You might think it’s crazy to plonk down S$1,600 for a graphics card, when that money can buy you a decent laptop today. Yet, the most expensive card around now – the Asus GTX Titan – has been sold out in Singapore.

The latest and greatest from the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer sports the GTX Titan graphics chip from Nvidia, which is the fastest single-chip card in the market now. …

At the start of each new year, you inevitably hear about the end of the PC, if not the laptop, then surely, the desktop PC. After all, with all the focus on touch-based portable machines, who has time for that less sexy DIY PC you build with your own bare hands?

Well, fortunately, the desktop PC or the DIY PC isn’t going away. True, it’s not grabbing headlines like before, but for PC buffs, 2013 should bring interesting designs and more flexible uses of their much-loved machines.

CPUs are more powerful yet cooler and quieter, making a full-fledged living room PC truly possible now. Plus, with so many different designs, you’ll be glad you are building your own PC rather than buying a cookie-cutter design.

Here’s why 2013 looks interesting to the PC buff.
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Local custom notebook maker Aftershock PC has been making waves lately with models that pack in the goodies while keeping prices competitive compared to big-name rivals like Dell Alienware and Toshiba.

The XM17, which I had a chance to test out in the past couple of weeks, proves it is well-worth considering if you are looking for a gaming machine that takes up less space than a desktop and can be easily moved to a friend’s place for an overnight session. …

At a time when mainstream PC makers are coming up with ever slimmer designs, Singapore’s Aftershock PC is bucking the trend with a monster of a notebook that packs in two graphics cards for hardcore gamers.

A pair of the two fastest mobile graphics chips now – either an Nvidia GTX 680M or AMD Radeon 7970M – will be running in tandem in the Aftershock Titan machine. This will rival most desktop PCs when it comes to performance for just about any game. …

It’s a sign of the crazy level of competition in PC graphics cards these days that I can buy a top-end card over the weekend with S$539, instead of the usual S$700 to S$900 asking price.

The Powercolor HD7970, using AMD’s top-end graphics chip and with 3GB of RAM, is not a bargain basement reference card, but one with the manufacturer’s own quiet dual fans, which usually add to the cost.

Yet, it is costing what a mid-range card might usually command, thanks to the latest round of price and performance one-upmanship between AMD and Nvidia.

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Who needs a desktop PC any more? That question replayed in my head more than a dozen times in recent weeks when I was thinking of rebuilding a new PC.

After all, with the exception of gaming – and I am playing fewer games these days – there really isn’t much that a cheap, fast and pretty ultrabook cannot do. Even if I wanted to build a new PC, I could buy a really small case, stuff it with all the excellent gear and be really happy with it.

But one look at the classic Silverstone TJ07 case I’ve been using for more than five years, and it’s clear I’m keeping that amazing piece of gear. Despite its rather dated interior layout and being better suited for a watercooling setup, its aluminium unibody design is still stunning to look at and puts a smile on many PC builders.

And so I built a new PC with it in the past few days. Here’s a brief work log of sorts of my new PC based on an Intel Ivybridge CPU. …

After months of letting users try it out, Microsoft said on Wednesday that its latest, most ambitious Windows operating system in years will ship on October 26.

The touch-based features have been well covered. But they are perhaps just the tip of the ice berg for upcoming changes in the way PCs will be used in the years ahead.

The other part of the equation is the hardware, and that’s evolving by the month as new laptops, tablets and hybrid devices come out sporting Intel’s new ultra-thin designs.

No one knows for sure how things will pan out. But here are three possible scenarios, based on what we’ve seen so far. …

Dell XPS 14

Those who still think that Dell puts out boring machines should check out its latest XPS 14 ultrabook just unveiled on Tuesday in Singapore.

Weighing in at 2.1kg, it comes with a 14-inch screen that nicely straddles between a smaller 13-inch ultrabook and a 15-incher for workstations. It’s a machine that seems to be built for both portability and as a replacement for a desktop PC. And Dell’s promising up to 11 hours of battery life with this new ultrabook. …

Years after experts everywhere said that PC gaming was dead, Diablo III seems to be defying the odds by being the top game bought in the United States in May. The PC-only title recently topped the charts for physical game purchases, according to researchers from survey firm NPD.

If you are building a new PC to play games and run everyday tasks, just what should you be looking at? We have some suggestions for a  bang for buck machine. It’s not the cheapest, or over-the-top, but it should hit the sweet spot. …

Braving the crowds and jams this weekend at PC Show 2012 for a quick bargain?

Techgoondu went through the floors this afternoon to bring you some interesting deals worth checking out. From desktop PCs to broadband plans, there’s a wide range of bargains to look out for at Suntec City. …