “UnGanged”. With a “Ganged” setup, all cores get access to all sticks of RAM, while in “UnGanged” mode each core gets access to it’s own memory. In most cases “Ganged” mode is better for single-threaded applications, and “UnGanged” mode is better for multi-threaded applications. “NB Frequency”. This is the speed of the system bus, or HyperTransport Link. This is the same as the “HT Link” on the “CPU” tab. “Timings Table”. “Dram Frequency” is the memory clock speed. DRAM stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory. In this case it is 533 Mhz. This is Double Data Rate memory, so you double that making this memory DDR3 1066, running at 1066 Mhz, or just over 1 Gigahertz. The rest of the information on this page is related to the “CAS Latency”. CAS Latency is complicated to understand. Basically it is the measurement of the time between the moment a memory controller tells the memory module to access a particular memory column to the moment the data is available at the RAM’s output pins. As a general rule, the lower the CAS Latency the better. The “SPD” tab contains additional information about the memory. Under “Memory Slot Selection”, if you click the drop down you will get a list of each of the memory slots in the motherboard. In this case there are 4 slots available for RAM. Selecting each one will provide information regarding the memory in that particular slot. Slots 1 and 2 in this system each have a stick of RAM in them. Slots 3 and 4 are empty. This means I have 2 slots available for expansion. The memory type is “DDR3”. “Module Size”. This is the amount of memory on this one RAM module not the entire system. This is 2048 Megabytes or 2 Gigabytes. “Max Bandwidth”. The “Module Name” is listed here. In this case it is “PC3-8500F” clocked at 533Mhz. If you were upgrading memory, you would want to buy this memory standard to be compatible.“Manufacturer”. Here, as the name suggests, you will find the name of the memory manufacturer. In this case the memory is made by OCZ. “Part Number”. This is the manufacturer part number for the memory installed in the selected slot. We’ll skip the timings table. The “Graphics” tab contains information regarding the Graphics or Video card installed in the system. “Name”. Here is the retail name for the graphics card. In this case it is a “Radeon HD 4850”. This is how the product would be listed at say a BestBuy. “Code Name”. This is the codename for the graphics core inside the video card. In this case the core is a “RV770”. “Technology”. This is the same as the technology field on the CPU tab. This is the process geometry used in the manufacturing process. In this case it is built on the 55 nanometer(nm) node. Let’s look under the “Memory” section. Size. This is the size of the memory, in Megabytes, on the graphics card, not the memory in your computer. This system has 512 Megabytes. “Bus Width”. This refers to the width of the interface connecting the graphics chip to the memory on the graphics card. In this case the bus width is 256 bits. You should now have a good general understanding of the various information you can find using CPU-Z, and how it can be beneficial to you.