need something to gauge cpu performance

Activity Monitor for Panther and CPU Monitor for Jaguar and earlier fill that role. You can find them in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder.

 

That and you can go to www.konfabulator.com to get several neat widgets that give you many different kinds of interfaces to use as CPU monitors. Dowload Konfabulator first, then go to the gallery and search for CPU monitor applications.

Goodluck!
Seth

 

I want to point out that Konfabulator even in an IDLE stat uses CPU.

(wtf).

If you want just generally look at what your CPU is running (how much %) I highly suggest MenuMeter.

Turn on the CPU area and in the uper right hand on your screen you see a graph (or bar, or whatever).

Very neat.

 

Oh, and guess what? Menu Meter uses CPU too. Maybe a half percentage point less, by most calculations.

wtf.

I still reccommend the Konfabulator.

 

All CPU monitors use CPU power, get over it guys. Even using the Terminal and running the top command can take up to 10% CPU.

However, anything with a GUI takes more CPU power because it has to gather those results and then make them pretty for you. MenuMeter has lower usage because its a pretty basic graph.

 

True, except that my GUI based CPU monitor takes 2.5, versus 3.5 by the Panther one.....whatever. Use what you like!

 

yea for some reason i think ipulse uses a decent amount of cpu just to keep it running
its looks cool tho ,

 

iPulse is cool looking, but I think I like the simplicity of the stadard widgit that comes with Konfabulator.

 

i have to say that MenuMeters is the nicest to use and view.

i used to use widgets, but they take up a fair bit of screen space (or at least they can), and if you open windows on top of it, then you can't see it. if you have the widget set to 'topmost' level, then it obscures windows that are below it. you just can't win.

but with MenuMeters, they just sit nicely up in the menu bar, unobtrusive and out of the way.

 

iPulse.

It uses a cycle or two, but it''s worth it.

 

I agree, I only really use the calender widgit, and I put that as "desktop" level.

WeatherMenu is a really nice program: all the weather info you need up in your menu bar. Very smooth.