> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://devdocs.xbox.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# XBOX System Monitor

> XBOX System Monitor

This topic describes the XBOX System Monitor tool window, a tool window that the Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK) installs into the Visual Studio shell. The system monitor is a performance monitoring and diagnostic window consisting of two tabs.  The first tab, **Memory (CPU)**,  presents a Task Manager-like view that shows the state of the console that the system monitor is connected to (and that's currently selected in [XBOX Gaming Explorer](/tools/tools-console/visualstudio/xbox-gaming-explorer)). The **Memory (CPU)** tab is focused on title and tooling memory consumption. The second tab, **Console Monitor** displays tracing data from the *OutputDebugString* API and from console game diagnostic events.

As shown in the following screenshot, you can access XBOX System Monitor by selecting the **XBOX** Extensions menu in Visual Studio.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/microsoft-4404708b/NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R/images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_menu.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R&q=85&s=f220a6b9e6fdaaedf3e4113194bf3bbb" alt="Screenshot that shows how to access XBOX System Monitor in Visual Studio" width="466" height="244" data-path="images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_menu.png" />

## Memory (CPU)

The **Memory (CPU)** tab displays the amount of title and tooling memory that's currently in use on the console, in both a line graph and in a set of bar charts. The following screenshot shows a title that uses very little tooling memory, but the title also uses a slowly growing amount of title memory.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/microsoft-4404708b/NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R/images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_memory.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R&q=85&s=e6248005bc256ee2a8f4c1c4f950aaa6" alt="Screenshot that shows the XBOX System Monitor memory graphs" width="396" height="570" data-path="images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_memory.png" />

If you're developing a title that will run on multiple members of the XBOX One family, it's useful to know how close your title is to the retail memory limit of each console type. In the graph in the screenshot, the range of values that are displayed on the y-axis varies with the type of console that the system monitor is connected to. For example, the maximum y-value is greater on an XBOX Series X Dev Kit than on an XBOX One Dev Kit.
You can select the **Retail Limits** drop-down to see a list of consoles and their retail memory limits. If you select the checkbox next to a console type, you see a horizontal line drawn on the graph that represents that console's retail memory limit. The following screenshot shows a title that's close to the retail memory limit of an XBOX One S console.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/microsoft-4404708b/NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R/images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_retail_limit.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R&q=85&s=02b32cf63be67e1ebcded49b8024e642" alt="Screenshot that shows retail memory limits" width="397" height="566" data-path="images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_retail_limit.png" />

For more information about the amount of title memory that's available on each console type, see [Configuring memory for your title and dev kit](/build/console-features/memory/system-memory-tooling).

For a description of the tools for performing a deeper analysis of how your title is using memory, see [Analyzing memory usage and performance](/tools/tools-console/pix/memory-performance). For more information about the tools that are provided by PIX, see [PIX](/tools/tools-console/pix/pix).

## Console Monitor

The **Console Monitor** tab displays a subset of the console tracing that is currently displayed in [xbWatson](/tools/tools-console/xbWatson/xbwatson).  The tracing displayed includes the strings passed to the *OutputDebugString* API, and from console game diagnostic events.  The *OutputDebugString* data includes the data from both your title and from the system itself.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/microsoft-4404708b/NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R/images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_console_monitor.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=NsRUQ49ZRpXgoZ9R&q=85&s=6dac1b6c639fc840ffa46e3a845ff1fc" alt="The Console Monitor tab" width="382" height="563" data-path="images/gdk/tools/vs_system_monitor_console_monitor.png" />

## See also

[Visual Studio](/tools/tools-console/visualstudio/visualstudio)

[XBOX Gaming Explorer](/tools/tools-console/visualstudio/xbox-gaming-explorer)

[Analyzing memory usage and performance](/tools/tools-console/pix/memory-performance)


## Related topics

- [xbWatson debug-output monitor for XBOX](/tools/tools-console/xbWatson/index.md)
- [XPackageUpdateInstallationMonitor](/reference/system/xpackage/functions/xpackageupdateinstallationmonitor.md)
- [XPackageCreateInstallationMonitor](/reference/system/xpackage/functions/xpackagecreateinstallationmonitor.md)
- [XTaskQueueUnregisterMonitor](/reference/system/xtaskqueue/functions/xtaskqueueunregistermonitor.md)
- [XTaskQueueMonitorCallback](/reference/system/xtaskqueue/functions/xtaskqueuemonitorcallback.md)
