Heat is one of the mortal enemies of computers, and due to its enormous influence on issues such as performance and stability, the user must do everything possible to keep it at bay. The struggle begins with information from the hardware, mainly the temperature of the processor, the graphics chip, and the hard drives. Open Hardware Monitor is a lightweight and simple tool that places this data a couple of clicks away.
Last week, the main fan of my computer began to make a more intense noise than usual. The problem was nothing other than the silicone grease on the processor, which lost its natural effectiveness, causing the fan to compensate with a higher number of revolutions. Replacing the silicone grease was a simple solution for a simple problem... but the threat of heat is bigger than we imagine. From large data centers to laptops, heat can take down any system that stands in its way if it isn't kept under control.
Open Hardware Monitor in Detail
Of course, for that we need information, and that's where Open Hardware Monitor comes in. The latest version of the software was launched in December of last year, but that doesn't change the fact that it has wide compatibility, and is very humble when requesting resources (the Windows build doesn't exceed 16 MB of RAM). Open Hardware Monitor presents temperature details from the motherboard, the processor (there may be differences between the two), the hard drives, and the GPU on a graphics card. It also reports the amount of memory in use, the revolutions of all detected fans, and another relevant factor for overclockers such as the voltage of the CPU and GPU.
Logging, Remote Monitoring, and System Requirements
Open Hardware Monitor supports log generation, and if necessary, the user can remotely monitor another system (requires a static IP and an open port on the firewall). As its name indicates, the program is an open source application (the code is available on GitHub), but its editions carry some dependencies. On the Windows side it needs the presence of .NET Framework (version 2.0 or higher), and in the case of Linux, it requires Mono with WinForms.
