G.Skill's WigiDash PC Command Panel For Gamers Is Coming For Stream Deck's Lunch Money
G.Skill is arguably best known for its ever-evolving lineup of enthusiast memory products, such as its Trident and Ripjaws RAM, but it actually has an expansive lineup that extends into CPU coolers, power supplies, PC cases, and of course peripherals like keyboards and mice, to name a few. Adding to that latter category is G.Skill's new WigiDash PC Command Panel, which it describes as the "ultimate widget dashboard."
It's also an instant competitor to Elgato's Stream Deck MK.2. While not exactly the same, they're similar in form, function, and even price. The general idea is to offer gamers a set of hotkey functions on a dedicated pad that's separate from the keyboard. G.Skill's WigiDash can also display various vitals at a glance.
The device sports a 7-inch IPS display with a 1024x600 resolution and touch support. Users can customize the display with 20 on-screen buttons or widgets, which are arranged in a 5x4 grid just like the Stream Deck MK.2. However, the design is not exactly the same—Elgato's Stream Deck devices utilize LCD buttons whereas G.Skill opted for a singular display. There's also Razer's Stream Controller X, which also employs LCD buttons but in a 5x3 grid array.
"WigiDash is designed for optimizing workflow and displaying system info on a touch panel display through hotkey and widget support, making this a versatile and adaptable command panel for the PC. Hotkeys can be customized to open programs, files, links, and trigger actions in the Windows OS, so the most frequently used shortcuts are accessible according to personal needs, and can be set up to switch depending on the application in focus," G.Skill explains.
Support for widgets means users can integrate third-party utilities such as HWiNFO and AIDA64 SensorPanel. Likewise, users can choose to fill out some of of the grid with widgets to display the weather, time, a stopwatch, and so forth.
We haven't tested the WigiDash, but according to G.Skill, it's "easy to use, yet powerful." Using the WigiDash Manager software, users can drag and drop widgets into the 5x4 grid.
"The WigiDash Manager allows the creation of countless pages that can be tailored to your personal needs, and enables advanced options to customize icons, colors, and fonts according to your preferences. To further optimize workflow and increase ease of use, the 'Actions' menu allows the creation of rules and triggers to automate actions on your system or in WigiDash," G.Skill says.
The WigiDash Manager also enables users to export custom profiles to either share or set aside as a backup. And it supports having multiple WigiDash PC Command Center devices on a single PC, for those who might want more than 20 buttons/widgets.
G.Skill's WigiDash PC Command Center is available now for $129.99 on Amazon. That also the same price as the Stream Deck MK.2 currently, which is discounted from $149.99. It will be interesting to see if G.Skill follows this up with a bigger version to compete with the Stream Deck XL, which has 32 keys in an 8x4 grid. That one goes for $189.99 on Amazon (on sale from $249.99). Finally, Razer's Stream Controller X is available for $126.86 (on sale from $149.99)
