If yous've e'er opened upwards your computer, y'all know there is a lot of hardware in there. It'southward all a potential point of failure. Sure pieces of hardware are more decumbent to failure than others.

Equipment that either generates heat or has moving parts tends to fail nearly ofttimes. Thanks to computer hardware tests, yous tin scan your arrangement and spot failing hardware before everything crashes.

What Tin Get Wrong With PC Hardware?

The parts that most usually pause are fans, hard disk drives, CPUs, and GPUs.

RAM too tends to fail too. Information technology is continually existence written and re-written to (flashed). Solid-country retention can simply handle and so many flashes before it begins to fail. The problem as well applies to solid-state hard drives.

The best way to avoid being caught out is to perform regular hardware diagnostic tests on your computer. Here's how to practise hardware tests on Windows 10.

Windows 10 has two built-in PC hardware diagnostic tools.

  1. Performance Monitor
  2. Windows Memory Diagnostic

The first analyzes arrangement performance on your computer, and the second runs retention tests on your Windows ten PC.

Operation Monitor

performance monitor

Performance Monitor is the native Windows 10 hardware diagnostic app. It'south the operating system's most holistic tool for locating and diagnosing hardware and system issues.

Open the Showtime bill of fare, search for its proper noun, and click on the link to open the app. You may accept to await for a few seconds while the app collects information.

If you want a quick overview of your arrangement's hardware, utilize the left-hand panel to navigate to Reports > System > Arrangement Diagnostics > [Computer Name].

It provides you with multiple checks for your hardware, software, CPU, network, deejay, and memory, along with a long list of detailed statistics.

Dig a footling deeper, and you'll observe alive performance graphs (in Monitoring Tools > Performance Monitor) and customizable data sets (in Data Collector Sets).

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Windows Memory Diagnostic

A computer's central processing unit (CPU) uses RAM to shop short-term data. Annihilation contained in the RAM is lost when you turn off your automobile.

There are lots of alarm signs when your RAM is shut to failing. They include worsening performance, frequent crashes, video cards failing to load on kick, corrupted information files, and incorrect RAM information in the Windows System app.

If you're wondering how to run a retentiveness test on the RAM, yous need to apply the Windows Retentiveness Diagnostic tool.

It works by writing to, and so reading, your computer's RAM. Differing values signal faulty hardware.

To launch the tool, press Windows + R to open up the Run window, then blazon mdsched.exe and hit Enter. Windows will prompt you to restart your reckoner.

The test will take a few minutes to complete. When it's over, your motorcar will one time again restart. You'll see the results of the screen in one case yous return to the Windows desktop.

event viewer

If Windows doesn't automatically testify yous the results, open the Effect Viewer by right-clicking on the Start button, then head to Windows Logs > System and find the virtually contempo file called MemoryDiagnostic.

Third-Party Hardware Diagnostic Apps

If you lot're looking for something specific or a little more powerful, you'll demand to plough to third-political party software.

There is a lot to cull from, just here are four of the best estimator diagnostic apps.

1. MemTest86

memtest

MemTest86 is well established as the best tool to examination your RAM on Windows. It's more powerful than Microsoft's Windows Retentiveness Diagnostic tool.

The app has 13 different RAM testing algorithms and supports DDR4, DDR2, and DDR3 RAM. You can boot it directly from a USB stick or a CD, and Microsoft has signed the app's lawmaking for Secure Boot compatibility.

Different the Windows tool, MemTest86 also has a full-featured graphical interface.

Download: MemTest86 (Gratuitous)

2. CrystalDiskInfo

crystaldiskinfo

If you lot desire to focus on testing your hard drives, you should install CrystalDiskInfo.

The app'due south key characteristic is the "Self-Monitoring, Assay, and Reporting Technology" (SMART) test. It provides data about several aspects of your drives, including the read error rate, a count of reallocated sectors, the spin-upwards time, and a whole lot more.

CrystalDiskInfo likewise includes advanced power management and sound management tools.

And, if you leave the app running in the background, it can even provide you with live alerts if drives go besides hot or are suffering from other failures.

Download: CrystalDiskInfo (Free)

iii. HWiNFO

hwinfo

HWiNFO is manner ahead of the pack when it comes to the corporeality of data provides. Indeed, if you're new to the world of hardware testing, we recommend giving this one a wide berth until you're more familiar with the concepts and terminology. It is ane of the best reckoner diagnostic exam apps out there.

From a hardware test standpoint, we are well-nigh interested in the app's system health monitoring features. They provide detailed real-time reports and graphs almost your machine'due south CPUs, GPUs, mainboards, drives, and peripherals.

You can also download a bunch of add-ins that provide HWiNFO with actress functionality. They include screen tuners, widgets, and log viewers.

Download: HWiNFO (Free)

4. RWEverything

RWEverything

Finally, nosotros'll go out yous with a tool for uber-geeks: RWEverything. It won't win any design awards, only information technology'southward extraordinarily powerful.

You can use it to bank check nigh every aspect of every piece of hardware in your motorcar. More pertinently, you lot can also write to all the hardware. That means you can tweak any setting, no matter how small.

Warning: If you don't know what yous're doing, don't beginning irresolute settings. You lot risk irrevocably dissentious your hardware.

Download:RWEverything (Costless)

Bank check Your Computer's Battery Wellness

Another piece of laptop hardware that'southward prone to failure is the battery.

Nosotros've written about 5 tools that'll assistance your examination the wellness of your laptop battery if you'd like to learn more.

Other Computer Hardware Tests

Keeping an middle on your hardware is just ane part of maintaining a good for you figurer that runs smoothly.

For more information, cheque out our article beneath on how to cheque the health of Windows.

Paradigm Credit: kmiragaya/Depositphotos

How to Check the Health of Your Windows 10 PC or Laptop

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About The Author

Dan Price (1604 Articles Published)

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Director since July 2020. Accomplish out to him for inquires nearly sponsored content, chapter agreements, promotions, and whatsoever other forms of partnership. You tin can also find him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas every year, say hi if you're going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.

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