GPU Monitor is a sidebar gadget for Windows that displays live statistics for NVIDIA, AMD and ATI desktop graphics cards. It shows GPU and PCB temperatures, fan speed in percent and RPM, GPU, video engine and memory controller load, video memory usage, core, shader and memory clocks, PCI Express interface data and multi-GPU modes such as NVIDIA SLI or ATI Crossfire. Graphs present temperature, memory and interface changes over time. Data can be written to a log file. No third party software is required, only the newest graphics driver.
Real-time GPU temperature readout. The gadget reads the thermal sensors of the graphics processor and the printed circuit board and displays the current values in the gadget window. Temperature is refreshed at the interval set by the user, so peaks caused by gaming or rendering workloads become visible immediately. Version 14.1 added an option to show hotspot temperature instead of PCB temperature for cards that expose this sensor.
Fan speed monitoring. Fan speed is shown both as a percentage and in revolutions per minute, together with a graphical bar. This helps detect a failing fan or a fan curve that does not react to rising temperatures. Version 14.3 corrected AMD RDNA2 and RDNA3 cards, for example the Radeon RX 6700 XT, that reported fan RPM without the percentage value or bar.
GPU load tracking. The gadget reports the utilization level of the graphics processor as a percentage. The value is drawn on a graph so the user can compare idle, partial and full load states. This measurement is separate from the video engine load and the memory controller load, which are displayed as independent values.
Video engine load. A dedicated counter shows how much the hardware video decoding and encoding blocks are used. This is relevant for playback of compressed video, streaming and video conversion. The value changes independently from the general GPU load, so a card can show high video engine activity while the main GPU cores remain mostly idle.
Memory controller load. The gadget displays the utilization of the memory controller, which reflects how intensively the video memory bus is being used. High values point to memory bandwidth limits, which can appear in high resolution textures, large frame buffers and compute tasks. Version 14.0 corrected memory controller load reporting on ATI cards.
Video memory usage. Used and free video memory are reported as values and as a graph. This shows how close the card is to exhausting its frame buffer, which is a common cause of stuttering and texture pop-in in modern games. Version 13.8 fixed an issue with free video memory reporting on ATI cards.
Clock frequency monitoring. Core clock, shader clock and memory clock are displayed. Boost clock behavior on NVIDIA cards is tracked, and version 14.0 corrected boost clock reporting. These values are relevant for overclocking, undervolting and for verifying that the card reaches its declared frequencies under load.
PCI Express interface data. The gadget reports the PCI Express link state and mode. This helps confirm that the card operates at the expected generation and lane width. A card installed in a slot with fewer lanes or an older generation will show reduced values, which can limit performance in bandwidth-heavy tasks.
Multi-GPU mode detection. When more than one graphics adapter is installed, the gadget identifies the configuration and reports NVIDIA SLI or ATI Crossfire mode. The user can switch between adapters and between the settings of each adapter by scrolling the mouse wheel after clicking the body of the gadget. Separate ini files are kept for different GPUs.
Graphical history. Temperature, memory and interface values are plotted on graphs. The user selects the graph style, including an all-in-one graph type, sets the graph height from 20 to 99 pixels, changes the line width, hides gridlines and scales the temperature graph range. Graphs make short peaks visible that a single numeric reading would not reveal.
Logging to file. All data shown by the gadget can be written to a log file for documentation. Logging is enabled in the settings, and version 10.8 added extra information to the log entries. Version 14.1 fixed a bug that affected temperature logging in Fahrenheit. The log is suitable for later analysis of thermal and load behavior.
Overheat alarm. A sound is played when the temperature passes a defined threshold. The user selects the alarm sound, including a custom sound file, and sets the temperature limits that trigger the alarm. This gives an audible warning during unattended runs such as long renders, benchmarks or overnight downloads.
Appearance customization. Colors of all gadget elements, the background, the level of graph detail and the visibility of the title, copyright notice and adapter identification string can be changed. Version 4.0 introduced color changes for every element, and version 11.4 allowed hiding the graphics adapter identification string. Settings are stored in ini files.
Refresh rate and window size control. The refresh interval can be set from 1 to 999 seconds, and the window size is adjustable. Version 3.0 added size adjustment, version 5.4 added the custom refresh rate. Autoscale DPI is available for displays with scaling, and version 12.1 fixed a DPI autoscale bug under Windows 10.
Graphics adapter selection. In systems with more than one card, the user chooses which adapter to monitor. Version 8.6 added an option to show GPU1 through GPUn instead of the video card name, which keeps the gadget compact. Switching is done with the mouse wheel, and version 7.0 added many settings for multi-GPU systems.
Driver data reload and panel launch. Clicking the gadget title reloads AMD or NVIDIA driver data without restarting the gadget or the sidebar, which is used after a driver update. Double-clicking the background opens the Control panel or Control Center, and version 13.0 re-enabled launching the NVIDIA Control Panel this way. If the NVIDIA Control Panel is installed as a UWP app, the launch may take a few seconds.
NVIDIA smart scan. Pressing the NVIDIA icon starts a smart scan of the system that automatically detects NVIDIA products. Version 8.7 introduced this function, and version 12.0 moved the external link to the NVIDIA smart scan to the SSL protocol for security reasons.
Update notifier. The gadget checks for new versions and informs the user when an update is available. Version 5.1 added the update notifier, and version 9.3 changed its algorithm. This keeps installed copies aligned with fixes for new graphics cards and drivers.
Localization. The interface is translated into many languages, including Russian, Ukrainian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Romanian, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese Traditional and Simplified, Korean, Turkish, Hindi, Indonesian, Macedonian, Belorussian and Catalonian. Translations are contributed by users and updated across releases.
Restore factory defaults. A button returns all settings to the factory state. Version 5.6 added this button together with separate ini files for different GPUs, and version 5.7 changed the behavior of the restore function. This is used when configuration changes produce unwanted results.
GPU Monitor was created and is maintained by the developer behind the windows10gadgets.pro project, who distributes a collection of free sidebar gadgets for Windows 11, 10, 8.1 and 7. The first release, version 1.0, was published as an initial build, and development continued through a long series of updates. Version 14.3 was released on 09/09/2026. The project accepts community contributions: users supplied translations, bug reports and code fixes, including Hiten Parmar, RRX, Lixkote, Tudor Sprinceana, Burak Yavuz, Bruno Horvatic, Roberto Boriotti, LogoLargo, Dave Moebius, akjz, Marcel Keiman, Jörg Bornwasser, Kanstantsin Melnikau, Kosuke Kaizuka, Jiří Škorpil, Andrzej Mazurkiewicz, Raunak Dutta, Ivan Očadlík, Carlo Adami, elda taluta, Rafael Maciel Alves, Pascal Legendre, Jordi Bartrina, Vasil F. Bachovski, Diego Manuel Vazquez, Celal Osmanbas and Ellis Chang. The gadget is written in HTML, JavaScript and CSS, which are the standard technologies for Windows sidebar gadgets, with a wrapper library that communicates with the graphics driver, and it is compiled and distributed as a gadget package.
