Okay, I know this one's delayed again. Apparently, I have a ton of work to do and further developing the site has suffered much because of this. But anyway, I've finally finished the CPU Processor section for our basic guide. Please feel free to check it out. Just click the link below to redirect you to the page or you could just simply navigate through the top bar.

Pinoy PC - CPU Processor Guide

Seems like every bit in the GPU zone is battling it out. From the higher HD 6990 and GT 590 classes down to the lowest tier battlefields, the 2 GPU engine makers are definitely making it worth for your buck. A few days back, AMD Radeon released their low-end video card, HD 6450. Now, it's time for Nvidia to launch their counterpart on this field - the Geforce GT 520.

The GT 520 comes with 48 stream processors, this is equal to the previous generation GT 220. It's core clock comes with an amazing 810 MHz and shader clock at 1400 MHz. The low tier video card also comes at the 1GB memory at DDR3. The numbers definitely look promising on this green warrior. However, like all other low end cards, the GT 520 is stuck at the slower 64-bit memory interface. Though rendering and graphic capabilities may be limited in these type of cards, it does have a good stance on power consumption. The Nvidia GT520 has a TDP of 29W as the manufacturer claimed it to be with an idle rate of only 10W.

Like all other budget cards, we aren't expecting much for these mini monsters. We just expect them to run a good HTPC and consume much less than their stronger brothers. In the foreign market, the GT 520 comes with a price tag around US$60. In due time, this will also be in the Pinoy markets.

With nearly a decade of ink printer domination, people have started to come around and find initiative to cut their printing costs from the lavish ink-based systems. Over the past years, refilling ink cartridges has been a common practice to save on printing costs. Furthermore, continuous ink systems have successfully answered the call of heavy printing business such as internet cafes and other shops. Without the hassle of refilling the cartridge, the CIS (continuous ink supply) systems have made a big hit in these times. Pioneers in the CISS installation, however, have charged so much for this technology since its been on popular demand. Just recently, CD-R king has addressed that problem with their cheaper Continuous Ink Supply System designed for Epson printers.

 

The CD-R King CISS is currently offered to work on Epson T model printers (T10, T11, T20, TX100, TX111, TX200, T209, TX210, TX300F, TX400, TX409, TX410, TX419). It comes with the standard volumes and new version chips of the T0731N cartridges, which CD-R King claims to be easy to reset. The storage mount has a capacity of 80ml making it a good reservoir for the ink to be used on those lavish printing jobs. The CD-R King continuous ink supply system comes at a very cheap price of only Php 480. Even though installation is not included in the CISS kit, instruction manuals and technical support are readily available for the do-it-yourself user. So, if you're looking for a good and cheap printing solution, you could always go with this one. For the price, this one's a steal compared to other CISS providers!

Now, there has been much speculation in the Mid-range video card battlefield and today we see the perfect rival for the disputed Nvidia's Geforce GTX 550 Ti, which was released a few weeks back. AMD's counter for such a move is the Radeon HD 6790, which boasts of better performance compared to its Nvidia rival.

With the current trends of emerging high-performance graphics processing units or simply "video cards", one can always drool on the costs these new models come tagged with. If you're in the local market, you probably have a hard time looking for a good entry-level video card pegged at around Php 3,000. Good News!... PC Express recently released into their inventory the budget gamer's video card - The Powercolor HD5670 1gb DDR3! And what's even more exciting is that this baby comes only with a Php 3,500 price tag - now, that's definitely an amazing price!

With 1 gb of memory running at DDR3 and 30% cheaper than its DDR5 counter part with the same exact memory, the HD5670 1gb DDR3 is a steal for the price. You have a decent processor but not a very strong price. If you put this card head to head with a similarly priced GT240, this would wipe the 240 hands down. The HD5670 is engine clocked at 775MHz with a memory clock of 667MHz x 2 with an interface at 128-bit.

Although the older Nvidia 9800GT might be a little bit faster (with the same price range), the Powercolor HD5670 comes with DirectX 11 support and runs compatible at PCI-E 2.1 bus standard. If you're looking for a decent videocard and you're a bit tight in the pocket, the Powercolor HD5670 1gb DDR3 would certainly fit what your looking for. Decent price of Php 3,500 and commendable performance is certainly worth looking into. Try to visit your nearest PC Express branch or contact your local stores for the availability of this price-steal GPU.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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