How to check GPU temperature – Graphics card

Is your GPU hot enough to make an omelet? During normal operations, the temperature of your GPU shouldn’t be an issue, many graphics cards these days only control the display and handle video games. They will lock themselves in temperature so as not to affect component life or lead to GPU shutdown due to overheating. But if you’re using an older set of PCs or if you want to test the overclocking capabilities of your graphics card, it’s important to monitor GPU temperatures.

Good news for you, checking the graphics card temperature is very simple, especially now that Windows has shown the GPU temperature on the Task Manager. And all kinds of GPU monitoring tools are free.

How to check GPU temperature

Microsoft finally listened to users with an update Windows 10 May 2020, Task Manager added a GPU temperature monitor. It must have taken 24 years for Microsoft to do this (research carefully).

To see how hot your graphics card is, open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc or Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select “Task Manager“, or right-click the taskbar and select “Task Manager”. Then go to the Performance tab, find the GPU you want to see the temperature, there will be a temperature line displayed below the GPU name. This method is only for those of you who have installed the Windows 10 May 2020 update or higher.

However, this feature only shows the current temperature. And it’s also quite inconvenient when you have to keep holding the Task Manager while playing games or overclocking. While, I’m happy that Microsoft is finally adding this feature, third-party tools offer more in-depth and varied options.

More GPU temperature monitoring tools

If you are using an AMD Radeon card, displaying the GPU temperature is very simple. In 2017, AMD launched the feature Radeon Overlay, provides handy tools to fine-tune your game visual settings. It also includes a tool to monitor performance, GPU temperature and other important information while you are gaming.

To enable this tool, enable Radeon Overlay feature by pressing Alt + CHEAP and select the performance options in the Performance Monitoring section. Once installed, you can manually enable the Performance Monitoring tool by pressing Ctrl + Shift + 0.

You can still check GPU temperature in Radeon Settings > Wattman. Right click on Desktop and select Radeon Settings then go to Gaming > Global Settings >> Global Wattman. With this tool you will have access to Wattman, GPU temperature monitoring and other important statistics in the form of graphs.

But what if you’re not on AMD? According to Steam’s hardware survey, 75% of users use Nvidia for gaming. This is where third-party software comes into play.

Many graphics card manufacturers offer specialized software for overclocking GPUs. These tools often include important on-screen display (OSD) options, similar to AMD Radeon Overlay. I choose MSI Afterburner software because of its versatility. This popular utility works with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, providing a number of features suitable for gamers.

If you like a better designed app, I recommend it EVGA Precision X1, has been reworked for joint release with Nvidia’s new RTX 20-series graphics cards. Although EVGA only works with Nvidia graphics cards.

If you are not a gamer or don’t care about checking GPU temperature while gaming. You will need a hardware and system temperature monitor. HWInfo is the next program I want to mention, because it provides most of the hardware parameters, but SpeedFan and Open Hardware Monitor are also great options. Open Hardware Monitor also supports Linux.

The sparse and dense interface of the above software does not satisfy you, NZXT’s CAM software would be a great alternative, even if you don’t have NZXT hardware in your PC. The software is aesthetically pleasing, clear, simple, and it also has a mobile app for remote PC monitoring, but you will need a CAM account to use it.

What GPU temperature is ok?

That’s a difficult question. Most modern GPUs can run in the mid-90s, and you’ll often find them reaching that temperature during gaming. In GPU systems with good air cooling, your graphics card temperature should not be in the 80 degrees range. Custom graphics cards with multiple fans are usually between 70 and 60, or you can also install a water cooler for the GPU to bring the temperature down.

How to reduce GPU temperature?

If your graphics card is overheating, then 1 means you have to upgrade the hardware, and 2 is undervolt (lowering the thermal pulse and power of the GPU).

For the first way, you should check the airflow in the PC before buying new hardware. See if the case fans are mounted in the optimal position. Then, reapply thermal paste for the GPU, for good glues, it can be lowered from 2 to 7 degrees, which is quite high. And the last step, if the above steps don’t work, install a custom air or water cooler for your GPU.

As for how undervolt GPU, please refer to this video.

Warning: Undervolting can cause the GPU to suddenly shut down many times until the most ideal power level is found. So this is very harmful to your whole rig.