How to Check Your PC’s Specs in Windows

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Now if only windows knew what PSU it had.
There are a few that do talk to boards, but does windows know what voltages the board is getting? I know the bios can let you know.
 
Now if only windows knew what PSU it had.
There are a few that do talk to boards, but does windows know what voltages the board is getting? I know the bios can let you know.
So as already mention, without additional wiring (usb or maybe modbus perhaps) there is no way the OS can ever know the model of the PSU. I think the bigger question is if it's worth the extra cost just for having the OS (btw: it would require the manufacturer also hiring people make hw drivers) getting the PSU model/brand/serial info. If this is going to be a thing, then it also have to be made an standard for it so that all manufacturers plays by same rules - like in some made-up future (btw it always are unless you live to see) this get a thing, maybe the standard gets implemented in OS core so it doesn't have the need for additional drivers, and also the standard must take into account what if using two or more PSU (like in server racks). It also must handle other equipment like the cabinet and other stuff that of today don't communicate (well, except from the very annoying resonance frequency if it happens to corresponds to the hdd vibration).

For gaming computers and regular home and office computers I don't think this will ever get a thing. However, for high end servers that need to be running 24/7 I can totally see this may be a thing.

Well, it actually IS a thing - at least for industrial battery chargers. One battery charger can easily have more than 15 A4 pages with the descrioption of each modbus address and commands for remote control and surveillance.

[edit]
after thinking of it a little - a simple data matrix or QR-code would do better in order for people to get posting the correct info in forums and like.
 
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Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
i wasn't really asking about PSU model, more could windows see voltages. I know 3rd party apps can see what bios reports but can windows see it without tools like hwinfo?

needing windows to know PSU model would be nice but probably a lot of work for nothing. It doesn't really know the brand name of GPU either. Some things are not really needed.
 
i wasn't really asking about PSU model, more could windows see voltages. I know 3rd party apps can see what bios reports but can windows see it without tools like hwinfo?
Ok, on this question, both Yes and No are probably equally true, depending on viewpoint.

Argument for YES:
For each motherboard, most readings for temperatures, fan speed and other readings are stored in some memory address. Software like Speedfan can access this because they have put down time research trying to figure out what address belongs to what reading, probably also by reverse engineering the drivers from manufacturer (me speculating).
Therefore, the OS can read any temperature available if MS put effort into this.

Arguments for NO: Money.
I highly doubt MS will ever go the extra mile of doing this. If I may speculate some more - it may cause legal issues if MS suddenly tries to reverse-engineering the drivers and software tools that motherboard manufacturers creates for the users.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
i doubt they reverse engineer simply based on fact there are so many tools that can read same info and they all seem to get similar results, I expect they read the data from sensors on motherboard.

it was just a thought. More of a comment on fact windows really doesn't tell you all the system info and the forms it does show it in are scattered. If it knows what HDD you have, can't it create a report that shows it all... in a format that isn't too much info. People might want to know what drive they have without being told everything...

dxdiag does display really well, but a report of entire PC... easier to download speccy.