Hyper PI

Hyper PI is a small Windows application that calculates the pi value for as many digits as you want.

The advantages of being portable

Since this is a portable program, it is important to mention the benefits that it brings to your system. Your Windows registry doesn't get bloated with entries, and you may copy the utility on any USB flash drive or other devices and take with you whenever you need to calculate the pi value on the fly.

Clean looks

Since it's supposed to perform just a single operation, Hyper PI boasts a simple interface that's more focused on the overall performance of the app rather than on the actual appearance.

Configuration settings

While it does allow you to select how many digits of pi you wish to calculate, Hyper PI also features multiple settings to make sure your computer is able to get the job done.
For instance, you are required to choose the process priority (with the standard Windows options included – low, below normal, normal, above normal, high and real-time), but also the number of processors to be used during the process.
Additionally, you have the option to disable multiple Windows services to improve performance of the app, including audio and themes, but also the Windows 7 Aero Glass interface.
As for the pi digits to calculate, you can choose from multiple predefined values, which can be anything from 16K to 32M.

Performance

Once you click the “Start” button, Hyper PI starts a process whose duration depends on your settings. It opens a new tab for each processor and seriously stresses up the computer at times. Hyper PI works on all Windows versions, but you need a pretty fast computer to use it, especially if you choose a higher number of digits to calculate.

Bottom line

But overall, Hyper PI is quite a handy tool, especially thanks to the fact that it boasts such a user-friendly interface. Too bad it needs such a large amount of computer resources.
The program can also be used by overclockers in order to test performance and stability on multi-core machines. Since Super PI is single threaded, you may take advantage of Hyper PI's capabilities and work with multi-core processors.