Whether you need to update drivers, check hardware compatibility, or you’re just curious, it’s way easier to check your motherboard model number with these simple tricks than to crack open your case to check the board itself. Here’s how to check your motherboard model number from the comfort of your keyboard.
Why Do I Want To Do This?
Knowing your motherboard’s model number is important if you’re thinking of upgrading your drivers, buying new hardware (you’ll need the proper expansion or memory slots, for example), or just checking the capabilities of your board if you’re considering upgrading your whole rig.
If you kept the paperwork that came with your computer (or the individual components, if you built it yourself), you can often times reference that. Even then, it’s best to check to make sure the documentation is correct. Rather than open the case and search for the model number on the board itself, use tools within Windows to check things out instead.
Check Your Model Number from the Command Prompt (or PowerShell)
If you’re comfortable using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell, where these commands also work), you can easily check a variety of motherboard and hardware stats using the handy Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC)—a command-line interface for Microsoft’s powerful WMI tool.
With the WMIC, you can entry the query baseboard to check motherboard stats, and then use additional modifiers like get Manufacturer, Model, Name, PartNumber, slotlayout, serialnumber, or poweredon to get more detailed information about the motherboard.
As an example, let’s check a motherboard’s manufacturer, model number, and serial number using WMIC.
Open up the command prompt in Windows via either the run dialog (Windows+R) or by searching for “cmd” on the Start menu — no need to run the Command Prompt as an administrator. And, as we mentioned, you could also use PowerShell here, if you prefer. The command works the same in both shells. At the command line, type the following text (noting that there are no spaces between the modifiers—just commas), and then hit Enter:
The information returned checks out for the motherboard we’re using: the manufacturer is Gigabyte, the board is the Z170X-Gaming 7, and while the WMIC tool tried to check the serial number, Gigabyte left that particular bit unfilled for whatever reason. Nonetheless, the WMIC tool functioned just as it should, and without opening the case or using any third party tools, we have the basic information we’re looking for.
Check Your Model Number in System Information
System Information is a no-frills way to look up the details of your PC’s hardware and software. There are two easy ways to launch it. Click the Start button, type “System Information” into the search bar, and then hit Enter or click “Open.”
Alternatively, you can use the Run window. Hit Windows+R to open a run dialog, then type “msinfo32” into the Run prompt and hit Enter.
The “System Summary” page will be open by default. Scroll down and look for the line named “BaseBoard Product” — that is your motherboard.
Check Your Model Number with Speccy
If you want another GUI-based way to check your motherboard’s model number (as well as a method that yields more information at a glance than the WMIC tool), you can grab the free tool Speccy. It’s a handy app to have around.
After downloading and installing Speccy, go ahead and fire it up.
You can see the motherboard model number right on the summary page, along with it’s current operating temperature (assuming your board includes that). You can also see basic details about other system components.
Click over to the “Motherboard” tab on the left to see even more information about your motherboard, including details about the chipset and voltages, along with the types of slots included on the board and whether or not they’re currently in use.
Check Your Motherboard Model with HWiNFO64
HWiNFO64 displays most of the same information as Speccy, though it looks fairly different. Downlod and launch it to get started.
HWiNFO64 can display any of the information about your system, including all of the information available from the sensors. That isn’t necessary in this case and will only add to the clutter, so launch HWiNFO64 in “Summary-Only” mode.
Tick the box that says “Summary-Only,” then click “Start.”
You’ll see a window that displays everything about your PC’s hardware. The left section gives you all of the details about your CPU, the middle section provides information about your motherboard and RAM, and the right-most section focuses on your GPU and hard drives.
The first few lines will tell you everything you need to know about your motherboard, including the model name, number, BIOS version, and manufacturer.
If none of those options work, you can always boot into the BIOS or UEFI. The motherboard model number and manufacturer are usually plainly displayed somewhere on the BIOS or UEFI main menu.
RELATED: How to Enter the BIOS on Windows 10
