Continuing where we left off in part 2, we changed some things around on the network to hopefully protect the NIC in the new build, we picked out a video card powerful enough to match up with the AMD Threadripper 9980X with its 64 cores, and we got two fast PCIe 5.0 drives in high capacities, one for the OS drive and the other to install games on and to use as a scratch drive. But that’s still not everything needed to get this monster of a build up and running. We still need to figure out the cooling and power, and we did have an unexpected component come in that will be a nice addition as well. So let’s continue where we left off and see what will be cooling that Threadripper 9980X.

Following up on our previous coverage, we have picked out the case for our new project build, which is also part of its namesake. The Fractal North XL Momentum Edition houses the ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI motherboard. That is loaded up with a monster of a CPU from AMD, the Threadripper 9980X, and is paired up with 128 GB of 6400 MHz DDR5 from G.Skill to top things off. That’s a really good start, but that isn’t enough to finish up our build. So today we are going to dive into what GPU will be paired up with it all, what we are doing for storage, and also a look at a needed network change to hopefully help protect the network card on the TRX50-SAGE WIFI as well. So let’s dive in and continue with our Project Momentum build.

With access to all of our test hardware, you might think that I am running the latest and greatest hardware. But that is never the case. Long-time readers may have seen updates on my main PC as it has evolved over the years, starting with our Crush build 10 years ago and its replacement, the Crushed build, which last saw an update in 2021. That setup is a little long in the tooth, especially after upgrading my main display to a large 4K OLED. I’ve been putting off a replacement for a long time now, and of course, it couldn’t be a worse time to do it. But it can’t wait any longer, so let’s dive into our latest build.

It used to be that if you lived in an area that had a lot of power outages, you would need to own a gas generator to at least keep your refrigerator and freezer up and running, and if you were lucky enough, maybe keep a few amenities up and running as well. But as battery technology has improved, a new option has come along for some situations. Portable Power Stations have become capable enough to replace gas generators in some situations while being significantly cheaper than full whole-house battery backup options. They are also portable enough that they can be used not only with homes but with RVs, camping (well, maybe glamping), and at work sites as well when some power is needed. It’s become big enough that Anker created a full sub-brand with their SOLIX brand with a wide range of options and capacities which I’ve taken a look at a few of their smaller options. This month they introduced the new Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 and they sent it and one of their fold-up portable solar panels over to check out. We already have three UPSs in the house trying to keep disruptions to a minimum. I’m curious to see how adding in the larger C2000 into the mix might help us be even more prepared, especially as we get closer to winter. So let’s dive in and see what the C2000 Gen 2 has to offer and then put it to the test.

It’s hard to believe that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D came out back in November of 2024. Well over a year later, AMD announced at this year's CES that they were adding another CPU to their 9000 Series lineup, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. Their new 9850X3D takes the original 9800X3D’s core configuration, and it bumps performance up with a 400 MHz increase in clock speed. AMD’s X3D CPUs have already been impressive with their gaming performance. I’m excited to see what the refresh will look like. We also get to revisit what performance from a 2^nd Generation 3D V-Cache CPU looks like now that drivers have had even more time to mature. So let’s dive in and see what AMD's new CPU looks like in our test suite!

I don’t know what I was doing in February, but I completely missed that Logitech launched their new Powerplay 2 Wireless Charging Mouse Pad. I’ve been using the original Powerplay going back to the original launch of the Logitech Pro Wireless mouse. I even took a look at the Powerplay back in 2018. Some variation of the Logitech Pro Wireless, along with our original Powerplay has been my main mouse and mousepad for the last seven years. Even back at its launch, I was vocal of a few big issues I had with the Powerplay, but not having to charge my mouse and it working with my preferred mouse shape, I have stuck with it. But I have been pushing for years to see an updated design, so checking out the new Powerplay 2 was a must. The question is, have they improved on the original design and fixed some of the issues I’ve had with it? Let’s find out!

AMD’s high-end Ryzen CPUs on the AM5 platform have been dominating with CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and 9950X3D both being monsters. That said, it isn’t actually the top of AMD's product lineup, they do still have their Threadripper lineup. They launched their Threadripper and Threadripper Pro 7000 Series of CPUs in late 2023, including a new sTR5 socket and TRX50 and WRX90 chipsets, and they are back at it again with their new 9000 Series of Threadripper CPUs that hit stores tomorrow. Ahead of that launch, I have had the top two CPUs in the office on the bench, the Ryzen Threadripper 9980X and 9970X, and today we can check out how they performed.

Two years ago Anker expanded their already wide range of products with their first battery-powered cooler, the EverFrost Powered Cooler, and I took a look at it. It had its issues, but it was useful and over the last two years I’ve been using it on trips and in between trips we keep it running in our basement to have a few cool drinks there and as a backup if the power goes out or if our refrigerator has any issues. Well, Anker hasn’t left things alone, this spring they introduced the EverFrost 2 lineup and I was able to take the EverFrost 2 40L along with us on our most recent drive to Florida and today I’m going to take a closer look at their new design to see what has changed and talk about what the experience has been like.

The highest-end GPUs are always exciting, but that isn’t what a majority of users are using or need. In fact, while it is slowly changing the most used resolution on Steam hardware surveys is still 1080p with over 55% of users running that resolution. Almost all of the top video cards are all older mid-level cards as well. The truth is, for a lot of people they don’t upgrade constantly if what they are using works. That’s why cards like AMDs recently announced RX 9060 XT are the most important launches. For a lot of people, these are the cards that they will be looking at and considering with their next build or upgrade. They will be looking for a card that won’t struggle with anything at their 1080p or 1440p resolution and they will want performance with supersampling and ray tracing so that their next card lasts just as long as their last one. So let’s check out the ASRock RX 9060 XT Challenger OC 16GB that AMD sent over and see what the new GPU is all about!

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, but with some unplanned time away I do have a lot to catch up on with the biggest being checking out the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti. Nvidia sent over the RTX 5060 Ti Overclocked Dual Fan GPU from PNY. The RTX 5060 Ti is available in both 8GB and 16GB variants and this is the 16GB model. I’m curious to see how it will compare to the RTX 5070, the previous xx60 Ti models as well as everything that AMD has to offer. I’m also curious what PNY has going on with their card design. So let’s dive in and see what it’s all about.

AMDs RX 9070 launch, even through availability issues and questions on pricing has been exciting. I previously took a look at the stock-clocked Steel Legend and was impressed. Sapphire also sent over their stock-clocked RX 9070 XT Pulse and while I was impressed with ASRock’s offering, if anyone can outdo it, Sapphire can. Over the years they always still manage to find a way to impress so I’m excited to see what the RX 9070 XT Pulse has to offer and to see how it performs. So let’s dive in and see what sets the Pulse apart before getting to testing!

In addition to the Radeon RX 9070, AMD launched their second RDNA 4 based GPU at the same time, the Radeon RX 9070 XT. The 9070 XT has 6 more RDNA 4 compute units, a higher boost clock, and a higher board power. The overclocked RX 9070 that AMD sent over was impressive. I’m excited today to take a look at the ASRock RX 9070 XT Steel Legend that they also sent over. The Steel Legend is available in white and black and are both ASRock’s stock-clocked options with their Taichi being their overclocked option. So I’m excited to see what the card is capable of, so let’s get to it.

AMD has been busy, not only did we just have their first RDNA 4 based GPUs launched last week with the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 but they also announced on Friday that their latest Radeon 9 X3D CPUs would be hitting stores on March 12^th. Well, today the performance embargo lifts on those and I’ve got the AMD Radeon 9 9950X3D on hand to put to the test before they hit stores tomorrow. Back in November, I took a look at the Ryzen 7 9800X3D that we liked enough to use with our GPU test bench. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D takes the already very capable Radeon 9 9950X with its 16 cores and 5.7 GHz max boost and adds in the 2^nd generation AMD 3D V-Cache. A lot of gamers will recognize the X3D model designation because AMDs 3D V-Cache CPUs have been dominating the market when it comes to gaming for a few generations now. The 9950X3D brings that technology up to the top of their CPU product stack for those who want great gaming performance but also need the highest-end CPU capabilities as well.

For AMDs upcoming GPU launch there had been rumors for months but this past week AMD confirmed that they were launching both the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT. Both cards being their first RDNA 4 architecture cards. Today the performance embargo for both cards lifts and we can check out how they perform ahead of them hitting stores tomorrow. So let's dive in and find out how they compare to yesterday's announced RTX 5070 and more!

In addition to the Nvidia RTX 5070 Founders Edition, I also received a second MSRP-priced RTX 5070. The second card was from Asus, their Prime RTX 5070. Like with the RTX 5070 Ti, at launch Asus has three different card designs in their lineup for the RTX 5070. They have the Prime RTX 5070, the TUF Gaming RTX 5070, and the Strix RTX 5070 with all three having stock clocked and overclocked models. Our Prime RTX 5070 is the stock-clocked model. We already saw how the RTX 5070 can perform but I’m excited to get a direct comparison on how a larger aftermarket cooler changes performance and compares to the Founders Edition. Well, no point in wasting any time, let’s get into it!

When Nvidia originally announced their new 50 Series of video cards, the RTX 5090 was their flagship but they did also announce three other GPUs as well. We have seen all of those except one and today the embargo lists on that last card, the RTX 5070. The RTX 5070 helps bring the 50 Series specific features like DLSS 4 a little farther down into the product stack. The 5070 is targeted at RTX 3070 owners which is still in the top 5 on Steam's hardware survey and is increasing now with 4.27% of Steam users using it. Because the RTX 5070 Ti didn’t have a Founders Edition, this is also the first 50 Series Founders Edition model with a much more compact size, and with that, I’m curious if it might be a great LAN right option. So let’s dive in and see what it is all about then put it to the test.

I took a look at the Asus Prime RTX 5070 Ti ahead of the new RTX 5070 Ti’s hitting stores. The Prime model that I took a look at is a stock-clocked card. Well, I was lucky enough to end up with a second Asus RTX 5070 Ti, Asus themselves sent over their TUF Gaming RTX 5070 Ti and this one is overclocked. Typically, especially anytime near a launch getting your hands on a stock-clocked “MSRP” card can be impossible. You are a lot more likely to get an overclocked card like this one so this will be a better look at what you might experience. I’m curious to see what sets the TUF Gaming model apart from the Prime and to put it to the test in our test suite, so let’s dive in.

This past January at CES Nvidia announced their new 50 Series of GPUs based on their Blackwell architecture. The flagship of the new lineup was their RTX 5090 but they did also announce a few of the models below it including the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070. I covered the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 late in January but now we start to get into the other models with the RTX 5070 Ti embargo lifting today and RTX 5070 Ti’s hitting stores tomorrow. The RTX 5070 Ti isn’t available as a Founders Edition card, similarly to the RTX 4070 Ti so for those considering getting an RTX 5070 Ti, I have the Asus Prime RTX 5070 Ti on hand to check out its performance. So let’s dive in and see what it's all about.

With such a wide range of RAM designs, you can find anything to fit your tastes, especially if you want RGB lighting. If you want something more subtle there are options, but what if you want to build something in black and gold? I’ve been planning on building a new PC and I wanted to do something a little more subtle and the Asus ProArt line has caught my eye. When trying to find memory that might match it, even with a wide variety of options there weren’t many that would match it. Sure I could go with just a basic black, but as it turns out TEAMGROUP has a line that matches it perfectly, their T-CREATE Expert line and they were kind enough to send over the 6000 MHz 32x2GB CL34 kit to check out for our future build and today I’m going to take a closer look at the kit and see how it performs.

When it comes to the power levels being used in even a smaller server rack, you can’t just use a cheap power strip without the strip melting down is a concern, a proper PDU or power distribution unit is needed. For some, this might just be a simple unit that is basically just a rack-mounted power strip designed for the higher wattage, or maybe you need one with switches for each plug. Being able to keep an eye on power usage, remotely reboot, and to set your devices to reboot automatically if they stop pinging is what you can expect on the higher-end managed PDUs and that is exactly what Trendnet offers with their TPI-06 6-Outlet Managed PDU. Today I’m going to check the TPI-06 and see what it is all about and see how it performs by checking out the software side of things and see how it compares to the EnGenius ECP106 I took a look at last year.