For those of you who are running any GUI Linux on your computer, there is a way to monitor temperatures just like in Windows. Linux includes free utilities that can be downloaded, although they are usually included with the installation of the distro you are using. If there is no utility, look for it in your package manager.
In KDE, there is KSysGuard, which can monitor many different hardware aspects, including CPU temperature and usage.
- To get the temperature, create a new worksheet. Then Drag in localhost > ACPI > Thermal Zone > THRM > Temperature
- You can get the clock speed for each CPU/CPU core by dragging in localhost > CPU0 (CPU1, CPU2, CPU3, etc.) > Clock Frequency
- There are two types of loads for each CPU core. System loads (typically smaller) and User loads (typically larger and are where games take place). These are from two types of processes, System Processes and User Processes. To get the System Load, drag in localhost > CPU0 (CPU1, CPU2, CPU3, etc.) > System Load. To get the User load (usually more important), drag in localhost > CPU0 (CPU1, CPU2, CPU3, etc.) > User Load.
You can create each of these as four different things. There are Signal Plotter, Multimeter, Bar Graph, and Sensor Logger.
- Signal Plotter is a line graph of the history of the activity. This is useful for System and User Loads, as well as CPU Temperature.
- Multimeter is just a number. This is useful for CPU Temperature and Clock Frequency, as well as System and User Loads.
- Bar Graph is a single bar graph that indicates a percent. This is useful for System and User Loads.
- Sensor Logger is a log of the percent of number for a field. It is a combination of the Signal Plotter and Multimeter. This is useful for CPU Temperature, as well as System and User Loads.
If you don't have KDE, KSysGuard is avaliable for GNOME as well.