BENCHLAB Dashboard User Guide

This guide covers the official BENCHLAB Dashboard monitoring and control app. It explains how to install the app and how to use each page. It is available via our Downloads page.

 

What you need

The BENCHLAB Dashboard reads live data from your board through the BENCHLAB Service, a small background service that the installer sets up for you and that keeps running even when the app window is closed. The app itself is just the window you interact with. If the Service isn't running, the app has nothing to show.

Some features differ between the original BENCHLAB and BENCHLAB 2 (BL2):

  • The 12VHPWR page only applies to BENCHLAB 2, which monitors a 12VHPWR power connector.
  • The I/O page's 5VSB button only appears on BENCHLAB 2.
  • The Notifications page, since the original BENCHLAB has no onboard fault/buzzer system, notes that its alerts are the only automated protection available for that board.

 

Installing and first launch

  1. Run the installer. It installs the BENCHLAB Dashboard and the BENCHLAB Service (shown in Windows as BENCHLAB Service), and sets up a system tray icon.
  2. On first launch, the app connects to the Service automatically; no configuration is required.
  3. The app can run from the system tray: closing the main window hides it rather than quitting. Click the tray icon (or choose Show from its right-click menu) to bring the window back.
  4. The tray menu's right-click options are:
    • Show: opens/focuses the main window.
    • Start with Windows: toggles autostart (also available in Settings).
    • Service: Start / Service: Stop: starts or stops the BENCHLAB Service. Windows will prompt you to approve this (UAC), since it requires administrator rights.
    • Quit: fully exits the app.


Navigating the app

The sidebar lists, top to bottom: Dashboard, Power, Voltage, 12VHPWR, Temperature, Fans, RGB, I/O, Notifications, Settings, About. The window has the usual minimize, maximize/restore and close controls in its title bar.


Dashboard

The landing page. At the top is a fixed row of headline readings: System, CPU, GPU and mainboard power, plus a "hottest" tile showing whichever temperature sensor is currently highest.

Below that is your own customizable tile area:

  • Click Add tile to pin any sensor as a value, chart, or gauge tile.
  • Tiles can be reordered; a tile for a sensor your board doesn't report stays saved (in case you switch to a board that does have it) but is hidden until then.
  • Reset tiles restores the default tile layout.

 

Power, Voltage, 12VHPWR, & Temperature monitoring pages

These pages share a common layout: grouped sections of live sensor readings, each with a chart, a legend, and a table — all kept in sync, so hovering a chart highlights the matching row and shows a tooltip with that series' value, unit, and time.

  • Power: Summary (system/CPU/GPU/mainboard power), Rail Power, and Rail Current sections.
  • Voltage: Board Voltages, Rail Voltages, and VIN Channels sections.
  • 12VHPWR (BENCHLAB 2 only): a connector-power chart, followed by one card per connector showing per-wire current balance, a chart, and a table.
  • Temperature: Board/Environment, External Sensors, and (on BENCHLAB 2 with a 12VHPWR connector attached) 12VHPWR Sensors sections.

Each of these pages has a Reset stats button to clear accumulated min/max/average readings.

 

Fans

  • A read-only card at the top shows the physical fan switch position on the board: AUTO, 50%, or 100%. If it hasn't been reported yet it shows "Checking" and then "Not reported," with a Check again button; flip the physical switch and press it to refresh. 
  • Below that: live Duty Cycle and RPM sections per fan header.
  • The Fan configuration card lets you select one of 3 curve profiles and a specific fan to edit its curve.

 

RGB

  • Choose a profile (1 or 2) from the dropdown; the one currently active on the board is marked and the page opens on it automatically the first time it's known.
  • Edit mode, speed, direction, and the three color channels (or use the color picker), with a live preview swatch.
  • Nothing is written to the board until you click Apply. 
  • Check again re-reads which profile is physically active, in case you flipped the switch on the board.

 

I/O

Lets you remotely press the board's front-panel buttons (Power, Reset, Other, and 5VSB (BL2-only)). For safety, you must flip the Arm switch on before any button becomes clickable. This prevents an accidental press.


Notifications

Notifications are app-side alerts that only run while BENCHLAB Dashboard is running; they are not the same as any protection built into the board's firmware, and do nothing if the app isn't running. (On the original BENCHLAB, which has no onboard fault/buzzer hardware, this is the only automated protection available.)

  • The top card lists currently active notifications (sensor, severity, value, and when raised).
  • Below that, you can add, edit, or remove rules: pick a sensor (or a wildcard pattern matching several sensors), a comparison, a threshold, how long the condition must hold before it fires, hysteresis, and severity (warn/critical). Use Seed defaults to restore a sensible starting rule set, and Save to apply your changes.

 

Settings

  • App preferences: theme (dark/light), chart style (line/area), the graph's visible time window, and how much history is kept.
  • Service: shows the Service's host/port (fixed, read-only), lets you adjust its polling interval and history length, and includes a Restart button for the Service plus a log viewer.
  • Integrations:
    • HWiNFO export shares live sensor values with HWiNFO (desktop app only).
    • CSV logging: Start and Stop are separate buttons so you can't accidentally start-then-stop with a double click. While running, it shows the file(s) being written, rows written so far, and elapsed time. The log folder and interval are locked while a session is running; set them before starting. If the destination folder is invalid, Start reports the failure immediately rather than silently failing partway through. Files are written in a spreadsheet-friendly CSV format.
    • Start with Windows: toggles autostart (desktop app only).

 

About

Shows app and Service versions, Service uptime, number of connected devices, platform, and connected board's firmware version. Includes buttons to open the Docs, GitHub repository, benchlab.io website, User Guide, and Discord support server in your browser.

 

Uninstalling

Use Windows' standard "Add or remove programs" to uninstall BENCHLAB Dashboard. This also removes the BENCHLAB Service.