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I spent about two weeks trying to destroy the AMD Threadripper 9980X, and I can say for sure that only a few people will love this chip—but I’m one of them

9:04 pm | August 15, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: CPU, Final Score, TDP | Comments: Off

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Two-minute review

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X is an HEDT workstation processor built for an extremely specific — and extremely demanding — audience.

Nothing about this chip is ‘mainstream’, including the fact that just about every enthusiast consumer processor available right now will mostly outperform this chip in most workloads that 95% of users will run on their computers, and they will do so at a minuscule fraction of the Threadripper 9980X’s price.

There is part of me that wants to slag this processor as overpowered, overengineered, and overpriced—except I can’t. With 64 full-fat performance cores, 128 threads, a base clock of 3.2GHz, and the ability to push far beyond that under controlled thermal conditions, this chip feels like its sole purpose is to blow through Cinebench R23’s multi-core benchmark and shame every other chip that tries to do the same.

A mockup of an AMD Threadripper 9000-series chip on a reflective surface — (Image credit: AMD)

I would say that this is a ridiculous waste of time, energy, and resources, but the thing about Cinebench R23, as well as all the other multi-core benchmarks that this chip leaves defeated in its wake, is that there are professionals out there who need exactly this kind of power from a processor, and no other consideration really matters.

Database administrators, IT managers dealing with web servers, machine learning researchers and developers, 3D designers of every kind, and high-end video productions are among those who will look at the multi-core performance of this chip and see past the bar on a graph stretching well past every other chip in the test group and see the hours of work saved every week with a processor specifically designed to break up their workloads into as many as 128 individual processing threads to be worked through in parallel.

That definitely isn’t everyone, and the incredible parallel processing power available with the Threadripper 9980X comes at a cost. To keep those 64 cores from setting your workstation on fire under load, per-core clock speeds start nearly a full GHz lower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X, which means that single-core or lightly-threaded processing power suffers somewhat, though the 9980X can still hold its own at a system and productivity-minded processor, and its TSMC N4P/N6 architecture does translate into some solid responsiveness.

With eight compute dies under the lid and 256MB of L3 cache, there are a lot of interconnects between all that discrete silicon, and communication between all those parts introduces latency as well, though it isn't debilitating.

AMD Threadripper 9000 Series — (Image credit: AMD)

What's more, at $4,999 / £4,499.99 / AU$8,399, this is a very expensive processor. It’s not the most expensive HEDT chip on the market, that’d be the 96-core Threadripper Pro 9995WX at nearly three times the price of the 9980X, but it’s still not a CPU you buy because you ‘want the best.’

You buy it because your workflow would bring even the best processors on the consumer market to their knees. This is the kind of chip you slap into a workstation because you need to render the 12-second Gargantua approach sequence from Interstellar in a matter of days rather than weeks, and not because you want to play Cyberpunk 2077 at the highest framerate possible. For the former, it’s an outstanding, special-use processor. Not at all for the latter.

Then there’s the matter of platform requirements. You’ll need a TRX50 motherboard, which isn’t just more expensive—it’s physically larger, requires more robust power delivery, and usually comes loaded with workstation-focused features that add to the price.

You’ll also need to spend a lot of money on cooling, because under full multi-core load, the 9980X can pull upwards of 350W from the socket, so a 360mm AIO cooler is the absolute rock-bottom, bare minimum cooling solution you can use to keep this chip from throttling, and there aren't many that fit this chip out there.

And believe me, having sat next to the open-air test bench running high-intensity multi-threaded workloads on the 9980X, this thing pumps out an enormous amount of heat, so plan your workstation environment accordingly.

A man sitting at a workstation powered by an AMD Threadripper 9000-series CPU — (Image credit: AMD)

All that said, if you’re the kind of user who spends whole workdays in Premiere Pro, Houdini, or TensorFlow, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X is a dream, but you do have to really ask yourself if you need this much focused power for your particular situation.

I love multi-threaded programming and working on asynchronous processes when developing my own software tools, but in no universe would I ever be able to fully utilize all 64 cores on this processor unless I was actively trying to, and I don't work with anything nearly that complex.

If your workflow is even moderately mixed, or gaming is even a quarter of your use case, this chip delivers diminishing returns that will make you regret investing so much into it, especially when the significantly cheaper Threadripper 9970X is ideal for those situations at half the cost.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Price & availability

How much does it cost? $4,999.99 / £4,499.99 / AU$8,399
When is it available? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X is available now in the US, UK, and Australia for $4,999.99 / £4,499.99 / AU$8,399.

While not 'cheap' by any means, if you're seriously looking at buying this processor, you're not window shopping. You know you need it, and it will either make back the money you spent on it in relatively short order, or it is a processor you have to have for academic or scientific research, and it's simply the price paid for progress.

It should be noted, though, that while the Threadripper 9980X's multi-core performance is second only to the high-end Threadripper Pro 9000-series chips, the Threadripper 9970X's multicore performance is actually not that far behind the 9980X's, and it costs half the price of this chip.

If you're wincing at the price tag of the 9980X, but you really do need something like this for your workflow, give the 9970X a long look and see if it's a better fit for your needs.

Value: 3 / 5

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Specs & Features

A mockup of a delidded AMD Threadripper 9000-series chip — (Image credit: AMD)

64-cores/128-threads chew through multi-core workloads
Slower clock speeds than AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X
256MB L3 cache

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X specs
Socket		sTR5 (TRX50)
Architecture		AMD Zen 5
Cores		64
Threads		128
Base Clock		3.2GHz
Boost Clock		5.4GHz
L3 Cache		256MB
PCIe Lanes		Up to 80 PCIe 5.0
Memory Support		Up to 1TB Quad-channel DDR5‑6400 ECC
TDP		350W
tjMax		95℃

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X is built on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, an MCM design featuring TSMC’s N4P process for the compute dies and its N6 process for the I/O die, all tied together using AMD’s Infinity Fabric interconnect. Each of the eight CCDs contributes eight cores and 16 threads to the massive 64-core, 128-thread chip, supported by a staggering 256MB of L3 cache. This is particularly ideal for keeping large datasets close to the cores and minimizing memory latency in heavy workloads.

The base clock speeds sit at 3.2GHz, with boost frequencies climbing up to 5.4GHz under lightly threaded tasks, depending on cooling and power headroom. The processor is fully unlocked for overclocking, although thermal and power constraints will make manual tuning challenging without extreme cooling solutions. Out of the box, this processor is pulling 350W, so you’ll likely need more than a 360mm AIO to cool this properly if you push it even modestly.

An AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X slotted into a motherboard — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Memory support is another standout. The 9980X works with up to 1TB of DDR5-6400 ECC RAM across quad-channel configurations, a 1,200MT/s increase over the last-generation Threadripper line.

I/O capabilities have also gotten a significant boost. Now, you can utilize up to 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, meaning you can run multiple GPUs, storage arrays, and capture or networking cards without lane-sharing bottlenecks.

As with previous Threadrippers, there’s no integrated GPU, but that’s expected. Power consumption is rated at an extremely high 350W TDP, and the physical chip uses the sTRX5 socket, meaning it requires a TRX50-series motherboard. These boards are large, expensive, and purpose-built for heavy-duty computing.

Specs & features: 4.5 / 5

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Installation & test setup

The TR50X socket screwdriver for the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000X-series on a desk — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X installation is much more involved than you might be used to if you've only ever used consumer-grade motherboards that seat a standard desktop CPU.

The Threadripper 9980X uses AMD’s sTR5 socket, which is physically longer and more delicate, and so requires a specific installation procedure.

Included with the 9980X is a torque-limiting wrench that you'll need to ensure even pressure across the heat spreader, which for this chip is a vital step for both thermal performance and long-term reliability.

I highly recommend watching some installation videos on YouTube after you've read over the installation instructions before you attempt to install this processor, since slacking on proper installation can create uneven contact with the socket or even damaged pins on the TRX50 motherboard. You've spent a lot of money on this chip, so definitely make sure you don't wreck the whole thing on the installation step.

For testing the chip, I used the ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE motherboard together with an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 128GB (4 x 32GB) G.Skill G5 Series DDR5-6400 ECC memory, along with a Crucial T705 PCIe 5.0 SSD as my primary system drive. Cooling was handled by a Silverstone XE360-TR5 AIO cooler, and power was supplied by a Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum PSU, and a fresh install of Windows 11.

This configuration is more or less what an enthusiast HEDT rig or professional Windows workstation would look like, and it definitely outclasses what you'll find in all but the most tricked-out gaming PC, so it's a solid representative system for carrying out my testing.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Performance

Best-in-class multi-core performance
Slower clocks mean it can lose out to the Threadripper 9970X in key workloads
Gaming performance is unimpressive

The performance of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9800X ends up being a somewhat mixed bag for all of the reasons I've already gone over, but now that we're at the 'take-a-look-at-the-actual-numbers' stage, hopefully you'll see what I mean.

Across most workloads I tested, the Ryzen Threadripper 9980X can't keep up with the 9970X, falling behind some Ryzen 9 desktop chips, and even losing a couple of times to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. This is especially true when it comes to single-core performance and gaming, where the Threadripper 9980X just isn't competitive at all with any of the consumer-grade enthusiast processors I tested.

First, the single-core performance of the 9980X consistently loses out to not just the Threadripper 9970X, but it gets roughed up pretty bad by pretty much all the high-end Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 9000-series processors. Ultimately, it just doesn't have the base clock speed to sustain enough performance to compete in focused, application-specific tasks.

This difference across all single-core tests is about 3% slower than the 9970X (which isn't terrible), but about 10% slower than the Ryzen 9 9950X (which is at least bad, if not quite terrible).

However, when we look at the 9980X's multi-core performance, things flip rather drastically. At first, it looks like more of the same with Geekbench 6, where the 9980X only outperforms the 9970X by about 4% (though it does beat out third-place finisher, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, by about 36%).

Once we hit the Cinebench tests, though, it's over for everyone else. In Cinebench R23, the 9980X's score of 115,098 is about 51% better than the 9970X's 76,136 score, and an increadible 173.4% better than the third-place finisher, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which scored a relatively measly 42,098.

In Cinebench R24, it's more or less the same, with the 9980X finishing 56% better than the 9970X's multi-core score and nearly 168% better than the third-best performer, the Core Ultra 9 285K.

Across all multi-core tests, the 9980X comes in about 36% better than the 9970X and about 106% better than the Core Ultra 9 285K, with the rest of the Ryzen 9 and 7 chips falling even further behind.

In whole system performance, as measured in CrossMark, the Threadripper 9980X does pretty well in terms of overall performance, though it comes in about 125 points behind the 9970X (or about 5%). That's still better than the Ryzen 9s and Ryzen 7s, though. It falls behind quite a bit in productivity workloads, coming in second to last, just ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

In terms of responsiveness, it's well ahead of the Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 chips, as well as Intel's flagship desktop processor, coming in second only to the 9970X.

Creative workloads are one of the areas where the 9980X shines like the powerhouse chip it is, notching substantial wins in Blender Benchmark 4.3, V-ray 6, and PugetBench for Creators Adobe Premiere.

Over all workloads, the 9980X chalked up a roughly 30% better performance than the 9970X, and that's taking the geomean of all the creative benchmark results, something that really undersells how dominating the 9980X's Blender Benchmark and V-Ray 6 CPU performance is (about 71% and 65% better than the 9970X). If I just averaged all the scores to give some of these tests more weight, the 9980X comes in about 50% better than the 9970X across creative workloads, with every other chip far, far behind.

Where the 9980X really fails is in terms of gaming performance, so PC gaming enthusiasts out there who want a Threadripper 9980X as a flex, you'd be doing yourself a massive disservice.

On average, across all the games tested, the 9980X had the worst gaming performance both in terms of average FPS and 1% FPS. The 9970X did marginally better, but the consumer-grade Ryzen chips and even the Core Ultra 9 285K are far better suited for gaming than either of the Threadripper 9000-series chips, but expecially compared to the 9980X.

This poor gaming performance also extends into game AI, largely because game logic is a largely single-core task that can't easily be disaggregated across multiple threads.

Independent NPC actors might benefit from multithreading in games, of course, but if that was the case, the 9980X should have done better simulating a full in-game year of Stellaris gameplay with 42 AI empires on a huge map, exactly the kind of asynchronous agent logic processing multithreading might have helped.

Unfortunately, the 9980X came in dead last in that test, only being able to finish the year in about 55.72 seconds, which would extrapolate to 393 in-game days in one minute. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D finished the year in about 44.75 seconds, which translates to about 489 days simulated in one minute.

In the end, all of this is to say that the 9980X isn't going to be awful at gaming, especially if you have one of the best graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 5090 and crank up the settings so that the frame rate bottleneck moves from CPU to GPU.

Moving on to the more physical aspects of performance, the thermal and power consumption of the 9980X are what you would expect from a 350W TDP chip. I can assure you, the 9980X uses up every last watt of headroom its TDP will allow, ranging from 54.515W when idle all the way up to 349.623W peak power draw under 100% load.

Surprisingly, this did not directly translate into the chip overheating, and its temperatures ranged from 41℃ to 75℃ at its peak with a 360mm AIO cooler.

As you can see above, the real strength of this chip is in its multi-core performance. It's general system performance is decent and it's a pretty responsive chip, but you don't buy a 64-core Threadripper to try and max out your single-core clock speed for better FPS in games, you use it to chew through asynchronous workflows as fast as possible. The Threadripper 9980X is all about throughput, and in this regard, it's in a class all its own.

Normally, I take the geomean all of the different performance scores to arrive at a final score that accounts for some tests having very large numbers as their results compared to other tests (Cinebench R23 and R24's single and multi-core scores being a prime example).

However, when I do that, in the case of the 9980X, I all but erase the dominating results that make this chip what it is in the one workflow category it is designed to excel at.

As such, I've done something different and included both the aggregate geometric mean of all the chips' scores as well as a straight average. This allows you to appreciate how much the multi-core performance of the 9980X skews the results when the scores are averaged normally.

The 9980X is in an effective geometric tie with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and only a little bit ahead of the rest of the processors I tested in the end. But give the 9980X the proper weight of its multi-core performance with a straight average, and the 9980X runs away with it, beating out the 9970X by about 30% and the Intel Core Ultra 9 and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D by about 87%.

Taking all of those scores and looking at them in terms of performance-for-price, however, and the 9980X does not fair very well, coming in dead last in terms of value for your money. At least at first glance.

Given how this processor is designed for a very specific (and often lucrative) kind of work, I don't really think that the standard value metric I'd use with other products is applicable.

Yes, this chip is expensive, but if you're the kind of professional who would benefit from the 9980X's multi-core prowess, you're likely to make that money back fairly quickly just from speeding up your workflow and this chip will pay for itself in very short order.

Performance: 5 / 5

Should you buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X?

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X Scorecard
Value	This chip is very expensive, but for those who are seriously looking to buy it, money probably isn't the biggest concern here.	3 / 5
Specs & features	The 9980X has some impressive workstation-friendly specs, like a huge capacity for PCIe 5.0 I/O and faster 6400MT/s DDR5 ECC memory. The only shame is that it's base clock speeds aren't higher.	4.5 / 5
Performance	While there are some areas of weakness in terms of the 9980X's performance, this chip is built around one thing: chewing through multi-core workflows, and in that, it's a spectacular success.	5 / 5
Final Score	The 9980X is a very particular chip that is not going to be great for everybody, but if you're the type of person who needs this kind of chip for work, only the high-end Threadripper Pro 9000-series chips can best the 9980X.	4.17 / 5

Buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X if...

Your work will benefit greatly from improved multi-core performance
The only real reason to buy this chip is its absolutely dominant multi-core performance. Nothing else is really in the same league as the 9980X in this regard, so if your workflow will benefit substantially from this kind of processing, this is the chip you need.

Don't buy it if...

You don't need the absolute fastest multi-core performance you can afford
If better multi-core performance isn't your number one priority for upgrading your workstation to speed up your workflow, then you will be better off with the Threadripper 9970X, which is much more balanced as well as cheaper.

Also consider

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X
The Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is no slouch when it comes to multi-core performance and is second only to the 9980X in my testing, but offers a better performance and price balance.

Read the full AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X review

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
If you're not hellbent on setting Cinebench R23 records your multi-core performance on a HEDT workstation, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is pretty good for these kinds of workloads without costing a fortune.

Read the full Intel Core Ultra 9 285K review

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
If you're looking to get the best processor for your enthusiast gaming, streaming, or prosumer content creation workstation, in most cases, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D will be more than enough for your needs at a fraction of the price.

Read the full AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review

How I tested the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X

I spent about two weeks testing the Threadripper 9980X
I used it for content creation, gaming, and intensive office productivity
I put the chip through my standard suite of CPU benchmark tests

I used the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X for about two weeks in my day-to-day work PC, using it for content creation for work, CPU experimentation and stress testing, and general productivity.

I didn't spend a whole lot of time gaming with this chip, as it definitely isn't its intended use case, and it was obvious early on that this wasn't a great gaming chip.

I used my standard CPU testing suite to stress the 9980X under load, including running custom scripts to maintain the highest CPU utilization possible for hours at a time to stress the chip's multi-core performance. For benchmarks, I focused most of my attention on benchmarks like V-Ray 6, Handbrake 1.9, Cinebench R23 and R24, as well as PugetBench for Creators Adobe Premiere.

I've tested dozens of processors for hundreds of hours over my time here at TechRadar, so I know my way around a processor and a testbench to push a chip to its limits to evaluate its quality and value, and I bring that expertise to bear with every review I do.

First reviewed August 2025

I’ve tested dozens of processors over the years, and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X manages to thread a perfect balance of workstation performance, I/O, and price

5:29 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: CPU, Final Score, TDP | Comments: Off

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Two-minute review

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X isn’t just a “cut-down” version of the flagship AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X—it’s a deliberately tuned, high-clocked, 32-core workstation CPU that hits a sweet spot for many professionals.

By halving the core count from 64 to 32 while boosting base frequency to 4.0 GHz (and up to 5.4 GHz on single-core boost), AMD has created a chip that is easier to cool, faster in certain lightly threaded scenarios, and considerably more affordable.

When I first unboxed it, the 9970X didn’t feel like all that different proposition from the 9980X. The packaging, socket installation, and TRX50 platform requirements are the same, but it’s only after I spent two weeks extensively testing both HEDT chips that the performance story for the 9970X revealed itself.

In heavily threaded workloads like Blender Cycles and Cinebench multi-core, it delivers S-tier throughput in absolute terms—my Cinebench R23 multi-core score averaged 76,136, which is closer to the 9980X’s 115,098 than it is to the third-best result from my test group, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D with an average score of 42,100. That’s because the higher sustained clocks and reduced cross-die latency help the 9970X punch above its core count.

Where the difference becomes even more apparent is in day-to-day interactivity. Complex CAD assemblies, large Photoshop and Premiere projects, Unreal Engine scene editing, and other workloads with bursts of single-threaded or lightly threaded activity feel snappier than on the 9980X, a chip that feels purpose-built to maximize multi-core performance above any other consideration. That’s because the 9970X’s smaller core count means fewer CCDs to coordinate and a higher per-core thermal limit, allowing for faster frequency off the line. This will also pay dividends in applications that can sometimes scale unevenly across cores, such as large database server operations or multiple multi-threaded tasks running concurrently.

The 9970X’s power and thermals also proved more manageable in my testing. Under sustained all-core load, the chip’s maximum power draw hovered around 300W, but this was managed easily enough by the 360mm AIO cooler on the test bench. This kept the chip’s maximum tdie temperature at a balmy 74℃. For those who want to keep chip cooling simple in the form of a high-end AIO, this could make a tangible difference.

Platform benefits are unchanged from the rest of the Threadripper 7000 Pro lineup: you still get quad-channel DDR5-6400 ECC memory support, up to 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, and motherboard designs built for multiple GPUs, high-bandwidth storage, and add-in accelerators. That means it can serve as the central brain for a machine-learning workstation, a film-editing suite with multiple GPU accelerators, or a high-end simulation box without compromise.

Like earlier Threadrippers before it, the 9970X’s gaming performance is at best a distant secondary consideration—and like the 9980X, the 9970X won’t match the best processors on the consumer market, like the Core i9-14900K or Ryzen 9 9950X3D, in pure gaming FPS.

However, with an average of over 240 FPS at 1080p in my tests, it’s more than capable of handling games competently between work sessions, especially when paired with one of the best graphics cards like the Nvidia RTX 5090.

The real magic of the 9970X, though, is how it blends workstation-class parallel compute with desktop-class responsiveness. For many pros, this chip will actually feel faster than the 9980X in mixed workloads, all while costing $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199.

This is literally half the cost of AMD’s “best” HEDT processor. It’s still a major investment, but in the right pipeline, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X delivers a better return on both performance per dollar and performance per watt than its bigger sibling, making it the best AMD processor for just about every workstation PC that can run it.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Price & availability

How much does it cost? $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199
When is it available? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is available now for $2,499.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,199 in the US, UK, and Australia, respectively.

From a prosumer, enthusiast, and industry perspective, though, the price of the 9970X is going to be much cheaper than the 9980X, not to mention the Threadripper Pro 9000-series chips. So while its hard to call something costing more than a couple grand "cheap", for this class of product, this isn't that bad, especially considering that there's no increase in price from the Ryzen Threadripper 7970X.

Meanwhile, for many professionals, the 50% difference in price between the 9970X and 9980X—for what can often feels like 75–99% of the real-world performance of the 9980X—has to weigh heavily in its favor.

It’s important to note that Threadripper chips aren’t typically sold through mainstream retailers, so availability will be more limited than with high-end consumer CPUs. You’ll need to check with specialty component retailers, workstation-oriented e-tailers, and system integrators building high-end rigs for creative, engineering, or research applications in your region if you’re looking to upgrade to the 9970X.

It’s also worth noting that a total platform investment might be necessary as well. A TRX50 motherboard, high-bandwidth DDR5 ECC memory kit, and capable cooling are all required for the 9970X, and these can easily add a couple of grand to a build. That said, for buyers who rely on multi-core compute and high I/O throughput to make a living, the 9970X offers excellent return on investment.

Value: 4 / 5

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Specs & Features

AMD Zen 5 architecture
Higher base clock than 9980X
32-cores/64-threads for excellent multi-core throughput

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X specs
Socket		sTR5 (TRX50)
Architecture		AMD Zen 5
Cores		32
Threads		64
Base Clock		4.0 GHz
Boost Clock		5.4 GHz
L3 Cache		128MB
PCIe Lanes		Up to 80 PCIe 5.0
Memory Support		Up to 1TB Quad-channel DDR5‑6400 ECC
TDP		350W
Tjmax		95℃

The Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is built on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, manufactured using a MCM design with the TSMC’s advanced N4P process for the main compute die and TSMC’s N6 proccess for chip I/O.

It combines 32 high-performance cores for 64 total threads, offering strong parallel compute capabilities while maintaining high per-core speeds that benefit lightly threaded workloads.

With a 4.0 GHz base and up to 5.4 GHz boost, it delivers both sustained throughput and the snappy responsiveness that closely parallels mainstream consumer CPUs.

A major strength of the Threadripper 9000-series is its quad-channel DDR5 memory controller, supporting ECC DDR5-6400, up from ECC DDR5-5200 from the Threadripper 7000-series, for higher data bandwidth and integrity, which are key for high-resolution video editing, scientific computation, and large-scale 3D rendering.

AMD Threadripper Pro concept graphic — (Image credit: AMD)

PCIe connectivity is equally formidable, with up to 80 lanes of PCIe 5.0 for GPUs and NVMe drives (up from 48 with the 7000-series), plus an additional 8 PCIe 4.0 lanes for legacy devices. This level of I/O capacity is ideal for multi-GPU render farms, expansive storage arrays, or specialized accelerator cards.

Its 350W TDP highlights the need for serious cooling (I would not recommend anything less than a 360mm AIO cooler), but it also enables sustained all-core performance without throttling when thermals are under control. The chip is fully unlocked as well, allowing fine-grained tuning for workloads that benefit from higher clocks.

Combined with the TRX50 platform’s durability and expandability, the 9970X’s specs make it a workstation CPU that can anchor a system for years of demanding use.

Specs & features: 5 / 5

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Installation & test setup

Installing the Ryzen Threadripper 9970X is more involved than seating a standard desktop CPU. It uses AMD’s sTR5 socket, which is physically massive and requires a specific installation process.

AMD includes a torque-limiting wrench with the processor to ensure even pressure across the integrated heat spreader, an important step for both thermal performance and long-term reliability. Skipping proper installation can lead to uneven contact or even bent pins on the TRX50 motherboard, so definitely watch some installation videos on YouTube and read the instructions carefully before touching anything.

For testing, I used an ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE board, paired with an Nvidia RTX 5090, G.Skill 128GB DDR5-6400 ECC memory (4x32GB), and a Crucial T705 PCIe 5.0 SSD as the primary system drive running a fresh copy of Windows 11. Cooling was handled by a Silverstone XE360-TR5 AIO cooler, and power was supplied by a Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum PSU.

This configuration is more or less what a professional workstation or enthusiast HEDT rig might look like, and definitely exceeds what you might find in a typical gaming PC (this will be important in a bit). Every component—from the motherboard’s VRM design to the memory configuration—was selected to match the demands of a CPU built for long, heavy, and complex computing tasks.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Performance

An AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X slotted into a motherboard — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Phenomenal multi-core performance
Very responsive
Gaming performance is unimpressive

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X’s performance reflects its 32-core, 64-thread design and high clock speeds, as demonstrated by my various benchmark data.

Everything from Geekbench 6.4 and Cinebench R23 to V-Ray, Blender Benchmark, and HandBrake 1.9 shows that it delivers exceptional throughput across professional workloads while maintaining strong single-core responsiveness.

In Geekbench 6.4, the 9970X scored a 3,010 in single-core and a 27,567 in multi-core performance, for example. This puts its single-core performance in the neighborhood of mainstream desktop CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, though it’s about 10% slower than the fastest processor I tested, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, in Geekbench’s benchmark. Notably, the 9970X is about 1% faster in this test, on average, than the Threadripper 9980X.

For multi-core performance, however, the only real competition for the 9970X is the 9980X. In Geekbench 6.4, the 9970X is about 31% faster than the Core Ultra 9 285K, the third-fastest chip on this benchmark in my test group.

Meanwhile, the 9970X comes in about 4% slower than the 9980X in this test. Before you go thinking the 9970X can hang with the 9980X in overall multi-core performance, though, in Cinebench R23, the 9970X scored an astounding 76,136 points in multi-core performance, which is about 81% faster than the next chip on the podium, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, score of 42,098 (followed very closely by the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 41,281).

The 9980X, meanwhile, clocked in 115,098 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which puts the 9970X about 34% slower than the 9980X. The story is essentially the same in Cinebench R24, with some tightening in the 3DMark CPU Profile (Max Thread) and PassMark CPU tests. Overall, the 9970X is the second-best multi-core performer, coming in about 54% faster than the third-place Core Ultra 9 285K, and about 25% slower than the multi-core champ 9980X.

The faster clock speeds in the 9970X give it a responsiveness edge over the slower 9980X, which you can see play out in system benchmarks like CrossMark. Here, the 9970X beat or roughly matched the productivity performance and responsiveness of the 9980X, Core Ultra 9 285K, and Ryzen 9 9950X. It’s only real competition here is the Intel Core i9-14900K, which has a noticeably higher boost frequency for its performance cores, which is vital to app performance and responsiveness.

In creative workloads, the 9970X outperformed nearly all of the chips in my testing, save for the 9980X, though there are some notable quirks in the results that might point to poor optimization for certain tests, like PugetBench for Creators.

Here both Threadripper chips fell way behind their client-grade competition in Adobe Photoshop, or essentially tying with them in PugetBench’s Premiere test—as the 9970X did—or only slightly beating the competition—hats off to the 9980X for the win there.

Other workloads, however, show that the 9970X is substantially better suited for these workflows than consumer-class chips. The 9970X takes the top spot in the CrossMark Creativity and Handbrake encoding tests overall, and loses only to the 9980X in Blender Benchmark 4.3 and V-Ray 6’s CPU test while nearly lapping its next closest rival on the consumer side on all four benchmarks.

Since the 9970X is classified as an HEDT chip rather than a full-on industrial workstation CPU, there are a lot of non-pro enthusiasts out there who like Threadrippers for the elite performance on offer, but I’ll warn you now that gaming is not where this chip is going to excel.

In my gaming benchmarks, the 9970X consistently came in at the bottom of the rankings, averaging about 241 FPS at 1080p on low settings (with a 1% FPS average of about 169). Every other chip besides the 9980X cleared 340 FPS on average, with 1% FPS averaging at least 40 FPS better. On the bright side, the 9970X did manage to beat out the 9980X, which came in dead last on every game I tested it with.

In terms of game AI performance, its also a bit of a mixed bag, with the 9970X doing very well in Civilization VII’s AI benchmark, but coming in a good deal behind in the mainstream consumer chips in the group in the Stellaris 1-year, 42 empire autoplay duration tests.

Of course, that’s not all there is to be said about gaming, since few with this kind of chip will be playing at 1080p with the lowest graphics settings on a cheap graphics card. If you’ve got the money for a Threadripper 9970X, you’re likely going to be able to swing a 4K graphics card like the Nvidia RTX 5080 or better; and gaming at higher resolutions shifts the FPS bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU, so the difference in actual framerates while playing might not be nearly so dramatic.

Thermals and power consumption were in line with what I was expecting from a 350W TDP chip. I recorded power draw ranging from 6.77W while idle to 300.6W peak, with temperatures between 37°C when idle and 74°C under sustained load using a 360mm AIO— an excellent result given the chip’s capabilities.

Overall, then, the 9970X really strikes a phenomenal balance between the responsiveness and everyday capability of the best consumer-market CPUs and the high-end performance required from a workstation-level processor.

Of course, given its price, I cannot imagine anyone who isn’t doing serious, heavy-duty 3D design, video production, or scientific simulation work needing a chip like this. If you’ve somehow stumbled into this review wondering if you should go through the ridiculous amount of expense to upgrade from a Core i9, Core Ultra 9, or Ryzen 9 system that you mostly use for gaming and prosumer-level content creation, don’t do it.

The payoff just isn’t worth the expense for anyone other than creative, AI, or scientific professionals. If you’re in a field that demands this kind of multi-core performance for your day-to-day work, however, the 9970X delivers close to flagship throughput with better responsiveness, making it one of the most balanced HEDT CPUs you’re going to find anywhere.

Should you buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X?

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X Scorecard
Value	For a chip this expensive, 'value' is definitely a relative term here. But for a workstation chip, this is a great value.	4 / 5
Specs & features	With high clock speeds, lots of CPU cores, and support for up to 1TB ECC DDR5 and 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, this chips brings the latest and greatest to the table.	5 / 5
Performance	While this isn't the most powerful chip for every use case, for professional workloads, the performance on offer is incredible.	5 / 5
Final Score	The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X offers a perfect balance of performance, responsiveness, and price that is impossible to beat.	4.67 / 5

Buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X if...

You need strong multi-core performance
Of the non-Threadripper Pro 9000-chips, the 9970X outperforms everything on the market other than the 9980X, but it isn't that far behind.

You want excellent responsiveness and single-core performance
While the multi-core performance is the big selling point of this chip, it offers comparable system responsiveness and single-core performance as many of the best consumer-class processors.

You want workstation performance on a 'budget'
No one is calling this processor cheap, but compared to other workstation-class processors, the 9970X isn't terrible on price.

Don't buy it if...

You aren't running professional creative, academic, or enterprise workloads
This chip brings fantastic performance for key professional workloads, but it's general computing and gaming performance isn't as good as substantially cheaper consumer processors.

You're on an actual budget
The Threadripper 9970X, and the platform required to run it, will run you several grand at least. Many of the best consumer PCs for professional workloads are almost certainly a better value.

You are looking for a true, industrial-class workstation chip
While the Threadripper 9970X is a powerful processor, for serious industrial-grade workloads (such as rendering the Gargantua approach sequence at the end of Interstellar, let's say), you should only consider this chip if you've purchased all of the available stock of the Threadripper Pro 9000-series and 9980X and still need more compute.

Also consider

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X
You get twice the cores for extreme parallel workloads, but at nearly twice the cost and with much lower sustained clock speeds for less responsive single-core or lightly-threaded tasks. But if you really need that heavy, all-cores-on-deck performance for your work, only the Threadripper Pro chips will give you better results.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
OK, seriously, hear me out. If you're looking for a responsive prosumer-grade chip with excellent multi-core performance, the Core Ultra 9 285K is as good as you'll find in a consumer system, even if it falls well short of where the 9970X lands. It's also substantially cheaper.

Read the full Intel Core Ultra 285K review

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
If you're an enthusiast who is looking for the best processor for gaming, prosumer-level content creation, and excellent all-around performance, this is the chip you actually need, not the 9970X.

Read the full AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review

How I tested the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X

I spent about two weeks testing the Threadripper 9970X
I put the chip through my standard suite of CPU benchmarks, with special attention on professional workloads and multi-core performance
I used it for content creation, gaming, and day-to-day work

I used the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X in my day-to-day work PC, using it for general productivity, content creation for work, and a healthy dose of CPU experimentation. I also used it for gaming while running benchmarks on other systems, but that was not my primary focus.

While there are a lot of specialized workloads that this CPU will be running, most of those workflows or applications don't have readily accessible benchmarks, so I used my standard CPU testing suite to inform the potential performance for those I could not benchmark directly, and put special emphasis and attention on those benchmarks, like V-Ray 6 and Handbrake 1.9 Encoding, that directly relate to the intended market for this chip.

I've reviewed dozens of processors over my time at TechRadar, and have spent hundreds of hours of testing processors for features, special projects, and general maintenance of my benchmark score database, so I know how to push a processor to its limits and assess its quality and value, an expertise I bring to all of my reviews to ensure that you find the right chip for your needs and budget.

First reviewed August 2025

LogicMonitor review

1:50 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: AI, IT | Comments: Off

If you’re searching for a network monitoring platform that can handle hybrid, cloud, and on-premises IT environments without breaking a sweat, LogicMonitor deserves some serious consideration. We’ve spent weeks comparing the best network monitoring tools of 2025 and LogicMonitor consistently leads the pack for the enterprise crowd.

At TechRadar Pro, our reviewers dive deep into every major IT platform, evaluating features, integrations, and real-world usability. We look for the things that IT teams actually need, beyond the elevator pitch and the blown-up promises.

For 2025, LogicMonitor is our pick among network monitoring tools. Its AI-powered suite can automate many day-to-day IT workflows, reducing manual effort and helping teams focus on what matters. If your organization values proactive issue detection, automated insights, and seamless scalability, LogicMonitor is well worth a closer look.

LogicMonitor: Features

LogicMonitor is loaded with features for modern IT teams managing complex hybrid environments. It’s best suited for medium-to-large organizations that need precise visibility, automation, and scalability. Execution is generally excellent, with AI-driven insights and 3000+ integrations being a major upside.

But we’d still like to see more intuitive onboarding for new users and some advanced analytics that competitors like Datadog already offer. Given its features, the price feels justified, but only if you plan to use all the features.

Infrastructure monitoring

LogicMonitor tracks the health and performance of all your devices, like servers, storage, VMs, and more, across both on-premise and cloud environments. It automatically discovers devices and provides detailed metrics for each one.

Network monitoring

Their platform continuously monitors network traffic, device status, and bandwidth usage. It auto-discovers devices, maps network topology, and uses intelligent alerting to notify you of anomalies in real time.

Log analysis

LogicMonitor centralizes log data from across your infrastructure, correlating it with metrics to give you context for troubleshooting. Flexible retention options let you choose how long to keep your data.

Synthetic monitoring

You can simulate user interactions and monitor website uptime and performance, helping ensure a smooth end-user experience.

AI and automation

LogicMonitor’s AI features automate anomaly detection, event correlation, and alert prioritization. This reduces alert fatigue and helps teams focus on what matters most.

Dashboards and reporting

Customizable dashboards and automated reports make it easy to visualize trends, share insights, and keep stakeholders informed.

Integrations

With over 3,000 integrations as of right now, LogicMonitor works with nearly every major device and cloud service, so you can monitor your entire stack from one place.

LogicMonitor: Ease of use

LogicMonitor’s interface is modern and intuitive, especially after its recent UI overhaul. The new design focuses on usability, with resource-level dashboards, streamlined navigation, and a consistent look across the platform. The resource explorer and enhanced topology mapping make it easier to manage complex environments and troubleshoot issues quickly.

However, there’s still a learning curve, especially for users new to network monitoring. Some advanced features and customizations require time to master, and a few UI elements can feel clunky or buried under menus. While onboarding guidance has improved, junior engineers may still need extra training to get comfortable. On the plus side, LogicMonitor offers live training webinars and plenty of documentation to help teams ramp up faster.

LogicMonitor: Pricing

Plan	Starting price (paid annually)	What’s included
Infrastructure Monitoring	$22/resource/month	Standard events and metrics, 900+ integrations, servers, VMs, SD-WAN, storage, network devices, cloud
Cloud IaaS Monitoring	$22/resource/month	AWS EC2, Azure VM, cloud infrastructure, standard integrations
Wireless Access Points Monitoring	$4/resource/month	Juniper Mist, Cisco Meraki devices, wireless network monitoring
Cloud PaaS & Container Monitoring	$3/resource/month	AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, MongoDB Atlas, Docker
Log Intelligence	$2.50–$7/GB/month	Log analysis, 7-day to 1-year retention
Edwin AI	Contact sales	AI automation, advanced analytics

*All prices USD/month, billed annually. “Per resource” means each monitored device or instance.

LogicMonitor’s pricing is resource-based, which can add up quickly for large environments. The entry-level plans cover most standard monitoring needs, but advanced features (like AI automation or extended log retention) may require add-ons or higher-tier plans.

Compared to competitors, LogicMonitor is on the expensive side, but the depth and breadth of features help justify the investment for organizations that need them.

LogicMonitor: Customer support

LogicMonitor is known for responsive, knowledgeable customer support. Most users consistently praise the team for proactive communication, regular check-ins, and genuine advice. Support is available via live chat, email, and phone, and there are live training webinars every other week for ongoing education.

Support packages come in tiers: Standard support is included for all customers, while Premier and FedRAMP plans add proactive monitoring, health checks, and remediation assistance. Premier customers get regular account reviews and early alerts about potential issues, plus priority access to senior engineers. The main caveat is that some advanced support features are only available at higher tiers, so small teams may not get the same level of hands-on help.

LogicMonitor: The competition

LogicMonitor sits at the high end of the network monitoring market, best suited for organizations that need deep, automated insights across hybrid and cloud environments. It’s a top pick for enterprises, managed service providers, and fast-growing IT teams who want to future-proof their monitoring stack.

Main competitors include Datadog, Dynatrace, and New Relic. Datadog offers similar AI-powered monitoring and a broader analytics suite, but at a comparable or higher price. Dynatrace is praised for ease of use and tight cloud integrations, making it a good fit for teams focused on cloud-native infrastructure. New Relic stands out for its flexible pricing and developer-friendly tools, but may lack some of LogicMonitor’s enterprise features. For smaller organizations or those with simpler needs, these alternatives might offer a better balance of features and cost.

LogicMonitor: Final verdict

LogicMonitor is a powerhouse for network monitoring, offering unrivaled visibility, automation, and AI-driven insights. Its real-time alerting, deep integrations, and automated topology mapping make it an invaluable tool for IT teams managing complex environments. While the learning curve and premium pricing may give some pause, the overall value is hard to beat if you need best-in-class monitoring.

For 2025, LogicMonitor is our pick for the best network monitoring tool, especially for organizations ready to invest more for reliability and consistency. If you want to automate IT workflows with full transparency, LogicMonitor is well worth the investment.

FAQs

Is LogicMonitor suitable for small businesses?

LogicMonitor is designed for mid-sized to large organizations. Its pricing and feature set may be overkill for small businesses, but it can be scaled down if you only need to monitor a handful of resources.

What kinds of devices can LogicMonitor monitor?

LogicMonitor supports a wide range of devices, including routers, switches, firewalls, servers, wireless access points, storage systems, and cloud resources. It integrates with over 3,000 vendors and protocols.

Does LogicMonitor offer a free trial?

Yes, LogicMonitor offers a free trial so you can test the platform before committing. This lets you explore features and see how it fits your environment.

How does LogicMonitor’s AI help IT teams?

LogicMonitor’s AI automates anomaly detection, alert prioritization, and event correlation. This reduces manual effort, cuts down on alert noise, and helps teams focus on critical issues.

What support options are available?

Standard support is included, with live chat, email, and webinars. Premier and FedRAMP customers get proactive monitoring, health checks, and priority access to senior engineers.

I’ve reviewed a lot of chairs in my career, but the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 is one of the few I’d want for my own office

9:02 pm | August 12, 2025

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

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: two-minute review

After spending a few weeks parked in the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 at work, I can confidently say it’s one of the most thoughtfully designed ergonomic chairs I’ve used, and I’ve used many of the best office chairs in my time.

Much like the OdinLake Ergo Max 747 I reviewed last year, the all-mesh FlexBreath material is the major feature of this chair (apart from the design), as it is what you’ll spend all your time interfacing with. Fortunately, it's a much higher quality mesh than a lot of similar breathable chairs, almost like sitting in a comfy hammock. OK, maybe not that comfortable, but it’s not that far off.

Using it in TechRadar’s component testing lab, I was struck by both its excellent ergonomic support and its breathability. I spend a lot of time in that lab with components bleeding off heat into the air like you wouldn’t believe, but the chair kept me cool through most of it.

On the design front, the split-back butterfly spine of the chair isn’t just an aesthetic flourish—it moves with my body, offering targeted support for both my upper and lower back, something you really don’t get elsewhere, and once you feel it, you get it. The dynamic lumbar system also subtly shifts to match my posture, so whether I’m leaning forward to type or reclining to read, my spine stays supported.

An OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 in an office — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The WireControl adjustment paddles in the armrests, meanwhile, are very intuitive. Instead of awkwardly fumbling under the seat, I can reach paddles just beneath the armrests to tweak height, tilt lock, and tilt tension. The seat depth is easy to adjust, and the recline range—up to about 135°—lets me shift from focused work to relaxed lounging without losing comfort. The headrest, while firm, provides consistent neck support during long video calls, and the optional footrest adds even more comfort to the mix if you want it.

Assembly was fairly straightforward, with only two large pieces taking up 80% of the work. These pieces, namely the seat itself and the back, are both rather heavy, so make sure you have some help if you need it to put the chair together.

Normally $999, the OdinLake O3 Ergo Butterfly 753 is often on sale for $899 on OdinLake’s website, sans footrest, which definitely puts it into the premium tier for office chairs. It's also available from OdinLake's European storefront, where it's currently discounted from €869 down to €782 at the time of review.

It’s undeniably an investment, but it’s an investment in your comfort and is backed by an impressive 15-year warranty on the frame (5-year warranty for other parts), so if you are tempted to invest in the chair, you’ll at least have some peace of mind about its longevity.

Unfortunately, the chair is only available to ship to the lower 48 states, so Hawaii and Alaska residents, as well as anyone outside the US, are out of luck. For everyone else in delivery range who spends serious time at their desk, the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 delivers some seriously impressive comfort with durable construction and enough adjustability to set it exactly where you need it.

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Price & availability

The back of the headrest of the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much is it? Currently $899 at OdinLake's website
When is it available? It is available now
Where can you get it? Only ships within the continental United States

In the US, the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753’s list price is $999 for the chair itself (currently discounted to $899), while adding the footrest will cost you extra, setting this in the premium tier as far as office chairs go. You can check it out by clicking here.

OdinLake doesn’t offer shipping to Hawaii, Alaska, or international addresses - those US buyers, though, do get free shipping on their orders.

However, there is a European store for UK and EU users. You can see it by clicking here.

Given all its features—the FlexBreath mesh, dynamic ergonomic support, 4D armrests, and back bar—as well as its robust warranty, this price isn’t out of line with its competitors.

Value: 4 / 5

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Specs

The backbar on the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Maximum height		32.7 ins
Weight		75 lbs
Materials		FlexBreath Mesh, aluminum alloy, plastic
Maximum recline		135 degrees
Armrests		4D
Maximum weight load		350 lbs
Warranty		Frame: 15-years \| All other parts: 5-years

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Assembly

The assembly gloves included in the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Assembly took about 30 minutes
Two people might be required
Courtesy work gloves are a great touch

One thing I appreciated about the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 is how straightforward it was to assemble. From unboxing to sitting down for the first time, the whole process took me just under 30 minutes—and I was fairly lackadaisical about it, too.

Every part was individually wrapped and labeled, which meant no guesswork about what went where, and the work gloves included with the hardware to keep my hands clean while assembling it is a fantastic touch that other chair makers really need to copy. The included hardware also came with some extra screws, which is a helpful touch, especially for those of us who are prone to drop and lose sight of the one piece of hardware that keeps everything together.

Instructions were clear and well-illustrated, and you can also watch OdinLake’s short assembly video online, which walks through each step visually. I’ve assembled enough chairs in my time that I barely had to look at the instructions, especially with so few parts to pull together. All this makes it almost impossible to make a mistake. The heaviest lift—literally—was attaching the seat to the base. This chair isn’t light, so lifting and aligning parts by yourself might be difficult. If you’re not comfortable handling bulky pieces alone, having a second person for that step would help.

All the pre-drilled holes lined up perfectly, and the included Allen wrench was comfortable enough to use without causing hand strain. Once assembled, the chair felt rock-solid immediately—no wobbles, no loose elements, no “settling in” period. Even the casters slotted in smoothly without resistance.

Overall, the assembly process reinforced the impression of quality. There was no cutting corners in how the chair was packaged, how the parts fit, or how easy it was to get it from box to office. If you’re going to have to assemble a chair yourself, this is exactly the kind of experience you want.

Assembly: 4.5 / 5

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Design

The back of the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Innovative 'winged' design for upper back support
Rather heavy, even with partial plastic construction
Clever controls positioning in the arm rests

The OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753’s design balances modern ergonomics with innovative and eye-catching flourishes.

The FlexBreath mesh is the star of the show, in my mind. It’s tightly woven, so it’s supportive, but it never feels rigid or scratchy, which is a major problem with other mesh fabric chairs I’ve sat in. The mesh material also stays cool even when I’ve been seated for hours. From the front, the chair is sleek and professional; from the back, the butterfly-shaped support frame turns it into a bit of a conversation piece, and the optional footrest can really elevate your office game and make your coworkers jealous.

That said, those butterfly ‘wings’ on the back might look like they’re metal, but they are actually plastic, which is a slight letdown compared to the rest of the premium build. Unfortunately, I think a sacrifice had to be made here simply for physics’ sake, as the chair is heavy enough as it is, so adding substantially more metal probably isn’t practical (especially if you plan on leaning all 135 degrees back into the chair).

Another excellent design touch is the horizontal bar at the top of the chair’s back. While it looks like a visual flourish, it’s actually super convenient for moving the chair around while you’re not in it, providing a solid grip to reposition the chair. Given that the chair weighs about 75 lb, this handle makes maneuvering far less awkward.

The aluminum alloy base and internal frame give it a reassuring solidity, with casters that glide smoothly and silently across the hard flooring of our NYC office.

Controls are also incredibly intuitive. Height and tilt adjustments are handled by paddles under the armrests—no bending down and hunting for levers—, as the 4D armrests offer height, width, depth, and angle adjustments. The armrests are on the firm side, so there are definitely those who’ll want to have softer padding, but your mileage may vary.

Overall, the design of the OdinLake O3 Ergo Butterfly 753 feels like it was made by someone who actually uses a chair for 8–12 hours a day, from the comfort of the mesh to the dynamic lumbar and upper back support, delivering practical, stylish ergonomics that make getting through a workday much easier than it would otherwise be.

Design: 4.5 / 5

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Performance

The lumbar support on the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Dynamic lumbar support
Very comfortable FlexBreath mesh
Well-supported seat for long stretches of work

In daily use, the Butterfly 753 proved itself as more than just a pretty frame—it’s a genuinely high-performance ergonomic tool. The split-back design with its independent upper and lower sections allowed me to change postures frequently without ever feeling unsupported. The dynamic lumbar system was especially impressive.

The tilt function is equally adaptable. With the tilt lock disengaged, I could gently rock while reading, which felt more natural than being locked into a rigid position. The range—up to roughly 135°—is perfect for switching between deep focus and one of those office moments where you just need to lean back, run your closed eyes, and let out some kind of tired sigh. Meanwhile, the tilt resistance is adjustable, so I could fine-tune it to my body weight (it supports up to 350 lbs) and preferred recline position.

The seat comfort is likewise excellent. The mesh offers a slight flex that distributes my weight evenly, avoiding the pressure points I’ve experienced with padded foam seats over long sessions. The seat depth adjustment also let me keep my feet flat, which helps prevent circulation issues in the legs—as evolved hunter-gatherers forced to work long, stationary hours in an office, every little bit helps.

The headrest is supportive during calls and writing sessions, though it’s mesh and relatively firm, so if you’re the type who likes a little pillow or cushion on your chair, you’ll have to source that yourself.

The armrests, meanwhile, are adjustable in four dimensions but are definitely on the firm side. If you’re suffering from elbow pain due to resting them on hard surfaces, you might not like these armrests very much.

Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753?

The footrest on the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 Scorecard
Value	While not cheap, this isn't the most expensive premium office chair on the market.	4 / 5
Assembly	While the back and seat parts of the chair are heavy enough to require two people to put it together, the chair is otherwise very easy to put together.	4.5 / 5
Design	The Ergo Butterfly 753 offers some excellent features and aesthetics that you won't easily find elsewhere.	4.5 / 5
Performance	At the end of the day, an office chair needs to be comfortable over a long stretch of time, and the Ergo Butterfly 753 has comfort for days.	4.5 / 5
Final score	The flexible mesh fabric of this chair is some of the best I've ever experienced, and the dynamic lumbar and butterfly upper back support make this chair a gamechanger.	4.38 / 5

Buy the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 if...

You need truly customizable support
The various position settings and dynamic lumbar support make this incredibly comfortable for a lot of body types.

You need something breathable
If you spend a lot of time sitting in your office chair, getting air circulation on your back and legs can mean the difference between comfort and misery, and this chair has the former in spades.

Don't buy it if...

You're on a tight budget
While this isn't the most expensive office chair on the market, it's not cheap.

You need more actual cushioning
If you're someone who needs actual cushions to feel comfortable, especially on your armrests, this chair might not give you what you need.

Also consider

Herman Miller Aeron (Classic)
A trusted mesh office chair with polished adjustability and long-term durability, though it lacks a headrest and has a shorter warranty.

Read the full Herman Miller Aeron review

OdinLake Ergo Max 747
If the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 is slightly too rich for your blood, the also very comfortable Ergo Max 747 is a slightly cheaper alternative.

Read the full OdinLake Ergo Max 747 review

Originally reviewed August 2025

I tested Tribler, an ideal simple, secure torrenting solution

2:00 pm |

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

Tribler is a free, open-source torrent client with robust security. It uses an overlay network to search for content, meaning it doesn't need an external indexing service. Unlike some torrenting platforms, its index can’t be taken down, making it a favorite for people seeking to download content.

Although very secure, Tribler isn’t a 100% privacy-proof torrenting platform. It protects your privacy as much as possible, but there’s no perfect guarantee of shielding your identity.

We’re reviewing Tribler to help you decide whether it’s a good choice. We tested the app extensively to provide our readers with a detailed, unbiased review.

Tribler: Versions and platforms

You can download Tribler for free on your PC. It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu. These are three popular desktop operating systems, with the first two accounting for most of the PC market.

Downloading Tribler is as simple as visiting its official website and clicking the download button. Once the download is complete, install Tribler with a few clicks, and you’re good to go.

Tribler: Features

Tribler is a torrenting platform you can use to find and download free content. It has a simple dark-themed interface that you can quickly understand.

Though a standalone desktop app, Tribler works within your browser. This is merely a technicality. Tribler runs directly on your PC, but the graphic interface is accessed via your web browser.

Users can click the search button in the upper-middle corner to find specific content. As you type a letter in the search bar, you’ll see suggestions, making it easier to find what you want.

To demonstrate, we searched for “Jazz music” and got the results below.

Tribler displays your desired content in a list format. This list shows the size of the file and the date it was created. You can click on the file to download, choose the destination file, and press the download button.

Tribler supports download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. However, the speed you’ll experience depends on the number of seeders present on the network. Seeders are Tribler users who have downloaded a file and are uploading it to the next person, i.e., you.

If the network has limited seeders during your download, you’ll experience slower speeds. However, if many seeders are present on the torrent network, you’ll get faster speeds.

Your network connection also helps determine the download speed. A slow network will throttle the speed regardless of how many seeders are online during your download.

Users can pause or stop a download that has already started. As a security-focused torrenting app, Tribler lets you choose your anonymity level when downloading files. You can select one, two, or three hops, with a hop referring to a layer of encryption. Note that the higher your hop (encryption level), the lower your download speed.

Tribler uses its internal distributed lookup protocol for file-sharing. By wrapping your downloads in multiple layers of encryption, it prevents third parties from knowing what you’re downloading. Anyone monitoring your network can tell you’re using Tribler, but they won’t discover what you’re downloading.

However, Tribler isn’t immune to large-scale network monitoring efforts. A motivated actor, such as an intelligence agency, can correlate your Tribler traffic to data from other sources. That’s to say, Tribler is secure but shouldn’t be used for illegal activities.

We like the fact that Tribler gives users considerable control over their torrenting activities. For instance, you can limit your file upload and download speeds. You can choose to be a seeder or not, although many recommend seeding to support the torrenting community and provide faster download speeds for everyone.

Tribler has a dark theme by default, but you can change it to a light theme if preferred. It's a multi-lingual tool available in English, Spain, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Korean.

Tribler: Interface and in-use

Tribler has an intuitive interface that any layperson can easily understand. The features are neatly placed on the left side, and the dashboard lies on the right. All features are accessible from three main menus, with the search bar at the upper middle corner and language and theme configurations in the top-right corner.

You can download Tribler on your Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu PC. However, it does not have a mobile app.

Downloading and installing Tribler on your PC is easy. Visit the website, go to the download section, and click on the download button for your desktop operating system.

If you need help, you can check Tribler’s FAQ section and support documents. As an open-source tool, Tribler has detailed documentation that helps users understand its internal mechanisms and troubleshoot errors. There’s also an official forum where you can exchange solutions with other Tribler users.

Tribler: Security and privacy

We recommend Tribler for users who want to download files privately. It encrypts downloads in multiple secure layers, preventing third parties from monitoring what you do.

However, no torrenting solution is 100% secure. Your browsing activity can be exposed due to internal misconfigurations. Tribler shouldn’t be used for piracy or other activities that can invite legal consequences. TechRadar explicitly doesn’t endorse piracy.

Tribler: Final Verdict

Tribler is an intuitive, free, and secure torrenting solution for everyday users. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to find and download your favorite content. Although it’s not 100% foolproof, it provides more security than most torrenting apps. We recommend it to people looking to download files securely over the web.

We've listed the best free download manager and the best file manager.

Also check out the the best VPN service.

I tried out BiglyBT, and found it a reliable torrenting solution with an intuitive interface

1:29 pm |

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

BiglyBT is a free torrent client for PCs. It lets users find and download images, music, videos, software tools, and other digital content. This platform is based on Vuze, another popular torrenting tool. It offers basic features for downloading content but not premium ones like DVD burning.

Many torrenting platforms exist, and users often get confused about which to choose. We’re reviewing BiglyBT to help you decide whether it’s the best choice. We’ll dive into its features, user-friendliness, and security, among other factors.

BiglyBT: Versions and platforms

You can download BiglyBT on your PC or mobile phone by opening the website, clicking the download button, and selecting the package for your operating system.

BiglyBT is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix PCs. It also has an Android app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Unsurprisingly, it is not available on iOS because Apple has an aversion to torrenting apps appearing on its App Store.

BiglyBT: Features

BiglyBT allows you to find and download content for free. Its intuitive interface is easy to understand. In the upper-middle corner, there is a search bar where you can find your desired content. Type what you want to download, and BiglyBT will search its extensive databases for it.

After completing the search, BiglyBT displays the results in a list format. The list shows the size, age, category, and ratings of the relevant files. For example, if you search for a movie, you’ll see its file size, ratings, and other information to help you decide whether to download it.

Click on the file you want to download and monitor the progress. When downloading torrents, BiglyBT will show you other torrents that people frequently download along with those torrents, similar to a search engine recommending new content for users.

We observed fast download speeds during our test, but your speed can vary depending on the number of seeders on the network. Seeders refers to other BiglyBT users sharing a file after downloading it.

The more seeders on the network during your download, the faster it’ll be. The fewer the seeders, the slower the speed. Your broadband network speed also determines how fast you can download files.

After downloading a file on BiglyBT, you automatically become a seeder helping other users to download that file. Seeding is recommended because it makes torrenting easier for all users.

Yet, some people don’t like seeding because of the risks of consuming excessive bandwidth. To this end, BiglyBT lets you control your upload speed. You can set a specific limit, e.g., 2 MB/second, to avoid consuming much bandwidth when seeding files for other users.

BiglyBT gives users significant control over their torrenting activities. For example, you can block specific IP addresses to avoid downloading tainted files. You can upload blocklists, and BiglyBT will prevent every IP address on the lists from sending files to your PC or mobile phone.

We like BiglyBT’s anonymous sharing feature, wherein you can securely share files with other users via a chat interface. You can create a chat channel and invite other users to it. Then, you can upload files from your folders or drag and drop them into the chat interface. Every other user in your channel can quickly download these files with no logs of who sent or downloaded them. This feature provides a reliable way to share sensitive files.

BiglyBT lets you monitor your torrenting activities in detail. It keeps logs of all the files you’ve uploaded or downloaded via the network. You can view the size, download/upload speed, and the time taken to download all files. You can view a real-time location graph of all seeders available on the network, helping you know the optimal time to download large files.

BiglyBT: Interface and in-use

BiglyBT's interface is simple and easy to grasp. It has the typical layout of the navigation menu on the left and the main dashboard on the right. The upper part of the interface is dedicated mainly to the search bar.

We appreciate that BiglyBT has a configurable interface. You can place specific menu items above others in the navigation menu, making it easy to access the features you use most. For example, if anonymous sharing is your most used feature, you can make it appear first on the menu.

BiglyBT’s minimalist interface makes it enjoyable to use. The drawback we observed is the lack of a dark-themed interface, but that’s not a major problem in the grand scheme of BiglyBT’s intuitiveness.

BiglyBT: Security and privacy

BiglyBT has sophisticated features to prevent torrenting activities from being exposed to unauthorized parties. For instance, it supports the Invisible Internet Project (I2P) protocol, which lets users share files anonymously and securely. I2P achieves anonymity by routing torrenting traffic through a network of distributed computers. However, I2P makes downloads slower because traffic is routed through multiple layers.

For maximum security, installing a VPN before using BiglyBT and turning it on before downloading torrents is advisable. VPNs encrypt traffic by routing it through remote servers. They prevent third parties, such as your internet service provider (ISP), from snooping on your browsing activities.

Though secure, BiglyBT isn’t flawless. Torrenting tools occasionally have security lapses that can expose users’ activities. BiglyBT shouldn’t be used for illegal activities and piracy. TechRadar doesn’t endorse content piracy.

BiglyBT: Final Verdict

BiglyBT is a decent torrenting platform. It makes finding and downloading torrents easy and facilitates anonymous file sharing with friends, family, and colleagues. However, we feel there’s not much differentiating BiglyBT from competitors. It’s a good, free tool, but don’t expect exceptional features.

We've listed the best free download manager and the best file manager.

I tested Free Download Manager, oOne of the finest download managers around

1:17 pm | August 11, 2025

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

I download a lot of content online, and managing it can be hectic. Slow speeds, failing to keep track of files, and unstable connections are just a few of the issues I frequently face when downloading content. That’s why I always try to use the best download manager to mitigate these issues.

One of the best download managers available is Free Download Manager, which has a noticeably direct name. This app was initially proprietary and closed-source, but the developers later made it free and open-source.

It's important to use the website link above (https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/) to download it, as people often mistakenly download botched versions from external sources. Malicious actors can bundle open-source apps with malware programs, so downloading from the official source keeps you safe.

I comprehensively tested the Free Download Manager to give an honest opinion. My review mainly centered on its features and user-friendliness. Read on to learn more about this app and whether it’s a good download manager for you.

Free Download Manager: Versions

The Free Download Manager is compatible with popular desktop and mobile operating systems. You can download it on Windows and macOS directly from the official website. The Windows app is also listed on the Microsoft Store. I used a Mac PC for my test, and installing the app was smooth.

I also downloaded the Android app to test its mobile friendliness. However, there is no iOS app, which I consider a drawback.

Free Download Manager: Features

The Free Download Manager has rich features to help you manage your content downloads. I appreciate that it’s a free, open-source tool with no ads. I’ve encountered a handful of free download managers with excessive ads, and I was happy not to see that here.

I usually download a lot of content via torrents, so I was pleased to discover that this app supports downloads via the BitTorrent protocol. You can upload a .torrent file, and it’ll immediately download the relevant content. The .torrent file contains the metadata of your desired content, which the app reads and immediately fetches from seeders via the BitTorrent protocol.

Apart from uploading .torrent files, many torrenting clients let you download torrents by providing the magnet link or torrent hash. Unfortunately, the Free Download Manager lacks these capabilities. You can only download torrents by adding the .torrent file. However, you can still download standard files (not torrents) by providing a URL.

Free Download Manager 2 — (Image credit: Future)

I appreciated this app’s download acceleration feature, which let me split files into several sections and download them simultaneously. This technique offers faster speeds than downloading the complete file in one package. With files split into smaller bits, you can download them more quickly on slower connections.

Broken downloads are a significant issue for many users. When downloading content via a web browser, a download can progress halfway and fail because of an unstable connection. Then, you’ll have to redownload the file from scratch.

However, the Free Download Manager solves this broken downloads issue. When downloads are interrupted, you can resume them later from the exact spot where the interruption occurred. You’ll no longer have to curse at your computer for restarting bandwidth-heavy downloads from scratch, or at least I’ll no longer do.

I enjoyed previewing audio and video files while downloading them. For example, if you’re downloading the latest episode of your favorite series and are too impatient to wait for it to complete, you can start watching it while the download is in progress.

I also liked being able to automatically convert files after downloads. I have this frequent issue where I download videos in the MKV format, which my native video player doesn’t support. Hence, I immediately converted all MKV videos to MP4 upon downloading them.

Free Download Manager 3 — (Image credit: Future)

The Free Download Manager allowed me to organize downloads neatly and place them in specific folders or subfolders. I liked the remote control feature, which allowed me to create new downloads on my PC from my Android smartphone. While at work, I initiated movie downloads on my home PC, and the movies were available to binge once I arrived home.

Having these features for free gave me a lot to appreciate about the Free Download Manager. Most download managers with similar features charge for their software or make money by showing ads.

Yet, I have a complaint. The Free Download Manager didn’t support YouTube downloads, although it did so sometime ago. Understandably, YouTube has taken more aggressive copyright action against download managers, so many apps turn off YouTube downloads to avoid legal tussles. Yet, I wish I could download educational YouTube videos with this tool.

Free Download Manager: Interface and in-use

The Free Download Manager excelled in the user-friendliness criterion. Its simple interface was easy to understand. To download a file, you can copy and paste the URL or add the .torrent file. It's that straightforward.

Users can monitor all their downloads from a single dashboard and pause or stop them anytime. I could view the progress of every download along with the thumbnail for easy identification. Before downloading a video or audio, I was constantly prompted to choose a file name, format, and folder to store it in.

You can choose between light and dark modes depending on your preferences. The desktop and Android apps feel modern and responsive. The same applies to the browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.

If you need help with this tool, you can visit the official community forum where users often exchange solutions to their issues. You can also check the official GitHub documentation to troubleshoot problems yourself.

Free Download Manager: Final verdict

I’ll recommend the Free Download Manager any day and anytime. It makes downloads management easy without paying a dime. Most comparable download managers are freemium or premium, but this one is entirely free and easy to understand.

I tested FrostWire a free, open-source torrenting solution with impressive download speeds and an extensive content library

10:54 am |

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

FrostWire is a popular torrent client that gives users access to a broad range of music, movies, software, and other digital content. It was first released as a fork of LimeWire, then a popular but now-shuttered torrenting client. Since then, FrostWire’s developers have added many features, and the app has long emerged from the shadows of LimeWire.

Many people use FrostWire because it’s free and has an intuitive interface. You don’t need to pay any dime to download content with this torrenting tool. As an open-source application, FrostWire is very customizable and has many features that global developers have contributed.

We’re reviewing FrostWire to help you decide if it suits your torrenting needs. We extensively tested the app and considered third-party opinions to give an unbiased review.

FrostWire: Versions and platforms

FrostWire is compatible with Windows and macOS PCs. It also has an app for Ubuntu, a popular Linux-based desktop operating system.

Likewise, FrostWire has an Android app for mobile devices. You can download the app for your relevant platform on the official website. The download button is the first thing highlighted on the homepage. Click on it, and you can immediately download the FrostWire app to your device.

FrostWire is compatible with Windows 10, macOS Big Sur, and Android 8.0 or later versions of these operating systems. Since Windows 10 debuted in 2015, Big Sur debuted in 2020, and Android 8.0 was released in 2017, any modern PC or smartphone should have newer versions of these operating systems, enabling you to download FrostWire without hassle.

FrostWire: Features

FrostWire is a torrenting tool that lets you download extensive content, such as your favorite movies and music. Upon launching this app, the first thing you’ll notice is its user-friendly interface. Unlike many torrenting tools with mangled graphical elements, FrostWire has a minimalistic and straightforward interface.

If you have specific content to download, you can search for it in the bar prominently displayed on the homepage. There’s also a search bar in the top-left corner, which makes it easy to find content.

We like that FrostWire provides suggestions as you type your query. Type the first two or three letters of the content you want, and you’ll likely see it suggested by FrostWire.

FrostWire is connected to the database of many torrent search engines. It also connects to other data sources to let users find freely downloadable files. Hence, FrostWire has one of the largest file databases we’ve encountered. Think of any fairly popular content, and you can find it on FrostWire.

The built-in music player is a unique feature we liked about FrostWire. When you search for music, you can stream it first before hitting the download button. This built-in music player lets you preview songs and ensure they fit your taste before downloading them.

With FrostWire’s music player, you can organize and easily access your music from one place. Users can create playlists and listen to music on the go, similar to music apps like Spotify. FrostWire has an Android app, so you can integrate the music player with your car's radio and listen to your favorite jams.

You can filter search results by source and size. For example, when you search for specific content, you can filter the results to only include files of less than 100 MB. You can do this by clicking the “Search Tools” button in the top-right corner to open the filtering box.

Though we appreciate FrostWire's filtering options, they are not as sophisticated as those of many torrenting apps. Some platforms let you filter search results by video resolution, audio quality, language, file format, and other factors.

We observed swift download speeds during our test. However, download speeds can vary depending on the availability of seeders on FrostWire’s network. If many seeders are present during your usage, you'll get very fast download speeds from the torrent swarm.

Sometimes, the network does not have many seeders, causing slower download speeds. Your internet connection also affects the download speeds you experience on FrostWire.

You can choose a specific folder to store FrostWire downloads. During the download, you can monitor the progress and speed from your dashboard. If necessary, you can pause or cancel the download.

FrostWire: Interface and in-use

User-friendliness is a criterion wherein FrostWire outshines many competitors. It has a simple, easy-to-understand interface that many rivals lack.

The features are neatly arranged into distinct tabs (Search, Transfers, and Library), making it easy to find what you need. Configuration options are placed neatly at the bottom.

FrostWire’s interface stands out in a niche where many tools are known for having complex interfaces. Its interface strikes an ideal balance between simplicity and functionality.

FrostWire can be accessed from a desktop or mobile app. However, the mobile app is only available for Android. Apple is famously unfriendly to torrenting apps being hosted on its App Store, so FrostWire’s lack of an iOS app is expected.

You can download FrostWire on your device directly from its official website. Downloading and installing the app took just a few clicks during our test.

FrostWire: Security and Piracy

Torrenting clients carry non-trivial security risks. Malicious actors often hide malware within torrent files for unsuspecting users to download. You can also expose your IP address to other users or inadvertently download pirated content. TechRadar doesn’t endorse content piracy or illegal downloads.

FrostWire is a trustworthy torrenting client, but it’s an open-source tool that doesn’t control the seeders on its network. Before torrenting, it’s advisable to use a VPN service to hide your IP address and encrypt your internet traffic.

FrostWire: Final Verdict

FrostWire is a reliable, free torrenting solution for downloading your favorite content. It has an extensive file library and an intuitive interface that makes finding files easy. FrostWire has some drawbacks, such as limited content filtering options, but its pros outweigh the cons.

We list the best file manager.

I reviewed this paper-thin portable monitor – and I still can’t believe it sports a 16:10 3K OLED panel

5:02 pm | August 10, 2025

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

UPerfect is one of those brands that continues to surprise me, not only with what's produced, but also with the quality of the releases. I've tried quite a few from the company at this point, ranging from basic travel monitors to complex multi-screen units, as well as large and small panels.

So far, I've been rather impressed. UPerfect seems to understand what consumers want, and it's built a panel for it. Moreover, I tend to find solid panels at a decent price.

The UColor O2 is no different. This is a 16-inch, 3K, 16:10, 120Hz, 1ms OLED panel with USB-C ease of use, a functional stand/folio, all while staying ultra-lightweight and thin. It's great for those who need a little extra display at their dedicated desk setup, of course, but it's also fantastic for those who are on the go and want to bring a display with them for extra productivity away from a desk setup. Regardless of your reasoning, I've reviewed many of the best portable monitors out there, and the UColor O2 is one of them.

UPERFECT UColor O2: Pricing & Availability

The UColor O2 is available on the UPerfect website by clicking here. I'm also seeing it available from a few other retailers.

Currently, the display is priced at $630 / £469, and at the time of review, it's discounted down to $350 / £261.

For an OLED panel, even though it's only truly 3K resolution, that price is pretty incredible. Especially when you consider that the display is a full 16 inches, which is comparable to the larger laptops on the market, and features a 120Hz refresh rate, a 16:10 aspect ratio, a 1ms response time, and excellent color representation for those looking for a display for gaming.

UPERFECT UColor O2: Unboxing & first impressions

The unboxing for UPerfect's displays is always interesting to me. The boxes are so understated for what is inside, but perhaps that's a part of the plan.

Inside the box, you will find the monitor, folio cover/stand, a mini-HDMI to full-size HDMI cable, two USB-C cables, a USB-A to USB-C cable, VESA Mount Screws, and a 33W power adapter. Nothing crazy, but it's just enough to get you started.

Personally, even though this device can run mini-HDMI, I will probably never use it, so I kept that cable tucked away, along with the USB-C to USB-A Cable and power brick, leaving me with the monitor, the folio, and the USB-C to USB-C Cables. With this, I went straight to work setting it up for an on-the-go panel I could take with me everywhere.

While reviewing this panel, I just finished reviewing a Samsung smartphone with DEX capabilities, which gave me the excellent idea of trying to get some work done while out and about, utilizing just the phone, a keyboard, and this panel.

UPERFECT UColor O2: Design & build quality

Specs

Display: 16″ OLED
Resolution: 2880×1800 (3K)
Aspect Ratio: 16:10,
Color: 100% DCI‑P3/ sRGB, 500 nits brightness
Refresh/Response: 120 Hz (USB‑C), 1 ms response
Ports: 2× USB‑C (full‑featured), 1× Mini‑HDMI
Weight: ~720 g

This panel is delightfully sleek. It's thin and lightweight, and the folio doesn't add much bulk, making it worth carrying around and not like a burden in the slightest. The bezels are minimal, the buttons are premium-looking, and the stand makes the panel usable in its most basic form, eliminating the need for a third-party stand.

One thing I have grown to like about the company's offerings is the lack of branding. I dislike it when companies plaster their branding all over their beautifully made products, making them look cheap.

UPERFECT UColor O2: In use

As I mentioned, I wanted to try this panel out with my Samsung phone, which I have just finished testing. I was able to set this up with a single USB-C cable. Although I didn't want to drain the phone's battery, I also added a power cable to charge the phone via passthrough charging from the second USB-C port on the monitor.

This compact setup, paired with a keyboard, was something I considered trying after seeing it promoted on the UPerfect website, following my recent review of the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 Pro. For this simple setup, the panel was fantastic and helped me get some real work done on the go. Once I had finished testing the legitimacy of that setup, I tried out this display with my iPad, MacBook Pro, Dell Precision, and some of my Lenovo devices.

On every test, the panel performed well, giving me extended workspaces to complete whatever I was working on.

The clarity on the 3K display is sharp and vivid, but what I appreciate is the 16:10 aspect ratio. Personally, every time that I have tried a 16:10 aspect ratio, I fall in love with it over and over. 16:9 is standard, and I understand it, but just that little extra to get to 16:10, I feel like there is so much more vertical space available to spread out my research, project management, chats, and so on.

Thanks to the device's light weight, I can carry it in a backpack with ease, without worrying about adding extra weight or making my bag feel uncomfortable. I wish that this petite folio could somehow accommodate portrait viewing. Still, I understand that not every display can have that option. Additionally, the display has an integrated VESA Mounting spot on the back of the panel, allowing you to add your stand on the go or mount this panel to your desk or workspace.

UPERFECT UColor O2: Final verdict

All in all, the UPerfect UColor O2 is a great portable monitor. It's got an excellent refresh rate, a spectacular response time, a brilliant OLED panel at 3 K resolution, and it has the ever-popular USB-C capabilities. If you are looking for an ultra-light display with USB-C, this is a great option to consider, especially if you are like me and enjoy the 16:10 aspect ratio a bit too much.

Attributes	Notes	Rating
Design	Highly Portable, great design	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ease of use	Easy to use	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Practicality	Practical for portable / nomatic users	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price	Decent price for what it is	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I reviewed this ultra-portable laptop and it’s so light I practically needed a paperweight to keep it from blowing away

9:47 am |

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

The last time I felt a laptop this remarkably lightweight was the last Dynabook I checked out years ago. There's something about holding a laptop this light, especially compared to my 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro and my Dell Precision 5690, as well as some of the other thin laptops I am testing. Nothing comes close to how light the Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N Copilot+PC is.

At first glance, and first feel, the Dynabook feels like it's not even a real laptop. Coming from the world of hefty machines, it's hard to think that a laptop this light can be anything more than a shell or a prop. Nevertheless, it boasts an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, Intel Arc graphics, excellent ports, great wireless connectivity, and robust AI capabilities built in.

I've been using this laptop in my rotation for over a month, and I'm still amazed by its weight (or lack of it). Just this morning, I double-checked my bag moments after putting this laptop in there, thinking I must have forgotten it.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N: Pricing & Availability

This Dynabook starts at just under $2,000 for a Core Ultra 5 model with 16GB, 512GB, and can run up above $2,000 for the Core Ultra 7 model with 32GB, 2TB. You can pick one up from Dynabook's website globally, but it is available from selected online retailers.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N: Unboxing & first impressions

The incredible weightlessness of this laptop began when I first grabbed the packaging. It felt like there was nothing inside the box. Grabbing the laptop from the box, I noticed the texture of the computer.

With so many laptops being made from aluminum and other metallic materials, this one stands out as being made of a lighter plastic. It does, admittedly, make it feel a bit cheaper, but then I noticed the chipset and started utilizing it.

Once I logged in and got to work, responding to emails, handling project management, researching, and going about my workday, I realized that most things were working better than expected. This laptop felt minimal, but was surprisingly capable.

I was genuinely surprised and impressed by how thin and sleek this phone felt, especially considering its durability on paper. I was also happy to see USB-C -- even though it's now standard practice, it's still good to see.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N: Design & build quality

Specs

Weight: 2.11 lbs
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5
Display: 14-inch 1920 x 1200
Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth,
Ports: HDMI, USB-C x2, USB-A x2, RJ-45, Headphone Jack, microSD

The choice of alloy in the Portégé Z40L-N provides ultralight weight, but it also makes this computer feel less than premium. The edges are crisp, the ports are great, the screen is good enough, and other elements are solid. But, coming from someone who usually works with more premium laptops, this one does feel a bit lower quality. However, that is an obvious tradeoff for having something so lightweight -- one that many would be willing to make.

Another interesting feature of this design is the return of a removable and replaceable battery. This not only helps extend the device's longevity but also makes it easier to replace or repair the battery if any issues arise in the future.

The last notable feature of this laptop is that, despite its lightweight and portable design, it still offers more ports than most modern computers. Even some of the most premium, professional-focused laptops have transitioned to almost entirely USB-C or a Thunderbolt port -- that's it. Dynabook chose to completely surprise us all by including an abundance of ports in this laptop, making it even more fantastic for those who are on the go. With the Portégé Z40L-N, you won't feel any weight in your bag, and you won't need to add a dock either.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N: In use

In the last month, the Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N has stood up to pretty much everything that I've thrown at it - surprisingly. Granted, I'm not expecting this machine to be the best video editing laptop or a machine to run local LLMs on, nor am I designing 3D models on it, but for everyday professional business tasks, it works surprisingly well. It's no surprise, though, that the real benefit of this laptop is its portability. I've been able to take this just about anywhere I've gone, tossing this into even my lightest backpack to take with me for the day.

The Core Ultra chip handles basic productivity, messaging, emails, research, and more without any issues. Plus, if you're the person who may need to present or plug into something at some point, having that peace of mind that you won't need a dongle is great.
While the laptop itself is relatively small, you can expand the workspace by plugging into a docking station or selecting one of the top business monitors that feature a USB-C input and a built-in dock.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N: Final verdict

The Dynabook Portégé Z40L‑N is a surprising laptop. On one hand, it is an unfathomably lightweight machine that feels so lightweight it's almost toy-like. But, on the other hand, it's also surprisingly capable, boasting impressive ports and a powerful chip. It's shockingly rugged yet also lightweight, it's powerful yet portable, and it's AI-smart yet simple. If you are looking for a new laptop and want something highly portable as a top priority, this laptop is one that you should consider, especially if you stick to standard business-type work.

Attributes	Notes	Rating
Design	Incredibly minimal	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ease of use	Easy to use	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Practicality	Practical for portable / nomatic users	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price	Pricy for what it is	⭐⭐⭐⭐

For more options, we've reviewed the best business laptops for working on the go.

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Two-minute review

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Price & availability

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Specs & Features

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Installation & test setup

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X: Performance

Should you buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X?

Buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X if...

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X: Price & availability

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Should you buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X?

Buy the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X

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OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753: Design

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