Notebook information. How to view computer data. How to find out the characteristics of installed devices in the BIOS
Surely today any more or less trained user can easily name the parameters of his computer or information about the system, including the installed operating system, type and frequency of the processor, volume random access memory, disk, etc. But not many people know that this is just, so to speak, the surface part of the iceberg. And if you need to know the mode of operation of the DMA channel? What to do then? Now let's talk about how to find out all the parameters in detail.
General information about the system
Many users, of course, may be indignant, they say, why are the parameters caused by right-clicking on the computer icon bad, where you can view basic information on your terminal or laptop?
The answer lies in the question itself. The information presented in this section is very superficial and does not give a complete picture of the configuration.
The same applies to the standard "Device Manager". Of course, in it you can see all the "iron" or virtual components available in the system, even if they are disabled in the BIOS or those in which there are malfunctions or conflicts. However, in some cases, in order to identify the causes of failures and eliminate emerging problems, you need to have more complete information about both the hardware and the software environment.
System Information: Windows OS program
Any “OS” of the Windows family has its own of this type, regardless of the version of the system itself.
There are quite a few different options here. Of course, some of them are not needed by an ordinary user in everyday work, but for specialists who repair or assemble computer terminals, such information can say a lot. In this case, it should be noted that the built-in utility collects information about the system in an instant reacting to the slightest configuration change at all levels. And this largely makes the "native" Windows utility simply indispensable.
How to view system parameter data?
Now let's see how exactly you can view system information. There are at least three ways to do this in Windows.
The most common method is to use the Start menu and then select either utilities or administrative tools, where the desired partition is located (the difference in location is due to different versions of the OS itself).
The second and third methods are also simple. But many users either forget about them or simply do not know about them. You can use the Run menu (Win + R), where the msinfo32 command is written. You can also go the other way by first calling the command line (Win + R + cmd) and then typing system info. In principle, how exactly this program will be called does not play a special role. Who is more comfortable.
Basic Menu Components
Now let's look at what interesting things can be found in the "System Information" section. Here are some of the main categories. Immediately pay attention to the line of general information. It contains not only information about Windows system, but also many parameters associated with it. For example, version, assembly, disk location, bootloader, etc. Here you can view the current versions of the installed BIOS and SMBIOS, user and geolocation data, information on "RAM" and virtual memory, or even the status of the Hyper-V module, if there is one. Next comes the hardware resources section. An ordinary user is unlikely to understand what kind of data this is. But here the system administrator can easily view some important characteristics to eliminate this or that failure at the hardware level.
The components section is very interesting. It is somewhat reminiscent of the "Device Manager", but the data presented in it is more detailed. After all, here you can see not only the name of the component, but information about the driver files. In addition, for multimedia, all codecs and decoders installed in the system are listed, for network devices - their advanced settings, for disk drives and controllers - their information, etc. In general, you can learn much more from such information than from the information presented in dispatcher. Separately, you should pay attention to devices with conflicts (malfunctions). Windows OS itself cannot always provide such information even in the dispatcher, but here for each failed component it can be obtained as much as possible.
Finally, in the software environment section, you can find all the data of interest to the user about drivers, modules, installed and automatically loaded applications and services. And even error information. In outdated "OSes" you can find more sections of browser settings - everything related to the Internet or installed Office components. In general, as they say, there is enough information. But few people know that in the environment of this program, you can view the parameters of remote computer terminals or save information about the system in a single text file with the .nfo extension (the program can also work with .cab or .xml formats).
Third-party utilities for viewing system information
Among third-party utilities, the most popular programs can be noted. This is, for example, PC Wizard from the CPUID developer, familiar to many from the CPU-Z utility, or small applications like SIW, System Spec, FreeSysInfo, etc.
Often they have interesting features related to setting up or testing equipment, which makes them very popular in their field.
Conclusion
In general, it can be noted that information about the system is not particularly useful to most users in their work. But for system administrators, developers of compatible software, or just specialists involved in manual assembly or repair, such data will be extremely important. Although some users may also find them useful. Let's say, in a situation where you need to do it manually and the user does not know where to look for it.
Knowing the characteristics of the computer will allow the user to understand how comfortable it will be to work with this device and what functions it can perform.
There are many methods for testing the performance of hardware: from standard tools operating system to special software. Read the instructions, choose the appropriate method and follow the recommendations.
Starting with version 8.1, the OS does not have a graphical interface for benchmarking. The test is now run via PowerShell.
Press Win+X and select " Command line(administrator)".
Type in the window that appears "Winsat formal" (without quotes) and wait for the operation to complete (characterized by the appearance of the line "C: / WINDOWS / system32").
Now navigate to “C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore” and click right click mouse on file<Дата-проверки><Время-проверки>Formal.Assessment(Initial).WinSAT.xml”.
Select “Open With…” and select XML Editor.
Now press Ctrl+F to search the page and enter the value "WinSPR" in the field that appears, which will highlight the corresponding line. Right below it, you'll see something like this:
- SystemScore - the overall score of the system, which is determined by the minimum score of components.
- MemoryScore - RAM score.
- CpuScore and CPUSubAggScore - .
- VideoEncodeScore - video encoding speed rating.
- GraphicsScore - score of your graphics card in 2D graphics.
Dx9SubScore, Dx10SubScore, GamingScore - video card gaming tests, on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 they are irrelevant and have a maximum value (see).
StdDefPlaybackScore and HighDefPlaybackScore determine whether the computer can play standard and high definition video files respectively (TRUE means “can”, FALSE means “cannot”).
Among other useful features of the online service, you should pay attention to the search current versions drivers for computer components.
Checking computer characteristics with programs
Information about the characteristics of the computer can be obtained using Everest, AIDA64 and the like.
Working with Everest
The program allows you to find out:
- parameters of the installed hardware;
- information about autoload (see);
- information about drivers, etc.
The application is Russified and has an intuitive interface.
No installation required: download and run the program.
In the window on the left, open the desired section. See specifications on the right.
Everest provides the following information about the installed processor:
- manufacturer, model;
- Number of Cores;
- operating frequency;
- cache size, etc.
Information about motherboard available in the Motherboard section. Here, Everest provides information about form factor, bus frequency, socket type, number of sockets, and more. Bridge specifications are listed in the Chipset section. Information about RAM is given in the corresponding section.
After reviewing the characteristics of your computer, run the System Stability Test from the Tools section. The program initiates the maximum load of the processor and demonstrates graphs of changes in its state. The RAM and storage device are tested in the same way.
With all its functions, the program weighs 7-8 MB. After inspections and tests, a report is drawn up. Information about previous checks is stored in the Reports folder.
Before downloading, temporarily disable your antivirus - some of them regard the software as potentially dangerous software and do not allow you to save it to your computer's memory.
AIDA64
A powerful shareware utility for a comprehensive check of computers, laptops and netbooks. Produced by the company that develops the previously discussed product - Everest.
Trial versions of AIDA64 are available for download from the official website
Important note! Recently, the developer has stopped supporting the Everest program. Objective results of checks and tests are guaranteed only when using AIDA64.
The database of the program contains 170 thousand devices, while the list is replenished with new models. Key features of the software product are listed below.
Analysis of installed equipment. As noted, the program database contains information about almost 200 thousand models of equipment. The report on the characteristics of the computer will be very detailed.
Performance check. Numerous 64-bit tests allow you to determine the performance of the device when performing a number of mathematical calculations and information processing tasks. Cache and memory testing measures latency and throughput. The processor is tested with the use of several instructions - a simultaneous load of up to 640 threads is supported.
The program can analyze the speed of hard drives and solid fuel drives, RAM and other components.
Diagnostics. AIDA64 checks the health of the processor, monitor and the system as a whole. During testing, temperature and voltage indicators are taken.
Instrumental monitoring. The utility can take readings of temperature and voltage, power consumption, fan operation, etc.
Screen monitoring. The program can display information about the state of the system elements on the monitor screen in real time. The function of saving information to a file and exporting to third-party programs is available. The utility will notify the user about an excessive increase in temperature, voltage, etc.
Information about software . Using AIDA64, you can get information about installed programs (see) and drivers, running services, autorun, etc.
Now you know how to find out the characteristics of a computer. Choose the appropriate method, follow the provisions of the corresponding instructions and everything will definitely work out.
A home computer, like any other technical device, has its own characteristics and operating parameters. They determine its purpose and allow flexible configuration of individual elements and the system as a whole. Every advanced user needs to know the general characteristics of their computer in order to use it properly.
In our new article, we will tell you: how to view the characteristics of a computer on Windows 7 and 10, and also consider several convenient programs for this.
Any game or program running on a PC consumes computing system resources. In some cases, the computer may not be able to cope with its task due to a mismatch between the technical characteristics of the software and / or hardware. For this reason, you can observe the slow operation of programs and the operating system, “brakes” and “crashes” in games, long video rendering and unsatisfactory performance of other operations. Knowledge of information about the computer allows you to use it for its intended purpose, to properly configure and upgrade.
How is PC information presented?
Since a computer is a complex computing system, its characteristics depend on the components installed in the system block, and the operating system.
Therefore, the general characteristic of the PC is represented by the technical information of its components:
- CPU: manufacturer, model, clock frequency (in MHz or GHz), number of cores and computational threads (may not be indicated in the marking), availability and size of L3 cache memory
For example: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz/16MB is AMD's Ryzen 5 2600X processor with a base frequency of 3.6GHz per core and 16MB L3 cache.
- Motherboard: manufacturer, model, CPU socket, chipset type, number of expansion slots and RAM, form factor, BIOS / UEFI version (may not be indicated on the marking).
For example: Asus Rog Maximus X Hero (s1151, Intel Z370, PCI-Ex16) - motherboard from Asus model Maximus X Hero with socket s1151, Intel Z370 chipset and PCI-E x16 slots for video cards.
- RAM: manufacturer, memory standard, clock frequency (effective), module memory size.
For example: Kingston DDR4-2400 4096MB PC4-19200 HyperX Fury Black is a DDR4 module from Kingston with an operating frequency of 2400 MHz and a memory capacity of 4096MB (4GB).
- Video card: manufacturer, PCI-Express port standard, board model, GPU type and operating frequency, video memory size and frequency, memory bus bandwidth, monitor connection interface.
For example: Palit PCI-Ex GeForce GTX 1060 Jetstream 6GB GDDR5 (192bit) (1506/8000) (DVI, HDMI, 3 x DisplayPort) - video adapter from Palit model GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 gigabytes of GDDR5 video memory operating at a real frequency of 1506MHz. Information exchange GP-memory goes on the bus "width" 192bit. There are DVI, HDMI, 3 x DisplayPort ports.
- WinchesterHDD: manufacturer, model, memory size, spindle speed with disks, cache memory size, form factor, connection interface.
For example: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200rpm 64MB 3.5 SATA III - A 3.5-inch drive from Western Digital Blue model with a speed of 7200 rpm, 64MB cache and a SATA III standard port.
- solid state driveSSD: Almost the same specifications as HDD except ROM memory chip standard.
For example: Kingston SSDNow A400 240GB 2.5″ SATAIII TLC is a TLC standard solid state.
- Operating system: manufacturer, generation, version, bit depth.
For example: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro is an OS from Microsoft of the Windows 10 generation. Professional version.
How to find out the specifications on your PC?
After a brief introduction to all the main characteristics, we can find out (and most importantly, understand) the parameters of the computer using the built-in Windows tools or third-party programs.
You can see the most basic information by following the path "Start/Control Panel/System and Security/System" or go to "Properties of the system" through the menu "My computer". This step also applies to Windows 10.
In this window, we can only see the basic parameters of the computer, including the computer name and user, as well as the current activation code.
For a more detailed description of the computer configuration, see "Device Manager" which is in the menu "System" in the upper left corner. The structure and principle of displaying devices are the same for Win 7 and 10. From this menu, it is clear to us that the system has a quad-core processor, two hard drives and a video card indicating their markings. 
In the "ten" everything looks the same: 
The current state of the computer can be checked through the built-in tool "Resource Monitor" en route "Start/Programs/Accessories/Utilities". It can also be reached via "Task Manager", which is called by pressing three keys on the keyboard «
Ctrl"+"Alt"+"delete".
Here the system displays the CPU load for each core and thread, the total amount of RAM and the percentage of its filling, the workload of hard drives and SSDs, the number of partitions and the amount of free space on them.
In Windows 10, you can view the above computer properties directly in "Task Manager".
The third option allows you to display comprehensive information about the properties of the system. Like all the previous ones, it is identical for Windows 7 and 10. To do this, go to "Start" and enter in the search bar «
dxdiag"(without quotes). The user will see a window with the parameters of the system as a whole, video adapter, sound devices. 
Using the CPU-Z program
The CPU-Z program, which is most famous among wide circles of users, gives maximum information about the PC and allows you to find out all the data about your processor, motherboard, RAM, and graphics adapter. This tool should be installed for every user who is interested in computer hardware and wants to fine-tune their system.
To start using CPU-Z:
First - «
CPU", which contains the main and special characteristics of the microprocessor, including the manufacturing process, revision, maximum power consumption, voltage per chip, supported instructions, and much more. 
Advantages
- Allows you to learn about all the characteristics of the main components of your computer.
- Completely free software.
- Fast installation and ease of use.
- Works on any even the oldest system.
- Helps to monitor frequencies during overclocking.
Flaws
- There is no Russian version.
- Compressed information about the video adapter.
Checking graphics with GPU-Z
By analogy with CPU-Z, there is a program created exclusively for the graphics adapter - GPU-Z. Let's get to know her briefly.
To test a video card or integrated video adapter:
Advantages
- All the advantages of CPU-Z, but in relation to the video adapter.
Flaws
- There is no Russian language.
Taking advantage of AIDA 64
Many readers will ask us: "What is the most advanced PC performance viewer?". We answer - « AIDA 64".
This magnificent tool is the successor to the world's best program of its kind - « Everest»(which, by the way, is no longer supported). Aida is suitable for everyone, without exception, from beginners to overclockers and computer engineers. AIDA 64 is good because it checks the entire system, takes readings from all sensors and provides information in a clear, convenient form in Russian. Two more pluses are the availability of technical support and frequent database updates.
Why don't we recommend AIDA 64 to everyone? She is paid. As of September 2018, the price of the program is 2265 rubles, which makes it inaccessible to the majority of users. However, there is a 30-day trial license, which is enough to solve some technical problems with the computer.
Consider the capabilities of AIDA 64 in more detail.
The remaining tabs are no less useful than the previous ones, but are used by most users an order of magnitude less often.
Advantages
- Provides absolutely all information about the system and the selected device.
- The work of AIDA 64 is based on taking readings from sensors and providing information about the device from developer databases.
- Despite the huge amount of displayed parameters, Aida 64 is easy to use.
- High-quality translation into Russian.
- Can work on any obsolete PC.
Flaws
- The price of a home license is more than 2 thousand rubles.
Trying to work with the universal Speccy
Despite the undeniable benefits of AIDA 64, there are still a few useful products that can gain popular acceptance. The monitor stands out among them. « Speccy" from a well-known company Piriform that created « CCleaner.
Speccy displays detailed information about the computer, its components and installed drivers. The amount of data is far from the above-described Aida, but it is quite enough for the average user. With the help of Speccy, you can properly configure your system and, if necessary, improve it.
The main advantage of Speccy is the availability of a free license.
To use Speccy:
Advantages
- Quite a solid amount of data provided about the PC, sufficient for the vast majority of experienced users.
- Nice looking interface and translation into Russian.
- Compatible with almost all systems, regardless of their generation.
- There is a free license.
Flaws
- This software is of little use for professional craftsmen and highly specialized tasks.
- No information about installed programs.
- No stress tests like in Aida.
Finally
In this article, we talked about how you can view the characteristics of a computer on Windows and why you need to do this. To do this, we used standard OS tools and downloaded programs. Let's take a look and choose the best option.
- Standard Windows tools do not provide sufficient information about PC hardware and software to configure it and upgrade it properly. This method is needed for an approximate assessment of system performance when using demanding software.
- The CPU-Z and GPU-Z programs are an excellent option for experienced people who are fairly well versed in computer systems. They are free and universal for any PC. This method is useful for overclockers and people who want to customize or improve their computer with new components.
- The AIDA 64 utility is positioned as software for professionals, but it is also perfect for home use. In terms of accuracy and quantity of data provided, it has no equal among competitors. The interface also pleases with its optimization and unobtrusiveness.
Since this product costs good money, not everyone can afford it. It should be noted that such an array of data is not needed by an ordinary user. Therefore, this option will be really useful only for professionals: development engineers, extreme overclockers and other people with a narrow specialization.
- A small Speccy program is an interpretation of CPU-Z in a more beautiful shell and in Russian. The accuracy of displaying data from sensors is quite high, and technical information will suit even an experienced user. In our opinion, this option is the "golden mean", given that the product does not cost a dime.
If you have a computer, then most likely you have been asked this question. What kind of hardware do you have inside your computer? How much RAM, what processor, and what is the video card and its video memory? In short, every user who is still little familiar with the hardware and knows the operating system poorly would like to know where to find the parameters of their computer so as not to look like a complete teapot.
I want to add more! Why do you need to know the parameters of your computer. The fact is that many powerful programs, and mostly games, need certain system requirements. If you have already bought programs or games, then you noticed that on the package with the game at the bottom there is such an inscription (Minimum system requirements). It is in these system requirements that the minimum parameters should be for normal operation with this game. If your parameters are lower than those indicated on the box, then this game or program will not work normally. Therefore, then you should not buy this game, but it is better to find a game according to the parameters of your computer.
How to find out the parameters of your computer.
And the answer to this question is in yours. I will show you an example in the Windows 7 operating system. There are no special differences with Windows XP, since access to the parameters by name is the same.
And so, on the desktop, on the shortcut (My Computer), right-click and select the item (Properties). After clicking on this item, you will see a window for viewing basic information about your computer, in which you can view the name and parameters of your processor, find out what RAM (RAM) is installed, you can also view the type of operating system here (32-bit or 64-bit) installed on your computer.
Here we look at the picture:
But where can you find out which video card and its parameters?
To do this, we need to go into the details of computer and system performance.
Without closing the windows of the basic information of our computer, which we examined above, we click on the item (Counters and performance tools) in the lower left part of the window. As shown in this image.
If you do not have such an item in the display, then make an assessment of the system performance and you will have such an item.
After clicking on the above item, we will open full information about our computer and our operating system. In this information, we will be able to find out the parameters of our video card. In the figure, I highlighted where we are looking at the name of our video card and what kind of memory it has. Here is the picture
If you have Windows XP, you can find information about the video card in a slightly different way. Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop, then select (display settings), (settings) and (video adapter). Select the line (Used video memory) - this is your video card memory.
Here we have dismantled how to find out the parameters of our computer and operating system. After mastering this article, you can now easily choose games and programs for your computer, and you can also answer your friends questions about your hardware and not be in a stupid position.
Are you aware that many users often do not know the characteristics of their PC or laptop? Frankly, I don’t see anything shameful in this - the main thing is that it works, doesn’t slow down, doesn’t “stupid” and doesn’t bring problems. However, one day there may come a day when the user still has to be puzzled by the study of the characteristics of his PC.
There can be many reasons for this. For example, you decide to increase the amount of RAM, you are planning to buy a new laptop and want to know what characteristics your old device had, you want to see the requirements in order to purchase your favorite game, etc. Be that as it may, it is not difficult to find out the characteristics of your computer or laptop. I will even say more - for this it is not at all necessary to seek help from third party programs, standard Windows applications may suffice. Let's start the review.
Device Manager
In order to find out exactly which components are installed on the computer, you need to run the "Device Manager". The easiest way is to find the "Computer" shortcut on the desktop (or click on the "Start" button, it will be on the left side of the menu), right-click the menu and click "Properties". On the left side of the window, you can see the "Device Manager" button. Click on it.
Thus, you launched the "Device Manager", thanks to which you can find out which components are installed on your PC or laptop.
You can also go to the “Device Manager”, for example, through the “Control Panel” - in it you will see the icon of the same name.
System Information
If you need more detailed information about your computer, including operating system version, processor type, etc., you can use the System Information menu.
To open this menu, go to "Start", select "All Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "System Information".
Do not pay attention to English, your information will be displayed in Russian.
Windows Experience Index
I have already talked about what it is. Let me remind you that this is a utility built into Windows that allows you to measure the capabilities of the hardware and software performance of your computer. After counting all the data, the system shows one or another number, which is called the performance index. The higher it is, the better. The maximum rating for the same Windows 7 is 7.9.
Frankly speaking, it is not worth focusing on these figures, because formally they do not mean so much. Another thing is if you want to show the treasured numbers to your friends or brag about them on some forum.
Find the "Computer" icon on the desktop, click on it and press the right mouse button. A menu will appear, select "Properties".
A window has appeared, in it find the button "Windows Experience Index" and click on it.
This will take you to the Performance Meters & Tools page, where you can see how your components score and what the numbers themselves mean.
If the performance index is not yet rated, run it yourself.
DirectX Diagnostic Tool
Another opportunity to "peep" the characteristics of the device is to run the so-called "DirectX Diagnostic Tool", which provides quite detailed information about the computer.
To start, go to "Start", in the line "Search programs and files" type the word dxdiag and press the Enter key. A window with characteristics will appear in front of you.
Third Party Programs
If possible, I would recommend using third-party utilities. They will more accurately show all the necessary characteristics, and even in one place. Such programs are a wagon and a small cart. For example, ASTRA32, AIDA64, Everest and so on. Decide for yourself which is better to use, but I will say that Everest is one of the most convenient and popular such utilities. The only negative is that it is paid, but the first month allows you to use it for free.
Download the utility from the official website and install it on your computer. Launch and check the characteristics you need.
