Battle stations!... Battle stations!! Seems like the proving grounds for the High-end Graphics Cards are heating up pretty much. Just recently, Nvidia released its newest and supposedly best card, the Geforce GTX 590. Upon the release of their Geforce flagship, Nvidia claimed that this was the fastest card in the whole wide world. This statement from the green team seems to have caused a great commotion within the red front, AMD Radeon Graphics. Because of such, AMD asks their opponent to prove their claim and not merely say it without basis.
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This was taken out from AMD's blog post written by Dave Erskine, Senior Public Relations Manager for AMD Graphics Desktop division. "Two weeks ago we launched our flagship GPU, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6990.  We had designed it to be a game-changer and we hit the bull’s eye.  The result: The AMD Radeon™ HD 6990 achieved the highest default single graphics card score of X3303 using the industry standard 3DMark11 benchmark.  And when we launched it, we issued a press release in which we proudly called it the “World’s Fastest Graphics Card” and fully disclosed the basis upon which we made that claim. ".

Surely, AMD is hitting the hard end with these words. The blog post wines up with this final statement : "So now I issue a challenge to our competitor: prove it, don’t just say it. Show us the substantiation. Because as it stands today, leading reviewers agree with us here, here, here, and here that the AMD Radeon HD 6990 sits on the top as the world’s fastest graphics card."

With both graphic companies now going at it, expect a lot of weaponry being thrown out for the claim to be the fastest and best performing graphics card in the world. We'll have to wait for Nvidia's answer on this statement and they certainly will shell out something to throw at AMD's gauntlet.

Source: AMD Blog
 
Looks like most of the companies are celebrating the entry of the second generation Intel's icore processors and seems everyone is jumping into the bandwagon. The introduction of the new sandybridge architecture from Intel's processor sure did innovate the way things are run. And for the motherboard companies, this is a perfect way for them to earn a decent market. Now we look at Biostar's motherboard for this endeavor - Biostar H67MH.
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The new Biostar H67MH motherboard
The Biostar H67MH comes in a small Micro-ATX form factor. As mentioned, this motherboard is based on the new socket 1155 from Intel (2nd generation i3, i5, and i7)and has a maximum CPU thermal design power of 95 watts. This motherboard supports a dual channel (DDR3 1066/1333 MHz) memory but unfortunately this only provides 2 DDR3 DIMM memory slots. The H67MH comes with the standard PCI-E x16 slot (2.0) and one PCI-E x1 (2.0) slot. It also has two PCI slots, 4 slots for SATA2, 2 slots for SATA3, 4 USB 2.0 ports, Realtek ALC662 6-channel HD audio and Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8111E). The H67MH also has the HDMI, VGA and DVI video output sockets for maximum compatibility. Aside from Windows 7 compatibility, the board also boasts of using solid capacitors for added motherboard lifespan.

In a matter of a few weeks, we should be able to see this board hit our local markets. Let's hope the Biostar H67MH will not be very high in terms of pricing once it hits the Philippine shores.
 
For the past days, all the manufacturers in the video card industry have been busy releasing their own versions of the Nvidia powered GPUs. Now, we have a prominent contender for the market - EVGA. And not only does this company release a videocard, it sends out its package with a free game and more!
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EVGA announces that their new overclocked model of the GTX 560 Ti comes with the upcoming Crysis 2 Game, a poster and a shirt! Yes, all that is included in this amazing package priced at US$299. For every fan of the series, this would not only be a bargain but this is also a perfect moment to seize such limited merchandise.

The EVGA GTX 560 Ti comes with a core speed of 900MHz (that's way over the ~842 MHz from stock versions) and has a good number of CUDA cores at 384. Memory clock speed of this video processor is pegged at 4212 MHz with shader clock speed of 1800 MHz (slightly higher than stock ratings at 4008MHz). This decent merchandise comes with 1GB of DDR5 memory, 2 DVI-I and a mini-HDMI connectors.

This would certainly be a good bargain if this reaches our shores along with its freebies. You certainly don't find free high quality games along with your awesome GPU in our local markets.
 
Mainstream solutions for GPU has been hitting a good share in the global market lately. Some people who can't afford the latest and expensive high-end models are contented in dealing with the mainstream products. Just recently, Nvidia released its most affordable member of the GTX 500 Series family - The GTX 550 Ti (Ti for Titanium).

The Nvidia GTX 550 Ti has a well rounded number of stream processors amounting to 192, that's 50% lesser than the GTX 560 Ti. But despite this, the GTX 550 Ti runs at a higher core clock speed of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz in shader clock. This component runs at 1GB memory with an interface of 192-bit at DDR5. Moreover, the Geforce GTX 550 Ti has a DVI and a mini HDMI connector.
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Nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti
In the foreign market, the 550 is introduced at an entry price of US$149. This will probably take a month or so before this reaches our Philippine shores. There are also a number of companies which has catered to producing this Nvidia based GPU. The companies include ASUS, EVGA, Inno3D, Palit, MSI, Sparkle and the like. We already know that these companies have established a stable market here in our homeland, let's hope they will speed things up and get this Video Card in the stores faster.
 
Rendering and Multi-tasking jobs are pretty common nowadays. Seems like everyone wants to do every bit at the same time and with haste. A friend of mine commissioned me to get him the best specs for his budget of 30,000 Pesos. This is what we here at PinoyPC have come up.

Read the full article on the link below.

March 2011 Rig of the Month
 
Ever since the entry of the dual-core processors, computer hardware fans have been fascinated by the thought of having one component working in multiple forces. Now comes another one... it's the EVGA GTX 460 but this time it's not any ordinary Video Card. This one is labelled 2Win! Yes, it has 2 GPU (Graphics Processing Units) on one card... amazing, isn't it?
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The EVGA GTX 460 2Win runs with its stock 2048 MB memory on a 512bit DDR5 lane at an effective rate of 3600 MHz with an approximate of 230.4 GB/s bandwidth. Other specifications under this magnificent EVGA graphics blaster include 700MHz GPU, 400MHz RAMDAC and 672 CUDA Cores.

According to EVGA, this will draw a lot of power from your system indeed since it's basically like 2 video cards fused into one. You'll probably need 700 watts true-rated power supply to juice this one up, including 2 8-pin PCI-E power connectors. EVGA also emphasized that a 46 amp rating on the +12V rail will be needed for this endeavor. 

For those wanting to enjoy intense graphics in your gaming environment, you can't go wrong with this baby right here. It'll probably costs a lot too once it hits the local pinoy market. Let's keep an eye on this one.
 
After a week of doing other stuffs, we've finally released this long overdue section of Pinoy PC. The Computer Anatomy Section in our Newbie's Basic Guide to PCs is now released. Do try to check this out. If you don't know anything about the basic parts of the basic computer, this is a good place to start. The link is posted below. Enjoy!

Pinoy PC - Computer Anatomy

Please stay tune for more updates on this Newbie's Guide.
 
One of the most reliable brands in the Video Card industry, XFX, has begun entering the local Filipino computer hardware market. XFX has garnered a good reputation in the US market with it's promise of providing a lifetime warranty on its video cards and guarant. Though this feature is only limited in the US market, it certainly made a big impression for computer enthusiasts all over the world. 

Just recently, PC Express, one of the leading retailers of computer components in the Pinoy market, has started to shell out the first high-end XFX video card, the HD 5850 1gb!

 
For most enthusiasts, Kingston memory modules have been a big factor in the fields of overclocking. The Hyper X memory modules that Kingston introduced into the market a while back has been quite impressive for those who want to squeeze more out of their setup.

Just recently, Kingston announced that their high-end Hyper X class will invade laptop memories as well. These come in the form of DDR3 SO-DIMM platform. These modules come in two models - the 8gb (2 x 4gb) and the 4gb (2 x 2gb) combos. Hyper X laptop memories are pegged at 1600 Mhz and has clock timings of CL 9-9-9-27. Although pricing and listings are not yet available to date, Pinoy PC is expecting a lot from this new Kingston entry. This will move things in the laptop industry and make heads roll.

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Kingston Hyper X DDR3 SO-DIMM memory
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    Performance, Value, Practicability - These are the things I look for when purchasing Computer components. Getting the most out of what I can afford is the matter that I've consistently practiced. It doesn't take to be a rocket-scientist to know that, all I need is a keen sense in what's good and bad.

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