See CPU, RAM, GPU & Disk on Ubuntu — Quick Guide

Want to know if your Ubuntu machine can run that new app, or whether you need more RAM before a big compile? Knowing your computer’s CPU, RAM, GPU and disk quickly is the first step. This guide gives practical, copy-pasta commands and short explanations so you can check everything in minutes — terminal and GUI methods included See CPU, RAM, GPU & Disk on Ubuntu — Quick Guide.

Quick cheat-sheet (commands at a glance)

Copy-paste these in a terminal:

• CPU: lscpu or cat /proc/cpuinfo
  
  
• RAM: free -h or grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo
  
  
• GPU: lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D|Display' (hardware) — nvidia-smi for NVIDIA users.
  
  
• Disk: df -h (usage), lsblk (blocks/partitions), sudo fdisk -l (partition table)
  
  
• One-shot desktop info: screenfetch or neofetch (pretty summary). how to see cpu and gpu specs on Ubuntu
  
  
  

How to see CPU specs on Ubuntu

Why lscpu? It aggregates CPU details from the kernel and /proc and outputs a neat summary — cores, threads, sockets, architecture. It’s the fastest human-readable command.

Example:

lscpu

Output shows: ubuntu system information Architecture, CPU(s), Core(s) per socket, Thread(s) per core, Model name, CPU MHz, L1/L2/L3 cache sizes.

If you want raw detail:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | less

/proc/cpuinfo lists each logical CPU entry (useful if you need the exact model string or flags).

GUI: Open Settings → About or use GNOME System Monitor → Resources for a visual snapshot.

How to see memory (RAM) on Ubuntu

Quick check

free -h

free -h shows total, used, free, shared, buff/cache and available memory — the -h makes it human-readable.

Deep check

grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo

/proc/meminfo has detailed memory stats and is useful for scripts.

GUI: ubuntu system information GNOME System Monitor displays RAM usage over time; Settings → About shows total installed RAM.

Ubuntu 24 memory requirements (short note)

For typical Ubuntu Desktop experiences the community and documentation recommend about 4GB RAM and ~25GB disk for a comfortable desktop install; server installs have much smaller minimums (1.5–2 GB depending on the image). If you plan to run heavy IDEs, containers, or VMs, aim for 8GB+ or more.

How to see GPU specs on Ubuntu

Detect hardware (works for any vendor):

lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D|Display'

This lists PCI devices that are GPUs and the kernel driver in use.

Vendor specifics

• NVIDIA: If you installed the proprietary driver, run: nvidia-smi nvidia-smi reports GPU model, memory, processes, temperature and utilization — useful for debugging GPU-heavy apps.
  
  
• AMD/Nouveau/Intel: Use glxinfo (from mesa-utils) or inxi for summaries: sudo apt install mesa-utils inxi glxinfo | grep -i 'OpenGL renderer' inxi -G inxi provides a readable hardware summary (drivers, VRAM where available).
  
  

Tip: If your GPU isn’t showing correctly, check sudo lshw -c display for driver and device details (may require sudo).

Disk & partition usage (how to check)

Disk usage (filesystems):

df -h

Shows each mounted filesystem and free/used space.

Block devices and partitions:

lsblk -f
sudo fdisk -l   # careful: prints partition table

Check directory sizes (find heavy folders):

du -sh ~/Downloads/*
# or interactive:
sudo apt install ncdu
ncdu /

ncdu is excellent for quickly finding the largest directories.

Disk health: Use GNOME Disks or smartctl (from smartmontools) to run SMART tests:

sudo apt install smartmontools
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

One-view overviews & “preflight” checks

When you want a neat, human-friendly summary (OS version, kernel, installed packages count, CPU, RAM, GPU), screenfetch or neofetch are handy. They are aesthetic tools but also show the Ubuntu version and key specs. Install and run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install screenfetch   # or neofetch
screenfetch

These print an ASCII logo plus the distro name and release — a quick way to use screenfetch to determine ubuntu version.

OS-version commands (script-friendly):

lsb_release -a
hostnamectl
cat /etc/os-release

hostnamectl is especially useful because it shows kernel and architecture alongside the OS.

Live resource monitors

If you want resource usage over time instead of a snapshot:

• top (installed by default) — process CPU/RAM usage live
  
  
• htop — nicer UI; sudo apt install htop
  
  
• glances — cross-metric monitoring (pip or apt version)
  
  
• GNOME System Monitor — GUI app with charts and the ability to kill processes
  
  

Example:

sudo apt install htop
htop

Use F6 in htop to change sort column (CPU/Memory) — great for finding runaway processes.

Example workflows (short real-life scenarios)

1) “Can my laptop run Blender?”

• lscpu → count cores and architecture. man7.org
  
  
• free -h → check RAM (Blender recommends 8GB+ for comfortable scenes).
  
  
• lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA' → check GPU and driver (nvidia-smi if NVIDIA).
  
  
  

2) “I’m out of disk space — what’s filling it?”

• df -h to find full filesystem.
  
  
• sudo ncdu / (or du -sh /var/log/*) to find big folders.
  
  
  

3) “Script this for a support ticket”

• Copy outputs: lscpu > cpu.txt, free -h > mem.txt, nvidia-smi > gpu.txt and attach the three files — concise and useful for support.
  
  
  

Troubleshooting & privacy tips

• Drivers missing? If lspci shows your GPU but nvidia-smi fails, you might be on the open-source driver. Install the vendor driver via Software & Updates → Additional Drivers.
  
  
• Confusing version numbers: screenfetch can sometimes report desktop component versions differently than Settings → About — always trust lsb_release / /etc/os-release for exact distro version.
  
  
• Don’t paste whole logs publicly. Outputs like /proc/cpuinfo and lspci -v are fine, but avoid posting /etc/shadow or other sensitive files. Mask serial numbers if sharing publicly.
  
  
  

Conclusion (short, actionable)

Now you know the fast commands and the deeper checks to answer: what CPU do I have? how much RAM? is my GPU supported? is there enough disk? Start with the cheat-sheet, then use the scenario steps for what you need. If you want a printable checklist, ubuntu 24 memory requirements download the quick checks below.

Call to Action: Want a one-page printable checklist (commands + where to look)? [Download our 1-page Ubuntu Resources Checklist] — perfect to keep in your notes or send to support.