CPU-X an Alternative to CPU-Z for Linux

The tech-savvy Windows users might have used CPU-Z. It is an excellent utility for gathering comprehensive system information that is not available through stock applications in Windows.

CPU-Z is not available on Linux.

Don’t get disheartened! There are multiple ways and tools you can use to get detailed hardware information in Linux.

In fact, if you want something similar to CPU-Z on Linux, you are in luck. A developer called X0rg on GitHub has created a CPU-Z clone called CPU-X for Linux.

The interface might not be an exact replica bit you will find it familiar.

GUI, TUI and CLI formats.

By default, CPU-X in the graphical mode uses GTK3 (GTK4 port will not happen as per Developer).

It can provide comprehensive information about the hardware which is accessible without examining the components physically which is not possible all the time. For example, CPU-X can provide information about the RAM modules installed as shown below.

cpu-x -N

The interface will be similar to the default (GTK3) but with Ncurses type interface as shown in the screenshot below. You can navigate using arrow keys here.

cpu-x -D

This command gives the user a dump of all the system information provided by CPU-X. It is a very long output so you have to scroll through it to get the required information as shown below.

latest AppImage from the GitHub release page of CPU-X.

Native packages for CPU-X are also available for almost all distributions in their official repositories. Here are the commands to get them installed.

For Debian 11 or later and Ubuntu 20.04 or later.

sudo apt install cpu-x

For Fedora 30 or later.

sudo dnf install cpu-x

For FreeBSD 11 or later.

sudo pkg install cpu-x

For OpenSUSE Leap 15.2 or later.

sudo zypper install cpu-x

For Solus any version.

sudo eopkg install cpu-x

For Arch Linux as the package is available in the AUR only.

yay -Syu cpu-x

You can check out CPU-X source code on GitHub. Head to its official site to know more about it.

Conclusion

When you switch to Linux, it is only natural to look for the applications you used in Windows.

Where is Ccleaner in Linux? Where is the task manager?

Sometimes the software is available in Linux and sometimes they are not. In the latter case, you often have to opt for an alternative.

And that’s the thing. There are often alternatives available for the Linux desktop.

The CPU-Z alternative CPU-X is such an example. It gives you the CPU and other hardware information in a familiar way to CPU-Z users.

I know that there are many other tools such as inxi and hardinfo that could be used for a similar purpose. Do you like CPU-X or do you use prefer some other tool? Leave a comment below.