Here are a few must have Hardware Monitoring Applications which will give you an in depth analysis of your Computer Hardware -

1. CPU-Z – This is the only software you will ever need to get all the information of your Processor. CPU-Z is made by CPUID and is one of the most popular CPU monitoring software out in the market. The best thing about CPU-Z is that it’s a freeware.

   

   As you can see from the  Screenshot, CPU-Z offers a very vivid detail of your Processor, including the Core Voltage, Stepping and Revision. Besides providing information about your Processor, CPU-Z also provides information about your Motherboard, RAM and the CPU cache. There is also an option to validate your CPU which will helps in online forums. The Version 1.52 of CPU-Z which is still under development is also going to provide you information about your Graphics Card.

2. GPU-Z – Unlike the name suggests GPU-Z is not made by CPUID. GPU-Z is made by TechPowerUp. GPU-Z as the name suggests provides you detailed information about your Graphics Card, including its temperature and current Clock speed, Pixel Fill rate, the die size of your GPU Core and the number of transistors your GPU has. An option to upload your BIOS to the GPU-Z server is also present. Like CPU-Z, GPU-Z also has an option to validate your GPU.
   

   
   
   

3. Real Temp/Core Temp – Real Temp is one of the most preferred temperatures monitoring software for any Core 2 Duo Owners. There are many temperatures monitoring software available for Processor’s but only Real Temp manages to detect and report the right temperature for Core 2 Duo’s. On the Other hand Core Temp is one of the best temperatures monitoring software for Intel Dual Core and AMD line-up of Processor’s.
   



Real Temp also has an option to test your sensors so ask to make sure that they are not faulty and you are not getting wrong temperature readings.


4. OCCT – OCCT is a software which allows you to stress your PC so as to check whether the Processor, RAM, GPU works fine under load. If you have a new Computer the first thing you should do is run OCCT and stress the various components of your PC so as to check that they work fine under load and the temps under load are not too high. OCCT also shows the temperature of your Processor, GPU using the drivers of CPU-Z and GPU-Z respectively.
   

OCCT has a really nice layout and interface. You can chose either the predefined stress tests or do a custom one. OCCT also has an option to stress your Power Supply/SMPS which is very rarely offered by any other stress testing software.