Free Temperature Tools
Good Morning Fred: I purchased my computer about a half year ago, the motherboard is listed as a i945g-M7, which was standard for this Powerspec 9130 model. Problem is, it seems to me that MBM does not support it, or I simply do not understand which "similar" motherboard to select. Is there one that would provide the same settings, or can you suggest a good alternative, preferably free, to MBM. Best Regards, Bruce
MotherBoard Monitor was a great tool, and still is for those boards it supports. ( http://www.google.com/search?as_q=MotherBoard+Monitor&as_sitesearch=langa.com ) But it's no longer current, so it's frozen in time, with the final release from two years ago: If your board is one it supports, and if you can figure it out on your own, it works fine. But if not...
My current favorite alternative right now (I'm using it on a new laptop I got) is the Speedfan (donationware) at http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php . We've covered it previously in this newsletter, but it's evolved considerably. It started as a simple tool to help control fan speeds on laptops, but now also monitors all the temperatures reported by standard system sensors (most PCs and laptops today come with two or three thermal sensors built in, although many users don't realize it...). It also displays the SMART status ( http://www.google.com/search?as_q=smart&as_sitesearch=langa.com ) of your drives. It also has a new feature--- the paint's not quite dry yet--- for sounding alarms and triggering events (e.g. emergency shutdown) if temps get too high. Speedfan looks like it's on it's way to becoming a first-tier monitoring/reporting tool. (If you like it, use the "donate" button on the developer's site to toss him a few bucks, OK? If you don't support the stuff you use, it eventually will go away.)
For newer Intel boards, Intel offers the free "Intel Active Monitor" ( http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/active.htm ). It's more limited, and doesn't do much except show you the real-time thermal and electrical specs of your system. It can sound an alarm if things get out of hand, but can't trigger any protective actions on its own. Still, it's better than nothing.
There are other tools out there too--- Google is your friend--- but the ones above are what I've come to use: MBM where I can, Speedfan in most other instances; with IAM as a last resort.
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