If you are using Windows 11 or Windows 10 and want to show the CPU and GPU temperature in the system tray, you can do it with the help of third-party software called HWiNFO. The System Tray or Notification Area is where you find some apps’ icons like USB, Adobe Creative Cloud, Ethernet/Wi-Fi, etc.
Overheating is a significant issue, which might break your system, and eventually, you start getting the worse user experience over time. Apps will lag, and the overall system might crash after a few whiles. If there is a significant fluctuation, it is better to keep an eye on the temperatures of your CPU and GPU.
Unless your system has a bug, Windows 11/10 might not increase the heat on a large scale. It mainly happens when you play high-end games (on a mid-configured PC), use multiple heavy apps, etc. At such times, it is better to check the CPU temperature so that you can take further steps.
To do this, you have to download and use freeware HWiNFO. It is a system and hardware information provider that works flawlessly on almost every Windows 10 computer. You can download the installer and portable versions according to your preference.
This guide shows the process of finding the temperature using the portable version of HWiNFO. However, you can go through the same steps even if you are using the installer. You have to install the app first, whereas portable version users can download and extract the files only. Once you are done with this step, follow the subsequent steps.
If you want to show the temperature for one time, it is better to opt for the portable version since you do not have to spend much time. On the other hand, if you want to keep showing the temperature forever, it is better to opt for the installer.
How to show CPU and GPU temperature in System Tray
To show CPU and GPU temperature in the system tray, follow these steps-
- Open the extracted HWiNFO folder in File Explorer.
- Double-click on HWiNFO32.exe or HWiNFO64.exe file.
- Click the Yes button in the UAC prompt.
- Tick the Sensors-only checkbox.
- Click the Run button.
- Right-click on CPU Package and select Add to tray option.
- Right-click on GPU Temperature and select Add to tray option.
- Find the CPU and GPU temperature in the system tray.
So, first, you have to open the extracted folder containing all the HWiNFO app files. Here you can mainly find two files named HWiNFO32.exe and HWiNFO64.exe. If you are using 32-bit Windows, double-click on the former file, and if you are using 64-bit Windows, double-click on the latter file. Then, click the Yes button in the UAC prompt. Once done, it shows a small popup window where you can tick the Sensors-only checkbox and click the Run button.
Now you can see the HWiNFO window on your screen. Look for two things – CPU Package and GPU Temperature.
Right-click on each of them and select the Add to tray option from the context menu.
Once done, you can see the corresponding temperatures in the system tray.
Apart from these two options, you can include many other things such as the temperature of a particular CPU core, only motherboard temperature, drive temperature, the number of errors, read/write speed, etc. To show this information, you have to go through the same options as mentioned above.
