Many of us love to play computer games, because they are so beautiful and so accessible to every person who has at least some kind of computer, but not everyone knows what happens to the components at a time when some graphics application is running on the device. In this article, we will talk in detail about such an important and useful skill as checking the temperature of a video card using special applications. The article is recommended not only for novice users of the Windows operating system, but also for avid gamers who play all day long on their personal computer or laptop.
Risks of video card overheating
If your school had computer science lessons, then you probably remember the teachers' stories about how large computers used to be, and they were built on the basis of lamps that act as a semiconductor. However, the world is changing for the better every year, which is also accompanied by scientific and technological progress, but the greatest achievement of the twentieth century wasthe invention of silicon semiconductors, and their main feature was an extremely small size, unlike vacuum tubes.
Everything has two sides, so lamps and transistors have one thing in common - they heat up during operation. All this is connected with the friction of atoms, which, at the request of the user, either go further or stop. This is how integrated circuits are born, where arithmetic logic units (ALUs), memory blocks and much more are created in a serial and parallel circuit.
Few people know, but modern flash drives also use a similar technology, but the topic of this article is about overheating. We figured out why they occur, but what harm does ordinary overheating cause? The first devices on transistors practically did not heat up, but with a decrease in their size, everything changed. Temperatures started to rise like never before, so people came up with a ton of cooling solutions, from coolers to water coolers.
Standard temperature of a more or less new video card is from 50 to 60 ˚C, the processor is 10 ˚C lower, and it is worth noting that this is the temperature at 100% load. In idle mode, the temperature should not exceed 30 ˚С. If the textolite reaches 90 ˚С - a critical point, then there are 2 options for the outcome: either the component will burn out, or the computer will have time to turn off.
In the next paragraph of the article, we will describe in detail how to check the temperature of the video card and processor. If your components exceed this temperature threshold,then it’s worth ringing the bell right now.
How to check the temperature of the processor and video card with the program?
A relentless struggle for leadership is constantly going on in the software market, but not here, that is, the sensors on the computer are the same for everyone, which means that all programs read everything in approximately the same way. If you are an experienced computer user, we recommend that you immediately go into the BIOS (standard input and output system) and see what voltage is supplied to the components. If it is too high, then reset the BIOS and reboot with the F10 button.
This method is 100% suitable for the processor and RAM, now you need to figure out how to check the temperature of the video card, because there is practically no information about it in the BIOS. The temperature is recognized as follows:
- Download the GPU-Z program from the official website (if you want for the processor, then CPU-Z).
- Install the application on your personal computer. If you have a laptop, then the native application for displaying the temperature must be on the driver disk.
- In the "Temperature" item, the value in degrees will be displayed. You can also view additional information, such as whether the chip is overclocked or idle.
How to check graphics card temperature in Windows 7?
If you are a demanding user and want to use several applications at once to display not only the temperature of the processor, but also the video card, RAM, hard drive,motherboard, we hasten to please you: such programs exist. It is also worth noting that some of them are paid, and free versions cannot display the entire list of functions and features. All applications are supported by Windows 7 and above.
List of programs that check the temperature of the video card and other components:
- AIDA64 Extreme.
- CPU-Z.
- SpeedFan.
- MSI Afterburner.
- HWMonitor.
Read the instructions for use on the official website of each application, because these utilities are not designed for novice users.
Recommendations for overheating
To begin with, it is worthwhile to understand a very important thing: a computer, like other equipment, loves timely personal care. If you don't take it to the shop or regularly clean it yourself, then there is a high risk of it breaking down, since dust prevents the fans from cooling the components, which can cause them to get very hot. We also recommend changing the thermal paste (refrigerant) in a timely manner (at least once a year). So you will definitely save your computer from breakdowns of varying complexity.
In conclusion
We hope that after reading this article you understand how to check the temperature of the video card, because this skill will definitely help you identify numerous problems with the equipment. Timely care of your computer is a guarantee of performance for many years.
