Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blah]

I��ll be going back to Canada (Vancouver) for a couple of weeks in September and was thinking of picking up a laptop while there. It just sucks that laptops are about double the price of desktops with comparable specs. And laptops suck for gaming, which I like to do.

So many people bring laptops to Korea because of their portability. But I wonder, if you weigh out how much you spend on it before you leave, if it would have been more cost effective to buy a desktop in Korea – even at the inflated prices here.

Would it be feasible to buy all the parts for a desktop computer in Canada and then put it all together here? I��m not knowledgeable enough to put it together myself, but I��m sure it wouldn��t be hard to find someone who is. Would it be much cheaper than buying a system here that��s worthy of FPS online gaming?

In short, what��s the most cost effective way to put together a system for use in Korea, factoring in resale value when you leave?

Ideally, I��d like 3ghtz (Athlon is fine in my book) CPU, 60gb HD, 1gb RAM, 128mb graphics card, and whatever else is consistant with such a package.

I don��t want to spend over $2,000 (Canadian).

Any suggestions from those who have knowledge in this area?

[Bulsajo]

Why would you buy the parts in Canada?
Are you that eager to pay GST/PST?

If you don't know how to put a computer together, just buy a desktop in Korea. You're not going to save much (if any at all) if you go the custom do it yourself route.

[Demophobe]

Unfortunately, resale value for computers is poor....very, very poor.

As Bulsajo said, there is no reason in the world to buy in Canada....none.

If you want to put together a system, let us know exactly what you want and we will try to help. There are many, many pages on the net about computer assembly....many guides and how-tos.

A gaming system can be great or small...you must choose. AMD is a good CPU for gaming, but now you must think about graphics. This will take you from 100,000 to 600,000, depending on what you want.

Also bear in mind that resale value of used, yesterday's hardware is so low, you would be better off donating it. So, buying a 200,000 won graphics card wouldn't net you much for resale at all....maybe 40,000. Buying the latest will give you a good return for another 6 or 8 months.

So, an ATI X800Pro for 600,000 will probably get you 350,000 in 6 months time. MOre spent, but better gaming (WOW!) and a better percent on the return. Yes, you stand to lose more money going top-shelf, but hey, why game at 600x800?

[wuzza]

I bought all my parts on a korean website and got a computer dude down the street to build it for me. he charged me 50,000 for labour, and I also bought the keyboard, mouse, floppy drive and speakers from him to thrown him some business.
But the rest I bought myself, carefully selecting a CPU, motherboard and RAM that works together well. Look to a proper tech forum for solid advice.
my system was state of the art a year ago, and cost me around 1,150,000 all-in. (monitor was 19" flat screen, not LCD). Dunno what that is in canadian.

Good tech forum for advice: www.annandtech.com

good site for parts: www.computerprice.co.kr (you must be able to read korean, all tech words are the same as English, so if you can read hangul, you will understand. Motherboard is Mainboard in Konglish.)

While building your own system is pride-worthy, I would say paying 50K is better than the stress and a possible f**K up.

Good luck.

[Demophobe]

Erm...I'm sure you meant http://www.anandtech.com

Some good sites:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1230439,00.asp

http://www.extremetech.com (click on "discussions")

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

http://www.hardocp.com/ (look for "forums")

[blah]

Thanks for all the great advice. It��s sounding like I��ll be better off to just buy it all here. And no, Bulsajo, I really don��t want to pay GST/PST – good point.

Wuzza��s price is very low, considering I was going to pay twice that on a notebook that would only have a 64mb graphics card that can��t even be upgraded.

I never really expected a significant resale value. But it��s nice to recoup a few hundred thousand won at the end of the day.

Or I guess I could just strip down a computer that I buy here and bring the parts back home with me in a year for recycling. My wife loves to chat on line and I love to game. So I could slap a smaller system together with what will be old parts by then for her, and buy a newer, more powerful system to keep up with the games that will be coming out at that point. A router in between, and we have good old egghead quality time spent together.

Any recommendations on the best graphics card for first person shooters and flight simulators? Obviously the highest price yields the best cards, so keep in mind I��d like to cap my total spending (including monitor) at about 2 mil won.

I��ll start by going through the links on this thread.

Thanks again.

[Gollum]

I did bring some parts over from my old computer back home, and used them here. That saved me about 150,000 won.