HWMonitor is a hardware monitoring program for Windows that displays readings from a computer’s sensors. It brings processor and graphics activity, temperatures, electrical measurements and cooling information into a single device tree, with current, minimum and maximum values alongside each other.
Sensor readings
The tree groups readings under the component that supplies them, then separates measurements such as temperatures, voltages, power, fan speeds, utilization and clock speeds. Expanding a processor or graphics device reveals its available measurements without mixing them with the motherboard’s sensor entries. The minimum and maximum columns retain the extremes observed while monitoring, so a temperature peak remains visible after the current reading falls.
HWMonitor reads motherboard monitoring chips as well as CPU and GPU sensors. It can also obtain temperatures from memory modules fitted with thermal sensors, read SSD and hard-drive information through S.M.A.R.T., and monitor batteries.
The measurements available depend on the hardware: a drive can expose temperature, health status and power-on counters alongside activity and read/write rates. Supported storage devices also supply metrics such as IOPS and average latency, showing the amount and timing of drive activity.
Processor utilization needs a little interpretation. HWMonitor uses utility counters that account for clock increases, so a reading can exceed 100% during turbo operation. In the clock section, an asterisk identifies the processor’s fastest cores when that distinction is available.
Live graphs
HWMonitor can turn a selected sensor reading into a live curve. The sensor’s context menu contains Add to Graph, which opens the graph window. Sensors measuring the same type of value join the same graph by default, allowing several temperature readings, for example, to be followed together as they change.
Each graph holds up to eight curves. Its settings let you change a curve’s color, remove it, or move it into a new or existing graph. This allows a crowded temperature plot to be split into separate views while keeping related readings together. The graph window also offers a larger font for viewing its readings on a small secondary display.
CSV logging
For a record outside the live display, HWMonitor logs monitoring data in CSV format. Pressing F5 starts logging, and the status bar shows that recording is active; pressing F5 again stops it. The resulting comma-separated data can be opened in a spreadsheet for examining the recorded values or making a separate chart.
HWMonitor Pro
The separate HWMonitor Pro edition extends monitoring beyond the local computer. It connects over TCP/IP to view sensors from other PCs or Android devices, and it can generate bitmap graphs from logged monitoring data. Pro also adds sensor values in the system tray and editable sensor labels. The standard HWMonitor already includes local live graphs and CSV logging.
