SiSoftware Sandra Lite

Designed as a complex utility for analyzing your computer's software and hardware abilities as well as running various tests to stress out components separately, SiSoftware Sandra is one of the most resourceful apps in its category. It includes numerous options that require significant time to get used to if you're not familiarized with this kind of software. Suffice it to say, it targets power PC users.

The installation procedure is brief and requires some configuration. You can activate a server to allow authenticated users to remotely log in to the computer, as well as ask the tool to restart on time-consuming General Purpose benchmarks in order to prevent video driver reset.

As far as the interface is concerned, SiSoftware keeps it clean and intuitive, with all components broken down into separate categories, such as tools, benchmarks, hardware and software.

When it comes to hardware data, it is possible to get a complete overview on the computer (e.g. processors, memory, graphics), storage adapters and devices (e.g. drive geometry, S.M.A.R.T.), mainboard, chipsets, busses, processors, power management, display and video adapters, GP (General Purpose) processors and accelerators, printers and faxes, and so on. Regarding software, the application shows details pertaining to the logical drives, file types, fonts, media devices, operating system, memory usage, processes, modules, services and drives, and more.

There are multiple types of benchmarks available, such as SIMD processor units, ALU and FPU processors, as well as financial analysis. Any tasks that you frequently perform can be added to a favorites list for quick access, while information from any area can be generated into a report and exported to file for close inspection and safekeeping. Modules that you don't need can be easily deactivated. It is possible to monitor the environment of your computer.

As expected, SiSoftware Sandra stresses CPU and RAM during benchmarks, but it does not hog system resources when displaying information. It has a good response time and can take a while to load data for the components. No error dialogs were shown in our tests, though, and the tool did not hang or crash. SiSoftware Sandra is an amazing system information and benchmarking utility for advanced users, which comes packed with an interesting set of features. Those looking for more can upgrade to the pro version.