Central Process Unit (CPU) is the heart to our computers. It’s the central core unit sitting inside our computer carring out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetical, logical, control and input/output operations of the system. Sometime we simply just call it Processor, referring that it’s the piece of hardware that processes all information we type in through our fingertips.
So if you are really into computers, you may want to really know about it, especially the one inside your own box, not only general information about the vendor, the type, number of cores, or the frequency., but also much more deep details such as cache size, cache map, hypervisor status, etc., etc..
Here are 2 different ways that help you know better about your own computer processor that powers up Windows.
Creinfo by Sysinternals
Coreinfo is a command-line utility that shows you the mapping between logical processors and the physical processor, NUMA node, and socket on which they reside, as well as the cache’s assigned to each logical processor. It’s been around for a while and has currently been released to v3.31. It runs on Windows XP with SP3 and above as well as on Server platform like Windows Server 2003 and higher.
Usage: coreinfo [-c][-f][-g][-l][-n][-s][-m][-v]
-c | Dump information on cores. |
-f | Dump core feature information. |
-g | Dump information on groups. |
-l | Dump information on caches. |
-n | Dump information on NUMA nodes. |
-s | Dump information on sockets. |
-m | Dump NUMA access cost. |
-v | Dump only virtualization-related features including support for second level address translation. (requires administrative rights on Intel systems). |
All options are select by default, except -V.
If you only need information about processor’s caches and how that maps out, just use switch -l to filter out all other noises.
If you need more details about the virtualization features, make sure open Command Prompts as Administrator before using switch -v.
System Spec – a portable tool
System Spec is a small free portable system utility that thoroughly inventories your PC for a complete specification and system info about your PC, including hardware, software, and settings. This is probably a much easier way, if you are not a command-line type of person. Besides, it’s a free portable tool that you don’t need to bother getting it installed on your computer.
Navigate to CPU section and here is what you get.
Noticed the CPU Features list at the right side of the CPU Info window? It has all available features checked for you. As a bonus feature, you can click the Show CPU Meter button to get a live meter that shows what’s going on right at the moment.