How to check your PC specs. — Three Windows shortcuts. Three free tools.

The 30-second checks (built into Windows 11)

If someone just asked "what specs do you have", three shortcuts cover it before the kettle boils.

Settings → System → About shows CPU, RAM, system type and Windows edition. Two clicks, no typing. Good enough for "do I have 16GB or 32GB?"

Windows + R, type msinfo32, Enter. Comprehensive system summary. CPU model, motherboard, BIOS version, RAM total, OS build. The single best built-in tool.

Ctrl + Shift + Esc → Performance tab in Task Manager. Live CPU, GPU, RAM, network and disk activity, with model names for each.

msinfo32 — the full picture in one window

System Information (msinfo32.exe) has been in Windows since the 90s and remains the deepest built-in spec readout. The System Summary screen shows ~30 fields including:

• OS Name and Version — Windows 11 Pro / Home / Enterprise, full build number.
• System Manufacturer / Model — for prebuilt and laptop systems, the exact vendor model.
• BaseBoard Manufacturer / Product — motherboard make and model (for custom desktops).
• Processor — full CPU model name and base clock.
• BIOS Version/Date — useful when updating firmware or chasing bugs.
• Installed Physical Memory (RAM) — total system RAM.
• Virtual memory — current page file size.
• Secure Boot State, BitLocker, TPM — security and encryption flags.

Categories on the left (Hardware Resources, Components, Software Environment) drill deeper — including detected USB devices, audio adapters, network cards, services. It's not pretty, but it's complete.

Task Manager — live with model names

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), click the Performance tab, and click each item on the left:

CPU: top-right shows the full CPU model (e.g., "AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D"), base speed, sockets, cores, logical processors, virtualisation status and cache sizes per level.

GPU 0 / GPU 1: the full GPU model, driver version and date, DirectX version, and current usage broken down by 3D, video encode and video decode. For laptops with both integrated and dedicated GPUs, both are listed.

Memory: total installed, available, in-use, committed, cached, paged and non-paged pool. Form factor (DIMM), DRAM speed in MHz, and number of slots used vs total. Caveat: the MHz shown is DRAM frequency, not the DDR rating — see the RAM section below.

Disk 0 / Disk 1: drive model and current read/write speeds. Multiple disks each have their own pane.

dxdiag — DirectX and display specifics

DirectX Diagnostic (dxdiag.exe) is the standard for game-related spec questions:

• System tab: OS, CPU, total memory, DirectX version, BIOS info.
• Display tab: chip type (GPU), display memory (VRAM), DAC type, driver name and version, refresh rate, DirectX feature levels supported.
• Sound and Input tabs: audio devices and input controllers.

The "Save All Information" button exports a complete dxdiag readout to .txt — game support sites and many indie devs explicitly request this when troubleshooting crashes.

CPU-Z, GPU-Z, HWiNFO64 — when Windows isn't enough

For accurate detail on RAM, motherboard chipset revision, partner GPU branding and live sensor data, three free third-party tools have been the industry standard for over a decade.

CPU-Z (cpuid.com)

Tabs: CPU, Caches, Mainboard, Memory, SPD, Graphics, Bench, About.

Reads CPU model with stepping and revision (important for early-batch chip identification), full cache topology, motherboard manufacturer/model/chipset/BIOS, configured RAM frequency and timings, per-DIMM SPD profile, and a quick CPU benchmark for comparison.

GPU-Z (techpowerup.com)

Reads partner-branded GPU model (e.g., "MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Gaming X Trio"), exact die revision, BIOS version, memory size and type, base/boost/memory clocks, ROPs/TMUs/shaders count, PCIe link speed, DirectX/Vulkan/OpenCL/CUDA capabilities, and live sensor data.

HWiNFO64 (hwinfo.com)

The deepest of the three. Shows every detected sensor on every component — CPU per-core temperatures, package power, voltages, GPU hotspot vs edge temps, fan speeds per header, PSU rail voltages on supported boards, SSD temps and NAND lifecycle counters. The "Sensors" pane is what most tech reviewers run during stress testing.

Why RAM speed needs CPU-Z

This is where Windows quietly lies. Task Manager shows DRAM speed as a single number — say "2400 MHz". A new builder seeing this on a DDR5-6000 kit panics and assumes something is broken.

Two things to know:

1. DDR is double-data-rate. The DDR rating is double the DRAM clock. DDR5-6000 means the DRAM runs at 3000MHz but transfers data on both edges of the clock for 6000 effective transfers per second. So 3000 MHz in Task Manager = DDR5-6000.

2. XMP/EXPO must be enabled in BIOS. Out of the box, DDR5 kits run at JEDEC standard 4800MT/s — not their rated speed. To get DDR5-6000, you must enable the XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD) profile in BIOS. Until you do, you're losing 20-25% of memory bandwidth.

Open CPU-Z → Memory tab. You'll see:

• DRAM Frequency: halve to get DDR rating. 3000 MHz = DDR5-6000.
• CAS# Latency (CL): primary timing. CL30 is fast; CL36/40 is mid-range.
• RAS# to CAS# Delay, RAS# Precharge, Cycle Time — secondary timings.

Then check the SPD tab for each DIMM slot. Look at the JEDEC and XMP/EXPO profile rows — these show what the stick is rated to run at. If your CPU-Z Memory tab matches the XMP/EXPO row, you're at full speed. If it matches the JEDEC row, XMP/EXPO is off and you need to enable it in BIOS.

Finding GPU VRAM honestly

"Dedicated graphics memory" vs "Shared graphics memory" in Task Manager catches a lot of users out. Here's what they mean:

• Dedicated GPU memory is the actual VRAM on the graphics card. RTX 5080 = 16GB dedicated.
• Shared GPU memory is system RAM that can be borrowed by the GPU when dedicated memory is full. Usually shown as 50% of system RAM. This is not real VRAM — performance falls off a cliff when games start using it.
• Total GPU memory is the sum, which is misleading.

For laptops with integrated graphics (Iris Xe, Radeon iGPU), there is no dedicated VRAM — the "dedicated" number is just a portion of system RAM that Windows hands the GPU at boot.

GPU-Z's Memory Size field shows true VRAM only. dxdiag's Display tab → Display Memory shows true VRAM. Trust these, not Task Manager's totals.

Motherboard and SSD model

Motherboard

Three reliable ways:

• msinfo32: BaseBoard Manufacturer + BaseBoard Product.
• Command Prompt: wmic baseboard get product,manufacturer,version.
• CPU-Z's Mainboard tab: manufacturer, model, chipset, southbridge, BIOS brand and date.

For laptops, you usually want the laptop model rather than the underlying motherboard model — System Manufacturer + System Model in msinfo32 gives you that (e.g., "Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16IRX9").

SSD / NVMe

Task Manager → Performance → Disk shows the model name. For the full picture:

• CrystalDiskInfo (crystalmark.info) — model, firmware, total host writes, power-on hours, SMART status (Good / Caution / Bad), temperature.
• Settings → System → Storage → Disks & volumes — model and partition layout in the Windows UI.
• HWiNFO64 → Drives — model plus live read/write throughput and temperature.

Tool quick-reference

Key takeaways

1. Three seconds: Win + R → msinfo32 → Enter. The single best built-in spec readout in Windows.
2. Task Manager → Performance tab gives you live data with model names — CPU, GPU, RAM, disk.
3. RAM "speed" in Task Manager is DRAM frequency. Double it for DDR rating. Use CPU-Z to confirm XMP/EXPO is on.
4. True VRAM = GPU-Z or dxdiag, not Task Manager's "total" figure which includes shared system RAM.
5. CPU-Z + GPU-Z + HWiNFO64 + CrystalDiskInfo = the free toolkit every SA builder runs.

Frequently asked questions

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