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If you play the open beta during its second weekend, you can earn operator skins, weapon skins and other cosmetic goodies.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he doesn't agree with federal subsidies for high-speed EV chargers, but that his department "will respect Congress' will" and release the funds.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon)

For most Americans, we just lived through the highest period of inflation in our lives. And we are reminded of this every time we go grocery shopping. All over TikTok, tons of people have posted videos of how little they got for … $20. $40. $100. Most upsetting to us: an $8 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.



Food prices are almost 30% higher than they were five years ago. It’s bad. And those new, higher prices aren’t going away.

At the same time, prices are no longer inflating at a wild pace. For the last two years, the rate of inflation has slowed way down. And yet, our fears or feelings that things will spiral out of control again? Those have not slowed down.

This mismatch has been giving us all the …. feelings. Inflation feelings. Infeelings. 

On our latest show: we sort through our infeeltions. We talk to the economists who have studied us. We learn why our personal inflation calculators don’t always match the professional ones.

Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

Support Planet Money, get bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening and now Summer School episodes one week early by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

• iKKO MindOne has raised over $1.2 million through its crowdfunding campaign
• A 4.02-inch AMOLED display is protected by sapphire glass with curved, impact-resistant edges
• The device’s 50MP rotating camera doubles as both front and rear photography hardware

The iKKO MindOne is a crowdfunded smartphone that has raised over $1.2 million, promising a compact yet capable design for work and travel.

Measuring 86x72mm and 8.9mm thick, only slightly wider than a credit card, this business smartphone uses a 4.02-inch AMOLED display with precision-curved edges to improve resistance against cracks and drops.

Marketed partly as a rugged smartphone, the MindOne uses sapphire glass with a claimed 9H hardness rating, designed to resist scratches and moderate impact.

Dual-purpose camera protected by sapphire glass

The device features a 50MP Sony 1/1.56-inch sensor with custom OIS and F1.88 aperture, similar to many smartphones on the market.

The rotating module flips 180 degrees, serving as both front and rear camera, and is protected by sapphire glass, promising higher-quality selfies and flexibility for video calls without sacrificing main camera performance.

The iKKO MindOne integrates a virtual SIM system with two modes.

NovaLink provides free global access for built-in AI tools in more than 60 regions, while a paid vSIM service covers over 140 countries for full data use, including browsing and streaming.

It also supports a nano SIM slot that offers global 4G+ LTE bands for traditional connectivity.

The manufacturer chose 4G+ over 5G for better roaming stability, lower heat output, and improved battery life.

The device runs Android 15 alongside iKKO AI OS, a dedicated workspace for focused tasks.

It also supports Google Mobile Services, and the company promises three major Android version upgrades and five years of security patches.

Switching between the two is done via a physical button, and selected Android apps can be brought into the AI environment.

The device supports real-time translation, voice notes, transcription, and summarization, with no subscription fees and claims of zero personal data collection.

Powered by the MediaTek MT8781, a low-power 4G+ platform, the MindOne carries a 2200mAh battery designed for all-day use in a compact form.

An optional snap-on QWERTY keyboard case adds tactile typing, a Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC with 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 500mAh auxiliary battery.

This accessory could appeal to those needing precise text entry or high-fidelity audio, although it increases the device’s size and weight.

The iKKO MindOne offers an intriguing take on making a mobile phone truly mobile, but whether it moves from a well-funded crowdfunding project to a reliable everyday tool will depend on how these features perform beyond early marketing.

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• Check out the best 3D modeling software for 3D printing and more
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• Nvidia's smallest workstation CPUs get a Blackwell boost, will still pack a punch

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting at a military base outside Anchorage, Alaska. We've got the latest.

On the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in WWII, the legacy of a biological warfare unit still haunts. And human rights activists are alarmed by the Trump administration’s changing focus. 

A new study finds that nearly 1 in 10 kids on Medicaid visiting an emergency department for mental health care remain stuck there for days waiting for follow up psychiatric care.

(Image credit: Cemile Bingol)

• Deutsche Telekom T Phone 3 launches at $170 with a €1 bundle offer in Germany
• Perplexity Pro subscription worth $360 is included free for 18 months with purchase
• Picsart Pro image editing tools are bundled for three months at no extra cost

Deutsche Telekom has launched the T Phone 3, a new AI-focused smartphone priced at $170, positioning it as an affordable entry point into integrated AI services.

A bundle offer reduces the cost to €1 when purchased with a tariff, and the package also includes an 18-month subscription to Perplexity Pro, valued at $360, along with a three-month Picsart Pro license.

The company has confirmed a "Pro" version of the AI phone will be released later this year, although exact details aren't known.

AI integration and activation methods

The smartphone centers on Perplexity Assistant, providing AI tools for real-time translation, trip planning, tutoring, email drafting, content summarization, and image editing.

Users can activate these functions either by pressing a dedicated magenta button or by double-tapping the power key.

Both voice and text input are supported, aiming to streamline interaction and reduce dependency on conventional app-based workflows.

This approach positions the device as a business smartphone option for users who prioritize efficiency in communication and task management.

The T Phone 3 features improved charging and AI-assisted camera functions compared to its predecessor.

Although not marketed strictly as a rugged smartphone, Deutsche Telekom points to improved durability and the use of recycled materials in its construction.

The device’s longevity in more demanding conditions remains to be seen, although the company emphasizes sustainability in design and component sourcing.

Alongside the smartphone, Deutsche Telekom also launched the T Tablet 2 in Germany, priced from €199 and includes the same 18-month Perplexity Pro subscription and Picsart Pro license.

Like the phone, it supports the dedicated AI activation controls and upgraded performance features, although the smartphone remains the primary focus of the company’s AI device push.

The inclusion of an 18-month subscription is central to the value proposition, yet the long-term appeal will depend on how many users continue paying once the free period ends.

With forecasts predicting that AI smartphones could dominate shipments by 2028, the challenge for Deutsche Telekom will be to maintain relevance when the initial incentives expire.

Via MobileWorldLive

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• Check out the best 3D modeling software for 3D printing and more
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• Google unveils another huge AI spending spree - tech giant is splashing out $9 billion in Oklahoma

• Sixunited launches lightweight 16 inch laptop powered by Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 APU
• AMD's Strix Halo processor has mostly be found in mini PCs to date with a few pricey exceptions
• Large 99.9Wh battery delivers long runtimes while keeping weight under 1.8kg

Sixunited, a relatively unknown laptop maker from Shanghai, China, has unveiled a new notebook which arrives ahead of Dell and Lenovo in adopting AMD’s latest high-end laptop processor.

The XN77-160M-CS features the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 APU, also known as Strix Halo, a 16-core chip with integrated Navi 3.5 graphics and a 50 TOPS NPU.

This APU has been rare in the laptop market, with only a handful of models, such as HP’s ZBook Ultra G1a and Asus ROG Flow Z13 announced so far.

Large capacity battery

Sixunited will offer two thermal configurations, 85W and 120W, both supported by a dual-fan cooling system, and paired with LPDDR5X (non-upgradable) memory running at up to 8000 MT/s.

Storage comes from up to two PCIe 4.0x4 SSDs in M.2 2280 format, allowing for large and fast configurations.

Perhaps the most notable aspects of the new laptop is its 99.9Wh battery, which is the largest capacity allowed for most airlines.

Despite the large battery, the chassis weighs under 1.8kg and is built with aluminum and mylar materials.

The laptop includes a 16-inch display at 2560x1600 resolution with a 165Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB coverage, with an OLED version also planned for the future.

Videocardz notes the XN77-160M-CS is a barebones design, meaning it may appear under different brand names. Sixunited often acts as an OEM supplier for other companies.

Pricing remains unknown for now, but it’s not likely to be cheap. For comparison, Asus’ AI MAX+ 395 laptop starts at $2099, while HP’s device is priced from $4099.

Sixunited’s move adds another option for those seeking a compact yet powerful laptop with extended battery life.

It also highlights growing interest in AMD’s Strix Halo platform, which to date has mostly appeared in mini-PCs like the GMKTec EVO-X2, Beelink AI Mini and AOOSTAR NEX395.

You might also like

• These are the best business laptops you can buy right now
• And these are the best Dell laptops on the market
• There are 14 AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 mini PCs in the world right now

Do you have upcoming travel plans? We've rounded up the best noise-canceling headphones to pack for all your adventures.

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.

(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.

(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.

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

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.

(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

(Image credit: AMD)

• 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

(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.

(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

(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

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• 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

The very first time I booted up Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S on Nintendo Switch 2, I had to look up a list of what had actually been changed.

This is a port of one of my favorite puzzle games ever, the original Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 from 2020 - a title that I’ve sunk more than a hundred hours into across PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. Still, the tweaks present in this new version are so slight that even I struggled to see them at first.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: June 5, 2025

You’re basically getting a single new mode here: the co-op Puyo Tetris Double Mode which features fast 2v2 battles. It’s a fun way to play for sure, but it’s not a necessary addition in a game that is already overflowing with content. If you own the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera accessory, you have the option of showing your face as you play too - another ultimately superfluous extra.

There’s also support for the mouse controls of the Joy-Con 2, though they’re disappointingly awkward to use. Playing Tetris or Puyo Puyo with a cursor is considerably slower than button inputs, making matches more fiddly thus putting you at a clear disadvantage.

At least GameShare is well implemented, giving you an easy way to play with friends on either Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2.

Bursting at the seams

(Image credit: Sega)

The original version of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 offers so many modes that it’s almost hard to keep track of them, so here’s quick run-down of the most significant ones so you know what you’re in for before I get into the new stuff:

• Versus - a traditional competitive match of either Puyo Puyo or Tetris
• Big Bang - clear a board of existing pieces faster than your opponent
• Party - competitive Puyo Puyo or Tetris with special items added in
• Skill Battle - play Puyo Puyo or Tetris as a character with special skills and items
• Fusion - Puyos and Tetris pieces fall at the same time
• Swap - Swap between Puyo Puyo and Tetris every 25 seconds

These can either be played solo against bots or as part of a robust online offering that’s complete with a basic competitive ranking system.

This is on top of loads of unique challenge modes, a detailed ‘Lessons’ tutorial mode, and a full-on RPG style single-player campaign with cute artwork and fully voiced dialogue scenes packed with charming moments.

This all results in what is without a doubt one of the most comprehensive and content-rich puzzle games of all time. Seriously, after more than a hundred hours, there are still some modes that I’ve barely touched.

Mix and match

(Image credit: Sega)

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S adds just one new mode, available as an option when you select the Versus mode. It splits four players into two teams of two, with each team sharing their own board.

It’s nothing particularly wild in comparison to the modes found in the base game, but still very entertaining as you desperately try to coordinate placing pieces with your partner in high-speed matches. As good as it is, however, it sits in a sea of other excellent modes so doesn't justify much of the $39.99 / £34.99 asking price.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sega)

The game has a wide range of colorful characters that you can play as, including some crossovers like Sonic the Hedgehog. The artwork for all of them looks great and there are plenty of voice acted lines as you play.

The same is true of the new mouse controls, which allow you to browse the menus with a cursor or drag the Joy-Con 2 around to position falling pieces on the board.

The latter implementation is awkward though, proving significantly slower than just using the buttons, so it’s something that anybody would probably never want to use. The Nintendo Switch 2 Camera support is lackluster too, simply allowing you to show your face in matches instead of the usual character portrait.

GameShare is great at least, and, in my testing, proved impressively responsive when I paired my Nintendo Switch 2 up with my Nintendo Switch Lite. If this all was sold as a $9.99 / £9.99 or so Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade rather than a more pricey standalone release, then I could see this feature alone being well worth the cost.

Ghost town

(Image credit: Sega)

In the graphics department, things haven’t changed as much as you might think. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 was already a great looking game on Nintendo Switch and, while the picture quality of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is a smidge sharper, it’s not a noticeable upgrade unless you directly compare the images side by side.

Loading times seem extremely similar too, which is to say that they’re still good but not substantially improved.

This apparent lack of technical differences leaves me wondering why Sega has made the baffling choice to split multiplayer matchmaking pools between Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 still has a very active online scene, even after all these years, so you can reliably find matches at almost any time. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, on the other hand, seems deserted after just a few weeks.

I have managed to get into a couple of games here and there, but waiting times are significantly longer than the original game. It’s a huge shame and means that existing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 owners have no real reason to splash out for this release, as it comes at the cost of online play.

If you’ve never experienced Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 before, then the purchase is a bit more justifiable. You’re still getting a great game here at the end of the day with hundreds of hours of quality puzzle action and a handful of new features designed to take advantage of the capabilities of your brand new console.

This is technically the most definitive version of the game so far, so it’s not a bad starting point if you’re a newcomer.

Should I play Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S?Play it if…

You’ve never tried Puyo Puyo Tetris
If you’re completely new to the Puyo Puyo Tetris series, then Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S isn’t a bad place to start. It’s the most complete version of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 yet thanks to its new mode and additional features.View Deal

You’re scrambling for a great puzzle game
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is still a fantastic puzzle game. It has heaps of content for both solo and online players, plus local play options if you’re looking for something to bring to a party or family gathering.View Deal

Don’t play it if…

You already own the original version
If you already own Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 on Nintendo Switch, then it’s hard to justify Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S. If you desperately want to try the new mode, make sure to wait for a steep discount.View Deal

You want something that makes better use of mouse controls
The mouse controls in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S are a let down. If you want a title that makes better use of the Joy-Con 2 hardware feature, try something like Drag x Drive.View Deal

Accessibility features

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S doesn’t feature any dedicated accessibility settings. It has a limited settings menu, with options like turning off auto save, disabling controller vibration, and tweaking the language. The game is fully voice acted, but subtitles are still featured throughout.

How I reviewed Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S

I played just under five hours of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S on Nintendo Switch 2, having played a significant amount more of the original Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 on Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5.

During my time with the game, I compared my experience with that of the original release, making careful note of any differences. I endeavored to test every one of the new features, plus the new mode extensively.

First reviewed August 2025

Scientists have recorded a human embryo implanting in a womb in real time. The implications of how it happens could lead to more and better treatments for infertility.

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The Rainmaker.'/>

A TV version of The Rainmaker is out this week, which gave critic Linda Holmes as good a reason as any to rank the on-screen adaptations of John Grisham's legal novels.

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Nacon Revosim: one-minute review

It’s official: direct drive PC racing wheels have entered the affordable mainstream. While the prices of your groceries continue to skyrocket, simultaneously, sim racing hardware manufacturers have found a way to package high-quality, high-torque bundles together for south of $1,000, and newcomer Nacon introduces a new level of build quality and construction materials in that sub-$1,000 price point with its debut Revosim bundle.

The wheelbase can exert up to 9Nm of torque (translation: loads), which is notably more than the Thrustmaster T598, the no-brainer entry-level direct drive wheel. It’s cheaper than Moza’s R9 bundle while offering very similar build quality. It’s also more affordable than most variations of Fanatec’s CSL DD 8Nm bundles, and while Fanatec generally has the edge with the wheels it produces, Nacon’s pedals are superior to the ones Fanatec bundles in its sub-$1,000 CSL packages and it includes a strong and sturdy quick-release mechanism.

All that talk of prices and rival offerings is abstracting the headline news, though: driving feels good with this bundle. Although it’s still missing some default force feedback profiles and control assignment schemes in some titles (like F1 24, for example), there’s power and articulation right out of the box, with no need to tweak alpha values in the accompanying software.

And in the likes of Rennsport, Assetto Corsa Evo, The Crew Motorfest, and Le Mans Ultimate, which support it natively already, it feels right as soon as you hit the track. Extras like the phone mount attachment and swappable button fronts with custom stickers are also a very impressive value-add.

There’s a caveat: while it’s a fantastic option to add to a sim racing cockpit, it’s wholly impractical for desktop use. The pedals move around on the floor and will tip over when you hit the brake, and the desktop clamps protrude so far below the desk that they’re bound to hit your knees.

It’s for Playseat setups only, but in that context, Nacon’s bundled together a winning combo of powerful wheelbase, nicely finished wheel with customizable buttons, and smart and solid pedals with adjustable load cells so you can adjust the required stamping force to taste.

(Image credit: Future)Nacon Revosim: Price and availability

• List price: $799.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1,435)
• Priced higher than Thrustmaster’s T598 but lower than Moza and Fanatec 8Nm and 9Nm bundles
• Considering features and quality, it hits the price sweet spot

Price is a huge factor in this bundle. Nacon’s hit a really competitive point while adding extra features like a phone mount and customizable buttons, and with no signs of having cut corners on construction materials. Plastic is not prevalent in this bundle, and all the weighty, brushed aluminum used throughout is impressive for the price.

Thrustmaster’s T598 is the chief rival, since it’s currently the best affordable DD wheel bundle on the market, but Moza’s R5 and R9 bundles, along with Fanatec’s various CSL DD bundle configurations, are also in similar price territory.

Nacon Revosim: Specs

Price

$799.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1,435)

Weight

52.9lb / 24kg

Peak torque

9Nm

Features

Direct drive, customizable button covers, quick release wheel, two-pedal base, phone mount attachment

Connection type

USB-A

Compatibility

PC

Software

Revosim Software

(Image credit: Future)Nacon Revosim: Design & features

• Great finish quality on wheel and pedals
• Wheelbase looks like Fanatec or Moza’s designs
• Customizable details

The simplest terms you can use to appraise the design of a piece of sim racing hardware are these: does it look like it came out of a racing car, and does it feel like you’re driving a racing car when you use it? You don’t see RGB light zones on sim wheels for that reason. It’s supposed to immerse you in a virtual cockpit.

I’m really impressed by how well Nacon has managed to nail this aesthetic with its debut sim racing product. The wheelbase is compact and no-frills like Moza and Fanatec’s direct drive servos, but the wheel, quick release, and pedals all look and feel admirably automotive.

The wheel is the star of the show here. The wheel itself is finished in stitched pleather with a mixture of grippy perforated texture around the contact points and a smooth finish at six and twelve o’clock, with a white centering stripe at the very top. The quality of the stitching is extremely neat and tidy with zero loose threads on my review sample, and there’s a satisfying amount of cushioning to the wheel that I appreciated when the base was giving me jolts of feedback at full force to indicate collisions.

The input layout includes 12 face buttons, 11 of which have swappable keycaps with different color options and supplied stickers, one scroll wheel, a POV hat switch, and two magnetic switches on the back. Additionally, the scroller and hat switch can be pushed in to register a separate input binding.

That’s plenty for any racing sim. Personally, the most demanding title I play in terms of inputs is Assetto Corsa Competizione, and generally, I prefer to have two on-wheel dials to adjust TC and engine maps. That’s achieved easily enough on the Revosim, though, since the hat switch also has a rotational dial input. That leaves plenty of button inputs free for lights and wiper controls, menu commands, pit controls, and a view change.

The wheel shape and size is round, with less of a flat bar bottom than Moza’s R5 or R9 wheels, but neither is it perfectly round like the Thrustmaster T598. That means it’s just about applicable for any racing discipline from open wheeler stuff to rally and drift, though being a round wheel, it’s better suited to the latter two.

Nacon doesn’t currently make any other wheels to swap in its place, so if you’re a hardcore F1 racer, you might be better served by the likes of Fanatec’s CSL F1 bundle with its smaller F1-shaped wheel, though let’s be honest – in terms of lap times, there’s going to be very little difference.

(Image credit: Future)

I love the feel of the face buttons. They feel almost like mechanical switches (they’re not), and although there’s a tiny bit of lateral play, they feel of far superior quality to the input buttons on most sub-$1,000 wheels. The fact that their faces can be swapped out in different colors and stickers can be added to them from a supplied sheet is, I’m surprised to note, quite a big deal to me. It’s intrinsically enjoyable to set the wheel up with buttons particular to a specific game. The rotary dial and hat switch are less spectacular in how they feel, but they do the job reliably.

And if you’re going to install this into a cockpit, that’s all you need to know. There’s no ‘but’. For desktop users, though, the ‘but’ is considerable. This isn’t really a desktop-use wheel.

Some might argue that it’s priced high enough that the vast majority of its end users will have race seats anyway, but the fact that it’s bundled with desk clamps and marketed as being compatible for use on a desk means I have to judge it on those terms too, and the fact is it’s very awkward to use this base when clamped to your desk. The clamps will secure it tightly enough to withstand that 9Nm of force, but the clamps’ positioning and length mean you’re very likely to bang your knees against them, or else have to sit in a strange position to avoid them.

Down at ground level, the design of the pedal modules themselves is problem-free. Nice big contact patches with your feet, a variety of elastomers for the brake pedal’s load cell, so you can adjust stiffness. But the base design is once again not really fit for use outside of a cockpit.

The grip surfaces on the base don’t grip hard enough, and there’s nowhere near enough weight at the bottom of the pedal base to prevent it from tipping when you hit the brake, even when using the weakest elastomer. When you screw this directly to a cockpit pedal mount, it’s rock-solid and feels fantastic to use… but only then.

Let’s finish with a positive, though, to underline that poor desktop use is the only negative about this bundle. The quick-release mechanism is really exemplary stuff. Fanatec owners will probably break into a sweat at the mere mention of quick releases, since the company’s move from the QR1 to QR2 standards was nothing short of a debacle due to stock issues and the consumer experience is still confusing since several different tiers of QR2 mechanism are available for purchase, separate from the wheels themselves, and both wheel-side and base-side components need to be bought. Nacon’s mechanism creates a wonderfully tight, secure feel with no rattle or play between the wheel and base, and taking the wheel on and off is a smooth operation.

(Image credit: Future)Nacon Revosim: Performance

• Smooth, powerful torque delivery
• Low latency articulation in games
• Not all games have default mappings yet

Yes, it feels great to drive a lap with the Revosim. But to quantify exactly how good, we need to break it down in context.

First, direct drive versus belt-driven wheels. Belt-driven was the prevalent technology during force feedback wheels’ emergence in gaming, and it can give you plenty of feeling and a meaty jolt when it needs to. But inherent to the technology is a grainy feeling when rotating the wheel, a noisy motor, and ‘cogging’ – a sensation of the wheel snapping between tons of resistance and none, because the motor can’t keep up with the information being fed into it to articulate the feedback quickly and precisely enough.

Direct drive is a pricier alternative that articulates the force feedback without any belts, gears, or pulleys, and that means it’s faster, smoother, and feels closer to the real thing. Until very recently – the last 2-3 years – it’s been a prohibitively expensive tech which only enthusiasts have invested in, but following the lockdown sim racing boom, manufacturers including Thrustmaster, Logitech G, Fanatec, and the major industry disruptor Moza have all brought affordable, sub-$1,000 direct drive wheels to market.

So, firstly, in the most fundamental terms, Nacon’s Revosim wheel feels like a big step up compared to any belt-driven wheel, like the Logitech G923, or even Thrustmaster’s T-GT II, the Rolls-Royce of conventional belt-driven models.

(Image credit: Future)

So the real question is how it compares to those other direct drive bundles in the same price bracket. Most enthusiasts who follow the market will look straight to the 9Nm of torque, since on paper it’s a big selling point.

Thrustmaster’s T598 offers just 5Nm on the spec sheet, though the wheelbase uses a new axial drive tech which seems to be able to effectively ‘overclock’ torque and generate a much more muscular sensation than the number suggests. Moza’s R9 bundle offers 9Nm but sells for around $1,000, while Fanatec’s CSL DD QR2 base will get you to 8Nm for under $400, but that’s just for the base, not a bundle with a wheel or pedals.

However, after spending many hours with both the T598 and this wheel, I’m less of a stickler for the power numbers. The Thrustmaster is capable of outputting enough resistance to make my hands feel like they’re in a Tough Mudder after five laps, and let’s not forget that turning the steering wheel of a real car is not a feat of strength, even at speed and during traction loss. Articulation is what matters, and while max torque output is a part of that equation, it’s not as simple as looking for the higher number and deciding that’s better.

Back to the opening statement, then: it feels good to drive a lap with the Revosim because it’s capable of conveying weight transfer, traction loss, the unsettling floatiness of a car under heavy braking, and the quick spasms your wheel can make in complaint when you try to put a lot of power down in a low gear. For their part, the pedals both feel comfortable and offer the right amount of resistance, particularly so for the adjustable load cell brake pedal.

A final word should go to the inclusion of a phone mount, so that you can use a smartphone app like Simhub to turn your phone into a digital cockpit display. In real terms, this is just an extra piece of plastic in the box, but it’s a small inclusion that elevates the driving experience so much. That tells the story of the overall package: little details and additions that turn a good bundle into a great one.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Nacon Revosim?Buy it if...

You race in a cockpit
Look at other options if you race at your desktop, but if you’re mounting to a cockpit, this is as sturdy as it is comfortable.

You’re considering your first direct drive wheel
What a great price this is for an entry-level DD wheel. You don’t need to make a big fiscal commitment to enjoy smoother driving.

You’re not going to upgrade piece by piece
The Revosim ecosystem is small so far – in fact, it’s really just this bundle, plus a handbrake and sequential gearbox – so look elsewhere if you want a base that you’ll keep adding to.

Don't buy it if...

You’re already racing a direct drive wheel
As great as this package is, you don’t need to worry that you’ve lost the competitive advantage that your Fanatec, Moza, or Thrustmaster wheel offered; now this one’s come along.

You need an F1-style wheel
Despite the nice, quick-release mechanism, there aren’t currently any other first-party wheel shapes besides this round wheel.

You race on consoles
The Revosim is PC only for now, so Gran Turismo 7 pros need not apply.

Nacon Revosim: also consider...

If the Nacon Revosim doesn’t turn your head, try these similarly priced rivals.

Nacon Revosim

Thrustmaster T598

Thrustmaster T-GT II

Price

$799.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1435)

$499.99 / £449.99 (around AU$899.99)

$799.99 / £699.99 (around AU$1,211.99)

Weight

52.9lbs / 24kg

14.1lbs / 6.4kg

29lbs / 13.2kg

Peak torque

9Nm

5Nm

Around 6Nm

Features

Direct drive, customizable button covers, quick release wheel, two-pedal base, phone mount attachment

Direct drive, modular pedal base, detachable rim, 100% torque overshoot

Detachable wheel, three-pedal base

Connection type

USB-A

USB-A

USB-A

Compatibility

PC

PS5, PS4, PC

PS5, PC

Thrustmaster T598
For a slightly more affordable entry point into direct drive racing, the T598 has a wonderfully smooth wheel actuation and tons more power than its Nm output suggests. Odd wheelbase shape and size, though.

For more information, read our full Thrustmaster T598 reviewView Deal

Thrustmaster T-GT II
Priced similarly but featuring older belt-driven tech, the T-GT II nonetheless offers a great experience for desktop users with minimal grainy sensation or cogging.

For more information, read our full Thrustmaster T-GT II reviewView Deal

How I tested the Nacon Revosim

• Tested in F1 24, F1 25, Rennsport, ACC, and AC Evo
• Two weeks of testing in a cockpit and on a desktop
• Variety of elastomers used, custom FFB profiles tested

Although it’s cheap for a direct drive wheel, this is still a big financial outlay, so the intended audience is the sim racer who goes where the serious competition lies. With that in mind, I headed to various racing sims where the hotlap leaderboards are fiercely contested and where PvP racing is (usually) conducted with a degree of sporting consideration. I also played F1 24 and F1 25.

Those titles run the gamut of supported and non-supported games, but even in the non-supported ones, I didn’t run into any major difficulties besides having to set my input binds button by button. Force feedback response was convincing and useful in every game.

I swapped out the elastomers to try a variety of braking stiffness levels, and while everyone has a preference, the important thing is that there’s sufficient variance out of the box that most racers will be able to find their preferred feel.

The same goes for force feedback strength – I tweaked a few values in all the games I played, to get a sense of where the min and max are for its feedback types, and found that both the floaty (cheaty) super-low FFB feel and the muscular, jolty response types are possible here with minimal tweaks.

First reviewed August 2025

Read more about how we test

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Light spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 2 episodes 1 through 5. Full spoilers also follow for Peacemaker season 1 and The Suicide Squad.

It's incredibly rare to see a C-tier comic book anti-hero star in his own show. It's even less likely that such an individual, who's now arguably one of DC Comics' hottest commodities, would be positioned as the most important cog in a nascent cinematic franchise.

Few eyebrows are being raised about Peacemaker being that person, though. With season 1 of the titular character's TV series receiving critical and commercial acclaim in early 2022, it was a case of when, not if, a sophomore outing would arrive.

Over three years later, Peacemaker season 2 is not only ready to be unleashed, but also become a core component of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe (DCU). The fact that this chaotic tragicomedy's next installment is as super as its first, and sets the stage for future DCU and DCU-adjacent projects, proves they made the right decision to use it as a key building block for their burgeoning shared universe.

Hero to zero

Whether it's saving the world or being grilled by school kids, Chris Smith can't catch a break (Image credit: HBO Max)

Set a few months after Gunn's Superman movie, Peacemaker season 2 reunites us with Chris Smith (John Cena), aka the eponymous anti-hero, as he continues to struggle with reconciling his past.

Things aren't much better in the present, either. A failed job interview to join The Justice Gang, the corporately owned team of metahumans introduced in Superman, coupled with Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) continually rejecting his romantic advances, leaves Smith longing for a better life.

I really got a kick out of Cena plumbing the depths of Smith's inner turmoil

As fate would have it, such an opportunity presents itself to Smith via the secret Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC), an inter-dimensional location outside of normal space that exists in the home of his deceased father, Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick). Inebriated one night, Smith stumbles onto a parallel world where his dead dad and brother are alive, and the Peacemaker of this world is a celebrated hero who's in a relationship with this universe's Harcourt. Hypnotized by this idyllic reality, Smith is drawn to it time and again – but, as the saying goes, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

If the hit HBO Max show's second season sounds like it's putting a multiversal spin on introspective movies like It's a Wonderful Life with a Sliding Doors-style narrative, that's intentional.

Indeed, if season 1 trained its lens on Smith's superhuman alter-ego and his attempts to redeem the 'Peacemaker' name, its sequel is all about the man himself reflecting on the choices he's made and, if he had a do-over, how he'd handle things differently. I really got a kick out of Cena plumbing the depths of Smith's inner turmoil and, despite Smith's efforts to deal with them more maturely, his deeply flawed approach to handling his demons with external vices and increasingly regular trips to an alternate dimension that allow him to live a double life.

Harcourt and Smith's relationship is put through the wringer this season (Image credit: Curtis Bonds Baker/Max)

Parallels can be drawn between Smith's methodology and that of his perennial love interest, Harcourt. Harcourt's sense of self is rattled after she's fired by ARGUS and blacklisted by every US intelligence agency for apparently helping to expose former ARGUS chief Amanda Waller's role in Project Butterfly and Task Force X last season.

Two sides of the same coin, this impulsive pair uses physical pleasure and pain to numb themselves to their deep-seated trauma, and continues the show's exploration of the nature versus nurture debate in engrossing fashion through their individual arcs. Meanwhile, surprise-laden flashbacks to events that occur after 2021's The Suicide Squad, but before season 1, add a fascinating extra layer of complexity to their dynamic.

John Economos' (left) loyalties are split between his job and his friends this season (Image credit: Curtis Bonds Baker/Max)

The rest of Peacemaker's primary ensemble – who, alongside Smith and Harcourt, are collectively known as the 11th Street Kids – also face similar soul-searching experiences as part of their season 2 arcs.

Indeed, the six-month time jump between Smith chancing upon another universe and this season's main storyline is sufficient enough to show how Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), John Economos (Steve Agee), and Adrian Chase/Vigilante's (Freddie Stroma) lives have changed.

The fascinating regression of some friendships... gives Peacemaker 2 a more pronounced soap opera edge than its forebear.

There's a greater emphasis on what makes each character tick and how they deal with setbacks, too, through their more substantial individual arcs this season. The pleasing progression of certain core dynamics and nascent character pairings gives rise to new kinds of awkward, albeit heart-warming, camaraderie. Equally, the fascinating regression of some friendships adds more than a pinch of melodrama, giving Peacemaker 2 a more pronounced soap opera edge than its forebear.

Admittedly, some characters get more to do than others. I was pleased to see the often underappreciated Agee shine in a much bigger role this season, and even Eagly, Smith's rambunctious White Eagle pet/sidekick, gets a funny, though quickly resolved, subplot this time around. However, I wish Stroma's scene-stealing sociopath wasn't relegated to the sidelines as much as he is. Hopefully, season 2 will rectify this glaring oversight in its final three episodes.

Careful what you wish for

Langston Fleury and Sasha Bordeaux are two of numerous new additions to Peacemaker's cast (Image credit: Curtis Bonds Baker/HBO Max)

With numerous supporting cast members killed off in season 1, there are plenty of vacancies to fill on its follow-up's roster.

So, how do they fare in the DCU Chapter One show? They're all terrific, but Tim Meadows' Langston Fleury and Michael Rooker's Red St. Wild are the pick of the bunch. The former – a greasy, smug, and misogynistic sycophant – picks up the cocksure slack that Cena's Smith discards this season, while the latter plays to Rooker's character strengths as a delightfully unhinged individual who's drafted in by ARGUS director Rick Flag Sr (Frank Grillo) and his deputy Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez) to track down Eagly for reasons I won't spoil.

Frank Grillo returns as Rick Flag Sr after appearing in Superman and Creature Commandos season 1 (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/Max)

Like Stroma's Chase, I was initially disappointed over the use of Grillo's Flag Sr. Apart from a couple of scenes, including one of the flashbacks I mentioned earlier, Waller's recently-installed replacement – he was hired by ARGUS eight months before season 2's primary story begins – mostly takes a backseat in this season's first four episodes.

Like Stroma's Chase, I was initially disappointed over the use of Grillo's Flag Sr

Okay, Grillo's active role in proceedings is dictated by how the plot unfolds. However, considering Grillo told me that Flag Sr would be "on a mission" for justice in Peacemaker 2 – remember, the titular anti-hero killed his son in The Suicide Squad – I'd hope this storyline would've featured more heavily in earlier entries. Thankfully, once season 2 refocuses its efforts on the Flag Sr portion of the plot, the full weight and impact of Peacemaker's actions in that 2021 Gunn-directed film reverberate through episode 5 and, hopefully, in its final three chapters.

Leota Adebayo and Adrian Chase spend more time together this season compared to its predecessor (Image credit: HBO Max)

While we're on the topic of The Suicide Squad, season 2 does a mostly good job of confirming what parts of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), i.e., Warner Bros' previous superhero-packed cinematic franchise, are officially canon in the DCU.

Ever since Gunn confirmed Peacemaker's second season would be part of his new-look shared universe, fans have wondered how it would handle this. Season 1 and The Suicide Squad were technically part of the DCEU – learn more about it via my DC movies in order guide – before Gunn and Safran's reboot. Smith's surprising but crowd-pleasing cameo in Superman, as well as Peacemaker season 2's official trailer, did little to answer fans' biggest questions. Fortunately, all is revealed through a handy 'previously on...' segment just minutes into this season's premiere. No spoilers, but I think the vast majority of fans will be pleased with the way that Gunn humorously retcons a particular scene from last season's finale – one that was the biggest canonical headache for many.

Michael Rooker's Red St. Wild is the primary antagonist of this season's Eagly-led subplot (Image credit: HBO Max)

Expected though they are, it's marvellous to see events and characters from the wider DCU play active roles in Peacemaker 2. Whether it's references to Superman's story, or episode 1's brilliantly dysfunctional interview scene involving The Justice Gang, I was heartened to see these narrative yarns spun out further and prove that, unlike Marvel's cinematic juggernaut, events on the big screen can and should be felt keenly in their small screen counterparts.

I'll admit season 2's new title sequence steadily grew on me to the point where I was actively singing along to it

And what of the most anticipated part of the show's return – i.e., this season's new title sequence. Last season's opening credits went viral in early 2022, with Gunn telling Entertainment Weekly it was watched four billion times on TikTok. No pressure, then, to make it as good, if not better.

Initially, I wasn't a fan of season 2's glam-rock-inspired dance number. With each episode that passed, though, I'll admit it steadily grew on me to the point where I was actively singing along to 'Oh Lord' by Foxy Shazam, aka the licensed song this season's ambitious choreographed sequence is set to. Don't be surprised if you feel the same way after re-watching it multiple times.

My verdict

Peacemaker season 2 is an impressive, entertaining, and startlingly thought-provoking continuation of its predecessor. A series packed with the usual trappings of a James Gunn project – dark and awkward humor, heart-wrenching moments, action-heavy sequences, a banging soundtrack, reams of melodrama, and broken characters you can't help but adore – it's must-see TV for DC comic book devotees, nascent DCU fans, and casual observers alike.

There are blemishes, some of which I've outlined above and others, like the occasionally jarring tonal shift, ruin its chances of earning a better rating. However, those flaws are comparatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

As I mentioned up top, not many DC Comics characters could carry their own series and be an integral part of the DCU storytelling machine. And yet, Peacemaker proves that, with the right cast and crew, and a creator who understands the material, anything is possible. If Chris Smith existed in the real world, I'm convinced the high regard he's held in by viewers would finally help him to *ahem* make peace with his past.

Peacemaker's second season launches with a two-episode premiere on August 21 (North and South America) and August 22 (everywhere else). Read my dedicated guide for Peacemaker season 2 before it arrives.