▷ Gpu

All hardcore gamers recognize the importance of a powerful graphics card, since having the correct graphics card is essential to achieve the best PC performance in situations of high graphics processing load. But how can you be sure that the one you have chosen meets the manufacturer's description? Advanced users need a way to make sure their graphics settings are efficient and secure. For this you can use GPU-Z, a great free tool that allows us to know all the characteristics of a graphics card.

In this guide, you will learn how to download and install the GPU-Z utility, and you will understand data readings related to drivers, clock speed, and temperature. You will also learn how to export log files to a spreadsheet.

Index of contents

Download GPU-Z

The first step is to open a web browser and navigate to the GPU-Z download page on TechPowerUp. Click the button marked " Download GPU-Z " and you will be redirected to a new web page. Select the "Standard" version , then click " Download ". GPU-Z is compatible with all versions of Windows starting with XP. The TechPowerUp website will now display a list of various mirrors from around the world. Find the location closest to you, for example. 'TechPowerUp UK', then download.

Open your downloads folder to see 'GPU-Z.2.10.0.exe '. The utility can be run from any location, but if you want to measure the specifications of your graphics cards on multiple machines, you may prefer to copy it to a USB memory for portability reasons. Once you're ready, double-click to start GPU-Z. At the first launch, you may need to click "Yes" to allow the utility to make changes to your device.

Once GPU-Z starts, it will offer you the option to install on your system. This will add a Start menu entry and a desktop shortcut for GPU-Z if you wish. However, this is not necessary, so feel free to click "No" to run it in classic standalone mode.

Analyze your graphics card

By default, GPU-Z will start with the graphics card tab. The specific graphics card can be found in the "Name" section. Click the "Lookup" button to view the manufacturer's specifications for your card based on the database on the TechPowerUp website. This is a useful way to see how your graphics card works in theory vs. practice.

• Card model: it is the graphics card that we have installed. Graphics Core - Determines the GPU that mounts the graphics card. Shaders: they are the nuclei in charge of doing the calculations, the higher their number the more powerful the card will be. ROPs and TMUs: They are the units in charge of applying textures and filters. Amount of memory: memory that the card has. Memory interface: memory connection interface with the GPU. Memory bandwidth: amount of information that can carry per second. GPU clock - The base clock frequency of the GPU. Boost - GPU accelerated clock rate. Memory Clock: base memory clock frequency.

Any GPUs are listed below the graphics. The utility can only display one at a time. If you have multiple GPUs, the "Memory Size" section will show the size of each one, not the total memory size of the graphics cards. Please note that the name listed for GPUs will be the internal codename used by the manufacturer, for example GK104, so it may have little to do with the name of the graphics card.

Surely you are interested in reading:

We recommend reading our article on How to know which graphics card supports my motherboard

Some sections like "Memory Type" are self explanatory. If you are not sure about any of the terms used, move the mouse over the section in question, GPU-Z will show an explanatory suggestion.

Pay close attention to the "Driver version" and "Driver date" sections. For maximum performance, you should always check with the manufacturer regularly to make sure you have the latest version.

The application also informs us about technologies such as CUDA, SLI, CrossFire, FreeSync, PhysX, OpenCL and Direct Comput e, which are present in most of the current card models. We highlight that AMD and Nvidia graphics cards differ in their characteristics, so that we will not always find exactly the same technologies in one and the other.

Collect sensor data

While the graphics card tab is a good way to see your card's general specs, you can drill down into real-time performance data by clicking on the "Sensors" tab .

The 'GPU Core Clock' section will show the current GPU frequency. If you have more than one GPU, you can switch between them using the dropdown menu. You can also see your GPU rate visually displayed in the graph on the right side of the window. This is particularly useful if you are trying to overclock your GPU. Be sure to check 'GPU Temp' and 'Fan Speed' to verify that you are doing this safely.

If you want to analyze your GPU data over time, the utility can save this data in a log file. Just click on the checkbox marked "log to file" at the bottom left of the window. GPU-Z will ask you to choose a location to save.

The saved log files are in TXT format, but are tabulated and separated by commas. This means that you can open them with the spreadsheet program of your choice, such as Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc. From here, you can easily create a key data graph, such as the GPU temperature.

Advanced features

The latest versions of the GPU-Z include an " Advanced " tab to provide more detailed information about the graphics card. When you select the tab the first time, you will see a drop-down menu that says " General " by default. This simply displays version information for your controller. Select the dropdown menu and choose ' ASIC quality '. This section is extremely useful if you plan to use your machine to mine cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. GPU-Z will list the ASIC quality of your graphics card as a percentage and determine if it is "High" or "Low".

Much has been said about the ASIC and its importance. A couple of years ago it was important to classify a graphics card as a “black leg” or not. But from Nvidia Pascal they all go up "almost the same" when the voltage is blocked. It is only one more piece of information to take into account, but it is not fundamental.

If you are using Windows Vista or later, the 'WDDM' (Windows Display Driver Model) section will show more about your graphics adapter, video memory, and display drivers. This is useful if you have previously had problems with system performance as WDDM manages graphics for system applications and Windows desktop. You can also access the sections dedicated to Direct X, OpenCL and Vulkan to check for any compatibility issues.

Validation to show your Overclocking

GPU-Z has a powerful built-in tool to upload your graphics card settings to the TechPowerUp website. The main purpose of this is for advanced users to show how much they have overclocked their graphics card. However, you can also choose to upload your settings to request developer assistance or share a solution for a specific technical issue.

To get started, select the 'Validation' tab on GPU-Z. From here, fill in the name field and optionally add your email address. This is useful if you want to keep a permanent record of your validation ID, since you can select the option “E-Mail me my validation Validation ID”. Then click on “Submit”

We recommend reading:

This ends our article on GPU-Z what it is, what it is for, how to use it, monitor it and make the most of it, remember to share it so that it can help more users. Have you ever used it? What interesting software do you want us to publish about it?