Heat is the public enemy number one for any electronic device. As summer approaches, we notice how the computer heats up more than usual, forcing the fans to work faster, with the noise that this implies, to dissipate the heat generated inside the PC, whether in the processor or in the graphics card.
If the noise of the fans bothers us, the only solution is to use a liquid cooling system, although this also includes heatsinks in the form of a fan to lower the temperature of the liquid used in these systems. On a personal level, when summer comes, the first thing I do is remove some of the sides of the PC so that the air flow is not a problem.
But this is not the only measure I take to constantly monitor the temperature of both the CPU and the processor, the two most expensive components that are susceptible to being affected by excess heat. In addition to removing one of the sides of my PC case, I also use a free application to know and manage the temperature of the computer’s components, especially when I enjoy my favorite video games, which is when the computer gives its best.
For the use of office applications, it is not necessary to monitor the temperature, since the graphics card does not work and to work with Word, Edge and little else, the processor never reaches its maximum working frequency. To know the temperature of my PC at all times, I use the MSI Afterburner application, a free application that, in combination with Riva Turner Statistics Server, allows me to display on screen the temperature information of the CPU, GPU as well as the percentage of use that the computer is giving it.
Controlling your PC’s temperature in summer
The operation of the application is very simple. Once we have downloaded and installed Afterburner, it invites us to also install Riva Turner Statistics Server, an application that we must also use so that the information is displayed overlaid on all the games we run. The main screen of Afterburner is very simple and allows us to know the temperature of the CPU and GPU, the speed of the memory and that of the graphics and processor.
It also allows you to set a maximum working temperature limit and modify the fan speed, create usage curves and much more. From the configuration options, we can configure its operation so that it displays this information superimposed on the screen and even in the toolbar. To do this, we must click on the gear located in the left column. Within this menu, we access the Monitoring tab.
In the Active Hardware Monitoring Charts section, we must check all the options that we want to be displayed on the screen, selecting where we want it to be displayed: OSD (information overlay on the screen) or Tray (in the taskbar).
Below, we need to check the Show information on screen box so that the data we selected above is displayed overlaid on games. If we want this information to also be displayed on the taskbar, we need to check the Show in system tray box. This feature allows us to choose the color in which we want the information to be displayed.
Finally, click Apply. When you run any game, the application will display the information you set in the top left corner, allowing you to see in real time if your PC is getting hotter than normal.
We can download the MSI Afterburner application directly from their website through this link. and we can use it on both laptops and desktop computers.
