Software is an important part of any PC gaming and today we are very lucky in this sense because we can find a lot of it free programs that offer fantastic value and which are generally necessary to get the most out of our new equipment and to check that everything is working as it should.

In my case, there are five free programs that have become my favorites and whichand I always install after assembling the gaming PC. These programs allow me to monitor temperatures, verify that all key components are present and correctly recognized, and also help me monitor and evaluate device performance as well as determine device stability.

Today I want to share these five free programs with you so you can enjoy them too. I will tell you in this article how they work, what they can do for you, and where you can safely download them. It is important to note that some of these programs may have a paid version with more advanced features, but even in these cases the free version is very interesting and offers excellent value.

As always, if you have any questions after reading the article, feel free to leave them in the comments. Keep in mind, yes, all the free programs that we will see have been tested on Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers. Without further ado, let’s get started.

1.-CPU-Z: one of the best free programs for its lightness and features

Of all the free CPU monitoring programs out there, this one is undoubtedly my favorite for three reasons. The first is that it is very bright and has minimal impact on the computer, the second is that it allows us to monitor the status of other components such as RAM, and the third is that it includes simple performance test with which we can compare the performance of our processor with the performance of other models, new and old, in seconds. In my case it is Ryzen 7 5800X.

Thanks to CPU-Z we will be able to see model and exact CPU revision we have, the instructions it supports, and all its key specifications. We can also see other important equipment data such as the type of RAM we installed if we activated dual channel, the speed at which it operates and its latency. In other tabs we also see information about the motherboard and graphics card.

To measure the performance of our processor, we will only have to go to the “Bench” tab and click on “Bench CPU”. This test will perform single-threaded and multi-threaded performance measurements, which will allow us to get an approximate idea of ​​the performance offered by our processor and we will be able to compare it with other models that are listed as standard.

How to get free CPU-Z: Just enter this link and click “Download Now!” After downloading, we proceed to its installation. The whole process will only take a few seconds.

2.-GPU-Z: necessary to display all the keys of your graphics card

The truth is that we can think of it as a version of CPU-Z designed for GPUs (graphics cores. GPU-Z maintains almost everything that made its “sister” great for processors, which means that it offers us an exhaustive list of all key specifications of our graphics card or integrated GPU, including very important technical data such as the revision of the GPU, the number of shaders, the amount of memory, the technologies it supports and the drivers we have installed.

We see on the next cards information obtained from device sensors, which ranges from operating frequencies to core and graphics memory temperatures, as well as fan speeds, consumption and voltage of both the graphics card and the connectors we use. If you look at the attached image, you’ll see that in my case there are three additional 8-pin power connectors listed, which are the ones I connected to the 16-pin NVIDIA adapter that goes into the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

The list of information offered by this program is so huge and complete that it is worth it and more its impact on the system is minimal, because it weighs very little. It is frequently updated to support new graphics cards released by AMD, NVIDIA and Intel, so we can rest assured that it will always be supported.

How to get free GPU-Z: We have it available on the official website of TechPowerUp!. We can download it by clicking this link and clicking “Download”. You can choose a British server without any problems.

3.-HWiNFO64: all the information on your PC in a single program

Of all the free programs we have seen so far, this is undoubtedly the most recommended if we want complete monitoring of the state of the device in generalincluding minimum, average, and maximum resource consumption as well as temperature values, voltages, and operating temperatures at any given time.

In the attached image you can see for example that HWiNFO64 shows the consumption values ​​of virtual memory and physical memory and also CPU status, current frequency and its minimum and maximum values, as well as workloads, occupied cores, and minimum, maximum, and current operating temperatures. We can also see RAM frequency and latency.

If we go through the sidebar of this program, we will find much more information related to the main components of the device, such as CPU voltage, consumption, FCLK frequency (clock frequency of the Infinity Fabric system) and also about the VRM system of the motherboard, the temperatures of the graphics card and even about state of SSD disks and their lifespan. Impressive, no doubt.

How to get HWiNFO64 for free: We have it available on the official website, from where we can download it by simply clicking on “HWiNFO Installer”. Despite all the information it offers, it is very easy to use and has little impact on the team.

4.-3DMark: ideal for measuring the performance of your new device

The 3DMark suite includes lots of performance testsand yes, it has a paid version that is much more complete than the free version, but it offers excellent value and is more than enough to give us a pretty good idea of ​​the gaming potential of our new computer.

One of the stellar tests it includes is the 3DMark Time Spy Benchmark, which allows us to do just that measure PC performance under DirectX 12and that it is ready to take advantage of very important features such as asynchronous computing and multithreading. Another very interesting piece of evidence is 3DMark CPU Profilewhich will help us measure the performance of our CPU in different scenarios: 1 thread, 2 threads, 4 threads, 8 threads, 16 threads and maximum threads.

Other specific tests included in this kit that are worth considering are: 3DMark Mesh Shader, which measures performance with mesh shaders and 3DMark API Overheadwhich measures performance under DirectX 12 using “draw calls”, one of the most important innovations introduced by DirectX 12 when it was launched.

How can I get 3DMark for free: The best thing you can do is to do it through Steam, because we have grouped together a complete selection of tests, which are free and which are paid. We can easily distinguish them and get only the ones we are interested in without having to spend a single penny.

5.-CrystalDiskMark: test the performance of your SSD with one click

One of the most important shortcomings that the free version of 3DMark has is that it does not have a performance test focused on the storage unit, something that we can easily solve with CrystalDiskMark, all link for its lightness, ease of use and accuracybecause it allows us to get a wide range of values ​​that will help us better understand what our SSD can give on its own.

With CrystalDiskMark we can measure performance any storage unit, either SSD or HDD, as well as from external storage devices such as flash drives, memory cards and SSDs and HDDs connected via USB. In order to perform a performance test, we must select the unit we want to usethe size of the test and their number, as well as the unit we want to project into the final measurement (usually MB/s, which means megabytes per second).

This program will not only allow us to see the performance of our storage unit, but it can also be very useful to identify problems. So, for example, if we see that the score achieved is far below what we should have achieved, the drive may have problems, or it is also possible that we installed it wrongand that it limits its performance. So, for example, if we install a PCIe Gen4 SSD in a PCIe Gen3 slot, we will limit its performance.

How to get CrystalDiskMark for free: available via this link. We will have to click on “Download” and that’s it, we will have it available in a few seconds, because it is a very light program. However, keep in mind that this tool should not be abused, as it performs quite heavy write cycles, which can reduce the life of the SSD.