AMD Power Gadget is a free, open-source menu-bar utility and VirtualSMC plugin that brings real-time CPU power, temperature, and frequency monitoring to Macs running AMD processors — filling a gap Apple's own tools leave entirely empty.
What is AMD Power Gadget?
AMD Power Gadget is a companion tool for AMD-powered hackintosh builds (and niche AMD Mac configurations) that surfaces live telemetry — wattage draw, per-core clock speeds, die temperature — directly in the macOS menu bar. It pairs a kernel extension with a VirtualSMC plugin so that hardware sensor data macOS would otherwise ignore becomes readable by any SMC-aware app, including iStat Menus and HWMonitor.
The project lives on GitHub under the handle trulyspinach, and if you've ever stared at Activity Monitor wondering why there's zero CPU power data on your AMD rig, this is the tool the AMD hackintosh community quietly depends on.
What does AMD Power Gadget do best?
It excels at bridging the SMC sensor gap that AMD hardware creates on macOS. Intel machines get Apple's own Power Gadget; AMD machines get nothing — until this. The VirtualSMC plugin (SMCAMDProcessor.kext) exposes CPU temperature and frequency readings to the SMC layer, which means downstream apps that already know how to read SMC data suddenly gain AMD awareness without any changes on their end.
- Live wattage readout — see actual package power draw, not an estimate
- Per-core frequency tracking — useful when diagnosing thermal throttle on multi-CCX Ryzen chips
- SMC exposure — once the kext is loaded, iStat Menus, Stats, and similar apps pick up the sensors automatically
- Menu-bar overlay — a lightweight native popover with a sparkline graph; no Electron, no subscriptions
Is AMD Power Gadget free?
Yes — AMD Power Gadget is completely free to download and use. It is open-source software released on GitHub, which means you can inspect every line of code before loading a kernel extension onto your machine (something I'd strongly recommend doing). There are no in-app purchases, no license keys, and no telemetry phoning home.
Who should use AMD Power Gadget?
This tool is squarely aimed at hackintosh builders running AMD Ryzen or Threadripper CPUs under macOS. If you built an OpenCore system on a B550 or X570 board and you want to know whether your CPU is actually boosting to advertised clocks — or cooking itself under load — AMD Power Gadget is the only native-feeling solution I've found. It is not for stock Mac hardware, and it's not for the faint-hearted: installing a kernel extension requires disabling SIP or using a signed kext workflow, and setup assumes you already know your way around an EFI partition.
If you run iStat Menus or the open-source Stats app and felt frustrated that CPU temperature was always blank on your AMD build, this fills that hole precisely. Users on Intel Macs should look elsewhere — Intel Power Gadget (discontinued by Intel) or the sensors already surfaced natively are more appropriate.
How does AMD Power Gadget compare to iStat Menus and Stats?
iStat Menus and Stats are menu-bar consumers of sensor data; AMD Power Gadget is a sensor producer. They are complementary, not competing. Without AMD Power Gadget's kext loaded, iStat Menus shows no CPU temperature on AMD hardware — with it loaded, iStat Menus gains a full suite of AMD readings instantly. Think of AMD Power Gadget as the plumbing; iStat Menus is the faucet.
Against Intel Power Gadget (now abandoned by Intel), the comparison is direct: both show power and frequency, but AMD Power Gadget's SMC integration layer makes it more composable with the broader macOS monitoring ecosystem. The trade-off is that AMD Power Gadget requires deeper system access and isn't signed by Apple, so the trust calculus is different.
What are the best AMD Power Gadget alternatives?
For AMD hackintosh users, there is no true drop-in alternative — this is the only project purpose-built for the use case. Adjacent options include:
- HWMonitor — reads SMC sensors but requires AMD Power Gadget's kext to have anything to show on AMD
- Stats (open source) — same dependency situation; pairs beautifully once the kext is running
- GPU Benchmark / CPU Benchmark utilities — point-in-time, not continuous monitoring
- IORegistryExplorer — raw developer tool, not a daily-driver replacement
If you're on a genuine Apple Silicon Mac, none of these apply — the M-series chips expose their own power telemetry through different channels, and tools like Asitop (Python, terminal) or the built-in Instruments profiler are the right path.
