Introduction

There are over 50 reviews on TechPowerUp of G.SKILL products to date, with the vast majority being RAM kits the company is undoubtedly most known for. The Taiwanese PC brand is almost synonymous with performance-oriented gear too, with one of my consistent memories of Computex being the large G.SKILL overclocking booth on the show floor. Recent years have seen G.SKILL step into other fields though, including cases, CPU coolers, keyboards, and accessories such as keycaps too. Today we cover another such G.SKILL product that aims to improve your quality of life as a PC desktop/laptop user.


WigiDash is short for Widget Dashboard, and a quick look at the cover photo here reveals what G.SKILL intends to offer. This is a 7" touch panel with widget support you can customize via software, allowing for a large enough display on your desk for not only quick visual information of your PC metrics but also control over several third-party programs too. As such, I get why G.SKILL is calling the WigiDash a PC command panel, with the ability to optimize workflow for content creators too. It's a plug-and-play device for most people, with a single USB connection for power and data combined with pre-programmed screens and widgets to get you going. Let's see how the WigiDash works out in practice in this article today beginning with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to G.SKILL for providing a sample to TechPowerUp!

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The G.SKILL WigiDash ships in a small-ish product box made of thick cardboard, and employs a two-piece design. On the front we see the brand logo and product name in addition to a render of the display lit up and showing some of the default widgets. More of this continues on the back, with G.SKILL showcasing some of what you can do with the WigiDash. Lift the lid to reveal a quick start guide (online version available here), although G.SKILL provides a more detailed tutorial guide available in multiple languages online, which is my recommendation for anyone new to such devices. Underneath is the product itself surrounded by foam for added protection. A cardboard tray on the bottom acts as a divider for the other accessory, which happens to be a simple USB Type-C to Type-A cable. Peel off the plastic cover on the display and you are done with the unboxing.

Closer Examination

The G.SKILL WigiDash is a touch screen housed in a thick plastic chassis, that's basically the gist of it. The plastic body is black with branding at the bottom, and I wish the bezels were thinner given this doesn't give me 2024 tech vibes. It's not like you will be holding it in your hands much anyway, yet G.SKILL has made it so on the back the chassis extends outward in case you do want several hands on it at the same time, for whatever reason. There is plenty of rubber padding on the back, which works if you want to lay this flat on your desk, although realistically most people are going to use the integrated stand to prop it at an angle. This stand, again made of plastic, has minimal padding and relies more on the opposing forces from the position to hold the WigiDash in place. It is not the most sturdy thus, and can simply clip off if you accidentally press down on it. There's also no way to change the stand angle, meaning you are forced with either flat or this fixed viewing angle, although you can position it on your desk to better be in line with your eyes. Overall this is an uninspiring design that I see loads of room for improvement upon.


A cutout in the back hosts the USB Type-C port that the provided cable plugs into and then heads out from the left side as seen above. I hope your PC is positioned to the left, too, else you might have to figure out some cable management to keep this 1.8 m black sleeved cable neatly tucked away on your desk along with your other peripheral cables—a right-angled connector would look cleaner rather than this jutting straight out, and the cable being stiffer than I'd like doesn't help either. You can of course use any cable you have on hand, as the WigiDash just needs a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) connection to both power the display and provide data back and forth. This is by far the biggest selling point here compared to similarly sized display accessories that often require multiple USB connections, if not video out or standalone power in. Obviously this simpler setup also means the WigiDash is not a second display, and is thus restricted to what G.SKILL offers with the panel. Well, most people reading this article anyway, as those of you blessed with the ability to make your own widgets can find the SDK resources on GitHub. This is also where the hidden port on the back comes in play, and G.SKILL doesn't mention it at all in any literature.

Software Control and Lighting

Based on what we've seen then, G.SKILL's own software is critical to making the WigiDash a success in meeting goals advertised by the brand. There's a dedicated software program here, aptly called WigiDash Manager Software, and you can find the installer on this page. The latest version at the time of testing was v1.1.8890.36668 from early May 2024, meaning there has been no update in six months—not a great sign for a product which has been out for~10 months as of the date I write this. The installer is 17 MB in size, and installation is trivial with the program taking 45 MB in your PC. After all testing was finished, I realized G.SKILL has actually not allowed an uninstallation option anywhere, including in Windows, and you will need to use that same installer file to then remove the program. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but somewhat amateurish and perhaps a harbinger of things to come.


Make sure the WigiDash is connected to your PC before opening the program, although you can use it in a demo mode to get familiar with the customization options. The program is well laid out, all the user controllable elements work as expected, and it even scales nicely with display resolution and OS scaling—there's even a maximize button! G.SKILL also makes it easy by providing a collection of tutorial videos going over most things here, including "pages" which are screens that are a collection of widgets. You have three by default that can be scrolled or clicked into using the touch screen option, and the colors can be changed to make them more distinct too. I also liked the ability to emulate the touchscreen in the software. Widgets are what the product is literally named after, and my first suggestion is to go to the market, even if it seems like you might have to pay there, and update everything already installed in addition to downloading anything else you might want to use. You can also create more pages—these are software profiles, so there's no limit, and the program needs to be running all the time. There are also widget-specific profiles you can download, with some AIDA64 profiles already available on the downloads page linked previously—you will need the paid version of AIDA64 for this. I understand the WigiDash is basically Elmor's (G.SKILL-sponsored overclocker) baby, and he has added some more profiles and widgets on his Discord channel. Even if you are okay chasing these indirect options, there are still far fewer widgets than what a "PC command panel" should have. Making your own widget, within the confines of this program, somewhat alleviates this and G.SKILL does offer a lot of icons as well as custom images to use. You can then control the text/size/color etc., and there are even rules similar to IFTTT to make use of. The problem is this isn't as smart either, with even things such as opening an executable not working—you have to create a file shortcut and link to that instead.


The end result is a product that really feels more like a hobbyist tool, or even something for power users to tinker with, than a feature-rich consumer accessory. Sure, the stock pages work fine, but they have blank spaces by default which is not what I want to see when the WigiDash is first plugged in. Likewise, while the widgets are technically limitless—especially if you go down the SDK route—how many people are realistically going to do this? I've also seen reports of some games crashing while the software was running in the background, although this seems to have been fixed now. Again, I don't think expecting the average end user to go find an unadvertised Discord server and using it to get bug fixes and feature updates is the way to go. Not seeing anything major added in months doesn't help either. I am not convinced this is a more cohesive platform than something that's far more mature thus, such as the Elgato Stream Deck line. Of course, the WigiDash is a larger panel that you can also use for system monitoring, yet calling it a PC command panel might be a touch too far at this time. Take the promise of optimizing a content creator's workflow, for example. It's almost impossible to keep track of even chat channels while monitoring which audio input/output is working. If you use the likes of OBS, for example, things get harder since WigiDash has no idea what settings are used in OBS. I appreciate that the widgets come in various size options to allow you to use the 5x4 grid more efficiently. But what if WigiDash could automatically resize widgets, wherever applicable anyway? There's a lot of room for improvement here, and certainly plenty of potential to make this a very handy accessory. However, given the lack of updates lately, I am not sure everyone will get what they want.

The G.SKILL WigiDash PC command panel costs $130 from the G.SKILL Amazon store at this time.