How to monitor CPU and GPU temperature on macOS
Macs, like all computers, tend to get hot when you use them. If you’re using it for something particularly resource intensive, it will get hotter than if you were simply working on a document or even watching a movie. It’s perfectly fine for a Mac’s temperature to rise but if you’re worried about it running too hot, you can monitor the CPU and GPU temperature on macOS with XRG for Mac.
The reason we’re going with XRG for Mac is that it’s free. This app is by no means aesthetically pleasing. In fact, it has a basic interface and it can’t run in the menu bar. If you’re willing to buy an app that has none of these shortcomings, we recommend using MONIT.
CPU and GPU temperature
Download and install XRG for Mac. When you first run it, it will add a column-like window to your desktop and this window will display information about your disk, network, CPU, GPU, and a number of other things. Given the UI isn’t exactly that great, you’re going to be overwhelmed. with the information. The first thing you should do is go to the app’s preferences and clean the interface up so that it’s easier to understand.
On the General tab, you can uncheck all the information you don’t need. Since this is for monitoring the CPU and GPU temperature, leave only the ‘Temperature Graph’ selected and uncheck the rest. You can also change the ‘window’ from a column to a bar on this same tab.
Next, you should go to the Appearance tab and change the color scheme if the default one is difficult to read. The app shows a graph of the temperature which tends to overlap the numerical value so you can ‘hide’ it from the Appearance tab. Set the opacity for the graphs to zero to hide them. Change the color of the text, and the size of the text from the Select Font button.
Since XRG for Mac is a basic app, it doesn’t come with benchmarks that tell you if your Mac is running too hot. You can Google what temperature is too high for a Mac but the figures will differ based on the model you have.
XRG for Mac is basic so if you’re trying to diagnose your system for potential problems instead of just looking for a quick temperature test, it’s a good idea to invest in a more feature rich app to get the job done.
