In this article, we will see how to recover Linux information about your CPU (model, number of cores, frequency,…).

CPU Info

The simplest (and most effective?) for the information processor is to simply read the file/proc/cpuinfo.

cat /proc/cpuinfo

The output contains a lot of information:

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 58
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz
stepping        : 9
microcode       : 0x15
cpu MHz         : 1600.000
cache size      : 3072 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 13
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic ...
bogomips        : 5986.82
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

With this file, you can for example the number of heart (s):

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i "^processor" | wc -l

View the name of the model:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i "^model name" | awk -F": " '{print $2}' | head -1 | sed 's/ \+/ /g'

Or view its frequency:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i "^cpu MHz" | awk -F": " '{print $2}' | head -1

You will understand, with the/proc/cpuinfo, we can highlight the information as desired. In fact, most of the tools / commands listed below to use it!

lscpu

The command to display the CPU architecture using sysfs and/proc/cpuinfoof course.lscpu

lscpu

Here is the return:

Architecture:          x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    2
Socket(s):             1
NUMA node(s):          1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 58
Stepping:              9
CPU MHz:               1600.000
BogoMIPS:              5986.36
Virtualization:        VT-x
L1d cache:             32K
L1i cache:             32K
L2 cache:              256K
L3 cache:              3072K
NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0,1

dmidecode

Dmidecode program retrieves the information from the system through the SMBIOS/DMIstandard. There are therefore all information about the BIOS, motherboard, processor, memory, connectors…

dmidecode --type processor

Here is the output for the processor information:

# dmidecode 2.11
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x000B, DMI type 4, 42 bytes
Processor Information
    Socket Designation: CPUSocket
    Type: Central Processor
    Family: Pentium
    Manufacturer: Intel(R) Corporation
    ID: A9 06 03 00 FF FB EB BF
    Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 58, Stepping 9
    Flags:
        FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
        VME (Virtual mode extension)
        DE (Debugging extension)
        PSE (Page size extension)
        TSC (Time stamp counter)
        MSR (Model specific registers)
        PAE (Physical address extension)
        MCE (Machine check exception)
        CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
        APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
        SEP (Fast system call)
        MTRR (Memory type range registers)
        PGE (Page global enable)
        MCA (Machine check architecture)
        CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
        PAT (Page attribute table)
        PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
        CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
        DS (Debug store)
        ACPI (ACPI supported)
        MMX (MMX technology supported)
        FXSR (FXSAVE and FXSTOR instructions supported)
        SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
        SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
        SS (Self-snoop)
        HTT (Multi-threading)
        TM (Thermal monitor supported)
        PBE (Pending break enabled)
    Version: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz
    Voltage: 5.0 V 2.9 V
    External Clock: 100 MHz
    Max Speed: 3800 MHz
    Current Speed: 3000 MHz
    Status: Populated, Enabled
    Upgrade: Socket BGA1155
    L1 Cache Handle: 0x0008
    L2 Cache Handle: 0x0007
    L3 Cache Handle: 0x0009
    Serial Number: Not Specified
    Asset Tag: Fill By OEM
    Part Number: Fill By OEM
    Core Count: 2
    Core Enabled: 2
    Thread Count: 2
    Characteristics:
        64-bit capable

lshw

lshw is a program to extract detailed information from the hardware configuration of the machine. Convenient, it can also export the result in different formats (HTML, XML, JSON,…).

lshw -C CPU

Here is the output for the class CPU:

*-cpu
description: CPU
produit: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz
fabriquant: Intel Corp.
identifiant matériel: b
information bus: cpu@0
version: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz
emplacement: CPUSocket
taille: 1600MHz
capacité: 3800MHz
bits: 64 bits
horloge: 100MHz
fonctionnalités: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme ...
configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 threads=2

Hwinfo

Hwinfo to view hardware information to a computer.

hwinfo --cpu

Result of the CPU information:

01: None 00.0: 10103 CPU
  [Created at cpu.304]
  Unique ID: rdCR.j8NaKXDZtZ6
  Hardware Class: cpu
  Arch: X86-64
  Vendor: "GenuineIntel"
  Model: 6.58.9 "Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz"
  Features: fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,...
  Clock: 1600 MHz
  BogoMips: 5986.82
  Cache: 3072 kb
  Units/Processor: 16
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

CPUID

The package must be installed in advance. This command to get information about an x 86 CPU.cpuid

cpuid

Return:

Vendor ID: "GenuineIntel"; CPUID level 13

Intel-specific functions:
Version 000306a9:
Type 0 - Original OEM
Family 6 - Pentium Pro
Model 10 -
Stepping 9
Reserved 12

Extended brand string: "        Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G2030 @ 3.00GHz"
CLFLUSH instruction cache line size: 8
Initial APIC ID: 2
Hyper threading siblings: 16

Feature flags bfebfbff:
FPU    Floating Point Unit
VME    Virtual 8086 Mode Enhancements
DE     Debugging Extensions
PSE    Page Size Extensions
TSC    Time Stamp Counter
MSR    Model Specific Registers
PAE    Physical Address Extension
MCE    Machine Check Exception
CX8    COMPXCHG8B Instruction
APIC   On-chip Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller present and enabled
SEP    Fast System Call
MTRR   Memory Type Range Registers
PGE    PTE Global Flag
MCA    Machine Check Architecture
CMOV   Conditional Move and Compare Instructions
FGPAT  Page Attribute Table
PSE-36 36-bit Page Size Extension
CLFSH  CFLUSH instruction
DS     Debug store
ACPI   Thermal Monitor and Clock Ctrl
MMX    MMX instruction set
FXSR   Fast FP/MMX Streaming SIMD Extensions save/restore
SSE    Streaming SIMD Extensions instruction set
SSE2   SSE2 extensions
SS     Self Snoop
HT     Hyper Threading
TM     Thermal monitor
31     reserved

TLB and cache info:
5a: unknown TLB/cache descriptor
03: Data TLB: 4KB pages, 4-way set assoc, 64 entries

6 Linux commands to retrieve CPU information