Decent system-monitoring app's for W8?

Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
Forum Member
Okay, this is another slightly long-winded one so bear with me....

I've been monkeying around with home-made VR headsets for a while now and, as a result, I'm always on the look-out for small LCD displays that might be useful.
So, I've been given a dinky little 6" VGA touch-screen LCD on the assumption that I might be able to make use of it.

Trouble is, it's only 640 x 480 resolution so it's never going to be much use in a VR device but it's built into a double-height 5.25" bay and, as I said, it's got a touch-screen as well (I assume it came out of some kind of industrial PC or, perhaps, a car-PC) so I was wondering about fitting it into my PC and using it to display system info etc.

Which raises a couple of issues....

Firstly, is there enough software out there to make it useful?
I currently have an ASUS mobo' and there's a system-monitor utility for that but I was wondering if there's any fancy monitoring app's out there specifically designed to work on a dedicated display or if, perhaps, anybody has any suggestions for how a display like this might be utilised?
I was thinking, perhaps, I could set it up so it displays system-related stuff (memory usage, CPU load, HDD usage etc) and, perhaps, display something like a news ticker-tape and weather info' etc.
And, as I say, I was wondering if anybody knows if there are actually any decent app's for doing stuff like that under W8?

And, secondly, assuming I fit this display and install a variety of funky app's to make use of it, I wonder what sort of impact it would have on the performance of my PC?
It will, obviously, be running as a "second display" attached to my gfx card and I can't help thinking that there's a good chance it'll put quite a bit of extra load on my PC to have, say, a game like Assetto Corsa running on my main monitor and keep displaying a bunch of stuff on the small monitor as well.

I figure that if I can actually find some decent app's to work with it, I'll just hook it up to my gfx card, see what happens (if it slows my PC down while gaming or screws up the display by trying to display games on both screens etc) and then, if the results are positive, I'll build it into my PC properly.

It's just a cute little gadget and I'd like to make some use of it if possible. :blush:

*EDIT*

Meant to say, if anybody's got any other ideas what a small LCD display might be used for in a PC, I'd be happy to hear them.

Comments

  • Mr DosMr Dos Posts: 3,637
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    re: system monitor

    I use Aida64 to monitor my pcs. Comes with a sensor panel that's about the size you mention. Panel is customizable so you can add gfx load etc. Here's a pic with a pixel ruler to give an idea of scale

    http://s17.postimg.org/oagwa8zdr/aida64.jpg

    http://www.aida64.com/

    > not free
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
    Forum Member
    Thanks for that. Looks very impressive. :)

    At the moment I've got the display sat next to my PC, plugged into my gfx card, and, unfortunately, I'm having some issues forcing various games to work correctly with "two monitors".
    Some older games either default to the small display or duplicate the display on both screens etc.

    If I do get the display working as it should (basically, just displaying an extended windows desktop all the time) I'll certainly spring for Aida64.
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