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CNET Editors' review
Piriform's Speccy is a nifty little system information utility. Its mission is to collect and display more-detailed information about your hardware and its performance than is offered by Windows, even the latest versions. It shows the brand, model, version, driver, file, location, capacity, operating condition, and other data about your system's CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, disk drives, optical drives, audio, peripherals, network, and operating system. It even displays the temperature of compatible hardware.
Speccy's sleek dialog, gray tones, and small but crisp and colorful icons give a modern look to the familiar Windows interface. The left-hand navigation window lists Summary, which gives a handy system overview, as well as CPU, RAM, and so on. Clicking anything calls up a more detailed view of the component's operating conditions and statistics. Speccy has few settings beyond language and temperature (Fahrenheit or Celsius). The Help file links to a product Web page, but it's more than adequate, and Speccy's about as easy to use as any program out there; it just shows you what's going on with your PC. Our favorite function by far is the temperature display. It accurately displayed sensor data from the CPU and two hard drives, offering reassuring proof that our disks and CPU were all operating well within their rated temperature range; the dual-core Pentium 4 in our testbed ran at a frosty 37 degrees C. It also displayed S.M.A.R.T. data from our hard disks. We also like the ability to save and reload system "Snapshots" as XML or text files, or even optional INI files.
Piriform's freeware has impressed us with its value, and Speccy fits the form. Though we've seen lots of system information utilities and even find the Windows feature useful, Speccy looks like a keeper.
Publisher's Description
From Piriform:
Speccy will give you detailed statistics on every piece of hardware in your computer. Including CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Cards, Hard Disks, Optical Drives, Audio support. Additionally Speccy adds the temperatures of your different components, so you can easily see if there's a problem.
Some of the basic information can be found by right-clicking My Computer and then clicking Properties. The General tab lists some statistics, and the Device Manager on the Hardware tab lists all of the hardware you've got installed. But it misses out lots of information that you need.
What's new in this version: Version 1.21.491 has added support for multiple monitors and improved SSD and large hard drive detection.
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All versions:
4.3 starsout of 148 votes
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Current version:
4.0 starsout of 5 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-5 of 5
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"Very useful!"
Version: Speccy 1.21.491
Pros
Lots of info in one window. Especially glad for the temperatures.
Cons
I'd love to see some history graphs so I can use it to monitor temperature or gpu and cpu usage.
Summary
Useful, almost has everything I need.
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"Not to good"
Version: Speccy 1.21.491
Pros
Small download,its free
Cons
Downloaded and installed this yesterday , it imediately started scanning, 5 minutes later it gave info. on my optical and sound drives. I let it scan for 3 hours wich turned up no further information. Today I placed speccy under exceptions in my firewall and gave it another chance with the same results. Speccy used 100 percent of my cpu both times. Closeing speccy closed the window butt continued to run speccy .exe at you guessed it 100 percent cpu. Had to terminate process both times.
Summary
Had high hopes for this one only to be let down. I use cccleaner from Pritform and since I found no negative reviews for this program I gave it a try. No I wont be recommending speccy to anyone. I will now uninstall this piece of .... sotware.
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"Highly informative"
Version: Speccy 1.21.491
Pros
With this program I can see the health of my system temperature wise
Cons
When the temperatures of different components start to rise too high I immediately look for reason, fan failure, dust or dirt especially on the CPU or even a blockage of vents.
Summary
This program is a lifesaver of my system, not like my car which has a automatic program that tells me where and if there is a problem low tire pressure, burnt out light, low brake fluid or oil pressure or amount in pan.
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"A very good program to give you the info you need."
Version: Speccy 1.21.491
Pros
Small footprint, easy to use and understand.
Cons
None at this time.
Summary
This is a good tool for your tool box. Why pay more for less. Give this one a chance. You will not be disappointed.
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"Great for monitoring temperatures"
Version: Speccy 1.21.491
Pros
Stupidly easy to use.
Just open it and it does everything you need.
Easy to read layout.
Does exactly what I wanted it to do.Cons
None that I can find.
Summary
My computer kept unexpectedly shutting off when I was in the middle of doing stuff. I thought it might be overheating. I was looking for an easy program to monitor the temperature. This totally does the trick. Easy to read display shows you the temp of your processor, motherboard, and hard drive, and the color goes from yellow to darker yellow to red as it gets hotter. It very clearly showed that my cpu and motherboard were both overheating, and I was able to correct the issue. Couldn't have asked for more. I still run it in the background from time to time and see what effect different processes have on the overall temp. It's very handy.
Near as I can tell, it doesn't let you change anything, only monitors performance and temperatures and displays it. If you're looking for something that lets you control stuff and make changes to your system settings, I don't think this is it. But if you're just looking for something to show you the status of your system, this does the trick.
Results 1-5 of 5
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