Speccy 1.16.317

Overview

If you’re an avid PC user or even if you use it on occasion, there will be times when you’ll need to find out information about certain aspects of your computer. This can range anywhere from what drivers you’re running for a specific hardware to what RAM you’re using and at what speeds. This information comes in handy when trying to troubleshoot or diagnose issues. While using several different software you can gather all this information, Speccy combines it all into one simple program.

Installation

The installation file is only 4MB in size. Installation process is very simple and takes only a few seconds to install. During installation it will ask you whether to install Google Chrome or not so if you’re not interested be sure to uncheck this option. Speccy is only compatible will Windows and all its major versions and will not work with Mac OSX or Linux.

Interface

Upon first looks you’ll see Specy has a very neat and clean looking interface. The whole program follows a dark grey theme, which makes it look sophisticated and well thought out. On the left are all the different components of your computer that Speccy supports for example OS, CPU, RAM, network etc. Click on any of them and the relevant information will be displayed on the right. Furthermore you can change temperature readings from Metric to Imperial system depending on your location. Despite showing a lot of information, Speccy caters to both advance users and amateurs alike. Even if you’re a beginner, you’ll quickly find yourself at home with Speccy.

Pros

Speccy supports a vast variety of hardware. It can show detailed information of the running CPU, Motherboard, Network hardware, audio, and peripherals, GPU, RAM and Operating System. For each individual hardware the given information is quite detailed. Click the CPU tab and you’ll see data regarding load on each core, temperatures of each core and overall CPU temperature, the current clock speed and fan speed. This is just a few of many other pieces of information given. Click the network tab and it will give information about the active network hardware, TCP/IP settings and the current settings in the Windows TCP/IP stack. The program is also very light on system resources. Moreover you can save all the information in a XML file for later viewing. 

Cons

There should be an option to switch between advance and novice user. While novice users will be able to use this software nonetheless, it is easy to get lost in the sea of information Speccy gives. For this purpose a novice mode that gives basic information should be given.

Alternatives

You can view system information from the built in system information software in Windows. However it is quite limited and wont give as much detail as Speccy does. For temperature readings you can use SpeedFan or Real Temp however they’re strictly focused on temperature and clock speeds only and wont give any other information. Complex alternatives are SIW - Freeware and SiSoftware Sandra Lite.

Conclusion

Speccy is a brilliant software for all your system information needs. It supports pretty much every hardware out there and, with regular updates, new hardware support is added frequently. Highly recommended!