Whether you’re using a state-of-the-art graphics card or an older one, it’s important to monitor your GPU temperature from time to time. If the temperature is too high, your graphics card might be overheating, which can lead to damage - and since GPUs are extremely pricey right now, that’s definitely something you want to avoid whenever possible.


Checking your GPU temperature on Windows 10 is easy to do and shouldn’t cause many problems even for beginner users. In today’s guide, you’ll learn how to monitor GPU temp on Windows 10:

Monitoring GPU temperature with Task Manager on Windows 10

The easiest way to check your GPU’s temperature on Windows 10 is through Task Manager. To open the Task Manager, either click Ctrl + Alt + Del and select the Task Manager button, or simply press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open it up directly.


You’ll see a small window pop up with a list of open applications. On the bottom, click the “More Details” button if it’s available. At the top of the task manager, you’ll see a couple of different tabs. Select “Performance” and scroll down on the panel located on the left-hand side of the window. On the bottom, there should be a blue chart named “GPU 0”. Click on it to expand the details. 


You’ll see a range of different charts that show the current GPU usage. Scroll to the bottom. There, you should be able to spot GPU Temperature. This is the easiest way of monitoring your GPU’s temperature, but it may not be very accurate, and accessing it while you’re playing a game, for example, might be difficult.


Thankfully, there are other ways to check your GPU’s temperature as well - but they might require you to download some free third-party software from the Internet. Don’t worry, all the software presented here is safe and reliable.


Checking your GPU temperature with NVIDIA GeForce Experience or AMD Radeon Software


Unless you’re only using an integrated Intel GPU, found in many non-gaming laptops, you should be able to monitor your GPU temperature using your graphic card manufacturer’s software. There are pretty much only two companies that release graphic cards - Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon. You should use the software of the company that made your GPU. Check the name of your GPU in Task Manager, or look for a sticker on your laptop or PC indicating the company.


GeForce Experience


Let’s start with Nvidia. If you have a GeForce graphics card, you can monitor its temperature using GeForce Experience. Download the software from the official Nvidia website and install it. After you’re done with the installation, open the app and look for a triangle-shaped icon located at the top of the app. This will allow you to access the GeForce Experience Overlay, which allows you to monitor your graphic’s card temperature while in-game.


On the overlay, select the Performance option. This will take you to a screen where all the relevant details about your GPU are shown (it might take a moment to load), including the GPU temperature. 


You can also turn on an additional window that will stay open in the corner of your screen at all times, informing you about the GPU temp and other details. To do that, go into the Performance tab and press the little gear icon. The default view doesn’t include GPU temperature, so make sure to switch it to Advanced. Now, after clicking Alt + R, a window will pop up in the corner informing you of the GPU temperature. You can close it again at any time by clicking Alt + R. 

AMD Radeon Software

If you’re using an AMD Radeon graphics card, you’ll need to download Radeon Software instead. Go to the official AMD Radeon site, download it, and perform the setup. After the app is installed, open it and go to the Performance tab located on top. You can see the GPU temperature displayed at the bottom of the screen, along with other useful information.


Unlike GeForce Experience, Radeon Software allows users to log data and save it into a .CSV file that can be opened using Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or any other spreadsheet software. You can use this function to monitor GPU temp over periods of time and see how exactly GPU usage influences GPU temperature.

How to monitor your graphic card temperature with third-party tools?

There are many other tools that allow users to monitor their GPU temperature as well - often with additional functionality, including overclocking and customization. GeForce Experience and AMD Radeon Software are great for beginner users who only want to take a look at their GPU temperature once in a while - but advanced users will definitely find these two apps lacking in functionality.

MSI Afterburner

One of the most popular applications for monitoring GPU performance is MSI Afterburner. The software is free to download and offers a lot of advanced features, including GPU overclocking. 


After downloading and installing the software, simply open it up - you’ll be able to see the GPU temperature right there on the main page. Additional details can also be spotted here, including the current Core Clock frequency, Memory Clock frequency, as well as Core Voltage. If you’re only using the app for checking the temperature, you don’t need to worry about them.


If you’re an advanced user and want to try your luck at overclocking, you can do so by adjusting the voltage and clock frequencies on the bottom. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING! Messing around with voltage and clock frequencies without the required know-how is an easy way to damage your graphic card. 


You can also adjust the GPU fan settings, save them to different profiles, and switch them on the go.


GPU-Z

GPU-Z is another popular software made for monitoring graphics card performance on PCs. It supports Nvidia, AMD, ATI, and Intel graphics cards and displays detailed information about their performance. Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP are all supported. 


After downloading the program, you’ll see that there is no installation necessary - simply open up the app, and you should see a window with tons of information about your graphic card. You can ignore most of it - navigate to the Sensors tab on top instead. There, third from the top, you’ll see a GPU Temperature chart. Similar to Radeon Software, you can turn on logging to the file at the bottom of the screen to save your data for future reference.


You can open up GPU-Z, start your game, play for some time, and then exit back to GPU-Z to see the results. You’ll see how your temperature changed over time as you played, along with other factors, such as fan speed, GPU clock, GPU load, and others.

HWiNFO

The third and last app for monitoring GPU temperature is HWiNFO - perhaps the most advanced program out of the three we’ve presented here. Apart from showing you detailed information about your graphics card temperatures, core frequencies, and load, it also shows you details of all the other hardware in your PC, including your CPU, drives, motherboard, and so on. 


In contrast to the other two apps, HWiNFO actually displays GDDR6 and GDDR6X temperatures in modern GPUs - this shouldn’t be too relevant for regular users, but advanced users can utilize it to better pinpoint the causes of their GPUs overheating.


Similarly to other such programs, HWiNFO can log data to a .CSV file (the document icon with a green plus sign on the bottom). 

What temperature is normal for my graphics card?

Now we know how to check our graphics card temperature - but what can we do with that information? How to know whether the temperatures are good or too high?


For most modern GPUs, the max temp shouldn’t exceed 80-85 degrees Celsius, but some can run hotter than that. If your core temp exceeds 90C, you might need to visit a service point to replace the thermal paste on your GPU - it’s difficult to do it on your own if you’re not computer savvy and have a lot of experience tinkering with hardware. If you want to try, look up tutorials on YouTube for your specific graphics card - but you have been warned!


In case your temperatures are too high, you can try cleaning your GPU. Unplug your PC from power and remove the side of your case. Use pressurized canned air to clean the fans and the heatsink of your GPU. 

My temperatures are too high, and the cleaning didn’t help - what should I do?

If cleaning your GPU didn’t do the trick, you might have to reapply thermal paste and thermal pads on your graphics card. This isn’t terribly difficult, but you might risk damaging your GPU in the process if you’re not careful. 


Some graphics card manufacturers place warranty stickers on some of the screws you’ll need to remove in order to reapply the pads and paste - this might void your warranty, so it might be a better idea to just send your GPU to service instead.


Make the most out of the logging functionality in GPU monitoring applications. Try to see over long periods how your temperatures change and what actions cause them to spike. Also, try to track your clock frequencies as well - if you see performance issues when playing games, it might be because of throttling, which is basically your GPU lowering its power in order to lower the temperature when overheating. If your GPU reaches a high-temperature point, after which the clock speeds start to fall down more than 100 MHz than the value listed on your manual, it means that overheating is causing your performance issues. 


There are really no other solutions than cleaning your card, changing the thermal paste/pads, or buying a new GPU altogether. If you’re not sure what to do with your graphics card to get it into better shape, send it back on warranty. If your warranty has already expired, simply find the nearest PC service point and ask them to replace your thermal paste and thermal pads on the GPU. This should get your graphics card back in good condition, and throttling should no longer be an issue.