The Download	This Issues Review	The Web Site
	CPU-Z by Franck Delattre
Thanks to a thoughtful co-worker of mine, I was introduced to this little ditty. CPU-Z is a computer information utility that's shows the details of your computer system in a multi-tabbed window. Now the details: Platform and Requirements......... The usual here. CPU-Z will run on any Win 32 system. The Website... The site for CPU-Z is packed full of information on the program including the current hardware that CPU-Z supports, it's history, installation information and removal, FAQ's, and even a donate button via Paypal. The fonts are black and blue on white, quite easy to read (but get your glasses if you need em!) and laid out in a nice listed and tabled view. I must note that I DID pass right by the download link on the page when I first visited the site (no fancy button here), which may have been due to a lack of sleep at that time!  :)   Help Files.... Help files on an information utility are usually unnecessary as is the case with CPU-Z. Other than the instructions on installation, that's about all you'll need.  There is a readme file that comes with the package, but the info on there is minimal. As mentioned above, the best info comes from the web site itself. Download, Installation and Uninstall... This download has absolutely no installation utility. It's up to you to download the zipped file, open it up, take the files out and place them where ever you want on the hard drive. Myself, I opened up my file manager and made a directory called 'cpuz' in my 'program files' directory listed in my root directory 'C:' (right click => new => folder). Once there, I dragged the .exe file in my favorite toolbar and I was all set. To uninstall this utility, just delete the files that you unzipped, that's it. Interface and Features..... CPU-Z is basically a one window interface with six tabs along the top. Each tab will give you specific information dealing with a certain aspect of your hardware and it's performance. Here's a pic of each tab giving you an idea of the information available on my machine: The opening tab gives you the initial group of information about your system.  The 'processor' area supports tons of different variations of intel, AMD, Cyrix, and Transmeta  processors as well as an excellent variety of different motherboard chipsets such as nVidia, VIA, Sis, ATi and more. I love the interface for the fact that the results obtained by CPU-Z are in an 'easy to read' shade as compared to the box titles. I noticed the area for  'Code Name' of the processor and found that to be rather unique. 'Clocks' comes in handy to find your bus speeds and the 'Cache' area is good for information on your L1 and L2 cache sizes. The 'Voltage' and 'Core Speed' are static on this window, changing with the current change in your computers conditions. The 'Cache' tab shows detailed information on your L1 and L2 cache. The Mainboard window gives info on your Motherboard, BIOS including your version and date number (excellent for bios updating info!) and your graphic stats are presented in the last section. Well, as you can see, there isn't a whole hell of a lot of info on my memory. I came to the conclusion that CPU-Z doesn't support my memory chip OR my memory chip doesn't give out specific information. The fact that I have 512 megs is just fine with me. The SPD (serial presence detect) window shows details on the memory installed including slots, size, and maximum bandwidth. Excellent for comparing the memory sticks installed in your different slots to see if there are compatibility problems. The "About' tab give you information on the program as well as buttons for a 'Registers Dump' produced in .txt format (it will ask you where you want to place it), a HTML report for those who want a bit more class than a text doc and finally a 'Validation' button to present your systems info to a specific site.  Here's a link to the html document that was produced by this program on my computer and here's a copy of the .txt file that was produced. A couple of other features offered are a static display of your current processor speed when the program is minimized to the taskbar and the ability to use an .ini file to adjust some of the display settings for the program. Problems.... There's none to speak of with this little info utility.     Conclusion....  The information age is for all and info is what this little utility does very well. If you're interested in a piece of hardware or software and specific needs are to be met in order to use them, this is the program that may help. Give it a whirl and see what's underneath your hood! Cheers! Buzzy :)