对于普通台式机或笔记本电脑用户来说，跟踪他们的CPU
和GPU的健康状况并不是很多人考虑的事情。我们大多数人都依靠我们的机器来适当地冷却并通过动态风扇速度、卸载和其他此类技术来照顾自己。
但是，您会惊讶地发现，快速查看您的硬件温度和使用数字会揭示您系统的效率。为了分享一个个人故事，我最近发现我的一台台式机中的GPU在玩游戏时运行在接近 80°C 的温度——这个温度最终会在很长一段时间内造成伤害。使用垂直同步来限制我的帧速率提供了一个快速修复，我的GPU再次很酷。
您可以使用许多不同类型的软件来监控您的CPU
或GPU，但谁愿意不断检查单独的窗口或将监视器的大空间用于包含这些统计信息的庞大小部件？
如果您是Windows用户，有一个解决方案：系统托盘。Windows的系统托盘为可动态更改的图标提供了空间，使其成为查看系统内部重要数字的理想场所。使用MSI Afterburner，您可以做到这一点。
下载 MSI Afterburner(Download MSI Afterburner)
MSI Afterburner是网络上用于(MSI Afterburner)显卡超频(overclocking your graphics card)的顶级Windows软件。它允许您微调显卡(fine-tune how your graphics card)和风扇的运行方式，并且适用于所有显卡品牌。
然而，超频可能是可怕和危险的，这不是本文要讨论的内容。与其修补您的硬件并冒着使保修失效的风险，我们只会使用MSI Afterburner作为在系统托盘中显示某些系统统计数据的一种方式。
MSI Afterburner的下载文件大小超过 40 MB，压缩为ZIP
存档。存档将包含一个二进制安装文件，允许您在系统上安装应用程序。
安装成功后启动应用程序，您会看到一个感觉像是 2000 年代初期的用户界面。它是一个仪表板，可显示 GPU 的电压、温度、时钟速度等。在此处，单击齿轮图标以访问 MSI Afterburner 的设置。
这是我们将开始修补MSI Afterburner的地方，以便我们可以在系统托盘中获得一目了然的硬件统计信息。
使用 MSI Afterburner 监控 CPU 或 GPU(Monitor CPU or GPU with MSI Afterburner)
在访问 MSI Afterburner 的设置时，您会立即遇到的窗口有两个重要的选项，您需要确保已启用。
在您的GPU(GPU)名称下方，您将看到允许MSI Afterburner从Windows启动并最小化的复选框。如果您希望能够在每次重新启动时自动监控您的CPU或GPU ，请确保勾选这些选项。
接下来，导航到设置窗口的监控选项卡。(Monitoring)在这里，您需要修改和试验多个设置。
在活动硬件监控图表标题下，您将看到(Active hardware monitoring graphs)MSI Afterburner
支持
的一长串滚动图表。这些包括但不限于您的 GPU 的温度、使用情况、核心时钟、内存时钟、电源和风扇速度。您的CPU(CPU)也有类似的选项。
由于您可以同时启用多个这些图表，因此此标题下方的所有设置对于当前选定的图表都是唯一的。话虽如此，您首先需要单击您有兴趣在系统托盘中显示的图形。
突出显示后，勾选在托盘图标(Show in tray
icon)中显示复选框。您可以将图标显示为文本或条形图，但我强烈建议使用文本 - 使用条形图，数据会变得非常模糊。
您还可以通过单击红色方块来更改文本的颜色，并且可以在图形值超出特定范围时设置警报。后者非常适合在您的视频卡可能准备过热时提醒您。
对您有兴趣跟踪的每个图表重复相同的步骤，您应该开始看到这些图标出现在系统托盘中。
如果您没有看到任何预期的图标，则可能是它们被隐藏为非活动系统托盘图标。要解决此问题，您可以右键单击任务栏，单击任务栏设置(Taskbar settings)，向下滚动并单击选择哪些图标出现在任务栏中(Select which icons
appear in the taskbar)，然后将每个图标设置为始终显示。
MSI Afterburner 本身也会在您的系统托盘中有一个图标（看起来像一架飞机）。如果您不关心显示可视仪表板，您可以通过返回设置、转到用户界面(User Interface)选项卡并勾选单托盘图标模式(Single tray icon mode)来缩小系统托盘图标。这不会将您的所有图表组合成一个，如文本所示，而是删除飞机图标。
就是这样！就像(Just)这样，如果您启用了MSI Afterburner以从Windows启动的选项，您将永远不必再费力地查看您的 GPU 温度、CPU使用率和许多其他值是多少。只需快速浏览一下您的系统托盘。
How To Monitor Your CPU Or GPU In Windows’ System Tray
For
the average desktoр оr lарtop user, keeping trаck of the health of their CPU
and GPU isn’t something that many put consideratіon tоwardѕ. Most of us rely on
our machine to properly cool and take care of itself through dynamic fan
speeds, оffloаding, and other sυch technology.
However,
you’d be surprised what a quick peek at your hardware temperatures and usage
numbers reveal about the efficiency of your system. To share a personal story,
I recently found out that the GPU in one of my desktops was running at nearly
80°C while gaming – a temperature that will eventually cause harm over an
extended period of time. Using vertical sync to cap my framerate provided a
quick fix, and my GPU was cool again.
There
are a lot of different types of software that you can use to monitor your CPU
or GPU, but who wants to constantly check a separate window or dedicate large
space of a monitor to a bulky widget containing these statistics?
If
you’re a Windows user, there’s a solution: the system tray. Windows’ system
tray provides space for icons that can change dynamically, making it the
perfect place to watch the important numbers under the hood of your system.
Using MSI Afterburner, you can do just that.
Download MSI Afterburner
MSI Afterburner is the web’s top Windows software when it comes to overclocking your graphics card. It allows you to fine-tune how your graphics card and fans operate and is functional with all graphics card brands.
However,
overclocking can be scary and dangerous, and that’s not what this article is
about. Rather than tinkering with your hardware and risk voiding the warranty,
we’ll just be using MSI Afterburner as a way to show certain system statistics
in the system tray.
The
download for MSI Afterburner is a bit over 40 MB in size, compressed as a ZIP
archive. The archive will contain a binary setup file that will allow you to install
the application on your system.
Starting
the application after installation is successful, you’re met with a user
interface that feels fresh out of the early 2000s. It’s a dashboard that shows
your GPU’s voltage, temperature, clock speeds, and more. From here, click on
the cog icon to access MSI Afterburner’s settings.
Here
is where we’ll begin tinkering with MSI Afterburner so we can get at-glance
hardware statistics in our system tray.
Monitor CPU or GPU with MSI Afterburner
The
window you’re immediately met with upon accessing MSI Afterburner’s settings
has two important options you’ll want to make sure are enabled.
Below
the name of your GPU, you’ll see checkboxes to allow MSI Afterburner to start
with Windows and minimized. If you’d like to be able to automatically monitor
your CPU or GPU on each reboot, be sure that these are ticked.
Next,
navigate to the Monitoring tab of
the settings window. Here, there are multiple settings that you’ll want to
modify and experiment with.
Under
the Active hardware monitoring graphs
heading, you’ll see a long, scrolling list of graphs that MSI Afterburner
supports. These include, but are not limited to, your GPU’s temperature, usage,
core clock, memory clock, power, and fan speed. There are also similar options
for your CPU.
As
you can have multiple of these graphs enabled at a time, all of the settings
below this heading are unique to the currently selected graph. That being said,
you’ll first need to click on which graph you’re interested in displaying in
your system tray.
Once
it’s highlighted, tick the Show in tray
icon checkbox. You can show the icon as text or a bar graph, but I highly
recommend using text – with a bar graph, the data becomes quite vague.
You
can additionally change the color of the text, by clicking the red square, and
you can set up an alarm when the graph value is out of a specific range. The
latter is great for alerting you when your video card may be preparing to
overheat.
Repeat
this same step for each graph you’re interested in tracking and you should begin
to see these icons appear in your system tray.
If
you don’t see any expected icons, it could be that they’re being hidden as an
inactive system tray icon. To fix this, you can right-click on the taskbar,
click on Taskbar settings, scroll
down and click on Select which icons
appear in the taskbar, and set each of your icons to always show.
MSI
Afterburner itself will also have an icon in your system tray (which looks like
an airplane). If you don’t care about bringing up the visual dashboard, you can
slim down on your system tray icons by going back into the settings, going to
the User Interface tab, and ticking Single tray icon mode. This won’t
combine all of your graphs into a single one, as the text suggests, but instead
just remove the airplane icon.
That’s
it! Just like that, if you’ve enabled the option for MSI Afterburner to start
with Windows, you’ll never again have to jump through hoops to see what your
GPU temperature, CPU usage, and so many other values are. All it takes is a
quick glance at your system tray.
