Free Cross-Platform Hardware Monitor: "Open Hardware Monitor"

When it comes to finding a bit of an advanced piece of software that lets you monitor your hardware with details such as Temperatures and CPU Clock speeds, etc... well, both MS Windows and GNU/Linux do have their fair share without a doubt :).

For instance thanks to the advanced hardware integration support in GNU/Linux kernel  (Windows is certainly not second to anything) if you're looking for a dedicated app to run under Ubuntu, then Psensor is something worth trying.

But if you're searching for a cross-platform hardware monitor that runs in both GNU/Linux and MS Windows, then Open Hardware Monitor is a pretty cool application. Although it's still in its beta stages, yet I just downloaded it and installed in Windows 7 and already is quite impressed with it. 

Main features...

Note that some of the "sensors' are missing in my PC, since it's still in beta, I totally forgive OHM though :D ... (more below)

*. CPU Clock speeds (bus speed, cores and core speeds) and temperatures. 

*. CPU load. 

*. GPU core voltages. 

*. GPU core memory frequency, clock speed and temperatures. 

*. Enable/Disable Plots. 

*. GPU load: This is one of the main benefits that I love about these hardware monitors since still neither GNU/Linux nor MS Windows lets you see how much of your VGA cards' processor (or GPU) is being used. I used this to measure my Radeon HD 6250' performance while playing a 1080p video since Windows 7 only shows the CPU speed but in reality it's the GPU that plays the content. So a pretty handy feature but not everyone would use it though. 

Also note that we still cannot change the date update intervals  which is another important features that it's missing currently...

*. HDD temperatures.

*. Save reports to disk or upload and share. 

*. 3D looking Widget: You can add selected hardware "models" to this widget (supports transparency) and drag it around your desktop, etc. 

*. Shows up-to-date info such as temperatures in the notification area (once manually enabled of course).

These are the ones that were shown in my Acer Aspire One 722. But I think since OHM is still in beta stage and the hardware support might not be as widely spread as some of the commercial ones thus other things such as fan speeds, RAM related information, etc were "missing" in my PC (but OHM certainly do have those features listed in their home page's screnshoots). 

So, it's certainly not the best out there. But then again remember it's still under active developments (in beta) thus we should give the developers sometime to add those hardware support.

Anyhow, as said, this is an opensource (GNU/GPL licensed actually) app that runs in both GNU/Linux and MS Windows (XP, Vista and 7, including both 32-bit and 64-bit versions). So if you're looking for a completely free yet pretty useful hardware monitor software but can cope with the fact that some functions may not be working properly but surely, the Open Hardware Monitor software utility is a project that's worth mentioning. 

If interested, get it from this OHM home page.