As a PC hardware geek, I consider HWInfo64 to be an absolutely essential tool. It is a comprehensive program that provides you with information on almost every feature and monitoring statistic you could want.
Now it gets a feature that I've wanted for a long time. The latest beta version of HWInfo adds screen display support, allowing it to now function as an all-in-one system monitoring and information app. As a gamer, you previously had to use apps like MSI Afterburner or FRAPS to get OSD support. These apps are particularly useful for keeping track of important things like in-game GPU temperatures, but HWInfo can do much more.
HWInfo can monitor literally hundreds of different functions related to every aspect of your system, and you can choose which of them to display in the OSD. You may want to keep an eye on an SSD getting hot GPU air, your GPU's memory usage, or how much power your CPU is using at any given time.
OSD monitoring is anything but a new concept. Core functions of the OSD such as temperature or clock monitoring would not have been worth mentioning, as these functions are already supported by other apps. But the far more comprehensive monitoring capabilities of HWInfo combined with the functionality of CPU-Z, GPU-Z or FRAPS are very welcome.
The app is still in beta and is just a standalone app. This means you need to go to your main Program Files directory to get OSD support. In the future, installable versions of HWInfo will do this automatically.
I briefly experimented with the beta and it seems to work well for the most part. There is still room for improvement as the interface feels a bit clunky and I had some issues switching between windowed and fullscreen modes. I'm sure it will catch up with time. Other monitoring apps have a long development lead.
The downside is that the free version of HWInfo limits OSD monitoring to just five items. This is sufficient for most users, although it is of course easy to change the sensors you want to monitor.
The HWInfo OSD functionality is based on Intel's PresentMon, which means things like in-game FPS and frame time (in milliseconds) can be monitored, but that means losing Windows XP support. Some retro gamers will be annoyed by this, but at least older versions of HWInfo are still available – albeit without OSD support.
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