hardware monitor

(computer science) A system used to evaluate the performance of computer hardware; it collects information such as central processing unit usage from voltage level sensors that are attached to the circuitry and measure the length of time or the number of times various signals occur, and displays this information or stores it on a medium that is then fed into a special data-reduction program.

A device attached to the hardware circuits of a computer that reads electronic signals directly in order to analyze system performance.

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