Graphical System Information Utilities

All mainstream operating systems include built-in graphical tools to access hardware specification data including processor architecture.

Windows

Press the Win + R key combination to open the Run dialog, enter msinfo32 and press Enter. In the left navigation panel, select System Summary, then locate the Processor entry in the right pane. The architecture type (x86, x86_64, ARM) is listed as part of the processor description.

macOS

Click the Apple logo in the top menu bar, select About This Mac, then click the System Report button. Navigate to the Hardware section in the left sidebar, select Processor to view the full architecture details. For Apple Silicon devices, the architecture will be listed as arm64.

Linux

Most Linux desktop distributions include a system info utility. For GNOME-based systems, open Settings > About to view the processor architecture. For KDE environments, navigate to Info Center > Devices > Processor.

Third-Party Hardware Monitoring Tools

CPU-Z is a widely used lightweight utility that provides detailed processor, motherboard, memory and GPU specifications. Download the official version from the developer website, launch the executable, and navigate to the CPU tab. The architecture value is displayed alongside other core processor parameters such as core count, cache size and supported instruction sets.

Command Line Identification Methods

Command line tools offer a faster way to fetch architecture data, especially for headless systems or automated scripts.

Windows Command Prompt/PowerShell

Run the following command to return processor architecture information:

wmic cpu get name, architecture

An alternative command to get a simplified architecture output:

echo %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%

macOS Terminal

Execute the following command to pull the full processor brand string including architecture:

sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string

To check if the device runs Apple Silicon (arm64 architecture), use:

sysctl -n hw.optional.arm64

A return value of 1 confirms an arm64 architecture.

Linux Terminal

The lscpu utility is preinstalled on most Linux distributions, run it to get full processor specification data:

lscpu

Alternatively, read the cpuinfo virtual file to extract the model name and architecture:

grep "model name" /proc/cpuinfo | head -n 1

Sample Linux Output

Running lscpu on an x86_64 system returns output similar to the following:

Architecture:            x86_64
  CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
  Address sizes:         48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
  Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                  12
  On-line CPU(s) list:   0-11
Vendor ID:               AuthenticAMD
  Model name:            AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core Processor
    CPU family:          25
    Model:               33
    Thread(s) per core:  2
    Core(s) per socket:  6
    Socket(s):           1
    Stepping:            0
    CPU max MHz:         4650.0000
    CPU min MHz:         2200.0000
    Virtualization:      AMD-V
    L1d cache:           192 KiB
    L1i cache:           192 KiB
    L2 cache:            3 MiB
    L3 cache:            32 MiB
NUMA node(s):          1
  NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0-11

The first line of the output confirms the system architecture is x86_64.