On our desk this week - 6

ThermoHawk 200

Have you ever wondered just how hot some of your kit is running? You'll surely be aware of how (un)reliable onboard temperature monitors can be, so what can be done?

The ThermoHawk 200 is one in a range of temperature monitors from a company called Q3 Innovations. It's the base model, with the 400 and 400L being its bigger brothers.

How does it work? Well, it simply uses infra-red to measure the temperature coming off a device. All you have to do is point it at whatever it is you want measuring, press the button, and the little LCD display will tell you what you need to know.

The thermometer comes with a couple of little cell batteries which you simply push in, having unscrewed the top. There's a button on the side which allows you to change between degrees farenheit and degrees centigrade, depending on whichever takes your fancy.

In use, we found it a little hit and miss. You have to get pretty close to a heat source to measure it reliably, but once you do get it there, the temperatures seem pretty realistic. We don't have an industrial-sized heatgun to check the temperatures against, but correlated with onboard temperature monitoring, the combination of the two gives a pretty good indication of what your kit is actually doing.

If you're a big overclocker, the chance to find out more about temperatures of specific components of your system could be crucial. Of course, you can also use it to measure the temperature of the heat in different parts of your case, allowing you to analyse and improve airflow and cooling. However, at $60 imported, it's pretty expensive. You're going to really want to be lowering those temps for an investment of that magnitude for a gadget.

Name: Q3I ThermoHawk 200
Buy it from: ThinkGeek in the US, UK availability TBC
Cost: US$60
Verdict: Quite pricey, but if you're a serious overclocker you might appreciate it.