When you need to install drivers or upgrade your desktop or laptop, you often need to know the detailed specifications of your computer. In my case, I used this CPU-Z program to make sure I had two memory slots before upgrading my laptop’s memory. This CPU-Z program makes it easy even for beginners to check their computer’s specifications.
1. Download and Install
You can download it directly from the site called CPUID via the link below.
https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
However, there are a lot of ads on the site, so it looks a little bit suspicious… You may not know where to click, but… It’s definitely not a scam site at all. Since CPU-Z is released as a freeware… they should get some ad revenue from the incoming traffic, but it’s nice to have a convenient program for free.
If you’re a Window user, without further ado, please download and install the Classic Versions by clicking SETUP * English.
Press accept and the installation will begin. The latest version as of April 2 is 2.09
The installation is quick and the program is pretty light.
2. Using CPU-Z
When you run the CPU-Z program, you will see a single window that looks like below. The configuration is composed of several tabs including CPU, motherboard, memory, and SPD, and each tab provides detailed information about each component.
You can see that the processor in my current laptop has the Name: Inel Core i7 1260P and the Code name: Alder Lake.
In the Motherboard tab, I can see the motherboard manufacturer, chipset, and graphics interface. Since it’s an LG Gram laptop, the motherboard manufacturer is LG Electronics, and the graphics interface is not listed because it’s a model without an external graphic card.
The Memory and SPD tab will show you how many memory slots your computer has… You can check if your memory is DDR 3, DDR4, or DDR5, and its manufacturer. If you’re thinking about upgrading your memory by yourself, it’s a good idea to make sure your new memory matches with your existing memory’s specifications.
The LG Gram memory I’m using is on-board type, which means it doesn’t have any additional slot to add memory, so it seems CPU-Z doesn’t recognize it correclty (it shows 8 slots instead). However, when I ran the CPU-Z for my another laptop – ASUS TUFT Gaming Laptop -, it showed the laptop had two slots and slot #2 was empty. Therefore, I could purchased the same memory as Slot #1.
I expalined how to download, install, and use CPU-Z program that easily shows your computer’s spec in detail. I hope you’ll find it useful when you need to check your computer’s specs or upgrade it on your own in the future.