Fan Control vs Geekbench
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, ratings, and alternatives.
Fan Control is a Windows utility by developer Remi Mercier (Rem0o) that gives PC builders granular control over CPU, GPU, case, and AIO pump fans. Instead of relying on motherboard BIOS curves, it reads temperatures from multiple hardware sources at once and lets you graph custom fan-speed responses per component. It uses the open-source LibreHardwareMonitor library for sensor data and supports a plugin system for extra hardware support (including some Dell laptops and HWiNFO integration). The app itself is closed-source but completely free, distributed via GitHub releases and package managers like Winget, Scoop, and Chocolatey.
Geekbench is a comprehensive cross-platform benchmarking tool designed to measure system performance with a single click. It evaluates both single-core and multi-core capabilities across various workloads to provide a clear picture of how a device handles everyday tasks and demanding applications. Widely used by consumers, hardware reviewers, and IT professionals, Geekbench provides standardized scoring metrics to easily compare performance across different operating systems and hardware architectures. Its detailed reporting helps users diagnose performance bottlenecks and evaluate hardware upgrades.
- Completely free with no ads, license keys, or nag screens
- Very low resource footprint compared to full vendor RGB/control suites
- Extremely granular curve and multi-sensor mixing control
- Active development with a real plugin ecosystem
- Easy to use with a single-click testing process
- Comprehensive cross-platform support
- Detailed and shareable online result browser
- Includes specialized AI and GPU workloads
- Windows only, no macOS or Linux build
- UI and curve editor have a learning curve for first-time users
- Relies on motherboard fan headers being software-controllable, which varies by hardware
- Free version is limited to 32-bit testing on some platforms
- Does not provide granular component stress testing
- Advanced features require a paid professional license
