How to check CPU performance

How to check CPU performance? Let's find out

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Interested in checking and monitoring your CPU’s performance? There are several ways to go about it. In this article, we tell you how to check CPU performance for your system using built-in tools on Windows. 

Now Read: How to stress test CPU and RAM

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Identifying what processor you have

If you don’t yet know what processor you’re running or would like a more detailed overview of your CPU specs, navigate to Settings > System > About. Here, you’ll find an overview of the specs your system is running, including the full name of your processor. 

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Checking and monitoring CPU performance

The easiest way to check CPU performance is by using Task Manager. This is a handy application that shows you an overview of all currently active processes and their resource utilization. 

If you navigate to the second tab “Performance,” you’ll find individual menus for different components – CPU, RAM, storage, GPU, and more. 

Navigate to the CPU menu (it’s the one that you’ll see first by default) to check your CPU’s performance. 

In this menu, you can see information about metrics such as real-time CPU usage, current core clock speed (the value shown here is the clock speed for the fastest core), CPU uptime, and some basic CPU stats such as cache size as well. 

You can also see whether or not virtualization is enabled on your system. 

If you want a more detailed breakdown of your CPU’s performance or want to see the performance for each of the cores in your processor individually, you’ll have to use the Windows Resource Monitor App. 

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Checking CPU temperatures

Unfortunately, there’s no built-in tool on Windows that allows you to check your CPU’s real-time temperatures. However, the software for your graphics driver (GeForce experience for Nvidia and Radeon Software for AMD) might have such a tool, so it’s worth checking there. 

If not, you’ll have to download a third-party resource-monitoring tool such as Core Temp or MSI Afterburner.

Afterburner is a more GPU-centric software, but it provides you with information on your CPU as well. This is subjective, but it also has a more user-friendly interface than the other CPU monitoring software available currently. 

In addition to your CPU temperature, you can find some other valuable information by using these tools, such as voltage and power draw. If you’re interested in overclocking, having a resource-monitoring tool is a must. 

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Testing CPU performance

Let’s also go over how you can test your CPU’s performance. To do that, you’ll have to run a stress test or benchmarking software such as CPU-Z, Cinebench, or Prime95. 

A stress test pushes your CPU to its absolute limit. In other words, 100% utilization across all cores and threads running at their maximum clock speeds. 

A stress test helps you confirm that your CPU is able to deliver the kind of performance expected from it and also allows you to identify underlying problems with cooling or power supply that you might not notice under regular usage environments. 

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CPU performance testing summarized

• Navigate to Settings>System>About if all you want to know is your processor’s name and model, along with some other general information about your computer. 
• Launch Task Manager to view CPU utilization and more CPU-specific specs, such as clock speed, core and thread count, and cache size. 
• Use Resource Monitor to view utilization across the individual cores and threads of your processor. 
• Use either your GPU software or a third-party app such as Core Temp to monitor your CPU temps. 
• Use a stress test or benchmarking software such as Prime95 to validate your CPU’s computational and thermal performance. 

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Final Word

It’s important to know what capacity your CPU is operating at, as there is a multitude of different reasons a PC may not perform as it should. Testing the performance of your components will help keep you informed on any bugs or errors within the system. We hope this article answered the question of how to check CPU performance.