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I tested this ultra-expensive electric shaver from Philips – here’s why I’d buy it

12:35 pm | March 7, 2025

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige: one-minute review

Product info

This model has slightly different names and product codes in different territories:

UK and AU: Philip Shaver S9000 Prestige, SP9883/35
US: The SP9883/35 variant doesn't appear to be widely available from online US retailers, but you can find the very similar Philips Norelco S9000 Prestige (product code SP9886/89) on Amazon US.

If you’re in the market for a premium electric shaver, it’s well worth checking out the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige. This premium model is packed with Philips’ SkinIQ tech for an adaptive, delicate shave, a highly ergonomic design and waterproofing – meaning it offers an all-round excellent user experience.

For reference, I specifically tested the SP9883/35 variant of the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige – and this doesn’t come cheap. It’s available now in the UK and Australia with a list price of £699 / AU$999. Thankfully, though, it’s unlikely you’ll have to pay quite this much in all regions. For instance, I’ve spotted it going for much closer to £300 from a lot of UK retailers. Still, that’s quite a bit to spend on an electric shaver – so is it worth it?

Well, if like me you have pretty sensitive skin and are used to irritation after a typical shave – then I’d say the answer is yes. Whether I was having a wet or dry shave, the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige glided across my face with ease and never felt strenuous or sharp on my skin – something we always look for in our hunt for the best beard trimmers and electric razors. You can also adjust power to low, medium or high depending on what feels and works best for you.

But wait… there’s more. This easy-to-handle shaver harnesses SkinIQ technology and Ultraflex suspension, meaning the S9000 Prestige’s head can adjust its power and positioning depending on hair thickness and shaving angles. That makes for a super simple, rapid shaving experience – ideal if you need a quick trim before heading to the office. It also comes with a self cleaning station, which can get your shaver looking all shiny again after just one minute: pretty cool!

Is this model perfect? Not quite. The SmartClick trimmer – which you can easily click on to the top of the shaver – isn’t perfect for cutting down those overgrown hairs, as I found myself going over the same patches a couple of times. And when using the default shaver head, I still found it easier, personally, to get rid of the odd straggler with my manual razor – but your mileage may vary.

Otherwise, this is a top-class option that I’d highly recommend, especially if you want a shaver that’s going to play gentle. That’s not even mentioning the fact that this is a beautiful model with a handy display and solid battery life of one hour. And it comes with a wireless charging pad. Pretty convenient, right?

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige, alternate heads, self-cleaning station, cleaning fluid — (Image credit: Future)

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige: Price and specs

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige review: design

Fantastic ergonomic grip
Premium metallic exterior
Interchangeable attachments

In terms of design, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige. It has a premium-looking metallic build with an ergonomic rubber grip, which makes handling the shaver both extremely easy and satisfying.

On top of that, there’s a display on the face of the shaver that indicates the power level in use – between one and three – battery life, travel lock activation and more. Above that screen, you’ll find a few button controls: power on/off, power level down, and power level up. All of this makes for a pleasingly visual, straightforward user experience – something you’d expect from a shaver with such a high price tag.

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige with head detached — (Image credit: Future)

Another great aspect of the S9000 Prestige’s design is its support for multiple attachments. It comes with a few interchangeable heads including the default foil shaver, SmartClick trimmer and nose hair trimmer. These all easily clip on and off and are quick and straightforward to wash, thanks to the shaver’s great waterproofing. You also get a brush for cleaning tighter crevices – Philips have thought of everything.

There are even more goodies in the box worth mentioning, though. First of all, this model comes with a self-cleaning station and a quick clean pod. This contraption can both clean and lubricate your shaver in just one minute using the power from the S9000 Prestige itself. Philips says this is 10x more effective than a simple wash under water – I’m not sure I can speak to just how precise that is, but it did get the shaver spick and span when I tried it out.

On top of that, there’s a wireless charging pad that you can connect up to a shaver socket in your bathroom for some extra juice when you’re running low. This works fantastically well and your S9000 Prestige will make a beeping noise to let you know it’s building some battery life back.

Finally, you can pack the attachments, shaver and more into an expensive-looking carry-case that is included with the S9000 Prestige. It has a hardy exterior and plenty of room inside, making for a nifty travel companion. The pristine look and feel of the case feels pretty indicative of the overall quality you’re getting, design wise. With excellent build quality, a durable exterior and plenty of tasty extras in the box, you’re getting the full package with the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige.

Design score: 5/5

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige review: performance

Comfortable, rapid shave
Harnesses adaptive SkinIQ tech
Pretty standard one-hour battery life

And the shiny exterior isn’t all for show, this shaver is a pretty neat performer too. Firstly, that firm-feeling grip I mentioned ensures seamless handling, regardless of what angle you’re trimming at. I found it to be a big step up from my usual electric-shaver, which can be a bit challenging to handle in tighter, more awkward positions.

But how about the shaving itself? Well, a standout plus here is that the S9000 Prestige is a not only smooth, but rapid operator. Within mere minutes I was able to achieve a clean shave using the Dual Precision rotating blades, which can achieve up to 165,000 cutting actions per minute. The blades took care of hairs growing in multiple directions with ease for the most part. I did, admittedly, have a few stragglers, which were easier to remove with my manual razor – but this really was a minor inconvenience.

Person turning on the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige — (Image credit: Future)

The default shaver head uses some pretty nifty tech to ensure you get a close shave, such as SkinIQ. This tech senses hair density on your face (or head) and adapts cutting power for a more gentle shave. It also has an ‘Ultraflex’ suspension system that helps the heads work along every contour of your face.

All in all, this is designed to deliver a more efficient, but also a more comfortable shave. And for me personally, that was greatly appreciated. I have pretty sensitive skin and the technology packed into this shaver helped to reduce a lot of irritation. As well as the adaptive SkinIQ tech, there’s an option to manually adjust the shaver’s power – which paired with the default head’s Hydro SkinGlide Coating, ensures a more relaxed shaving experience.

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige on wireless charging pad — (Image credit: Future)

If I was to be more critical, though, I have to say that the included SmartClick trimmer is a little underwhelming. After four days of growth – yeah, it wasn’t my best look – I tried to give myself a more even, neat look, using this trimmer on the lowest grade. It worked decently well, but just wasn’t as efficient as I’d hoped for, as I found myself going over the same patches on my face a fair few times. Also, this trimmer only has five lines to indicate the length it cuts down to, but I would prefer a measurement in millimetres – something my everyday shaver uses.

Meanwhile, you get a decent battery life of one hour out of the S9000 Prestige. That’s very much in-line with what a lot of hi-tech electric shavers can manage. But if you’re hoping for more, fear not. After every shave, you can simply pop the S9000 Prestige onto its wireless charging pad and get it fighting fit in no time. It takes three hours to get this shaver’s battery fully restored – not bad considering the use of wireless charging.

Performance score: 4.5/5

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige review: value

Very expensive list price
But regularly available with a considerable reduction
High cost does come with premium design and performance levels

OK, I won’t beat around the bush. If we’re talking about its list price, this shaver is very, very expensive. I’d argue a bit too expensive even. £699 / AU$999 is a lot of cash to spend, especially considering you can spend much less than that and still get a very astute shaver, like the Braun Series 9 Pro, for instance.

But I bring good news. You’ll rarely have to pay such an astronomical fee for this stylish shaver. In fact, I’ve seen it going for close to £300 in the UK via retailers like John Lewis – that’s more than 50% off! And that really changes the picture – in this price range, the S9000 Prestige is well-worth considering. Otherwise, it would be tough to recommend – even given its high-level performance.

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige resting on block — (Image credit: Future)

Ultimately, the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige is built to last and packs in a gentle, personalized shaving experience. You’re unlikely to need an upgrade or replacement in the near future if you pick this up, which really adds a lot of weight in the value department. And although I can’t overlook its sky-high list price, I’d still happily recommend this shaver in the knowledge that it’s regularly discounted.

Value score: 4/5

Should you buy the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige?

Buy it if...

You want ultimate comfort
Not only is the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige extremely comfortable to handle, but it’s kind to the skin in-use. That makes it the perfect shaving companion, even for those with sensitive skin.

You’re rocking the clean-shaven look
If you’re someone that likes to maintain your clean shave every day, or maybe every other day, this is a top-tier option. The rotating blades and suspension tech help you to dust off any facial hair swiftly and seamlessly, meaning you won’t have to waste all too much time perfecting your look.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
Even though this model can be purchased at a significantly cut-price, it’s still not the most budget friendly. And at full-price, this one’s a no-go if you’re not looking to spend an arm and a leg. Even an alternative like the Reamignton T-Series Beard Trimmer and Hair Clipper can get the job done (if you’re in the UK) for less than £100, but there are tons of options out there.

You want a phenomenal option for short beards
The only thing about the S9000 Prestige I didn’t love was the SmartClick trimmer. Don’t get me wrong, it does work pretty well, but it’s not quite elite. Sometimes I needed to go over the same patches again and I also wished that it indicated, in millimetres, how short it cuts across its five levels.

Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige: also consider

Braun Series 9 Pro
Like this Philips shaver, the Braun Series 9 Pro has the triple threat of a beautiful build, ergonomic design and excellent shaving performance. It takes just 50 minutes to get it up to full charge again and has a solid battery life of one hour to boot. Again – this one can achieve a great shave, whether wet or dry, so if you’re looking for a premium alternative, you can’t go wrong with this. Read our full Braun Series 9 Pro review.

Panasonic Arc6 review
Another fantastic wet and dry shaver is the Panasonic Arc6. Its battery life isn’t quite as long as this Philips model and it isn’t quite as elegant looking, but you still get a super-smooth shave and plenty of features, like a self-cleaning station. Read our full Panasonic Arc6 review.

How I tested the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige

Tested for one week
Used for a wet and dry shave
Trimmed for a neat stubble look and then went for a clean shave

I tested the Philips Shaver S9000 Prestige for one week, ensuring to try out all of its various features and attachments. I typically keep my facial hair trimmed to around 2mm, so I used the SmartClick trimmer at first to replicate my typical shaving routine.

On top of that, I also tried having a wet and dry shave with the default head attachment. I also made use of the included wireless charging pad and self-cleaning station to ensure the shaver was up to TechRadar Recommended standard.

Read more about how we test
First reviewed February 2025

openSUSE Tumbleweed review

11:46 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.

It’s not unusual for Linux distributions to be available in several builds. Ubuntu has long-term support and cutting-edge editions, Zorin has Core and Pro builds, and openSUSE has Tumbleweed and Leap. Tumbleweed, which we’re reviewing here, is a continuously evolving build comprising the latest stable version of each component, which is updated as and when new code appears. Leap, which is based on SUSE Enterprise Linux, is a stable release that receives periodic updates.

The version that we installed was running the 6.6.3-1 kernel (the very latest build was 6.6.4 at the time of writing), and is available with a choice of desktop managers, including Gnome, Xfce, Cinnamon, Mate and KDE Plasma 5, the latter of which tops the installer’s list of options. That’s therefore what we chose for our tests. In our installation, this sat on top of the X11 Window System rather than Wayland.

As well as the regular 64-bit and 32-bit builds for desktop use, there are alternative builds for ARM, IBM Z family mainframes, RISC and PowerPC. It will also run on Raspberry Pi.

The installer is logical, but not the most friendly on test. Setting up Wi-Fi requires that you know which security protocol your network uses, and we failed on our first three attempts to boot into openSUSE at the end of the process. Despite the installer apparently completing, our test machine still attempted to start the OS we had previously tested. We solved this by forcing the installer to delete all partitions on our internal drive even if it thought that wasn’t necessary.

Once it was up and running, however, everything was far more logical, and there were only ten updates ready to download, reflecting the fact that the installer was still fresh, having been downloaded just the day before. A further 11 appeared later in the day.

Desktop screenshot of the openSUSE Tumbleweed installer — **The installer is logical, but not the most friendly on test** (Image credit: Future)

It’s not only core components such as SAMBA, git and the kernel that receive rolling updates in Tumbleweed: bundled applications are likewise cutting edge. Thus, at the time of writing we found LibreOffice 7.6.3.1 and Firefox 120 pre-installed. Email is handled by Kmail, but if you prefer Thunderbird, the version accessible through Discover, openSUSE’s software manager, is version 115.5. The versions of GIMP and Inkscape available through the manager, both of which are options rather than pre-installed software, match the latest releases available through their respective sites.

KDE Plasma should be familiar to anyone switching from Windows, as it features a traditional taskbar and menu. Commonly used applications can be pinned to the bar for easy access, and menu options are filtered as you type to reduce the number of matching applications.

Plasma lets you add secondary toolbars, and also features widgets, with a generous selection pre-installed but dormant. We saw this implementation in Nitrux, which also uses KDE Plasma, although in a significantly tailored form. For our money, the version seen here, where window controls remain attached to the windows themselves, feels more logical.

The comprehensive settings app is supplemented by YaST (Yet another Setup Tool), which provides password protection for more sensitive options, such as configuring the boot loader, administering printers and managing users. Tumbleweed scored 1,167 in the single-core Geekbench tests and 3,241 in the multicore benchmark. This puts it broadly in line with the other distributions on test, suggesting that deployment decisions would be better based on factors other than performance. openSUSE is one of the oldest Linux distributions still being actively developed but, with Tumbleweed, you’ll always be running one of the newest builds available. This is its primary appeal, since other factors such as the choice of desktop managers, and pre-installed applications, are common to many rivals. Although we initially experienced some difficulty with installation, your mileage will likely vary and, once up and running, it was regularly updated – as promised – and as stable as any other distribution on test.

If your preference is for KDE, rather than Gnome, this would be our pick of the bunch.

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Nitrux OS review

11:41 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.

On first encounter, Nitrux 3.2 is a moody beast. The default UI is dark, file management windows have black backgrounds and apps are dimmed when they lose focus. Yet somehow, even if you’re not a fan of dark modes (as this writer isn’t), it works.

You can switch between windows for some real showmanship: apps swoop around each other to make space, and where two windows sit side by side, they part to let hidden windows through. The default font is skinny but easy on the eye, and while the launcher is too angular for our tastes, that’s a matter of personal preference.

Where we think it’s less successful is in detaching the windows buttons – close, maximize and minimize – and putting them up in the screen’s top left corner, where they sit on the end of the menu bar. This is, presumably, why apps without focus are dimmed: so you know which one you’re going to close or enlarge when you click them. A side effect is that when switching between a browser and word processor, if you’re referring to the former while writing in the latter, your reference material will frequently change brightness.

Elsewhere, the file manager (called Index) has a grid of quick access buttons for common folders, such as Music, Documents and Pictures – but when they all sport the same icon and there’s no label, as was our experience with the default theme, you have to hover over each one and wait for its name to appear in a tooltip.

Desktop screenshot of the Nitrux OS file manager, Index — **Buttons in the file manager provide access to folders, but they’re not labelled** (Image credit: Future)

If you don’t get on with the default desktop, there are other themes to choose from, including some with more traditional window controls.

The Calamares installer is logical and offers plenty of guidance, such as the requirements for a secure password. Once up and running, you might not recognise a huge number of pre-installed applications other than Firefox, and there’s no office suite ready for use, although LibreOffice is available through the NX Software Center. So are staples such as Thunderbird, GIMP and Inkscape, which are likewise absent. You’ll find placeholders for Steam, Waydroid and Bottles, with the latter two providing layers for Android and Windows apps respectively.

However, it didn’t detect the two printers on our network until we’d entered their IP addresses.

Behind the scenes, this is a Debian-based distribution using the 6.6.2-1 kernel and a modified version of KDE Plasma to render the NX Desktop. There’s a generous selection of desktop widgets, and a configurable button on the dock, which you can use to run scripts or activate an applet.

The root directory is unwritable by default which, says the developer, strengthens security and minimizes points of failure. It should also mean that if an update fails your machine remains bootable. Other security measures have been implemented elsewhere, such as disabling core dumps, implementing strict password expiration and deactivating the root account. There’s a built-in backup tool – Kup – that can be set to kick in after you’ve been using your computer for a set period, which is an unusual and useful option. The X11 display protocol has been dropped in favour of Wayland, providing a shorter and more secure route between application and display.

One happy benefit of the switch to Wayland, which is taking place across most distributions, is a probable speed bump, and certainly Nitrux feels fast in everyday use. This was particularly evident when we were browsing the web, with pages seeming to arrive more quickly on our domestic broadband connection than they do in other Linux distributions or on our Windows box. We suspected that our broadband had been upgraded (and checked), but that wasn’t the case.

There’s a lot of interesting technology in this distribution, and it’s refreshing to encounter such an individual interface. Going down this road is a brave and largely successful move that has garnered significant praise, including when we named it the best Linux distro for new users.

However, with this review written, we’re now looking forward to returning to a more conventional environment.

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ManageEngine OpManager Professional 12.7 review

11:35 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.

A key player in the Zoho software and services empire, ManageEngine offers a wide range of IT management solutions. The OpManager product family delivers network, server and application performance monitoring, and ManageEngine version 12.7 delivers plenty of new features.

There’s a focus on compliance and security, with support for single sign-on using security assertion markup language (SAML) and SNMP 3 with tougher SHA-2 authentication. Root cause analysis (RCA) profiles compare data collected from multiple devices to help with problem remediation, Cisco ACI, IPMI and VPN monitors are present and OpManager integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams for alert notifications.

ManageEngine’s flexible licensing schemes are good value for SMBs as they’re based on devices, not elements or sensors. The OpManager Standard edition costs £195 per year for ten devices and provides availability, interface and SNMP/WMI network monitoring services, with the Professional edition on review adding features such as virtualization host monitoring.

Along with perpetual licenses, they’re also all available as Plus versions that include OpManager’s add-on modules at discounted prices. For example, Professional Plus starts at £983 per year for 50 devices and includes network configuration management (NCM) and NetFlow analysis (NFA), along with firewall and application management.

Desktop screenshot of the OpManager Professional 12.7 edition in use — **Virtual host monitoring is included in the Professional edition** (Image credit: Future)

Whichever edition you choose, you won’t wait long to see it in action: it took us 20 minutes to install it on a Windows Server 2022 host and run an initial scan of the lab’s IP subnet. For device identification and classification, OpManager is a veritable sleuth as it’s endowed with over 11,000 device and 56,000 vendor templates.

It had no trouble figuring out what our lab devices were, correctly identifying all our Windows servers and workstations, routers, switches, NAS appliances, VMware and Hyper-V virtualization hosts and printers. Adaptive alert thresholds are assigned to devices where OpManager uses machine learning algorithms to adjust them for you, and they can be linked to a range of actions using the integral drag-and-drop workflow builder.

The OpManager web console and its multitude of dashboards is capable of presenting a lot of information about your network, with the handy heatmap widget showing a grid of colored blocks representing each device and their status. Detailed custom dashboards are created by choosing from over 200 available widgets, and network operations center views can present support departments with the big picture.

Desktop screenshot of OpManager's dashboards — **Dashboards can be customized to suit, and mobile monitoring apps are included** (Image credit: Future)

Virtual monitoring is extensive, as OpManager discovered our VMware ESXi and Hyper-V hosts and provided views of system and VM utilization, guest OSes and datastore usage. Add the NetFlow module and you can view all common flows and use the free NetFlow Generator utility to translate raw packets into NetFlow data.

OpManager’s RCA profiles are similar to the SolarWinds NPM PerfStack feature and are just as easy to create. The list of available metrics is very basic, but you can choose devices and monitored items such as CPU and memory usage, add them to your RCA dashboard and view them all on one screen to help identify complex problems.

The Application Performance Management (APM) plugin is a worthy addition as it monitors and reports on a huge range of apps. We used it to check on our AWS account, where it provided details on service availability, EC2 instance and S3 bucket status, plus monthly billing charges and forecasts.

It may take time to get to grips with its myriad components, but ManageEngine’s OpManager is a powerful monitoring solution with a lot to say about your network. The web console is well designed and easily customized to suit, while SMBs will approve of OpManager’s affordable licensing plans.

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Linux Mint 21.2 review

11:30 am |

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This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.

Many Debian-based distros, Linux Mint included, use Ubuntu as their jumping-off point. The latest release – 21.2 Victoria – is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and will continue to be supported until 2027. That means it currently uses the 5.15 LTS kernel, but there’s a bleeding-edge edition, aptly called 21.2 Cinnamon Edge, that uses 6.2 should you prefer.

Where many Ubuntu spin-offs stick with Gnome display manager, as used by Ubuntu itself, Mint’s default is Cinnamon. This started as an offshoot from Gnome 2 when version 3 was released. Version 3 was the first to drop support for the panel (taskbar in Windows parlance) in favor of a purer shell, which likewise demoted widgets and jettisoned desktop icons. Cinnamon puts all of these front and center, which is one of the reasons it’s often held up as an ideal distro for anyone switching from Windows. It also has a Windows-like menu, with applications sorted into categories, and essential tools – such as the browser and settings – kept in view up the side. You can pin your most used apps to the panel so they’re never more than a click away.

Cinnamon is certainly a sturdy, tidy interface, but we think it feels a touch old-fashioned when compared directly with Microsoft’s Fluent UI for Windows 11. If it doesn’t immediately grab you, you can tweak the colors, install a theme, or opt for one of the alternative desktop managers, since Mint is also available with Mate or Xfce. And, while it seems highly unlikely that Ubuntu is going to disappear any time soon, the Mint developers are maintaining a parallel build, LMDE – Linux Mint Debian Edition – based on the Debian codebase, from which development can continue.

Whichever build you choose, you’ll need at least 2GB of memory and 20GB of storage, although 4GB and 100GB are recommended. These are hardly onerous, and the same specs apply to the Cinnamon Edge release.

Getting up and running is a familiar process, which starts with booting into a live installer and stepping through the wizard. However, because of changes to Ubuntu’s shim-signed bootloader, compatibility with Secure Boot was broken for the ISO that was current when we performed our tests. We therefore had to disable Secure Boot to proceed and, unless the ISO has been fixed by the time you install, you may have to do the same. Linux Mint says that it’s working on a fix.

Once up and running, pretty much everything was ready for use. Our monitor was recognized and its native resolution selected, our two network printers were installed, and a range of default applications were in place. Three desklets – effectively Windows-style widgets – for a clock, launcher and digital photo frame are installed but not activated. You can add others from a desklet store, where we’d highly recommend the weather desklet and notepad.

Desktop screenshot of the Linux Mint 21.2 software manager — **The Software Manager makes it easy to install apps** (Image credit: Future)

LibreOffice was ready to roll, and while we can’t say the same for GIMP and VNC, they were available through the software manager, which was set up to work with Flatpak. Thunderbird was pre-installed for handling mail, and Firefox was set up as the default browser.

Hypnotix, Linux Mint’s bespoke IPTV application, is perhaps the most impressive of all the default apps. Its integrated catalogue includes links to more than 1,200 broadcasters, organized by country, with 92 from the UK. Pick a country, then click a channel in the sidebar to tune in. It was quick, efficient and very smooth on our consumer broadband connection. At the time of testing, it wasn’t possible to save favorites, but that may change as work is ongoing for a future release.

Linux Mint with Cinnamon is a pleasant place to spend a lot of time, and while we don’t think Cinnamon feels as dynamic as Windows 11, its familiarity will likely be a significant draw for more cautious switchers (although we would urge anyone in that position to also consider “new kid on the block” Zorin). Hypnotix and the desklets are the star turns in this distribution, and they’re reason enough on their own to make it one for the shortlist.

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Linux Mint 21.2 review

11:30 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.

We've also rated the best lightweight Linux distro.

I tested Sony’s longest telephoto zoom lens, and it’s a winner for wildlife photographers

11:00 am | March 6, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Camera Lenses Cameras Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS: two-minute review

Closer is better when it comes to wildlife photography, and that’s where Sony’s super-telephoto zoom delivers in spades: with a reach of 400-800mm, it’s the longest lens of its kind in Sony’s E-mount lens lineup. Trumping the 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS by a full 200mm at the telephoto end, it sacrifices wide-angle flexibility to give you a significantly tighter shot of distant subjects.

Comparable in many respects to Canon’s RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM, Sony’s super-telephoto is a win for capturing wild and winged creatures. It's less effective in the sports arena though: a slow f/6.3-8 maximum aperture makes it harder to work at the kinds of shutter speeds needed to freeze fast-moving subjects, especially in low-light scenarios, and also limits your scope for blurring busy backgrounds.

Still, in bright conditions, the 400-800mm excels. You don’t get the absolute pin-sharp detail of a telephoto prime, but it’s still sharp both throughout the zoom range and across the frame. Effective image stabilization also helps to keep things crisp when shooting handheld, with motion blur only becoming noticeable at the long end. Chromatic aberrations are kept under tight control, too.

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Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 lens — (Image credit: Chris Rowlands)

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Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS indoors — (Image credit: Chris Rowlands)

Tipping the scales at the best part of 2.5kg, this is not a lightweight lens. Nor is it small by anyone’s standards, especially with the lens hood attached. Yet Sony has made it a surprisingly manageable telephoto zoom to shoot with. For starters, internal zoom keeps the weight balance relatively centered over the tripod foot, which usefully doubles up as a handle.

Then you’ve got the tactile, accessible controls. With well-judged resistance, the focus ring makes manual adjustments a joy. Similarly, the short throw and smooth action of the zoom ring mean it’s swift and easy to shift through the full spectrum of focal lengths. Add a trio of programmable focus hold buttons, and the 400-800mm becomes a super-telephoto that’s easy to handle.

It’s also a lens with superb focusing skills. This isn’t G Master glass, but you wouldn’t know it from the responsiveness of the autofocus: driven by two precision linear motors, it moves fast and very rarely misses, and only when shooting busy scenes at a serious distance will you need to consider manual fine-tuning. At the wide end of the range, it also has the versatility to focus on subjects just 1.7m away.

This isn’t a perfect lens. Professional wildlife photographers will get better fine detail from a premium telephoto prime, while serious sports coverage requires the faster maximum aperture of something like the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports. But compromise is inevitable with a lens that's designed to cover several bases, and if you want a super-telephoto zoom that gets you closer than any other Sony E-mount glass, the trade-offs here are more than palatable.

Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS specs

Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS: Design

Heavy but well-balanced lens
Robust build with weather seals
Internal zoom with smooth ring rotation

There’s no escaping the fact that the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS is a hefty lens. At the best part of 2.5kg, you’ll feel its weight when wielding it. That said, it’s not too much bigger than the 200-600mm: it's 358g heavier, 29mm longer and just 8.3mm wider. Those don’t feel like huge trade-offs for the extra reach at the long end, although you will need to invest in costly 105mm front filters.

It helps that Sony has done a good job of balancing the lens. Rather than telescoping out in front, the zoom mechanism is all packaged internally. That keeps the weight distribution fairly consistent, whether you’re shooting handheld or on a tripod. It also means that the zoom control ring only requires a light touch, which contributes to the sense that this is a manageable lens.

So does the tripod foot, which sits pretty squarely beneath the lens and body’s center of gravity. Its collar isn’t removable, but you’ll likely find the foot useful to have more often than not. The design isn’t exactly ergonomic, but the foot makes for a natural handle, both when carrying and framing. The collar can be easily rotated, with markers for landscape and vertical orientation.

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While this isn’t a pro-grade lens, it’s more than robust enough to survive a lifetime of shoots in the wild. Besides its general weightiness, everything feels well-assembled: the barrel is solid, the control rings turn smoothly, and the switches have a nice, affirmative action. Weather seals are there to keep dust and moisture out, too.

Despite its size, Sony has tried to make the 400-800mm an accessible lens. The hood, for example, attaches with a simple button release, and features a sliding window, so you can make filter adjustments without removing it. Around the barrel, three focus-hold buttons sit at 90-degree intervals, and each can be programmed with custom functions. Then you have its stack of five focus and stabilization switches. As heavyweight telephoto zoom lenses go, this is one of the most user-friendly.

Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS: Performance

Fast autofocus with two linear motors
Relatively slow f/6.3-8 maximum aperture
1.7m minimum focus distance at 400mm

When it comes to focusing performance, the 400-800mm impresses. Driven by a pair of high-speed linear motors, autofocus is both rapid and reliable, with zero delay between button press and motor response. According to Sony, the telephoto zoom can handle the 120fps maximum burst speeds of the A9 III. We didn’t have Sony’s sports star to hand during testing, but our chosen body – the A1 II – is no slouch, and the 400-800mm had no trouble keeping up.

It’s not immune from the odd miss, particularly when shooting over significant distances, but two features help here. The first is the focus limiter switch, which lets you give the 400-800mm a helping hand. By switching from the full range to one of two restricted modes, based on your distance from the subject, the lens has to hunt around less to find focus.

The second is full-time direct manual focus, which allows you to manually fine-tune focus in any mode by twisting the control ring. There aren’t many occasions where you’ll need to do this, but if the autofocus is having trouble with branches, for example, you’ll find the focus ring has just the right amount of resistance to let you make careful adjustments.

Close focusing is another key selling point of the 400-800mm, with a minimum distance of 1.7m at the wide end. In practice, that lets you get the shot even when your subject is relatively close. 400mm is probably too tight to practically shoot from the sidelines of a sports event, but that distance does mean you can capture small creatures that are near the end of the lens.

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Of course, it’s the super-telephoto number that grabs the headlines – and for good reason: 800mm is a long way in. Compared to a barrel that maxes out at 600mm the extra reach gets you significantly tighter in on your subject, and whether you’re shooting a kingfisher or a kickabout the difference is dramatic.

Almost as important as the range itself is the short throw of the zoom ring, which is optimized for quick shifts in focal length, and has a wonderfully smooth action; the internal zoom mechanism helps here, because the control ring isn’t responsible for telescoping elements. The net result is that it's pretty effortless to move through the full 400-800mm range, and together with the swift autofocus it enables you to readily switch between subjects near and far.

What does hold the 400-800mm back in some scenarios is the slow f/6.3-8 maximum aperture. This isn’t an issue in good light, where the lens performs well (see the sample images below). Under darker skies, though, it can struggle to keep up with rapid action, and at the shutter speeds required to freeze movement you’ll need to crank up the ISO setting or risk underexposed stills.

As a result, this isn’t a lens for shooting sports, especially not indoors. Even in the dimmer conditions of undergrowth, it can be a challenge to capture blur-free animal motion.

That slower maximum aperture also makes the lens less effective at blurring backgrounds. It’s not a major issue with leafy scenes or distant backdrops, but it does demand more care when composing against busy settings. At f/5.6-6.3, the 200-600mm has better light-gathering abilities and enables a tighter depth of field.

Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS: sample images

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Sample image shot with the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS lens — (Image credit: Chris Rowlands)

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Optically, there’s a lot going on inside the 400-800mm. There are 27 elements in 19 groups, six of which are extra-low dispersion, which translates into sharp stills which are pretty much free from chromatic aberrations.

At a pixel level, you’ll get finer results from a telephoto prime, but for a super-telephoto zoom, the 400-800mm exhibits decent sharpness. Detail is crisp at both the center and the edge of the frame, across the full zoom range. Again, the lens delivers its best results in good lighting, where you can work at shutter speeds fast enough to eliminate motion blur.

SteadyShot stabilization helps to keep things sharp. Sony hasn’t published the official rating of its OIS system, but with a trio of modes covering static and panning shots, as well as active subjects shot using the viewfinder, we found it pretty effective at counteracting hand shake. Blur did become noticeable at the extreme end, but panning handheld at 800mm is never going to bag you the sharpest stills.

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Chromatic aberrations are tightly controlled, with just a hint of purple fringing creeping in at super-telephoto focal lengths. Pincushion distortion is minimal, too, leaving you with very little to fix in raw images. The 11-blade aperture diaphragm also produces bokeh smooth enough to satisfy most enthusiasts.

Should you buy the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS?

Buy it if...

You’re a bird or wildlife photographer

The spec sheet of the 400-800mm reads like a wish list for bird and wildlife photographers, with rapid autofocus, a long reach, and internal zoom, plus short minimum focus distances at the wide end.

You need maximum telephoto reach

Sony’s longest telephoto zoom to date gets you closer than any other E-mount zoom lens. It has an additional 200mm on Sony’s next-longest telephoto, which gets you significantly closer to the action.

You want easy zooming and focusing

Internal zoom contributes to a smooth control ring action, while a relatively short rotational range lets you move easily through focal lengths. Full-time direct manual focusing means precision adjustments are slick and quick, too.

Don't buy it if...

You’re a sports photographer

With a slow f/6.3-8 maximum aperture, the 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS struggles to keep up with action on dull days. Indoors or in low lighting, it’s simply not fast enough for sports.

You’re happy with a shorter reach

If you shoot relatively close to your subjects or simply don’t need the extra reach at the telephoto end, you’ll find better value in the Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS.

You don’t want an unwieldy lens

Its zoom range might be unrivalled, but there’s no escaping the fact that the 400-800mm is a large and weighty lens. Internal zoom makes it easier to handle, but 2.5kg is still a lot to carry.

How I tested the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS

I used the lens extensively for a week
I paired it with the Sony A1 II
I tested it in a range of scenarios

Sony only made the FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS available for a short loan period, so I made the most of my week with it. I was blessed with a several days of clear skies and winter sun, allowing me to test the telephoto zoom in ideal conditions.

Given the lens's wildlife credentials, animals were obviously a focus of my test shots. That said, I also made sure to assess its capabilities as a sports lens, shooting on-track action at the Goodwood motorsports circuit near my home in the UK. To be thorough, I also shot architectural details, flowers, and a handful of portraits.

Paired with a Sony A1 II, I took the FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS on several walks to get a good understanding of how easy it was to move and shoot with the lens handheld, taking into account not just its weight, but also its full complement of controls, as well as the collar.

First reviewed March 2025

I’ve spent hours honing my swing in PGA Tour 2K25, and while its shot craft remains excellent, familiar frustrations can’t keep it totally out of the rough

8:35 pm | March 5, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Gaming | Comments: Off

The shot craft in PGA Tour 2K25 is exquisite and remains the best feature of the golf sports game from 2K in a series that has excelled in that area. The multi-layered parts of creating a shot, shaping it, thinking about contact and spin, and potentially utilizing specialist shots make the gameplay of 2K25 extremely enjoyable.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: February 28, 2025

However, the game is not as strong in other areas, and still remains firmly in the shadow of its competition, namely EA Sports PGA Tour. There are some familiar frustrations when it comes to repetitive, underwhelming commentary and strange animation execution. There are also new annoyances like an abundance of obnoxious transition screens, but also oddities in things such as bag building and skill acquisition, while the absence of some major competitions and the most famous courses is still hard to ignore.

Having said that, 2K25 still represents a closing of the gap between it and its main rival a little bit, and the games may be even closer in years to come, especially if 2K25 can continue to build around its awesome shot craft and golf play.

The UI from PGA Tour 2K25 showing the shot and evoswing — (Image credit: 2K)

The shot craft is strong in this one

Shot craft is at the very core of what makes PGA Tour 2K25 fun and kept me devouring hole after hole, and tournament week after tournament week.

The series’ TrueSwing and EvoSwing features are quality and offer a high level of shot planning, execution, and feedback. In short, you can tailor your shots to conditions nicely and factor in strike, spin, and shaping, while EvoSwing’s feedback meter provides you with results in an instant covering contact, rhythm, transition, and swing path.

Throw in the fact that your golfer can smash 300-yard bombs off the tee right from the beginning, and you have the tools necessary to take on all the courses the game has to offer immediately. What helps this are the intuitive controls too: the analog sticks on the controller provide an intuitive way to swing your club, and the three-click method is present once again allowing for users to use one button and timing through visual prompts to nail their shots.

It’s worth mentioning here that although bombing drives for miles straight away is fun, the default difficulty of the game does make it easy to succeed at first: in my second round I shot a 58, 14 under par score. As a result, it’s definitely worth tinkering with the settings to find the right level of challenge; there’s plenty of customization here and it’s worth getting stuck into such as overall swing difficulty, swing bias settings, and even how many times you can use the putt preview line.

A close up of the EvoSwing meter from PGA Tour 2K25 — (Image credit: 2K)

Career steps - and missteps

The career mode in 2K25 offers more than its predecessor and begins with the option to choose from five different archetypes that will govern what kind of player you are. These are pretty broad brush stroke types like ‘magician’ for those good at recovery and ‘big hitters’ for those who crush the ball. There’s a good level of character customization on offer too so you should be able to bring your ideal golfing avatar to life.

The overall means to get into the MyCareer mode is straightforward, and you’ll soon be choosing where to start - in the amateur championships, or diving straight into the PGA Tour for example. Your player is pretty competent from the off and you’ll be competing in no time which is a real plus point of the game and its career mode if you value getting stuck into competitions with real players fast.

Player rivalries make a return but also in message form with other pros dropping you a line offering to create a friendly rivalry. This can add a bit of extra fun to succeeding rounds of golf, and you’ll get a reward for engaging them and winning - often a cosmetic. You’ll also get more social media followers too - though I am still to determine what the benefit of more followers actually is apart from it being a general measure of progression.

PGA Tour 2K25’s personality system is an interesting extra addition and your choices in conversations or interviews allow you to be more confident, bordering arrogant, about your game, or allow you to be a more humble or reserved person. From my time with the game, I haven’t seen any huge tangible benefit to either yet. Feeding into that are the aforementioned rivalries, but also sponsorships, and the game’s interview system.

This - along with the new chats with your agent - is another largely welcome one, but again, something that has its own oddities to raise an eyebrow. In one sense it’s great to see an expansion of the career to include media duties and make choices on how you want your avatar to behave and act in the world. On the other, it is strange to get asked questions about being the best of all time after three tournament wins, and, once again, see the same questions repeat quite often.

Best bit

Nailing a perfectly struck shot is incredibly satisfying in PGA Tour 2K25, and getting every single element of it right is as good as it gets. When you hit your first well-planned and thought-out shot to approach a tricky green by also hitting all of the sweet spots in contact, clubface, tempo, and wing path, the feeling is immensely satisfying.

Sponsorship agreements share this kind of double-edgedness too: it’s welcome to see your player get wooed and approached by big-name brands, but it’s also very jarring to get strange offers such as noted footwear and apparel brand FootJoy offering to provide my clubs. It might not mean much to most casual players, but those who will recognize brands and maybe even want their avatar to use them, are the same ones who will find it offputting.

These additions also give way to one of my particular gripes with PGA Tour 2K25: the sheer number of transition and loading screens. After every single action - be that a round, a chat with your agent, or an interview - you’ll have a transition screen pop up for a few seconds. The frequency is incredibly annoying, and having them pop up so regularly - especially when you’re in the groove of moving swiftly between tournament weeks because you want to play the golf part of the golf game - is incredibly disappointing.

The week of a tournament consists of a practice session and pre-tournament events which help to make each week feel more fulsome. Practice sessions can be used to hone specific skills in the week of the tournament if you wish, and pre-tournament events like practice rounds can familiarize you with some of the tournament's holes before the event. Sponsor events can then boost your progression with those sponsoring your apparel, clubs, and balls too. As a result, every week in the career mode is full of stuff to do which is excellent - especially as much of it is the wonderful shot-to-shot gameplay.

A close up of equipment progression from PGA Tour 2K25 — (Image credit: 2K)

What's in the bag?

There’s plenty of customization and development to get into in the area of skills and equipment. As you play you’ll acquire experience and skill points which you can use to unlock skills in broad-brush parts of your game such as shots from the tee, recovery play, and more. A lot of these skills are more about increasing forgiveness than anything but the ability to progress that they represent is welcome and satisfying.

Some attributes will be maxed out in line with your archetype which is broadly agreeable, but some skills and shots seem to be totally blocked off by that same choice. This also undermines the role-playing aspect of the game a little. You can bomb 300-yard drives straight away, but a power drive or shot has to be learned - or is unlearnable because I’m not the right archetype. My wedges are as effective as the tour professionals, but my player has to learn a choke down shot (gripping the club a little lower down the shaft). I chose ‘technician’ as my archetype and that meant a power shot or knockdown shot was just flat-out off the table for my player which seems like needless gatekeeping.

In terms of equipment, you can build several bags (like loadouts in shooters, for example) and simply playing with your clubs more and more leads to an increase in proficiency in them. The maximum for each skill is limited by your archetype, which is an interesting way of making you stick to a set of clubs to get more out of them. You can upgrade clubs and balls with bolt-on fittings to upgrade them and their qualities, and also evolve them into clubs of a new level over time too.

The level of flexibility in building your bag is good, though doesn't allow for complete and absolute choice. For example, I couldn’t pick a 58-degree wedge for my bag or even see any driving irons to pick. Spending a practice session on a driving skill can boost all of your clubs which is strange and negates the choice to focus on a single club a little - but I do wish my proficiency with one club making the rest of them better is something that would translate to my real-world game.

My experience with the amount of branded clubs to choose from has been disappointing as the range of club types is pretty small. In 2K23 I could recreate my own golf bag with all the 2022 clubs which allowed me to make my avatar more like myself. I can’t do that in 2K25.

A close up of the skill tree from PGA Tour 2K25 — (Image credit: 2K)

One stroke forward, two strokes back

Sadly, the largely improved career mode and the moreishness of the gameplay and shot craft is held back by some familiar - and new - frustrations.

The commentary is still odd, repetitive, and underwhelming. I even had one time where the commentators were talking about a replay of a highlight clip over an entire hole that I subsequently played which had the commentary totally out of sync. It’s boring, low-energy, and - the cardinal sin in sports games - often repeats itself to the point of annoyance.

While pre-tournament practice sessions are welcome and the boosts to attributes offer something more, they’re subject to awkwardness; your character will do the same animations like they’ve just won a championship when saving par on a practice round hole, for example. On this note, I find that a golfer’s wrist on the trailing arm looks quite odd at address, as well, almost appearing as if it bulges forward strangely and is overpronounced.

The appearance of microtransactions isn’t too egregious or aggressive but it’s a shame they are deemed necessary in a golf game in which its other elements promote you and your player improving and getting better by simply playing.

For casual golf game fans, PGA Tour 2K25 still scratches many an itch, and the jump-in-and-play aspect is excellent, especially given the satisfaction of crafting great shots. Throw in some fun multiplayer modes like TopGolf, ongoing daily, weekly, and seasonal challenges and quests, and course design modes may well keep committed fans and players may well keep coming back for me with 2K25. For golf game fans like me who grew up with EA’s Tiger Woods series, however, 2K25 is better, but still not quite the right fit for those wanting a full role-playing experience.

As a result, the game still feels firmly in the shadow of its competitor, EA Sports PGA Tour. But, this isn’t a terminal comparison: there is much fun to be had with PGA Tour 2K25, and if you’re after an accessible, pick-up-and-play golf game for the current generation then this is it.

Should you play PGA Tour 2K25?

Play it if...

You want the best version of a great pick-up-and-play golf game
The fact that you can take on pretty much any golf course in PGA Tour 2K25 straight after booting is one of PGA Tour 2K25’s most compelling qualities; you can be crafting shots and winning tournaments minutes after starting the game.

You want excellent shot craft
The shot craft in PGA Tour 2K25 is its best and most polished quality. With a more restrained UI this time around, there’s still plenty to get into to prepare the best shot in your armory for each and every situation - and the payoff is oh-so-sweet when it goes well.

You want to tailor and customize your golf experience
While it lacks in some areas, the tinkering you can do in PGA Tour 2K25’s settings to find the right level of challenge is very welcome and will help committed players get more out of the game as the hours pile up.

You want some fun online golf multiplayer modes
Going online and competing against other real-life players in PGA Tour 2K25 is both exceptionally fun and easy to do; you can find some neat games to play against others efficiently.

Don't play it if...

You want to fully role-play as a golfer from hack to pro
You can boot up PGA Tour 2K25 and hit 300+ yard drives from the off, and some skills are totally locked depending on your archetype, so if you’re looking at something where you go on a full journey as a golfer, then you’re better off looking at EA Sports PGA Tour to scratch that itch.

You hate abundant transition and loading screens
The amount of transition screens in between, well, everything in PGA Tour 2K25 is frankly infuriating. Especially when one of the game’s strengths is how enjoyable the core golf play is once you’re in it, this really detracts from the experience.

You want to play all of the best courses and biggest tournaments
Once again PGA Tour 2K25 falls short here compared to its competition and if playing the likes of the Masters and all the other most famous courses are a priority for you then PGA Tour 2K25 won’t offer you that.

You can’t stand bad commentary
While the graphics are improved in PGA Tour 2K25 the commentating is (once again) repetitive, lacking enthusiasm, often badly timed, and seriously underwhelming.

Accessibility

PGA Tour 2K25’s main suite of accessibility features lies in its extensive difficulty options that can be tinkered with. There’s also the ability to choose between holding or toggling buttons for the swing mechanic and a host of display and HUD, camera, and audio options to choose from. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be a setting to change the text size on screen or any colorblind options.

A player playing a bunker shot in PGA Tour 2K25 — (Image credit: 2K)

How I reviewed PGA Tour 2K25

I played PGA Tour 2K25 for nearly 15 hours for this review, taking my created golfer deep into a second PGA tour season having started in the Korn Ferry Championship. While playing through the seasons, I toyed with all the possible ways to play a tournament’s game week and also dipped into several of the online multiplayer modes.

I tried both Performance and and Quality graphics modes - performance was my preference for the smoothness of swings and shots - tinkered with the difficulty settings to tailor my experience, snooped about the shop and store, and interrogated the skill trees and equipment options, while also going out of my way to compare it to EA Sports PGA Tour which I still dip into every now and then.

I reviewed the game on my two PlayStation 5 setups: a PS5 Slim with an Acer X32QFS gaming monitor and Yamaha SR-C20A soundbar; and a PS5 Pro with a Samsung Q6F 55-inch 4K QLED TV and Samsung soundbar. When needing to play with a headset, I played with a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 on the PS5 Slim and a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless with my PS5 Pro (there are no special settings for the Pro). I used a regular DualSense Wireless controller on both machines.

First reviewed March 2025

The AMD RX 9070 XT delivers exactly what the market needs with stunning performance at an unbeatable price

5:00 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Computing Components Gadgets | Tags: AI, CPU, GPU, RAM | Comments: Off

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Two-minute review

AMD had one job to do with the launch of its RDNA 4 graphics cards, spearheaded by the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, and that was to not get run over by Blackwell too badly this generation.

With the RX 9070 XT, not only did AMD manage to hold its own against the GeForce RTX monolith, it perfectly positions Team Red to take advantage of the growing discontent among gamers upset over Nvidia's latest GPUs with one of the best graphics cards I've ever tested.

The RX 9070 XT is without question the most powerful consumer graphics card AMD's put out, beating the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX overall and coming within inches of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 in 4K and 1440p gaming performance.

It does so with an MSRP of just $599 (about £510 / AU$870), which is substantially lower than those two card's MSRP, much less their asking price online right now. This matters because AMD traditionally hasn't faced the kind of scalping and price inflation that Nvidia's GPUs experience (it does happen, obviously, but not nearly to the same extent as with Nvidia's RTX cards).

That means, ultimately, that gamers who look at the GPU market and find empty shelves, extremely distorted prices, and uninspiring performance for the price they're being asked to pay have an alternative that will likely stay within reach, even if price inflation keeps it above AMD's MSRP.

The RX 9070 XT's performance comes at a bit of a cost though, such as the 309W maximum power draw I saw during my testing, but at this tier of performance, this actually isn't that bad.

This card also isn't too great when it comes to non-raster creative performance and AI compute, but no one is looking to buy this card for its creative or AI performance, as Nvidia already has those categories on lock. No, this is a card for gamers out there, and for that, you just won't find a better one at this price. Even if the price does get hit with inflation, it'll still likely be way lower than what you'd have to pay for an RX 7900 XTX or RTX 4080 (assuming you can find them at this point) making the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT a gaming GPU that everyone can appreciate and maybe even buy.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Price & availability

An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT made by Sapphire on a table with its retail packaging — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much is it? MSRP is $599 (about £510 / AU$870)
When can you get it? The RX 9070 XT goes on sale March 6, 2025
Where is it available? The RX 9070 XT will be available in the US, UK, and Australia at launch

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is available as of March 6, 2025, starting at $599 (about £510 / AU$870) for reference-spec third-party cards from manufacturers like Asus, Sapphire, Gigabyte, and others, with OC versions and those with added accoutrements like fancy cooling and RGB lighting likely selling for higher than MSRP.

At this price, the RX 9070 XT comes in about $150 cheaper than the RTX 5070 Ti, and about $50 more expensive than the RTX 5070 and the AMD Radeon RX 9070, which also launches alongside the RX 9070 XT. This price also puts the RX 9070 XT on par with the MSRP of the RTX 4070 Super, though this card is getting harder to find nowadays.

While I'll dig into performance in a bit, given the MSRP (and the reasonable hope that this card will be findable at MSRP in some capacity) the RX 9070 XT's value proposition is second only to the RTX 5070 Ti's, if you're going by its MSRP. Since price inflation on the RTX 5070 Ti will persist for some time at least, in many cases you'll likely find the RX 9070 XT offers better performance per price paid of any enthusiast card on the market right now.

Value: 5 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Specs

PCIe 5.0, but still just GDDR6
Hefty power draw

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the first RDNA 4 card to hit the market, and so its worth digging into its architecture for a bit.

The new architecture is built on TSMC's N4P node, the same as Nvidia Blackwell, and in a move away from AMD's MCM push with the last generation, the RDNA 4 GPU is a monolithic die.

As there's no direct predecessor for this card (or for the RX 9070, for that matter), there's not much that we can apples-to-apples compare the RX 9070 XT against, but I'm going to try, putting the RX 9070 XT roughly between the RX 7800 XT and the RX 7900 GRE if it had a last-gen equivalent.

The Navi 48 GPU in the RX 9070 XT sports 64 compute units, breaking down into 64 ray accelerators, 128 AI accelerators, and 64MB of L3 cache. Its cores are clocked at 1,600MHz to start, but can run as fast as 2,970MHz, just shy of the 3GHz mark.

It uses the same GDDR6 memory as the last-gen AMD cards, with a 256-bit bus and a 644.6GB/s memory bandwidth, which is definitely helpful in pushing out 4K frames quickly.

The TGP of the RX 9070 XT is 304W, which is a good bit higher than the RX 7900 GRE, though for that extra power, you do get a commensurate bump up in performance.

Specs: 4 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Design

No AMD reference card
High TGP means bigger coolers and more cables

There's no AMD reference card for the Radeon RX 9070 XT, but the unit I got to test was the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT, which I imagine is pretty indicative of what we can expect from the designs of the various third-party cards.

The 304W TGP all but ensures that any version of this card you find will be a triple-fan cooler over a pretty hefty heatsink, so it's not going to be a great option for small form factor cases.

Likewise, that TGP just puts it over the line where it needs a third 8-pin PCIe power connector, something that you may or may not have available in your rig, so keep that in mind. If you do have three spare power connectors, there's no question that cable management will almost certainly be a hassle as well.

After that, it's really just about aesthetics, as the RX 9070 XT (so far) doesn't have anything like the dual pass-through cooling solution of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, so it's really up to personal taste.

As for the card I reviewed, the Sapphire Pulse shroud and cooling setup on the RX 9070 XT was pretty plain, as far as desktop GPUs go, but if you're looking for a non-flashy look for your PC, it's a great-looking card.

Design: 4 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Performance

An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT in a test bench — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Near-RTX 4080 levels of gaming performance, even with ray tracing
Non-raster creative and AI performance lags behind Nvidia, as expected
Likely the best value you're going to find anywhere near this price point

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.

Simply put, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the gaming graphics card that we've been clamoring for this entire generation. While it shows some strong performance in synthetics and raster-heavy creative tasks, gaming is where this card really shines, managing to come within 7% overall of the RTX 4080 and getting within 4% of the RTX 4080's overall gaming performance. For a card launching at half the price of the RTX 4080's launch price, this is a fantastic showing.

The RX 9070 XT is squaring up against the RTX 5070 Ti, however, and here the RTX 5070 Ti does manage to pull well ahead of the RX 9070 XT, but it's much closer than I thought it would be starting out.

On the synthetics side, the RX 9070 XT excels at rasterization workloads like 3DMark Steel Nomad, while the RTX 5070 Ti wins out in ray-traced workloads like 3DMark Speed Way, as expected, but AMD's 3rd generation ray accelerators have definitely come a long way in catching up with Nvidia's more sophisticated hardware.

Also, as expected, when it comes to creative workloads, the RX 9070 XT performs very well in raster-based tasks like photo editing, and worse at 3D modeling in Blender, which is heavily reliant on Nvidia's CUDA instruction set, giving Nvidia an all but permanent advantage there.

In video editing, the RX 9070 XT likewise lags behind, though it's still close enough to Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti that video editors won't notice much difference, even if the difference is there on paper.

Gaming performance is what we're on about though, and here the sub-$600 GPU holds its own against heavy hitters like the RTX 4080, RTX 5070 Ti, and Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

In 1440p gaming, the RX 9070 XT is about 8.4% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XTX, just under 4% slower than the RTX 4080, and about 7% slower than the RTX 5070 Ti.

This strong performance carries over into 4K gaming as well, thanks to the RX 9070 XT's 16GB VRAM. Here, it's about 15.5% faster than the RTX 4070 Ti and about 2.5% faster than the RX 7900 XTX. Against the RTX 4080, the RX 9070 XT is just 3.5% slower, while it comes within 8% of the RTX 5070 Ti's 4K gaming performance.

When all is said and done, the RX 9070 XT doesn't quite overpower one of the best Nvidia graphics cards of the last-gen (and definitely doesn't topple the RTX 5070 Ti), but given its performance class, it's power draw, its heat output (which wasn't nearly as bad as the power draw might indicate), and most of all, it's price, the RX 9070 XT is easily the best value of any graphics card playing at 4K.

And given Nvidia's position with gamers right now, AMD has a real chance to win over some converts with this graphics card, and anyone looking for an outstanding 4K GPU absolutely needs to consider it before making their next upgrade.

Performance: 5 / 5

Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT?

Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT if...

You want the best value proposition for a high-end graphics card
The performance of the RX 9070 XT punches way above its price point.

You don't want to pay inflated prices for an Nvidia GPU
Price inflation is wreaking havoc on the GPU market right now, but this card might fare better than Nvidia's RTX offerings.

Don't buy it if...

You're on a tight budget
If you don't have a lot of money to spend, this card is likely more than you need.

You need strong creative or AI performance
While AMD is getting better at creative and AI workloads, it still lags far behind Nvidia's competing offerings.

How I tested the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

I spent about a week with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
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: Corsair Dominator DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB)
SSD: Crucial T705
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum
Case: Praxis Wetbench

I spent about a week with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, which was spent benchmarking, using, and digging into the card's hardware to come to my assessment.

I used industry standard benchmark tools like 3DMark, Cyberpunk 2077, and Pugetbench for Creators to get comparable results with other competing graphics cards, all of while have been tested using the same testbench setup listed on the right.

I've reviewed more than 30 graphics cards in the last three years, and so I've got the experience and insight to help you find the best graphics card for your needs and budget.

Originally reviewed March 2025

I reviewed the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV and it’s a staggeringly pro-grade monitor for the price

2:51 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: HDR | Comments: Off

For a brand that used to be unambiguously budget-orientated, AOC has come a long way. For proof, look no further than the new AOC U32U3CV. This is an extremely well specified 32-inch, 4K professional monitor.

Without giving away too much, too soon, its performance is also excellent. Happily, however, one legacy attribute AOC has retained is aggressive pricing. This is an awful, awful lot of monitor for your money. As the "Graphic Pro" branding implies, this monitor gives you a lot of the features and performance of much more expensive content-creation screens for a much more accessible price.

That starts with a high-spec 4K IPS panel which offers 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and Calman Ready support for rapid calibration. You also get HDR 400 certification and a USB-C hub with power delivery, KVM support and ethernet. For anyone looking for the best monitor for photo editing or the best video editing monitor, this is a strong contender for the price.

At the price point AOC is pitching the U32U3CV, it would look fairly appealing as a straight up 32-inch 4K IPS monitor. With the added professional features, it looks like a very strong proposition.

Of course, the spec list isn't absolutely comprehensive. There's no local dimming, for instance, and the refresh rate is only 60Hz. But you'd expect to pay at least twice the price for a 32-inch 4K display with high refresh of 144Hz-plus and full-array local dimming. So, that's not really a criticism.

AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV: Design & features

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AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV during our review — (Image credit: AOC)

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Outstanding feature set
Great connectivity
Patchy ergonomics

Specs

Panel size: 32-inch

Panel type: IPS

Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160

Brightness: 400 cd/m2

Contrast: 1,000:1

Pixel response: 4ms GtG

Refresh rate: 60Hz

Colour coverage: 98% DCI-P3

HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 400

Vesa: 100mm x 100mm (bracket included)

Connectivity: DisplayPort 1.4 x1 in, HDMI 2.0 x2, USB-C in with 96W PD, USB-C in with 15W PD, USB-A x4, ethernet, 3.5mm audio, KVM switch

For the money, the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV gives you a remarkable amount of monitor. Along with the 32-inch 4K IPS panel, you get a nicely-engineered metal stand and slick, slim-bezel aesthetics. That includes comprehensive adjustability, with tilt, height, swivel and rotation into portrait mode.

Practicality is also boosted by a small collection of additional ports behind the left-hand bezel covering USB-A, USB-A with charging, USB-C and headphone. However, the ergonomics aren't flawless. The U32U3CV has an unusually large and wide stand base. It juts out quite a long way in front of the display as well as stretching across most of its width.

It certainly makes for good stability, but is surely overkill in that regard and eats pretty horribly into desktop space. It's hardly a deal breaker, but the stand base ergonomics are a notable misstep in what is otherwise a well-considered package.

As for connectivity, it's truly comprehensive. There's a full USB-C hub with 96W of power delivery and DP 1.4 Alt Mode, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and DisplayPort. Complementing the USB-C hub are four USB-A ports and ethernet. What's more, the display has full KVM switch capability, allowing you to share this monitor across two PCs or Macs.

As the HDMI 2.0 spec implies, however, it's worth noting that you are limited to 60Hz at 4K. This isn't a gaming monitor, so high refresh is not critical. However, 120Hz and above brings benefits beyond gaming and refresh is one of the few areas where this monitor could feel lacking in the long run.

Of course, this is a display designed for serious work and content creation in particular. To that end you get <2 DeltaE factory calibration and Calman Ready support for rapid hardware calibration. The U32U3CV's OSD menu is also comprehensive, offering a wide array of SDR gamut presets, including but not limited to sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, Display-P3, and DCI-P3 D50, the latter being a version of wider P3 gamut with a D50 white point for printing.

AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV: Performance

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Lovely 4K IPS panel
Excellent calibration
Comprehensive gamut support

If there's one aspect that really makes the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV stand out, it's out-of-the-box calibration. This monitor is really lovely. That applies across the multiple colour space presets, including sRGB, DCI-P3 and the rest. It's just a really beautiful IPS display which also benefits from the excellent pixel density offered by any 32-inch 4K panel.

It's punchy, too, and if anything the subjective experience exceeds the 400 nit specification. As that number implies, this is a VESA DisplayHDR 400 Certified monitor. That means it has entry-level HDR support, but lacks local dimming. In other words, it's not a true HDR monitor but can at least decode an HDR signal.

That said, it is also very nicely calibrated in HDR mode and offers multiple SDR clamps to various gamuts in the OSD, which can make it easier in terms of running this display in HDR mode all the time and not having to jump back and forth between SDR and HDR modes depending on content type.

Another relative limitation is the 60Hz refresh rate. Historically, high refresh hasn't been a clear part of the remit for a professional display like this. But that's arguably beginning to change and a higher refresh would make for a more responsive computing experience.

That said, the actual pixel response is just fine for this class of IPS monitor. AOC has included three levels of user-configurable pixel overdrive in the OSD and the fastest setting makes for reasonable blur reduction without introducing excessive overshoot or inverse ghosting. Long story short, it's unlikely you'd reject this monitor on the basis of pixel speed.

But really, it's the combination of broad colour coverage, excellent calibration and the 4K pixel grid that's the main appeal here. By those metrics, the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV punches well, well above its weight.

AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV: Final verdict

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True professional-grade monitors are and remain extremely expensive with price tags running into five figures. Where the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV aims is that difficult-to-define zone in between those exotic displays and generic productivity monitors.

Many such monitors attract a significant price premium. But not the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV. It's barely any more expensive than a basic 32-inch 4K monitor, but offers fantastic connectivity features as well as an lovely IPS panel that's at least as well calibrated, if not more so, than monitors at twice the price.

If the AOC Graphic Pro U32U3CV had either the connectivity features it offers, including USB-C and KVM support, or the elevated colour support and calibration, it would look like a good deal. With both attributes, it's an absolutely fantastic package for the price.

For high-resolution displays, we've rounded up all the best 5K and 8K monitors.

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