Creator Spotlight: Custom AIO LCD Widgets by sdzzps

Our LCD AIOs come with a few different animations and widgets available in iCUE straight out of the box, however, that isn't always enough for our users. Sometimes they have even better ideas. Peisong, AKA sdzzps is one of those users, making him perfect for the CORSAIR Creator Spotlight. Let's take a look.

"Hi, my name is Peisong, and I usually go by sdzzps as a developer. I am a software engineer, and I also have background in mathematics, filmmaking, and music production. I recently built two custom iCUE widgets for the CORSAIR AIO cooler LCD screen."

"I’ve been using CORSAIR devices and iCUE for a long time. While iCUE offers a wide range of lighting and screen presets, I still sometimes find the options of native widgets limiting and hoped there were more options.

"After a recent update, I noticed that iCUE now supports importing widgets. Although this feature seemed to be intended primarily for the XENEON EDGE, and there had been no custom widget for AIO pump LCD, I couldn’t help wondering: “What if this API works with pump LCDs too?” Since there is well written documentation on the CORSAIR website and we have AI agents today, it would be no harm giving it a try. "

"I’d say the things I build are usually more pragmatic rather than decorative. To me, a good product should first address a real need, and being visually appealing should come second. Also, I like minimalist design, so I try to avoid overly complex visuals that might distract users."

"The first widget I built is “Segment Digits”. It displays data from three sensors in old-time LCD 7-segment digits style. Sensors, colors, and labels are fully customizable."

"The second one I built is “Fluid Ball”. It is a circular-layout widget that displays data from up to 5 sensors. The center of the layout is a liquid ball with 2D Canvas animations. It indicates the temperature and flow speed of the AIO coolant. CPU package temperature and pump speed are on the top and the bottom. On the sides there are two optional elements: the fan speed indicator and the histogram of CPU load."

You can download the .icuewidget files below:

"Segment Digits is the widget that turns your pump LCD into a vintage 7-segment digits LCD screen.

"Fluid Ball is a flat-design widget that tells you the status of the CPU and its cooling system at a glance"

"The simple answer to this is: anyone who has a CORSAIR device with circular LCD screen. (I’m just kidding.) To be more specific, I think Segment Digits would be more appealing to users who like vintage electronic devices or Analog Futurism, while Fluid Ball best suits people who prefer flat design or dense information layouts."

"The first widget Segment Digits came about pretty randomly. It was mainly about testing whether the API would actually work, so I just grabbed the first idea that came to my mind. I chose this 7-segment digits style because I was inspired by an alarm clock app from the very early days, maybe iOS 4. By that time, I was in elementary school. The iPod touch and its apps are part of my childhood memories.

"Creating the second widget Fluid Ball was a more deliberate process. Because Segment Digits is just plain data display, I wanted to make something more stylish and creative. I first brainstormed with AI chatbots to figure out which sensor data matters most to AIO cooler users. And considering the shape and size of the LCD screen, a circular layout and 3-5 elements would be reasonable."

"Before making my own widgets, I liked to use the native Concentric widget on my pump screen. I usually put three Concentric widgets in a screen list gallery so I can view coolant temperature, CPU temperature, and GPU temperature. However, this setup often kept me waiting for the data to show in turn, so I wanted to make widgets that can tell me data from multiple sensors at a glance."

"Since there are very few custom widgets available for pump screens, I guess I should compare them with the native widgets in iCUE. Apparently, the visual styles are very different, so they could appeal to users whose builds or lighting styles match them. Also, as mentioned above, they provide more data on a single screen, and that should appeal to users who prefer higher information density."

"Usually, the hardest part of a coding project is dealing with interfaces and I/O. But with AI agents helping now, we can avoid much of the hassle. Still, debugging and performance optimization can be troublesome.

"After adding all the elements into Fluid Ball and it seemed to display properly, I noticed that the screen occasionally shows black, pixelated artifacts. This is a typical rendering glitch. I have also seen this issue in the native Constructor widget when displaying GIF animations. At first, I thought it was because the fluid ball’s Canvas animation was too demanding, or the USB connection was unstable. After many rounds of testing and debugging, I finally found out that setting the animation at 30 fps instead of 24 fps solves this issue. This is probably because the LCD’s hardware refresh rate is also 30 fps, and the resampling of 24 fps may cause issues somewhere in the rendering pipeline.

"Another problem I encountered was the widgets causing iCUE to freeze for almost a minute during startup. It turned out that iCUE loads components in an asynchronous way during startup, but adding each device would cause the widget to refresh all its sensor data and to pull data from the API. The fix is adding minimum delays between widget refreshes and making the widget pull data asynchronously to avoid flooding the API."

"I guess that would be the moment I realized that maybe turning up the animation frame rate instead of turning it down would fix the glitching."

"I use these widgets with different lighting profiles. I used Segment Digits to display coolant temperature, AIO fan speed, and CPU package temperature in an all-white lighting setup. (See attached image files.) I used Fluid Ball in dark or colorful profiles, including my default iCUE profile."

"I have an all-CORSAIR setup. The chassis is the classic Crystal 680X. Its transparent design language with three glass panels and dual-chamber structure are my favorites. I used to pair it with the LL series fans, a front-mounted H150i Elite LCD 360mm cooler, and the commander hub ecosystem. Recently I switched to the iCUE LINK ecosystem by replacing all the fans with QX120 and 140"

"The CPU is Intel i9-13900K and the motherboard is ASUS ProArt Z790. This combination provides strong multi-thread performance, overall stability and plentiful I/O options that are helpful to my workflows of coding and video editing. The graphic card is a vertical-mounted NVIDIA RTX 3080Ti. I use RM1000x power supply for this system.

"I know it’s sacrilegious for a PC with fancy lighting, but I still put it under my desk to save desktop space for my audio equipment. I often bend down to admire it though."

"The animation water in Fluid Ball flows faster when the AIO pump runs at high speed."

"Only the currently selected widget of a profile has persistent storage for its customizable values, which means all non-selected widgets (including pre-installed native widgets) will restore to defaults when switching away from the profile or closing iCUE. Keep the widget selected before leaving iCUE or switching profile to prevent loss of settings."

"After I posted on Reddit, I saw a German user put room temperature on Segment Digits. This is interesting because QX series fans come with embedded temperature sensors, and you can essentially get room temperature from an intake fan. This is a good way to know when to turn on the AC."

"I am thinking about making a series of Analog Futuristic widgets after Segment Digits. Maybe experimenting with more Skeuomorphic elements, such as nixie tubes and Soviet-styled radar screens. I am also thinking of exploring different visual styles, perhaps translucent elements with customizable background images (yeah, I’m a big fan of Frutiger Aero and Windows Vista)."

"I hope people get inspired and create their own widgets. Although this API is new, the official docs and the agent skill are very helpful. It’s a great ecosystem. Everyone has their unique perspectives and needs, and these are the most valuable things for creation. I’m thrilled to see more custom widgets coming."