What is Hardware/Uptime Monitoring?

Hardware monitoring is a feature of the motherboard, sometimes as a separate chip on the motherboard, that monitors different aspects of the system. for potential issues. It can measure variables such as the output voltage of the power supply, the speed of the fans that are connected directly to the motherboard header, and the internal temperature of the computer. All of this useful information is used to determine the condition of the components of your PC. The primary advantages of hardware monitoring are early detection and real-time notifications. The reason these are great resources for your network is so that you can be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to your network or computer.

Some companies or users will continue to use the “break-fix” approach to technology. With this method, it is you essentially wait until it breaks, and then you fix it. A major issue with this method is that when something breaks it can lead to longer outages to your computer or network. Situations such as labor or parts availability can wreck havoc on the “break-fix” approach. This is where hardware monitoring comes into play and can save the day. Hardware Monitoring allows you to see these issues before they become a problem. You will be “proactive” to respond which in turn lowers outage time. A few good hardware monitoring tools are SolarWinds, OpManager, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and AMD Ryzen Master.

What about a larger network?

SolarWinds has a hardware health monitoring system which is dedicated to the aspects of your network. This program is used best with bigger networks instead of just your home PC. OpManager is a versatile tool that focuses heavily on infrastructure management and network monitoring. Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is for advanced hardware monitoring built for only Intel Processors.

If you are running a Windows PC with an Intel chip this would be the best monitoring tool for you. Just like Intel has their own hardware monitoring tool, so does AMD with the AMD Ryzen Master. A major advantage of the AMD Ryzen Master is that it offers advanced and real-time control of system performance.

If you need any assistance with your hardware monitoring, whether it be a workstation or your network, feel free to call the technology experts at SandStorm IT at 901-475-0275.