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Does anyone know of a utility to see the current speed of the processor?

To be clear, I'm not looking for the model/speed of the CPU, but rather what the CPU is currently clocked at (i.e. it will reduce speed if it overheats).

Kyle Brandt
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3 Answers3

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There is a tool that does that called Intel® Power Gadget.

It will show the current load and Frequency

enter image description here

And Version 3.5.3 on macOS (latest is 3.5.5):

version 3.5.3 on macOS

rogerdpack
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Ruskes
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  • I think Intel Power Gadget v3.7.0 causes some kernel panics on virtualization. At least it's not work nicely with Virtual Box. While the tool is running, I couldn't be able to start my VM's. After kill the app, all of my VM's starts to run as expected.

    Thread on VirtualBox forum: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=97929

     – Tolga Okur Apr 26 '21 at 21:03
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well there are two ways, if you want to see your processor load you can check activity monitor.

but if you want the actual frequencies here "Intel Power Gadget" is what you are looking for: (thank Yevgeni for the link)

(UPDATE: APP MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY ON NEWER LAPTOPS os x froze on yosemite)

i just installed it to and it works GREAT

(side note, if you want super accurate readings, keep in mind, the intel application itself, uses some (altho minimal) power)

Macmaniman
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-3

If you open Activity Monitor (Applicantions > Utilities > Activity Monitor), you can do two things to get a visual of current processor performance:

1) You can set the Dock icon to display the performance:

Dock

In Activity Monitor, go to View > Dock Icon > Show CPU Usage. As a bonus, the performance bars are also shown while Option+Tab'ing through apps.

2) Go to Window > CPU History. This will display a floating window with CPU performance:

History

It can be set to to always stay on top of other windows too.

Sam
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