A content monitoring tool is essential for business purposes, like regulatory compliance, competitor monitoring, and brand protection. It also helps identify market trends and consumer preferences. Individuals may also use these monitors to track online sales, offers, job applications, and more.
PageCrawl is one such popular online content monitoring software best known for its customizable plans. Its free plan is one of the most comprehensive, offering features like unlimited alerts, custom notifications, and third-party integrations that are usually available under paid plans.
Apart from online pages and websites, you can also track PDFs, Excel, and Word files using PageCrawl. Plus, all these pages can be managed, imported, and modified in bulk.
Come take a dive with us as we explore in detail PageCrawl and its features, pricing, competition, and support.
PageCrawl: Plans and pricing
PageCrawl offers one of the most comprehensive free plans we have seen in the industry. It allows you to track 6 pages and run up to 180 checks a month. Plus, you get screenshots for the last 3 checks and a 90-day view history.
What we liked the most was the unlimited alerts you get on this plan through email, Discord, Telegram, Slack, and Teams. You can also automate workflows through Zapier integration. The only downside is that the frequency of each check is only once per day.
Next, the Standard plan gives you an option to choose the number of pages you want to track – 100, 200, or 300. The basic 100-page plan allows you to run 15,000 checks per month and costs $8. The 200-page plan (with 30,000 checks/month) is priced at $16/month, while the 300-page plan (with 45,000 checks/month) will cost you $24/month.
The plan allows you to check for changes every 15 minutes. You also get a 12-month view history, email support, API & Webhooks, and Review Boards. This plan allows you to track online-hosted PDF, Excel, and Word files.
Lastly, the Enterprise plan starts at $30/month for 500 pages and 100,000 checks a month. You get 8 plan options to choose from here; the upper ceiling is 4,000 pages per month with 800,000 checks. This makes PageCrawl ideal for even large businesses.
Here, you get a check frequency of 5 minutes, a premium proxy tool, user access roles, and premium email support. What's more, you can also bypass CAPTCHA on websites by paying just a small additional fee.
Note: The pricing mentioned above is for a monthly subscription. If you pay annually, you get two months for free. So, if you’re paying $8/month for the Standard monthly plan, you’ll only need to pay $80 if you choose the annual option.
PageCrawl: Features
Much like other trackers, PageCrawl also gives you the option to either track the whole page or select elements you specifically want to track.
Sometimes, the pages you want to track may be locked behind passwords. In such cases, you’ll only need to configure authentication on PageCrawl. Once done, you can use the same configuration to track multiple pages. This also works for PDFs, Excel sheets, Word, or CSV documents protected by passwords.
(Image credit: PageCrawl)
Besides this, PageCrawl also circumvents bot detection safeguards employed by Cloudflare for seamless tracking. You can even bypass reCAPTCHA/hCAPTCHA authentication for an additional fee.
What we liked the most about PageCrawl is that there are a lot of organization options. You can set up a folder hierarchy that allows you to group tracked pages by categories. Pagecrael also lets you attach custom labels to group pages by keywords or tracking status.
If you work in teams, you can create team-specific workspaces where employees can only monitor pages relevant to their needs. This enhances collaboration and prevents dual work.
To add to this, there are various templates. For instance, if a specific team is tracking only product listings, they can stick to one template to avoid confusion. The same goes for other pages like blog posts or service pages.
Taking this a step ahead, PageCrawl offers a “Review Board” – Kanban-like dashboards that streamline your monitoring process. There are also options to customize the reporting frequency. You can either choose to get real-time updates for time-sensitive changes or get daily or weekly reports for non-urgent changes.
These updates can be received through email alerts, SMS, Slack, Telegram, or Discord. You can also set up conditional notifications to only get alerts when certain words appear. This narrows down the search and prevents false positives.
Other notable features include proxy servers to track geo-restricted pages, third-party integrations, storage for view history and screenshots, auto page discovery, data export and reporting, and so on.
PageCrawl: Interface and in use
The most interesting thing about PageCrawl is that you can start tracking without creating an account. On its homepage, there’s a field to enter the URL of your website.
Once you do, it will show you a snapshot of the current version of the page and send all future updates to your email. However, this way, you won't be able to access any of the other features. So, we recommend registering your account.
(Image credit: PageCrawl)
Once you create an account, you’ll get a dashboard where on the left side you’ll have the menu. This is where you can manage your integrations, notifications, labels, and templates. Here, you will also find the option to create a new workspace or add a new user.
In the center, you will see a list of all the pages you are tracking along with their current status and last update.
Overall, the interface is simple. All the features are in plain sight, and everything you'll need is on one page.
PageCrawl: Support
PageCrawl offers decent support. There’s a help center containing tutorials and guides on almost every query you might have. And if you want to get in touch with the team directly, you can email them your support inquiries at help_me@pagecrawl.io. Please note that email support is only available on paid plans.
The response time depends on the plan you are subscribed to. If you have the Standard plan, the typical response time is 72 hours, whereas if you have the Enterprise plan, the standard response time is 24 hours, excluding weekends.
PageCrawl: The competition
PageCrawl is an all-in-one content monitoring tool. However, if it still doesn’t suit your needs, here are a few options you can look at.
Fluxguard has some of the best AI tools in the industry. It has an AI tool for translating websites to English, one for summarization, one for filtering irrelevant updates, and another for creating custom AI prompts to narrow down your search. However, it's a little expensive. If you want the same benefits for an even lower price, try Visualping.
Visualping has similar AI features. Its AI can help you summarize reports, filter notifications, and speed up setup with smart suggestions. Plus, it's cheaper than Fluxguard. What’s more, its plans are customizable just like PageCrawl.
PageCrawl: Final verdict
PageCrawl is a great tool for all businesses, thanks to its wide array of plan options – you can track from 6 pages to 4,000 pages per month. It's also one of the few tools that offers a comprehensive free plan with unlimited alerts, folders, and label categorization. The interface is simple and navigable, and the customer support is decent.
It also has a lot of organization options, which makes it easy for inter- and intra-team collaboration. There’s even a Kanban-like dashboard for better tracking and monitoring.
You can track websites, PDFs, Excel sheets, Word, or CSV files locked behind passwords.
Plus, PageCrawl sends you alerts through various modes such as SMS, emails, Telegram, Slack, and Discord, the frequency of which can be customized. Having said that, PageCrawl doesn’t offer AI features, which is why you may want to consider alternatives like Fluxguard or Visualping.
FAQs
What is a content monitoring tool?
A content monitoring tool tracks a website or a page and notifies you of any changes on it. Whether it's a change in the content, code, or interface, you will be notified instantly. Most of these tools also create daily or weekly change reports for you so that you can get consolidated information.
Who is PageCrawl ideal for?
PageCrawl, thanks to its mind-blowing free plan, is best for those looking to try out a content monitoring tool – or folks who have limited needs. You can track 6 pages and get unlimited alerts without paying a single penny. Plus, you even set up conditional alerts, organize your work through folders and labels, and connect with 2,000+ apps for a seamless workflow.
Beyond this, even small and large businesses find PageCrawl worth the money. The paid plans start at $8/month, going all the way up to $240/month.
Website monitoring is a must-do for all businesses. It helps you with competitive intelligence, regulatory and privacy compliance, and brand protection. Even on a personal level, website monitoring comes in handy – you may want to keep an eye on your favorite product or monitor your job application.
Fluxguard is one of the best online content monitoring platforms that lets you monitor all changes on any website. It's best known for its AI-powered tools that automate a lot of mundane tasks, making the whole tracking process easier. Although you can get started with a free plan, Fluxguard offers a lot of paid plans for businesses of all sizes.
In this guide, we will take a closer look at its best features, pricing, support, and more. We’ll even compare it with some alternatives to ensure you walk away with only the best tool for your needs.
Fluxguard: Plans and pricing
Fluxguard’s versatile pricing makes it ideal for all sizes of businesses, be they startups or enterprises. You can get started with its free plan, though.
Although the number of sites on the free plan is limited to just three, you get an AI translation tool to translate pages to English – something you won’t get with other monitors. Plus, you can keep 3 versions per page and get daily/instant updates.
The first paid plan is the Standard plan, priced at $99/month. It allows up to 3 users to monitor 25 websites per month. Along with that, you can monitor specific parts of a page and track pages locked behind a login page. However, we found it a bit more expensive than the likes of Visualping and Watchete.
The Plus plan is what most average-sized businesses will benefit from. It's priced at $199/month and allows 5 users to monitor 50 websites per month. Here’s where you get a lot of AI functions – AI summarization tools and AI prompts. You can also use proxy servers to crawl the same website from different regions.
Next, there’s the Premium plan priced at $499/month. It allows 10 users to monitor 100 websites per month. In addition to that, you get an AI filtering option to filter out irrelevant changes, consolidated AI email summaries, updates every 5 minutes with Rapid Crawling, and real-time notifications with Webhooks. This plan is ideal for all large businesses.
For enterprises that need something bigger than the Premium plan, Fluxguard offers a customizable Enterprise plan.
Fluxguard: Features
The most unique feature of Fluxguard is the AI translation tool. Even on the free plan, you can translate websites in other languages to English and track them.
Other than that, it has a full-fledged suite of phenomenal AI tools. There’s an AI tool to translate websites in another language to English, for instance, and another to summarize all your change reports so that you don't have to read through the entire report.
There’s also a tool that creates custom AI prompts that will help you identify key changes and filter out unnecessary updates. For instance, if you’re looking for a job as a typist, you can tell the AI prompt to look for this specific word in its searches. If a match is found, the result will be marked with a yellow flag.
(Image credit: Fluxguard)
We also loved Fluxguard's Proxy Network feature that lets you crawl the same website from different regions. Sometimes, websites have different content for different locations, and you may not be able to track geo-specific content from your home network. With the Proxy Network feature, however, you can monitor each one of these versions.
Thanks to its Form Submission Tracking feature, you can also monitor changes in gated content or sites that are locked behind a login page. This means that websites that are not public will also be available for you to track.
Next up is the Alternative PDF monitoring feature that lets you crawl large PDF files (more than 4MB in size) that live on the web. This is something that isn’t possible with many website monitors. It can come in handy when you’re dealing with lengthy research papers or regulatory documents.
Last but not least, you get to choose which parts of a page you want to monitor and which you want to skip. Monitored content could include texts, media files, and code.
Fluxguard: Interface and in use
Fluxguard’s interface is quite basic, which is also why it's fairly easy to use. You’ll only have to enter the URL of the site you wish to track on the dashboard. The tool will then immediately start crawling the page.
(Image credit: Fluxguard)
At the center of the page, you will find all the details about the last version, the last check, and the monitoring status, i.e., whether it's currently being monitored or not.
On the right side, you will get a snapshot of the current version, and above that, you'll have an option to adjust the crawling frequency. Below all of this will be a list of related pages in case you wish to monitor them too.
Overall, we found the tool easy to use – everything you need is on one page. However, one downside is that Fluxguard doesn’t offer browser extensions like some of its peers. So, you’ll have to keep returning to the dashboard every time you want to add a new website to track.
Fluxguard: Support
Fluxguard has a massive database of help resources. First, there’s an in-depth FAQ section answering almost every question you might have. There’s also a separate tutorial page helping new users set up and a separate video library with video solutions to common user queries. You can even join webinars if you want a live demonstration on how to use the platform.
Overall, we found a lot of resources that will help you set up and use Fluxguard without much fuss. If you still have any issues, you can reach out to the sales team through a contact form. There's also a live chat option, but it isn't 24/7. Still pretty useful, though.
Fluxguard: The competition
Unlike Fluxguard, Wachete can even track offline text documents in PDF, DOC, and DOCX files. Wachete also lets you connect it with 7,000+ apps through Zapier, ensuring smooth workflows. Plus, it is more affordable than Fluxguard, starting at just $5.40/month.
While Fluxguard’s highest-paid plan lets you monitor only 100 websites, Wachete’s highest-paid plan lets you monitor 3,000 pages.
The other alternative is Distill.io, which lets you build macros to monitor complex websites where content is only visible after a certain user action. Plus, you can customize alerts and notifications on Distill through predefined conditions.
This way, you only get alerts relevant to your needs. It's also more affordable than Fluxguard – paid plans start at $12/month and allow 30,000 monthly checks.
Fluxguard: Final verdict
Overall, Fluxguard is a great pick, especially because of its AI-driven approach. Firstly, there’s an AI translation tool that can translate websites to English. Then there's the AI summarization tool to summarize change reports, an AI custom prompt tool to identify key changes, and an AI filtering tool to eliminate irrelevant changes.
There’s also a network of proxy servers to help you track websites from different geographical regions. The interface is pretty simple and easy to use, too, and even non-techies can use it straight out of the box.
Fluxguard comes with a free plan that lets you monitor three websites. That said, it's admittedly a bit on the expensive side. So, if you’re on a budget, maybe consider alternatives like Visualping or Wachete.
FAQs
What is a website monitoring tool?
A website monitoring tool keeps an eye on your target websites or pages and notifies you if there are any changes to them. The change could be regarding the content, code, or any other page element. A lot of these platforms, such as Fluxguard itself, allow you to either monitor the entire page or select parts of the page to monitor.
Who is Fluxguard best for?
Fluxguard is ideal for medium to large businesses. It has a bunch of AI tools to automate mundane tasks, such as translation and report summarization, so that you can focus on things that actually matter. Also, businesses often need to track websites outside their own region. In that case, you can use Fluxguard’s proxy network to track such addresses.
As someone who has a house that's over 100 years old, my A/C and heater struggle to heat or cool down my rooms and it usually results in high bills at the height of summer or winter. I've tried many different ways to fix this problem – and I think I've finally found the answer in the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S.
Despite the name, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S is more accurately described as an air circulator. While it has nine different wind speeds and can blow air long distances, it's not the best fan I've tested when used on its own. However, its ability to horizontally and vertically tilt 120-degrees makes it an outstanding tool for circulating cool or hot air from an air-conditioner or a heater around a room.
I used this air circulator in my house, running a number of tests to see how well it works, and I was beyond impressed. When paired with my air-conditioning, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S cooled my living room faster than the air-conditioner could work. In fact, in less than 10 minutes, it cooled the living room down by five degrees – which I know because I monitored the temperature of the room in the Dreo app where I can easily control the various settings of the fan.
Beyond its air circulating powers, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S offers more features and settings than most other fans or air circulators on the market. With five different specialty modes and ambient lighting with customizable color and brightness settings, it more than justifies its $119.99 price tag. Tack on the fact that you can schedule the fan, create custom specialty modes, and adjust the oscillation degrees, and this Dreo product feels slightly underpriced.
Read on for a fuller picture of how the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S performed during testing.
(Image credit: Future)
Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: price & availability
List price: $119.99 / £129.99
Launched: April 2025
Available: US, Canada, UK
The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S was part of an April 2025 launch of summer cooling products by Dreo. It's priced at $119.99 / £129.99 for all three color options. It can be purchased direct from Dreo, but it's also available on Amazon (although make sure you're buying the model you want here – the product codes are rather well hidden, and a lot of this brand's fans look very similar).
Considering this air circulator fan is stylish, can be controlled within an app, has ambient lighting, and vertical and horizontal oscillation, I would say the price is reflective of the features. I've seen fans with less features and cooling capabilities that cost more.
How does it compare to the competition? One of TechRadar's best-rated fans is the Shark FlexBreeze, which costs $199.99 / £199.99. That model does some things the 508S can't – it can be used cordless or taken outside, and has a misting function, for instance – and it's also more powerful as a standalone fan than the 508S.
Also highly rated is the MeacoFan 1056P, which costs $189.99 / £149.99. This is perhaps a better comparison point because, like the 508S, it can oscillate horizontally and vertically to circulate air. This starts to look poor value for money compared to the Dreo model – there's no app control with the Meaco option, and the vertical and horizontal oscillation range is smaller.
Value for money score: 4.5 out of 5
Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S specs
Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: design
Modern pedestal fan / air circulator with vertical and horizontal oscillation
Outfitted with ambient lighting in different colors
Controllable through display buttons, a remote, app, and voice control
The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S arrived in a few pieces that were easy to put together, even without the instructions provided. It took all but a few minutes to assemble the fan.
While I tested a white colored Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, it comes in two other colors, silver and gold. The fan sits on a pole that goes into a round base. The pole itself is adjustable, and according to Dreo, it can be adjusted 0-5 inches. Oddly, I measured the full extension with a measuring tape, and found the pole extends up to nine inches for a maximum fan height of 40 inches.
On the pole, there is a digital screen that displays the different settings and fan speeds, indicated by the numbers 1-9. Below the display are a variety of touch buttons – power, fan speed/timer, ambient light, ambient light color, vertical oscillation, and horizontal oscillation/child lock button.
(Image credit: Future)
The fan itself has what Dreo calls 3D oscillation, which basically means that the fan head tilts 120 degrees vertically and 120 degrees horizontally. This is why the fan head feels a little loose around the area where it connects to the pole – to allow for movement.
In addition to the touch buttons, a remote control is provided, as well as a holder for it that clips onto the pole. The remote has the exact same buttons as is found on the fan itself.
(Image credit: Future)
The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S also connects to the Dreo app, meaning you can control the fan within the easy-to-navigate app. It has also the same buttons found on the fan and the remote, as well as a few others. For instance, in the app, you can adjust the vertical and horizontal oscillation degrees to anything between 0 and 120 degrees. You can also turn off the panel sound in the app and see the temperature of the room. In fact, the ambient temperature from the last 24 hours and past 30 days are recorded.
This fan is outfitted with five different specialty modes. While you can set the Turbo mode with the remote or the display buttons, you must use the app to set the fan on Normal, Auto, Sleep, or Natural mode. You can also create a custom mode that lets you set an ambient temperature goal and oscillation degrees. Users also have the ability to schedule the fan to turn on and run for a certain amount of time.
(Image credit: Future)
Equally as interesting is the amount of control you have with the ambient lighting. Not only can you adjust the brightness level of the light, but there is a gradient that lets you choose up to 1500+ colors, so you're not limited to just a set number of colors. You can even adjust how the light presents itself on the fan. There's the Constant setting – which means the light will remain constant. The Breath setting results in a breath-like pulse of light that can be set on low, mid, or high speeds. With the Circle setting, the ambient light changes cyclically in a set sequence at a low, mid, or high speed.
This is perhaps one of the quietest fans I've ever tested. I barely hear it, even when it's on Turbo mode. For reference, when placed on fan speed 1, it has a 40dB rating, while on Turbo mode, the sound rating is 67 dB.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: performance
Extremely effective as an air circulator used with air-con or a heater
Good airflow power, but there are more effective standalone fans
Tons of convenient control options, but voice assistant support unreliable
As mentioned above, my air-conditioning unit and heater struggle to cool and heat my house. I've had many technicians tell me that I could benefit from a second unit and more vents. I make do with what I have, but unfortunately, my house has little insulation, and the cool or hot air tends to seep out the ceiling, the windows, or the walls, and my units run longer and ultimately cost me more.
I think I've found a solution in the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S and I couldn't be more ecstatic. Before I explain how phenomenally this air circulation fan worked, I'm going to break down my use of a variety of other features it offers.
(Image credit: Future)
I typically alternated between using the remote and the app to manage the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, as it really didn't make sense for me to walk over to the fan and use the touchscreen buttons. I was able to use the remote 30 feet away as long as the remote was in the sight line of the fan. Maybe it would work at farther distances, but this is as far as I could go based on the design of my house.
Most of the time I used the app, since you can't access all the settings with just the remote or display buttons. The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S can be voice controlled with Google Assistant and Alexa too. I tested this out by connecting to Google Assistant on my phone. It only took a few minutes to do within the app, though it was a little confusing, so if you're not tech savvy, you might need to rope in a tech-forward friend to help you out.
With voice commands, I was able to turn the air circulator or the oscillation on and off, increase or decrease the fan speeds, change specialty modes, and check the temperature of the room. While I was able to turn the ambient lighting on and off, Google Assistant couldn't change the color of the ambient lighting for me. There was also a point where I asked it to increase the fan speed to 5 and it increased the fan speed to 4. Clearly, there are some limitations to Google Assistant and Alexa. At least, Dreo provides voice command examples in the app, so you know exactly how to change the settings.
(Image credit: Future)
I didn't use the ambient lighting feature often, except at night when I placed the fan in my bedroom. I'd turn on the ambient lighting, sometimes switching to colored lights for the fun of it. It doesn't light up a room, but it kind of works like a soft night light. While this is not a necessary feature for me personally, I think it definitely adds value to the product.
Now to the most important feedback – is the air circulator actually effective? The answer is yes. Before testing the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, I hadn't turned my A/C on yet as it wasn't quite hot enough outside to warrant it. That said, my home had grown pretty warm. In fact, it had reached 82F (28C) inside my living room. I know this because the fan can read the temperature in the room it's located, and you can see that temperature reading within the app.
I decided to turn on my A/C and set it to 72F (22C). I wanted to see how long it would take the air circulator fan to cool down my living room that much. I turned on the fan and set the vertical and horizontal oscillation degrees to 120 degrees and the fan speed to 9.
The A/C and the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S had only been running for one minute when the temperature in my living room dropped one degree. I felt the room cool almost immediately.
This is even more impressive when you consider the layout of my house. The dining room and the study are connected to the living room, and there are large walkways (like six feet of space) between them. The air circulator was placed in a corner of the living room. Because I didn't shut off the living room from the dining room or the study, the air circulator was probably working double time, and still the temperature dropped quickly in the living room.
Within seven minutes, the temperature had dropped by four degrees to 78F (26C). At the 15-minute mark, I decided to turn the fan on Turbo mode. After thirty minutes, the living room temperature had dropped to 74F (23C). It took 45 minutes for the living room to cool to 72F (22C), although when I checked my house's thermometer, it said that the house had only cooled to 76F (24C) in that time.
I was thoroughly happy with these results, and I could imagine all the benefits of using the air circulator in the future. In the winter, I'll put it in my bedroom before I go to sleep and use it to circulate hot air from the heater and effectively warm up the room quickly so that it's nice and cozy before I get under the bed covers. This summer, I'm definitely going to use it to circulate the A/C's cool air in the kitchen, so I don't overheat when I'm cooking dinner.
(Image credit: Future)
I can't say this for sure, but I think the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S could save me some money. For instance, rather than lowering the A/C, which will be expensive, I'm planning to set the A/C in the high 70s. That will still give me enough cool air for the air circulator to circulate the cool air in whatever room I'm sitting in and make that room cooler for me. I don't really care if the rest of the house is cool, only if the room I'm in is cool. Money saving idea? I think so!
If you don't have an air conditioner, the TurboPoly 508S can still be used a standalone fan. When it's set on the Turbo speed level, I can feel the airflow 29 feet away, and 12 feet away when it's set on speed level 1. However, I've recently tested three other fans (the Shark HydroGo desktop fan, and the Dreo Smart Tower Fan 519S and Shark TurboBlade tower fans), and I found their airflows much more effective at cooling.
I'll say this – there are times of the year when I don't have my air-conditioning or heater on but I'd still like a fan to cool me down. The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S will work just fine until I turn on the A/C or heater. But I wouldn't necessarily buy it with the plan to only use it as a fan. It's best designed to circulate air in a room, and I think I've explained above why I love this product for having that capability – and in fact, it assists in keeping me overall cooler or warmer than any fan actually does.
For the most part, I used the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S on Normal or Turbo mode. Sometimes I adjusted the oscillation so that the fan would direct airflow right on me, but as I said, most of the time, I used it as an air circulator.
(Image credit: Future)
I'm a big fan of the Natural mode, because it simulates the feel of a breeze. This is nice when I'm not super-hot but I just want some light air movement across my skin. The Sleep mode also worked fantastically. Like other Dreo fans, when in Sleep mode, the fan speed decreases once every 30 minutes, stopping after the second decrease. For instance, if I set the fan speed at 7 while on Sleep mode, the speed would reduce to 6 after 30 minutes and then 5 after another 30 minutes. It would remain on 5 the rest of the night.
The Auto mode is a smart feature that is super helpful. When set, Auto mode will increase the fan speed until the room temperature lowers. Once the room reaches a comfortable level (which is noted in the app), the fan speed decreases, maintaining that comfortable temperature. I used this feature sometimes, because it was nice not having to monitor the temperature reading within the app.
I didn't schedule the air circulator often, except when using the Sleep mode at night. Usually, I'd schedule the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S to turn on about 30 minutes before I went to sleep so that the air in the room could circulate and cool down before I went to bed.
A cool addition is the option to create your own custom mode, which essentially lets you choose temperature blocks and oscillation degrees. I like that I had the option to customize a mode, but I didn't really find much use for it, at least not at this time. Perhaps in the future, when I've used the fan for longer, I'll see how a specific custom mode might benefit me.
Performance score:4 out of 5
Should you buy the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S?
Buy it if...
You want a to boost your air-con
The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S is an air circulator fan, which means it's designed to circulate hot or cold air around a room, heating or cooling down a space faster than an A/C unit or heater could do on its own. This is all thanks to the vertical and horizontal oscillation capabilities of the fan. As an air circulator, the 508S is phenomenal.
You want a fan with smart features
Although it comes with buttons and a remote control, this Dreo fan is most conveniently controlled within the Dreo app. The app has so many customizable settings, from the color of the lighting to a scheduler and custom mode creation. Not only that, but it has some smart features like voice command with Alexa and Google Assistant and an Auto mode that increases or decreases the fan speed based on the temperature of the room.
You love cool lighting features
The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S doubles as a nightlight thanks to ambient light color settings. Not only does it have a white light that you can turn on at night, but in the app you can choose from over 1,500 colors within a color graph.
Don't buy it if...
You want a powerful standalone fan
I've tested a number of fans, and if it's a standalone fan you're after, there are more effective options than the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S. While it does have high fan speeds and a Turbo mode, it isn't the most powerful fan or the best on the market to keep you cool without combining it with an A/C.
You want a fan with 180-degree horizontal oscillation
This fan can oscillate vertically and horizontally 120 degrees, which is impressive. However, there are fans that oscillate 180 degrees horizontally, if you're worried the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S's oscillation won't be enough.
You're on a tight budget
There are some air circulator fans on the market that cost less than $100/£100. While they lack many of the features of this Dreo fan – like a wide range of speeds, specialty modes, app connectivity, smart features, and lighting – they still do a decent job at circulating air in a room, if you're happy to keep things simple.
How I tested the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S
Testing of the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S occurred in April 2025 in my house in North Texas. I used every specialty mode, the different fan speeds, and tested how far away I could feel the airflow. Not only did I test the fan in different areas of my house, but I used it in conjunction with my air-conditioning unit to see its effectiveness in circulating cool air around a room and how that impacted the room's temperature.
Monitoring websites can come in handy in various cases, such as when you want to keep track of an online job application or monitor your business rival’s website to see what they are up to.
Wachete is one such website monitoring tool that allows you to monitor an entire website, a simple page, or even text documents. It will track every change that happens on that page and notify you through a daily or weekly report.
The plans are affordable and diverse. There’s a free plan for small businesses and a slightly more expensive “Ultimate” plan for big companies that lets you track up to 3,000 pages at once. If you're wondering whether Wachete is the best online content monitoring software, this article is for you.
Wachete: Plans and pricing
The best part about Wachete is that it offers as many as 5 plans, which means you’ve got plenty of choices. You can get started for free, though, thanks to its free-forever plan. It allows you to monitor 5 pages every 24 hours. There’s also no limit on the number of times you can check.
The first paid plan is the Starter plan at $5.40 /month – this is among the cheapest plans in the industry. Here, you can monitor 50 pages at once, check for updates every 60 minutes, and even monitor a dynamic page. You can select multiple parts of the page for monitoring and access 12 months of history.
(Image credit: Wachete)
If you want to scale up, the Standard plan priced at $10.90/month allows you to monitor 100 pages, check for updates every 10 minutes, and monitor 2 dynamic pages. This is the first plan where you can monitor pages locked behind a login screen.
Next up is the Premium plan, priced at $54.90/month. With this, you can monitor 500 pages and 10 dynamic pages and look for updates every 5 minutes. This is ideal for large businesses that need constant monitoring.
Lastly, there’s the Ultimate plan priced at $329.90/month. It allows you to monitor 3,000 pages at once along with 60 dynamic pages and check for updates every 5 minutes. The rest of the features are the same as the Premium plan.
Note that all the prices mentioned above are on a monthly billing. If you're paying annually, you’ll save one month's worth of money - and that's true for every plan. Plus, each paid plan comes with a 7-day free trial, so you can try it out risk-free before committing.
Wachete: Features
Wachete is a simple website monitoring tool you can use to track a website and see what changes are happening to it. Depending on the plan you choose, you can also track password-protected pages and text documents such as PDFs and .doc files.
Also, if you feel that a page has different content for different locations, you can monitor it from all those different locations using proxy servers.
Once the tracking is turned on, Wachete will send you weekly or daily summaries of all the changes that have taken place. This way you won't have to go through the trouble of manually looking for changes.
If you want to be notified immediately, you can also set up SMS or mobile notifications. You’ll get an email whenever any changes happen to the webpage. All removed parts are highlighted in red, and the content added is marked in green. Another way to view the data is to download it as an Excel sheet.
(Image credit: Wachete)
The monitoring itself is customizable: you can choose which parts of a page you want to monitor and which parts you want to skip.
You can even track password-protected pages. Plus, if there’s a page with different versions for different locations, you can track each of those versions from a proxy server.
Another thing we liked about Wachete is that it integrates with Zapier, which in turn lets you connect the platform with over 7,000 other apps. This way, you won’t have to keep logging in to Wachete to monitor your changes. With predesigned workflows, you can get alerts on WhatsApp, email, Slack, Trello, Google Sheets, and Discord - you get the idea.
Other noteworthy features include a graphical representation of numeric data, the ability to collect history, changes, and web content for up to 12 months, and the option to create an RSS feed from the monitored content.
Wachete: Interface and in use
Wachete's interface is pretty straightforward. Once you create an account, which only takes a minute, you’ll be led to a simple dashboard that looks empty initially. However, on the top right, you’ll see an option to create your watchlist. Once you enter a page URL to be tracked, all the updates will be reflected in the same dashboard. There’s even a tutorial video if you need more help.
(Image credit: Wachete)
At the bottom, there’s the live chat option that connects you to the Watchet team, where you can directly ask your queries.
Overall, based on my firsthand testing experience, I'd say Wachete is pretty easy to use with a straightforward user interface.
There’s also the option to add Wachete as a browser extension. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Just scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on the browser you want; it will open the add-on page for respective browsers where you can download and install it.
Wachete: Support
There’s a detailed FAQ section on Wachete's website that covers almost every issue you might have, starting from how to use the features to managing your Wachete subscription.
If you want to contact the Wachete customer support team, you can reach out to them by email or use the live chat option from your dashboard.
Other than that, there isn't much information (such as the hours of availability) available about Wachete’s customer support. Also, support is prioritized for paying customers.
Wachete: The competition
Wachete is a wonderful, beginner-friendly, and affordable website monitoring tool. But if it doesn't fit your needs, here are a couple of alternatives.
Versionista’s customer support team guarantees to respond within 12 hours. Plus, the response comes directly from their senior engineers, which means you're getting the best possible help for your queries. Another good thing about Versionista is that you can customize the time and location of crawling as well as the frequency of reporting.
Visualping is another solid option. It's one of the few platforms that use AI to simplify your work. From summarizing your reports to setting up your account and filtering your notifications, Visualping’s AI helps you with everything. It even understands the context of the page being monitored and avoids content shifts to generate alerts only for contextual changes.
Wachete: Final verdict
Wachete is a great tool if you're looking for a pocket-friendly option. In addition to the paid plans that start for as low as $5.40/month, there’s also a completely free plan you can use for as long as you want.
It's also pretty easy to use. Simply put, you don't need to be a tech wizard to set up your account and monitor the pages. Setup takes less than a minute, and then you get led to the all-in-one dashboard from where you can add new pages to be tracked, organize them, and also contact the support team.
However, Wachete’s customer support isn't as great as the competition. There’s an email and a chat widget, which is only visible once you log in. However, there's no clear-cut information on the availability of support. That said, there are a lot of FAQs and helpful guides on Wachete's website to solve any queries you might have.
FAQs
What is a website monitoring tool?
A website monitoring tool tracks a page online and looks out for any changes that might happen to it. The change might be related to the content, the code of the website, or any other element. The main purpose of such a tool is to help you keep up with the latest information without going through the trouble of manually spotting the updates.
How to use Wachete?
The best thing about Wachete is that it's very user-friendly. Setting up an account takes less than a minute: just click on sign up, enter your email, click on the confirmation mail link, and set your password.
Once that's done, you’ll be automatically led to the dashboard where you can add pages to be tracked and organize them. There’s also a detailed tutorial video available on the dashboard if you need more help.
Perhaps you're looking for the best deals on your favorite product, or you're hunting for a job. Or, you may just be on the lookout for fresh news and updates or need to monitor websites for academic/business purposes.
All this requires easy-to-use and effective website change monitoring software. Enter Sken.io. It's a basic website monitoring tool that tracks website content and updates you on these changes. Although pretty barebones, Sken.io gets the job done, especially for personal uses. You can easily track changes with its handy comparison mode.
Plus, Sken.io offers you a 14-day free trial to help you get started, besides being one of the most affordable monitors out there. This article will explore in detail the features, pricing, and in-use experience of Sken.
Sken.io: Plans and pricing
Sken.io has three straightforward plans, in addition to a 14-day free trial. The trial lets you run 140 checks, which is enough to gauge if the platform fits your needs. The first paid plan, the Basic Plan, starts at €30.00/year ($31), which boils down to around $2.5/month. This makes it one of the cheapest website monitoring plans out there. The basic plan lets you run 500 checks per month.
If that’s not enough, you can upgrade to the Standard plan at €120/year ($125), with 3,000 checks per month. The Enterprise plan, at €450/year ($467), allows up to 15,000 checks per month. These plans are ideal for small and mid-sized businesses. However, if you’re a large business, you can even tailor a plan as per your needs with custom check limits.
One thing that we liked about Sken.io is that each paid plan supports a monitoring frequency of up to 1 minute. This is not something you get with other providers, where a low interval of 1 minute can only be found with higher-tier plans.
Another impressive thing about Sken.io is that if you are not satisfied with their services, you can request a full refund within 48 hours of payment. This is also something not many providers offer.
Sken.io: Features
Sken.io is pretty barebones when it comes to features. However, given the low price of $2.50/month, it still manages to deliver excellent value for money.
We liked Sken’s comparison mode, where you can use a virtual slider to view the changes side by side. The right side of the screen shows the previous version, whereas the current version is on the left. Simply move the slider from left to right to see all the changes highlighted in green.
(Image credit: Sken.io)
You get two options when setting up a new monitor: regular interval and custom scheduler. The regular interval option comes in handy when you want to constantly check a website – say every hour or every 30 minutes.
However, there may be websites that do not need a regular check. For instance, if you’re monitoring your university results, you may choose the custom scheduler option. Under this, you’ll be able to select the exact date and time the crawling should take place. Not many content monitors offer this option.
You can also choose to monitor only a specific element on the webpage, say images. Next, there are also options to choose between visual check and content check. This eliminates clutter, ensuring you only get results that matter.
There’s also a unique content removal mode, where you can remove elements on a page you don’t want to track. For instance, if you’re looking for job listings, you may not be interested in tracking the images on that website. This mode helps Sken.io focus on the changes material to your needs and avoid any non-contextual change
Sken.io: Interface and in use
Sken.io’s dashboard, in spite of being basic, is free of clutter. You can check all your active jobs and detected changes at the top of the dashboard. Below this, you’ll find a list of all jobs currently being tracked.
(Image credit: Sken.io)
Simply click the ‘Detail’ button on the right side of each job to view a list of all detected changes. On the left, you can access all exported change files along with your invoices (if you have a paid plan).
Using Sken.io is pretty easy, too. Just paste the link to create a new job, choose the frequency, and start monitoring. It does take a bit of time (around a minute) to load the page once you’ve pasted the link, which isn’t a dealbreaker.
Overall, you won’t require any training to start using Sken.io – everything is pretty self-explanatory.
Sken.io: Support
There aren’t many support options on Sken.io. If you have any queries, you’ll need to fill out a form on their website and input your email address and message. Then, simply wait for Sken’s team to reach out to you. Another option is to send them an email at info@sken.io.
Besides this, we didn’t find any tutorials on the website, not that you’ll need them anyway. There are a few blogs, though, that can help you learn more about Sken’s use cases.
Sken.io: The competition
Sken.io is a good entry-level content change monitoring website. However, it fails to deliver the goods for mid- and large-sized businesses. Here are a couple of alternatives you can consider.
PageCrawl offers a comprehensive free plan where you can track 6 pages each month along with PDF, Excel, and Word files. Plus, you get a lot of integrations, reports, and customized alerts – features you only see on paid plans of other providers.
Even its paid plans offer good value for money. You can track pages in bulk, track password-protected pages, and organize your tracked pages. However, PageCrawl lacks AI features.
Fluxguard is a good option if you’re looking for an AI-backed content monitor. There’s an AI tool that can translate other pages in English. Plus, you can use AI to summarize change reports, allowing you to spot key changes quickly and saving you a lot of time.
Fluxguard also allows you to set up custom AI prompts to look only for specific words during searches. However, it can be a tad expensive.
Sken.io: Final Verdict
Overall, we found Sken.io great for beginners and personal needs. Priced at just $2.50/month, it's one of the cheapest trackers on the market right now. Using it is a cakewalk, too. All you have to do is paste the website link and choose your tracking frequency.
You can also set up a scheduled scan by choosing the exact time and date of the crawl and use its comparison mode for a quick visual snapshot of the recorded changes. Although there’s no free plan, you do get a 14-day free trial, which provides access to all Sken.io features. During this time, you can run a total of 140 checks.
However, during our testing, we found that Sken.io lacks a lot of advanced features, like report summarization, tracking password-protected pages, and integration. If you’re looking for a content monitor for business purposes, you can consider other options.
FAQs
Does Sken.io offer a free plan?
Although there’s no free Sken.io plan, you get a 14-day free trial to try out the tool risk-free. The best part is that none of the features are off-limits during this trial, which means you get to try the full paid product during the trial phase. You can run 140 scans during the free trial without even entering your credit card details.
Even if you want to upgrade, the Basic plan starts at just around $2.50/month, making Sken.io one of the most affordable content change monitoring platforms.
Who is Sken.io ideal for?
Sken.io is ideal for individuals and startups looking for a cheap content monitoring platform. Its paid plans start from just $2.50/month and are more than enough for starter-level tasks. Also, Sken.io is one of the easiest platforms to use. So, even if you’re not that quick with tech, you’ll find it a joy to use.
It's worth noting that Sken.io does offer a $125 plan with 3,000 checks per month. However, a lack of advanced features like tracking locked content, PDFs, and Excels makes it a less popular choice among large businesses.
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a card that just might be saved by the economic chaos engulfing the GPU market right now.
With 'normal' price inflation pretty much rampant with every current-gen GPU, the price proposition for the RX 9070 might actually make it an appealing pick for gamers who're experiencing sticker shock when looking for the best graphics card for their next GPU upgrade.
That doesn't mean, unfortunately, that the AMD RX 9070 is going to be one of the best cheap graphics cards going, even by comparison with everything else that's launched since the end of 2024. With an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, the RX 9070 is still an expensive card, even if it's theoretically in line with your typical 'midrange' offering.
And, with the lack of an AMD reference card that might have helped anchor the RX 9070's price at Team Red's MSRP, you're going to pretty much be at the mercy of third-party manufacturers and retailers who can charge whatever they want for this card.
Comparatively speaking, though, even with price inflation, this is going to be one of the cheaper midrange GPUs of this generation, so if you're looking at a bunch of different GPUs, without question this one is likely to be the cheapest graphics card made by either AMD or Nvidia right now (yes, that's even counting the RTX 5060 Ti, which is already selling for well above 150% of MSRP in many places).
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Does that make this card worth the purchase? Well, that's going to depend on what you're being asked to pay for it. While it's possible to find RX 9070 cards at MSRP, they are rare, and so you're going to have to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation to see if this card is going to offer you the best value in your particular circumstance.
I'm fairly confident, however, that it will. Had I the time to review this card when it first launched in March, I might have scored it lower based on its performance and price proximity to the beefier AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.
Looking at both of those cards based on their MSRPs, there's no question that the RX 9070 XT is the much better graphics card, so I'd have recommended you spend the extra cash to get that card instead of this one.
Unfortunately, contrary to my hopes, the RX 9070 XT has been scalped almost as badly as the best Nvidia graphics cards of this generation, so that relatively small price difference on paper can be quite large in practice.
Given that reality, for most gamers, the RX 9070 is the best 1440p graphics card going, and can even get you some solid 4K gaming performance for a lot less than you're likely to find the RX 9070 XT or competing Nvidia card, even from the last generation.
If you're looking at this card and the market has returned to sanity and MSRP pricing, then definitely consider going for the RX 9070 XT instead of this card. But barring that happy contingency, given where everything is right now with the GPU market, the RX 9070 is the best AMD graphics card for 1440p gaming, and offers some of the best bang for your (inflationary) buck as you're likely to find today.
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much is it? MSRP is $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, but retail price will likely be higher
When can you get it? The RX 9070 is available now
Where is it available? The RX 9070 is available in the US, UK, and Australia
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia for an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, respectively, but the price you'll pay for this card from third-party partners and retailers will likely be higher.
Giving credit where it's due, the RX 9070 is the exact same MSRP as the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which you can argue the RX 9070 is replacing. It's also coming in at the same price as the RTX 5070's MSRP, and as I'll get into in a bit, for gaming performance, the RX 9070 offers a better value at MSRP.
Given how the RTX 5070 can rarely be found at MSRP, the RX 9070 is in an even stronger position compared to its competition.
Value: 4 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Specs
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
PCIe 5.0
16GB VRAM
Specs & features: 4 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Design & features
No AMD reference card
Will be good for SFF cases
In terms of design, the RX 9070 doesn't have a reference card, so the card I reviewed is the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070.
This card, in particular, is fairly straightforward with few frills, but for those who don't want a whole lot of RGB lighting in their PC, this is more of a positive than a negative. RGB fans, however, will have to look at other AMD partner cards for their fix.
The card is a noticeably shorter dual-fan design compared to the longer triple-fan RX 9070 XT cards. That makes the RX 9070 a great option for small form factor PC cases.
Design: 3.5 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Performance
About 13% slower than RX 9070 XT
Outstanding 1440p gaming performance
Decent 4K performance
A note on my data
The charts shown below offer the most recent data I have for the cards tested for this review. They may change over time as more card results are added and cards are retested. The 'average of all cards tested' includes cards not shown in these charts for readability purposes.
When it comes down to performance, the RX 9070 is a very strong graphics card that is somewhat overshadowed by its beefier 9070 XT sibling, but goes toe-to-toe against the RTX 5070 where it counts for most users, which is gaming.
On the synthetic side, the RTX 9070 puts up some incredibly solid numbers, especially in pure rasterization workloads like 3DMark Steel Nomad, beating out the RTX 5070 by 13%. In ray tracing heavy workloads like 3DMark Speed Way, meanwhile, the RX 9070 manages to comes within 95% of the RTX 5070's performance.
As expected though, the RX 9070's creative performance isn't able to keep up with Nvidia's competing RTX 5070, especially in 3D modeling workloads like Blender. If you're looking for a cheap creative workstation GPU, you're going to want to go for the RTX 5070, no question.
But that's not really what this card is about. AMD cards are gaming cards through and through, and as you can see above, at 1440p, the RX 9070 goes blow for blow with Nvidia's midrange card so that the overall average FPS at 1440p is 114 against Nvidia's 115 FPS average (72 FPS to 76 FPS average minimums/1%, respectively).
Likewise, at 4K, the two cards are effectively tied, with the RX 9070 holding a slight 2 FPS edge over the RTX 5070, on average (50 FPS to 51 FPS minimum/1%, respectively).
Putting it all together, one thing in the Nvidia RTX 5070's favor is that it is able to tie things up with the RX 9070 at about 26 fewer watts under load (284W maximum power draw to the RTX 5070's 258W).
That's not the biggest difference, but even 26W extra power can mean the difference between needing to replace your PSU or sticking with the one you have.
Under normal conditions, I'd argue that this would swing things in favor of Nvidia's GPU, but the GPU market is hardly normal right now, and so what you really need to look at is how much you're being asked to pay for either of these cards. Chances are, you're going to be able to find an RX 9070 for a good bit cheaper than the RTX 5070, and so its value to you in the end is likely going to be higher.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070 if...
You want a fantastic 1440p graphics card The RX 9070 absolutely chews through 1440p gaming with frame rates that can fully saturate most 1440p gaming monitors' refresh rates.
You don't want to spend a fortune on a midrange GPU While the RX 9070 isn't cheap, necessarily, it's among the cheapest midrange cards you can get, even after factoring in scalping and price inflation.
Don't buy it if...
You want great creative performance While the RX 9070 is a fantastic gaming graphics card, its creative performance (especially for 3D modeling work) lags behind Nvidia midrange cards.
Also consider
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT The RX 9070 XT is an absolute barnburner of a gaming GPU, offering excellent 4K performance and even better 1440p performance, especially if you can get it close to MSRP.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 The RTX 5070 essentially ties the RX 9070 in gaming performance in 1440p and 4K gaming, but has better power efficiency and creative performance.
I used my complete GPU testing suite to analyze the card's performance
I tested the card in everyday, gaming, creative, and AI workload usage
Test System Specs
Here are the specs on the system I used for testing:
Motherboard: ASRock Z790i Lightning WiFi CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K CPU Cooler: Gigabyte Auros Waterforce II 360 ICE RAM: CorsairDominator DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB) SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about two weeks with the AMD RX 9070, using it as my primary workstation GPU for creative work and gaming after hours.
I used my updated benchmarking process, which includes using built-in benchmarks on the latest PC games like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and Civilization VII. I also used industry-standard benchmark tools like 3DMark for synthetic testing, while using tools like PugetBench for Creators and Blender Benchmark for creative workload testing.
I've reviewed more than three dozen graphics cards for TechRadar over the past three years, which has included hundreds of hours of dedicated GPU testing, so you can trust that I'm giving you the fullest picture of a graphics card's performance in my reviews.
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a card that just might be saved by the economic chaos engulfing the GPU market right now.
With 'normal' price inflation pretty much rampant with every current-gen GPU, the price proposition for the RX 9070 might actually make it an appealing pick for gamers who're experiencing sticker shock when looking for the best graphics card for their next GPU upgrade.
That doesn't mean, unfortunately, that the AMD RX 9070 is going to be one of the best cheap graphics cards going, even by comparison with everything else that's launched since the end of 2024. With an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, the RX 9070 is still an expensive card, even if it's theoretically in line with your typical 'midrange' offering.
And, with the lack of an AMD reference card that might have helped anchor the RX 9070's price at Team Red's MSRP, you're going to pretty much be at the mercy of third-party manufacturers and retailers who can charge whatever they want for this card.
Comparatively speaking, though, even with price inflation, this is going to be one of the cheaper midrange GPUs of this generation, so if you're looking at a bunch of different GPUs, without question this one is likely to be the cheapest graphics card made by either AMD or Nvidia right now (yes, that's even counting the RTX 5060 Ti, which is already selling for well above 150% of MSRP in many places).
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Does that make this card worth the purchase? Well, that's going to depend on what you're being asked to pay for it. While it's possible to find RX 9070 cards at MSRP, they are rare, and so you're going to have to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation to see if this card is going to offer you the best value in your particular circumstance.
I'm fairly confident, however, that it will. Had I the time to review this card when it first launched in March, I might have scored it lower based on its performance and price proximity to the beefier AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.
Looking at both of those cards based on their MSRPs, there's no question that the RX 9070 XT is the much better graphics card, so I'd have recommended you spend the extra cash to get that card instead of this one.
Unfortunately, contrary to my hopes, the RX 9070 XT has been scalped almost as badly as the best Nvidia graphics cards of this generation, so that relatively small price difference on paper can be quite large in practice.
Given that reality, for most gamers, the RX 9070 is the best 1440p graphics card going, and can even get you some solid 4K gaming performance for a lot less than you're likely to find the RX 9070 XT or competing Nvidia card, even from the last generation.
If you're looking at this card and the market has returned to sanity and MSRP pricing, then definitely consider going for the RX 9070 XT instead of this card. But barring that happy contingency, given where everything is right now with the GPU market, the RX 9070 is the best AMD graphics card for 1440p gaming, and offers some of the best bang for your (inflationary) buck as you're likely to find today.
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much is it? MSRP is $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, but retail price will likely be higher
When can you get it? The RX 9070 is available now
Where is it available? The RX 9070 is available in the US, UK, and Australia
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia for an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, respectively, but the price you'll pay for this card from third-party partners and retailers will likely be higher.
Giving credit where it's due, the RX 9070 is the exact same MSRP as the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which you can argue the RX 9070 is replacing. It's also coming in at the same price as the RTX 5070's MSRP, and as I'll get into in a bit, for gaming performance, the RX 9070 offers a better value at MSRP.
Given how the RTX 5070 can rarely be found at MSRP, the RX 9070 is in an even stronger position compared to its competition.
Value: 4 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Specs
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
PCIe 5.0
16GB VRAM
Specs & features: 4 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Design & features
No AMD reference card
Will be good for SFF cases
In terms of design, the RX 9070 doesn't have a reference card, so the card I reviewed is the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070.
This card, in particular, is fairly straightforward with few frills, but for those who don't want a whole lot of RGB lighting in their PC, this is more of a positive than a negative. RGB fans, however, will have to look at other AMD partner cards for their fix.
The card is a noticeably shorter dual-fan design compared to the longer triple-fan RX 9070 XT cards. That makes the RX 9070 a great option for small form factor PC cases.
Design: 3.5 / 5
AMD Radeon RX 9070: Performance
About 13% slower than RX 9070 XT
Outstanding 1440p gaming performance
Decent 4K performance
A note on my data
The charts shown below offer the most recent data I have for the cards tested for this review. They may change over time as more card results are added and cards are retested. The 'average of all cards tested' includes cards not shown in these charts for readability purposes.
When it comes down to performance, the RX 9070 is a very strong graphics card that is somewhat overshadowed by its beefier 9070 XT sibling, but goes toe-to-toe against the RTX 5070 where it counts for most users, which is gaming.
On the synthetic side, the RTX 9070 puts up some incredibly solid numbers, especially in pure rasterization workloads like 3DMark Steel Nomad, beating out the RTX 5070 by 13%. In ray tracing heavy workloads like 3DMark Speed Way, meanwhile, the RX 9070 manages to comes within 95% of the RTX 5070's performance.
As expected though, the RX 9070's creative performance isn't able to keep up with Nvidia's competing RTX 5070, especially in 3D modeling workloads like Blender. If you're looking for a cheap creative workstation GPU, you're going to want to go for the RTX 5070, no question.
But that's not really what this card is about. AMD cards are gaming cards through and through, and as you can see above, at 1440p, the RX 9070 goes blow for blow with Nvidia's midrange card so that the overall average FPS at 1440p is 114 against Nvidia's 115 FPS average (72 FPS to 76 FPS average minimums/1%, respectively).
Likewise, at 4K, the two cards are effectively tied, with the RX 9070 holding a slight 2 FPS edge over the RTX 5070, on average (50 FPS to 51 FPS minimum/1%, respectively).
Putting it all together, one thing in the Nvidia RTX 5070's favor is that it is able to tie things up with the RX 9070 at about 26 fewer watts under load (284W maximum power draw to the RTX 5070's 258W).
That's not the biggest difference, but even 26W extra power can mean the difference between needing to replace your PSU or sticking with the one you have.
Under normal conditions, I'd argue that this would swing things in favor of Nvidia's GPU, but the GPU market is hardly normal right now, and so what you really need to look at is how much you're being asked to pay for either of these cards. Chances are, you're going to be able to find an RX 9070 for a good bit cheaper than the RTX 5070, and so its value to you in the end is likely going to be higher.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070 if...
You want a fantastic 1440p graphics card The RX 9070 absolutely chews through 1440p gaming with frame rates that can fully saturate most 1440p gaming monitors' refresh rates.
You don't want to spend a fortune on a midrange GPU While the RX 9070 isn't cheap, necessarily, it's among the cheapest midrange cards you can get, even after factoring in scalping and price inflation.
Don't buy it if...
You want great creative performance While the RX 9070 is a fantastic gaming graphics card, its creative performance (especially for 3D modeling work) lags behind Nvidia midrange cards.
Also consider
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT The RX 9070 XT is an absolute barnburner of a gaming GPU, offering excellent 4K performance and even better 1440p performance, especially if you can get it close to MSRP.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 The RTX 5070 essentially ties the RX 9070 in gaming performance in 1440p and 4K gaming, but has better power efficiency and creative performance.
I used my complete GPU testing suite to analyze the card's performance
I tested the card in everyday, gaming, creative, and AI workload usage
Test System Specs
Here are the specs on the system I used for testing:
Motherboard: ASRock Z790i Lightning WiFi CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K CPU Cooler: Gigabyte Auros Waterforce II 360 ICE RAM: CorsairDominator DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB) SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about two weeks with the AMD RX 9070, using it as my primary workstation GPU for creative work and gaming after hours.
I used my updated benchmarking process, which includes using built-in benchmarks on the latest PC games like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and Civilization VII. I also used industry-standard benchmark tools like 3DMark for synthetic testing, while using tools like PugetBench for Creators and Blender Benchmark for creative workload testing.
I've reviewed more than three dozen graphics cards for TechRadar over the past three years, which has included hundreds of hours of dedicated GPU testing, so you can trust that I'm giving you the fullest picture of a graphics card's performance in my reviews.
Samsung’s Odyssey line of OLED gaming monitors provides some of the best displays in gaming, from the 32-inch G8 to the ultrawide monster that is the G9. For the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, the South Korean electronics manufacturer delivers on its first 27-inch 4K OLED display by doing exactly what it does best when it comes to both image quality and sheer performance.
This begins with the overwhelmingly gorgeous display that offers an industry-leading 166 pixels per inch. On top of that, there’s HDR10+, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 and a panel with glare-free technology. This monitor can handle any tasks users will throw at it. From visually arresting single-player games to creative content making and everything else in between, the Odyssey OLED G81SF is something beautiful to look at. Having 1 billion max color support and 99% DCI coverage also makes this a fine choice for creatives as well.
Performance holds up just as impressively as image quality. The blistering 240Hz refresh rate delivers buttery smooth gameplay that’s ideal for competitive players, while the ultra-low 0.03ms response time ensures every action feels instantaneous. With support for FreeSync Premium Pro, the Odyssey OLED G81SF doesn’t just look incredible - it plays flawlessly too.
Together, these features set a new benchmark for what a high-end gaming monitor should be. Potential buyers with a suitable rig to play games like Marvel Rivals or Call of Duty Warzone at 4K/240 frames-per-second are going to find much to appreciate.
One of the main concerns for OLED gaming monitor owners is proper upkeep to preserve display longevity. That often means enduring long pixel refresh cycles or dealing with noisy fans meant to protect image quality. Thankfully, the Odyssey OLED G81SF takes a smarter approach with its Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System, which uses Pulsating Heat Pipe, which is said to cool five times faster than graphite.
Thermal Modulation also helps prevent overheating too. During my extended time with the monitor, I was impressed by how quiet it stayed and how I never had to interrupt gameplay for maintenance. When it comes to hassle-free upkeep, this is easily one of the best OLED gaming displays available.
Samsung’s cooling technology is packed into a fairly thin metal monitor that’s also good to look at when not in use. Bezels are small around the display while the back is fairly impressive. There are a nice amount of ports despite the lack of a USB-C port. That Odyssey’s classic light ring featuring CoreSync and CoreLighting+ in the back still looks nice. It’s also easy to set up.
All of that comes at a sizable $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) price point. That's a fairly steep cost of entry compared to similar gaming monitors in its class. Though there are some features like crosshair overlays, don’t expect more standard extras like KVM capability or speakers. Interestingly enough, unlike other displays in Samsung’s Odyssey line, it lacks Samsung Smart TV.
Despite those issues, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF stands out as one of the most impressive 27-inch gaming monitors to be released this year. It delivers a stunning visual experience with ultra-crisp 4K resolution, incredible color accuracy, and fluid motion that enhances everything from fast paced shooters to creative workflows. Add in near-silent operation, efficient thermal management, and a sleek design and it’s clear Samsung is looking to take the crown for this gaming monitor segment. Whether you're a competitive gamer or a visual creator, this monitor exceeds expectations in the ways that matter most.
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Price and availability
How much does it cost? $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799)
When is it available? April 28th
Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia
The Samsung Odyssey will be available April 28th for $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Available through Samsung’s online store or other retailers like Newegg, this gaming monitor is definitely the upper crest of purchases when it comes to 27-inch 4K OLED displays. If a competitive advantage is of the upmost importance to you, then the high price makes this the best money can buy in its class. Anyone expecting a more robust feature set (more on that later), may leave disappointed.
Gamers who want a competitive edge while also dabbling in streaming may want to check out the MSI MPG 271QRX if they don’t mind having a 1440p resolution. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM 4K is nearly the same price as the Odyssey G81SF but offers KVM capabilities besides FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. Though on the surface, it may sound better than Samsung’s offering, it lacks the forward design and level of maintenance options.
Value: 4 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Specs
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Design
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Overall design is rightfully in line with Samsung’s Odyssey line of gaming monitors
Easy to set-up and adjustability is high
Lacks USB-C
Those familiar with Samsung’s Odyssey series of gaming monitors will immediately recognize the premium build quality and sleek design language the OLED G81SF gives. Crafted with a sturdy metal finish from the base to the neck and display, it delivers a clean, modern aesthetic.
The panel itself is impressively thin, with minimal bezels that enhance its futuristic look. At the back, Samsung’s signature RGB ring—powered by CoreSync and CoreLighting+ which adds a dynamic visual flair that fits perfectly with its top-tier price tag.
Assembly is quick and straightforward, with just a few screws to connect the base, neck, and display. Once set up, the monitor offers smooth height, swivel, and tilt adjustments to help you dial in the perfect viewing angle.
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Power is delivered through a jack that connects an adapter while sitting next to two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, one USB-B for upstreaming, two USB-A and one 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s good enough for multi-console gamers who want to play full screen or utlize the display’s picture-in-picture capabilities.
Unfortunately, there's no USB-C port, which is fairly disappointing considering it’s a fairly standard connection now. A thumbstick sits along those ports for various controls for in-display gaming and features. During our time, the thumbstick felt great and the UI felt pretty snappy as well.
Design:4.5 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Features
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System is a wonderful way of maintaining pixel quality without being intrusive
Light gaming related features including a crosshair overlay
Nothing much feature-wise outside of that
OLED gaming monitors often require periodic pixel refreshes to prevent burn-in, which can interrupt gameplay. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF sidesteps that issue with its advanced Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System. At the core is a pulsating heat pipe that actively releases coolant, offering more effective thermal management than traditional graphite sheets. This keeps internal temperatures in check while extending the life of the display.
Complementing the hardware is an intelligent Thermal Modulation System powered by algorithms that fine-tune brightness and heat levels in real-time. Features like Logo & Taskbar Detection also help minimize static image retention by subtly adjusting luminance in frequently displayed areas—all working together to maintain screen health without disrupting your experience. During my time with the Odyssey OLED G81S, I didn’t face one prompt to turn off my monitor - not once - during two weeks of usage.
There are some in-display options including the ability to choose a nice variety of crosshair overlays which are definitely helpful when playing shooters. Another highlight is the ability to do picture-in-picture with various other video inputs. Of course, users can change color options and the likes as well. Outside of that, don’t expect much in the feature set. Considering the price of the monitor, one would think KVM capabilities would be included but unfortunately, no. Then there’s the lack of other features like Samsung SmartTV which has been featured on other Odyssey monitors before. Just understand that the Odyssey OLED G81SF sticks to three important things; image quality, performance and maintaining both of them.
Features: 3.5 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Performance
Image quality is exceptional in SDR and HDR
Magnificent performance with 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time
Just by image quality and performance alone, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF is one of the best gaming monitors available at the moment, at least where 27-inch 4K options are concerned.
It starts by having the highest pixel density available in a display with 166 PPI. This goes an incredibly long way by making sure every detail is noticed when gaming, making graphics or video or typing documents. Colors are bold and gorgeous thanks to having one billion max color support at 1,000,000:1 contrast outside of 99% DCI coverage. There are various sliders for brightness, contrast, colors and the likes for those who want to fine tune their experience. Further than that, there are some pre-sets as well.
This means that it doesn’t matter if users are playing Assassin’s Creed: Shadows or creating social media graphics in Adobe Photoshop, color accuracy is tremendous. HDR+10 capabilities makes image quality even better with more defined lights and shadows. Thanks to VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, blacks are deep and rich as well. Pulling that all together is an anti-reflection film that goes a long way in making sure images look great regardless of lighting conditions.
This is a gaming monitor for competitive gamers who want a premium experience and the performance is top notch too. 240Hz and 0.03ms response time mean that gameplay is smoother than velvet. Fans of Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty and Fortnite are going to have a nice experience on the Odyssey OLED G81SF. To make sure screen tears aren’t an issue, the display has variable refresh rate and supports AMD FreeSync Premium. Gameplay is superb in motion which is enhanced by the overall image quality.
Performance 5 / 5
Should I buy the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S?
Buy it if…
You require a 27-inch OLED gaming monitor with top-tier image quality and performance
This 27-inch OLED gaming display has some of the best image quality available thanks to features like 166 ppi, VESA Display HDR True Black 400 and anti-glare technology. Meanwhile, the 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time will provide a competitive edge.
You need some solid OLED display maintenance
Samsung’s OLED Safeguard+ technology has various ways to maintain monitor lifespan from its pulsating heat pipes, thermal modulation system and auto display adjustments among others.
You want a sleek yet functional design
This display is thin, has the same cool lighting that Samsung’s Odyssey series is known for and is pretty easy to set up.
Don’t buy it if…
You don’t want to pay over $1,000 for a 27-inch OLED Monitor
There are ways to get a quality 27-inch 4K OLED monitor without spending over a grand.
You’re more into streaming
Though this display has picture-in-picture mode for other outputs, lacking KVM at this price will be disappointing for streamers looking to use one monitor for two devices.
You require a more robust feature set
Outside of lacking KVM, there aren’t many extras like speakers, game assists beyond several aim overlay options and no USB-C port.
Also Consider
MSI MPG 271QRX
If comparable performance and feature set is important alongside a cheaper price, then the MSI MPG 271QRX does well with its 1440p native resolution alongside 360Hz refresh rate.
Games played included Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Street Fighter 6
Creative software used includes Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro
Over the course of two weeks with the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, I put the monitor through a wide range of real-world use cases—from immersive gaming sessions to demanding creative workflows and everyday productivity.
To assess its performance with visually intense AAA titles, I started with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077, which helped me evaluate the display’s color accuracy, contrast, and overall image quality. I then shifted to faster-paced, competitive titles like Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Fortnite to test responsiveness and input latency.
During work hours, I leaned on the G81 for creative tasks like designing graphics and editing video content using Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In between, I relied on it for general computing—browsing with Chrome, managing tasks in Asana, and streaming music via Tidal—giving me a full picture of the monitor’s versatility in day-to-day scenarios.
Samsung’s Odyssey line of OLED gaming monitors provides some of the best displays in gaming, from the 32-inch G8 to the ultrawide monster that is the G9. For the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, the South Korean electronics manufacturer delivers on its first 27-inch 4K OLED display by doing exactly what it does best when it comes to both image quality and sheer performance.
This begins with the overwhelmingly gorgeous display that offers an industry-leading 166 pixels per inch. On top of that, there’s HDR10+, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 and a panel with glare-free technology. This monitor can handle any tasks users will throw at it. From visually arresting single-player games to creative content making and everything else in between, the Odyssey OLED G81SF is something beautiful to look at. Having 1 billion max color support and 99% DCI coverage also makes this a fine choice for creatives as well.
Performance holds up just as impressively as image quality. The blistering 240Hz refresh rate delivers buttery smooth gameplay that’s ideal for competitive players, while the ultra-low 0.03ms response time ensures every action feels instantaneous. With support for FreeSync Premium Pro, the Odyssey OLED G81SF doesn’t just look incredible - it plays flawlessly too.
Together, these features set a new benchmark for what a high-end gaming monitor should be. Potential buyers with a suitable rig to play games like Marvel Rivals or Call of Duty Warzone at 4K/240 frames-per-second are going to find much to appreciate.
One of the main concerns for OLED gaming monitor owners is proper upkeep to preserve display longevity. That often means enduring long pixel refresh cycles or dealing with noisy fans meant to protect image quality. Thankfully, the Odyssey OLED G81SF takes a smarter approach with its Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System, which uses Pulsating Heat Pipe, which is said to cool five times faster than graphite.
Thermal Modulation also helps prevent overheating too. During my extended time with the monitor, I was impressed by how quiet it stayed and how I never had to interrupt gameplay for maintenance. When it comes to hassle-free upkeep, this is easily one of the best OLED gaming displays available.
Samsung’s cooling technology is packed into a fairly thin metal monitor that’s also good to look at when not in use. Bezels are small around the display while the back is fairly impressive. There are a nice amount of ports despite the lack of a USB-C port. That Odyssey’s classic light ring featuring CoreSync and CoreLighting+ in the back still looks nice. It’s also easy to set up.
All of that comes at a sizable $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) price point. That's a fairly steep cost of entry compared to similar gaming monitors in its class. Though there are some features like crosshair overlays, don’t expect more standard extras like KVM capability or speakers. Interestingly enough, unlike other displays in Samsung’s Odyssey line, it lacks Samsung Smart TV.
Despite those issues, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF stands out as one of the most impressive 27-inch gaming monitors to be released this year. It delivers a stunning visual experience with ultra-crisp 4K resolution, incredible color accuracy, and fluid motion that enhances everything from fast paced shooters to creative workflows. Add in near-silent operation, efficient thermal management, and a sleek design and it’s clear Samsung is looking to take the crown for this gaming monitor segment. Whether you're a competitive gamer or a visual creator, this monitor exceeds expectations in the ways that matter most.
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Price and availability
How much does it cost? $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799)
When is it available? April 28th
Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia
The Samsung Odyssey will be available April 28th for $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Available through Samsung’s online store or other retailers like Newegg, this gaming monitor is definitely the upper crest of purchases when it comes to 27-inch 4K OLED displays. If a competitive advantage is of the upmost importance to you, then the high price makes this the best money can buy in its class. Anyone expecting a more robust feature set (more on that later), may leave disappointed.
Gamers who want a competitive edge while also dabbling in streaming may want to check out the MSI MPG 271QRX if they don’t mind having a 1440p resolution. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM 4K is nearly the same price as the Odyssey G81SF but offers KVM capabilities besides FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. Though on the surface, it may sound better than Samsung’s offering, it lacks the forward design and level of maintenance options.
Value: 4 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Specs
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Design
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Overall design is rightfully in line with Samsung’s Odyssey line of gaming monitors
Easy to set-up and adjustability is high
Lacks USB-C
Those familiar with Samsung’s Odyssey series of gaming monitors will immediately recognize the premium build quality and sleek design language the OLED G81SF gives. Crafted with a sturdy metal finish from the base to the neck and display, it delivers a clean, modern aesthetic.
The panel itself is impressively thin, with minimal bezels that enhance its futuristic look. At the back, Samsung’s signature RGB ring—powered by CoreSync and CoreLighting+ which adds a dynamic visual flair that fits perfectly with its top-tier price tag.
Assembly is quick and straightforward, with just a few screws to connect the base, neck, and display. Once set up, the monitor offers smooth height, swivel, and tilt adjustments to help you dial in the perfect viewing angle.
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Power is delivered through a jack that connects an adapter while sitting next to two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, one USB-B for upstreaming, two USB-A and one 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s good enough for multi-console gamers who want to play full screen or utlize the display’s picture-in-picture capabilities.
Unfortunately, there's no USB-C port, which is fairly disappointing considering it’s a fairly standard connection now. A thumbstick sits along those ports for various controls for in-display gaming and features. During our time, the thumbstick felt great and the UI felt pretty snappy as well.
Design:4.5 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Features
(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)
Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System is a wonderful way of maintaining pixel quality without being intrusive
Light gaming related features including a crosshair overlay
Nothing much feature-wise outside of that
OLED gaming monitors often require periodic pixel refreshes to prevent burn-in, which can interrupt gameplay. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF sidesteps that issue with its advanced Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System. At the core is a pulsating heat pipe that actively releases coolant, offering more effective thermal management than traditional graphite sheets. This keeps internal temperatures in check while extending the life of the display.
Complementing the hardware is an intelligent Thermal Modulation System powered by algorithms that fine-tune brightness and heat levels in real-time. Features like Logo & Taskbar Detection also help minimize static image retention by subtly adjusting luminance in frequently displayed areas—all working together to maintain screen health without disrupting your experience. During my time with the Odyssey OLED G81S, I didn’t face one prompt to turn off my monitor - not once - during two weeks of usage.
There are some in-display options including the ability to choose a nice variety of crosshair overlays which are definitely helpful when playing shooters. Another highlight is the ability to do picture-in-picture with various other video inputs. Of course, users can change color options and the likes as well. Outside of that, don’t expect much in the feature set. Considering the price of the monitor, one would think KVM capabilities would be included but unfortunately, no. Then there’s the lack of other features like Samsung SmartTV which has been featured on other Odyssey monitors before. Just understand that the Odyssey OLED G81SF sticks to three important things; image quality, performance and maintaining both of them.
Features: 3.5 / 5
Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Performance
Image quality is exceptional in SDR and HDR
Magnificent performance with 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time
Just by image quality and performance alone, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF is one of the best gaming monitors available at the moment, at least where 27-inch 4K options are concerned.
It starts by having the highest pixel density available in a display with 166 PPI. This goes an incredibly long way by making sure every detail is noticed when gaming, making graphics or video or typing documents. Colors are bold and gorgeous thanks to having one billion max color support at 1,000,000:1 contrast outside of 99% DCI coverage. There are various sliders for brightness, contrast, colors and the likes for those who want to fine tune their experience. Further than that, there are some pre-sets as well.
This means that it doesn’t matter if users are playing Assassin’s Creed: Shadows or creating social media graphics in Adobe Photoshop, color accuracy is tremendous. HDR+10 capabilities makes image quality even better with more defined lights and shadows. Thanks to VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, blacks are deep and rich as well. Pulling that all together is an anti-reflection film that goes a long way in making sure images look great regardless of lighting conditions.
This is a gaming monitor for competitive gamers who want a premium experience and the performance is top notch too. 240Hz and 0.03ms response time mean that gameplay is smoother than velvet. Fans of Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty and Fortnite are going to have a nice experience on the Odyssey OLED G81SF. To make sure screen tears aren’t an issue, the display has variable refresh rate and supports AMD FreeSync Premium. Gameplay is superb in motion which is enhanced by the overall image quality.
Performance 5 / 5
Should I buy the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S?
Buy it if…
You require a 27-inch OLED gaming monitor with top-tier image quality and performance
This 27-inch OLED gaming display has some of the best image quality available thanks to features like 166 ppi, VESA Display HDR True Black 400 and anti-glare technology. Meanwhile, the 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time will provide a competitive edge.
You need some solid OLED display maintenance
Samsung’s OLED Safeguard+ technology has various ways to maintain monitor lifespan from its pulsating heat pipes, thermal modulation system and auto display adjustments among others.
You want a sleek yet functional design
This display is thin, has the same cool lighting that Samsung’s Odyssey series is known for and is pretty easy to set up.
Don’t buy it if…
You don’t want to pay over $1,000 for a 27-inch OLED Monitor
There are ways to get a quality 27-inch 4K OLED monitor without spending over a grand.
You’re more into streaming
Though this display has picture-in-picture mode for other outputs, lacking KVM at this price will be disappointing for streamers looking to use one monitor for two devices.
You require a more robust feature set
Outside of lacking KVM, there aren’t many extras like speakers, game assists beyond several aim overlay options and no USB-C port.
Also Consider
MSI MPG 271QRX
If comparable performance and feature set is important alongside a cheaper price, then the MSI MPG 271QRX does well with its 1440p native resolution alongside 360Hz refresh rate.
Games played included Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Street Fighter 6
Creative software used includes Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro
Over the course of two weeks with the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, I put the monitor through a wide range of real-world use cases—from immersive gaming sessions to demanding creative workflows and everyday productivity.
To assess its performance with visually intense AAA titles, I started with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077, which helped me evaluate the display’s color accuracy, contrast, and overall image quality. I then shifted to faster-paced, competitive titles like Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Fortnite to test responsiveness and input latency.
During work hours, I leaned on the G81 for creative tasks like designing graphics and editing video content using Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In between, I relied on it for general computing—browsing with Chrome, managing tasks in Asana, and streaming music via Tidal—giving me a full picture of the monitor’s versatility in day-to-day scenarios.
The Arctis Nova Pro is yet another impressive headset from SteelSeries and absolutely one of the best wired gaming headsets money can buy right now. With a sleek design and the ability to plug it in and use it straight out of the box, there’s a lot to praise here.
If you’ve ever felt limited by the number of features on a standard wired gaming headset, like a single scroll wheel for volume, then the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is a headset worth considering adding to your setup.
Even though the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is by no means a budget-friendly headset, it’s well worth the money. Offering a comfortable listening experience alongside crystal clear audio, it’s hard to find a fault - even after hours upon hours of testing.
You can tailor your listening experience to your tastes through its desktop control panel, and the additional software available gives you the opportunity to take this further by opening the doors to adjusting your audio settings depending on which genre of game you're playing.
After using a wireless headset for some time (specifically the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro 7P), I was skeptical about going back to wireless. It took no time at all to adjust, and I felt like I had more control over my audio than ever before. I also appreciated not having to worry about battery life at any point. Everything was ready to go the second it was plugged in, so nothing could interrupt whatever I wanted to play.
(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Price and availability
$249.99 / £179.99 / AU$405
A worthy upgrade if you’re willing to splash out
Wired version only available in black
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired headset will set you back $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$405, which makes it far more expensive than even some of the best wired gaming headsets. But if you ask me, it justifies the price entirely through its performance and customization options.
If you’re in the market for an upgrade and you’re ready to invest in a product that won’t let you down and gives you the ability to alter your auditory experience entirely.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Specs
(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Design and features
Sleek, lightweight design
One scroll wheel
Control panel isn’t bulky
Straight out of the box, it’s easy to see and feel that the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is a high-quality headset. Its sleek black design is lightweight, and there are few features on the earcups which keep things neat and tidy.
The microphone tucks into the left earcup, which is one of my favourite features, and there’s only one scroll wheel on the cup, which you use to adjust volume. In addition, the earcups are very padded, which guarantees no discomfort, no matter how long I used them for. The floating headband also helps make the entire experience as comfortable as possible.
You’ll also find a mute button for your microphone on the left cup, but apart from that, there’s no additional flourishes. So, nothing to fumble around with if you’re trying to adjust your settings. Most of your audio adjustments are made via the control panel, too, which matches this sleek aesthetic.
With a small LED screen and a dial to adjust the audio settings, the whole panel easily fits in the palm of your hand. Or more reasonably, anywhere on your desktop.
Inputs and outputs are clearly labelled on the back of the unit to make the setup even easier. When you have plugged everything in, this control panel will display instructions and details in white. Even when the screen dims after a period of no use, it’s still easy to read thanks to the font choice and color.
Having this control panel on my desk made me realise just how much I change my audio settings. If anything, I change them more so now I don’t have to fiddle around with scroll wheels to try and get the perfect sound.
When buttons and wheels are too close together on an ear cup, I always find myself changing the wrong one. So when all I have to do is turn the dial on the control panel, use voice chat, or even immersing myself in the game I’m playing has never been so easy.
(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Performance
Crystal clear audio
Noise-cancelling microphone
Easy to set up
When using the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro for gaming, it’s hard not to fully immerse yourself in whatever you’re playing, thanks to the stellar audio quality on display. It’s so clear, every single sound in a game is easily picked up.
From the gentlest footstep in the distance to feeling like a character is breathing down your neck in real time, there’s an impressive spectrum of sound on display at all times.
The microphone, which I already adore for tucking into the ear cup rather than folding against the cup and headband like the Turtle Beach Stealth 500, also offered impressive sound. It’s easy to adjust, so when I received feedback from a call saying my audio felt a bit harsh, it was easy to move the mic around to rectify this.
The headset also comes with a foam pop filter, which can be slipped over the mic, which I used on more than one occasion for gaming and general voice chats.
With that said, the control panel really feels like the star of the show here. I’m so used to relying on ear cup controls with gaming headsets, especially because so many of the products I’ve used in the past have been wireless, having the ability to adjust my audio settings in the palm of my hand definitely made me feel more in control.
You can have multiple USB connections to the panel, too, which is ideal for anyone constantly switching between platforms. This makes the transition between platforms seamless.
(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)
If I wanted to jump from PC to console, I could do so with the press of a button. There was no need to unplug wires, faff around a bit, and then plug them back in to my desired platform. It’s clear this feature has been designed with the player in mind, since the whole experience, from the audio capabilities to the ease of set up and seamless connection, just makes life easier.
The addition of SteelSeries GG is worth mentioning, too. I’m quick to overlook additional software when it comes to headsets since it never feels like a necessity, but the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro doesn’t give you a choice. The headset won’t play any audio if it needs a firmware update, and the only way you can fix that is through the app.
I was initially frustrated about that since you expect a headset built with convenience in mind to make this a little easier, but I ended up using the app a lot more than I thought I would.
Not only can you sort your updates out here, but you can take your audio slightly further by toggling on features like spatial surround sound. Having this app will also let your headset clip parts of your gameplay when you’ve had a particular reaction, ridding you of the pressure to capture you and your friends’ best bits. It’s basically like having your own compilation video ready and waiting at the end of a gaming session.
(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)
Should you buy the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro?
Buy it if...
You like having thorough control of your audio You’re probably used to being able to control your audio through scroll wheels and buttons on the ear cups of a gaming headset. The control panel that comes with the Arctis Nova Pro is a breath of fresh air. You can alter volume, mic noise cancelling, and adjust your game audio vs mic audio from this single screen and dial.
You like a simpler design SteelSeries no doubt knows how to make a sleek product. The Arctis Nova Pro is as simple as it comes in terms of design so you don’t have to worry about anything else bulking out the appearance.
Don't buy it if...
You appreciate the freedom of a wireless headset If you’d rather not be tethered to your setup, be it a desk or a sofa, then a wired headset probably isn’t the best for you.
Also consider...
Still not sold on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired gaming headset? Here’s how it stands against some similarly priced wired gaming headsets.
Razer Blackshark V2 Pro The Razer Blackshark V2 Pro is a fantastic headset with a plethora of features on PC, but it’s taken a while for consoles to get the same treatment. If you want consistency across all platforms, then the Arctis Nova Pro takes the cake, but if you’re looking to spend less money than the Blackshark V2 Pro is still a worthy competitor to consider.
Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 A slightly more budget-friendly headset to consider, but with this price reduction, you’re also missing out on a lot of features. You won’t have such a customizable experience, and the audio quality isn’t as high, but you will be saving a significant amount of money.
How I tested the SteelSeries Arctis Arctis Nova Pro
Test over multiple weeks
Tried with both PC and console
Explored the included software thoroughly
I spent two weeks with my Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro headset and spent hours upon hours each day using it for gaming, meetings, and music. Because of the wired setup, it was incredibly easy to plug in and use across platforms, but I predominantly used it with a gaming PC and Nintendo Switch.
To make the most out of its performance, I played a variety of games such as REPO and Content Warning to test the mic clarity within proximity chat, alongside Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2to test how large the spectrum of sound the headset picks up is.
For games where audio cues are so important, like The Outlast Trials and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro never failed to impress. This was also massively helped by the ability to customize every note through the GameDac Gen 2 panel and the audio presets available through SteelSeries GG.