Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Pangit]

Okay, I've seen the URL floating around this forum and I checked out the website, and the prices seem reasonably comparable to others that I'd find elsewhere. I'd like to know how I'd go about getting the merchandise for those prices. Can I actually put an order through on that website, or is a Korean resident number necessary for it? If that's the case, where would I physically have to go to get the equipment for the prices listed there? Are these for the little stores in TechnoMart? I'm not sure if I've actually been to TechnoMart - I'm pretty clueless about Seoul.

Just to give you an idea of what I'm looking at:

Prescott 520 for 170,000 won
DDR Corsair 1G PC3200 TwinX 3-3-3-8 (512*2) 128,000
Chaintech v915P Zenith value edition for 98,000
GeForce 6200 Chaintech SE6200 128MB for 97,000
DVD-Multi LG-GSA4163B for 60,000
WD 40G 7200 rpm 8MB cache 60,000
Axxon 375W ATX w/ 2*80mm fans for 29,000
Bestech �ͽ�Ʈ�� ���� ���̵� for 25,000
I can also make do with an el-cheapo keyboard and, possibly router.

And I'll have to find a 15"-19" CRT somewhere, possibly used, that I don't want to travel too far for to lug around as I'm not conveniently near Seoul.

Some opinions about the parts and the prices would be good, as well.

Note, also, that I'll be going to Canada in the near future, and could hold off on getting these parts in case I can get better deals in Canada. I'd just like to plan and budget for the money I'm shelling out.

[Wrench]

Routers are not cheap here.

[Pangit]

Yes, which is why I said possibly. I know I left one sitting around at a relative's in Canada, and I did say that I'd be going back and could put off buying parts in case it would be more economical to pick them up back home.

edit - so I did a little more homework and it looks like the price for a switch wouldn't be too bad. Netgear fs2005 for 31,000 won at danawa, once again. Or, I could go for a LinkSys, which I probably would because the BEFSR41 back in Canada might be in use and I like LinkSys, simply because of loyalty - anyway, the LinkSys sd205 switch is 21,000. Reasonable prices, I'd say.

[Demophobe]

Call the retailers on Danawa who have the cheap prices listed. They will deliver for a small charge and within 1 or 2 days. Often one store can meet all of your needs (its a big sham that they are actually "in competition" with each other) at prices very close to the site.

Then, you go to the local bank and deposit the money in their acount (they will give you the account number) and that's it.

As for buying here or at home...think about shipping. I have shipped by bost...cheap and easy, a one-month wait, all insured. Think about prices and convenience I guess.

[Pangit]

Thanks for the reply about the prices. Are there any opinions about the parts?

I'm curious what people think about the Intel 915P chipset, Chaintech motherboards and video cards, as well as the RAM.

[Demophobe]

Buy top-notch RAM if you are doing a lot of crunching....Photoshop, video and audio ripping and editing. Otherwise, some mid-range stuff from Crucial, Geil or Kingmax will be fine.

Video card? Well, the sky is the limit. You are on your own here, suffice to say that the 6600 and X700 in the mainstream are a pretty good value for the money, but definately lacking. Go high end? Dual 680Ultras in an SLI scenario....crazy bucks. If it were me, I would be looking at a 6800GT or X800Pro for a mainstream system.

Chaintech are fine, but not great....many other big names deliver more quality. I'm a ASUS man myself (Even with the PT533 fiasco), with ABIT being a close 2nd. Gigabyte have the dual-BIOS thing, which is cool if you fail a flash, but otehrwise expensive.

The 915P chipset is good as well...for Intel. Have a good look at the AMD line...very, very good products. Intel is in a bit of a tailspin, while AMD are really hitting their stride.

1 GB of system RAM is not overkill at all.

Anyways, its all about budget and use. How much can you spend and what do you want to do with the system?

Danawa has a used monitor area...some good deals, but not by phone. You will have to go there and arrange your own transport. New 19" CRTs have really come down in price.....cheap.

[Pangit]

The computer will be a mid-range performance, mid-range cost, multitasking machine. I'll be playing some video games, as well as watching movies (fed to a TV through the graphics card's video-output), doing wordprocessing, blogging, writing DVDs (with a little bit of video editing), uploading pictures from the digital camera and editing them. It'll be a workhorse.

I was inclined to think Corsair was fair enough quality RAM. Am I wrong in thinking 2 sticks of 512 MB Corsair PC3200 TwinX 3-3-3-8 modules is going to be suitable for my needs?

I don't need to go overboard with the video card, but I'd still like to be able to play some of the new games, notably VTM and WoW as the more intensive software that the machine will be tackling in the gaming arena. I don't think I'll need dual SLI. I still have my XBox to play on and I think the GeForce 6200 with 128MB of RAM is plenty to suit me. Thoughts otherwise?

I don't need to go high-end with the parts, but I'm not going to pick up junk, either. I'll probably use the machine for a good two or three years before I decide to retire it. I used my PIII 750 rig for a long while until I decided it wasn't worth upgrading anymore just to play the new games or keep up with the Joneses.

I like ASUS, myself. The BX motherboards really did it for me, particularly the ASUS P2B-F which I left in Canada. I just don't want to shell out the cash for the brand loyalty. Do you know of an ASUS board that will cost the same price and give me the same options as the Chaintech model that I stated?

I'm not so interested in AMD because I'll probably be multitasking. I'm not really willing to go over 700,000 won and would prefer to go as cheap as possible and yet maintain a decent system, actually.

[Demophobe]

Well, you get what you pay for. Chaintech are not a brand I would even consider, but that may be just me. They are just too cheap....you are worried about 30 or 40,000? Well, you will get what you pay for.

As for video, it's up to you, but that card is not very good....it's the low-end; not even mid-range. Sorry, but it's true. Consider at least 200,000~250,000 for a mid-range card. Also, be sure to choose AGP or PCI...they come in both flavours these days. This holds true for the mainboard as well. Choose AGP or PCI.


The VGA card (6200) is part of the newest line from Nvidia, but it is so cut-down, it probably doesn't even touch the two-year+ old Radeons. Most of the features listed are unuseable due to it being so lacking in the areas it needs to do that work. The long list of features are indeed part of the core, but they just can't be employed....good marketing, lousy product.

The RAM is questionable and the timings are pretty slack. Pehaps you can tighten them up in the BIOS...perhaps it won't matter to you. At that price, I wouldn't touch it. It's cheaper than cheap RAM.

A 40GB HDD?! Ok, but really man...40GB is nothing...it will fill so fast and even with a DVD burner, you will be so busy.

Think about it....a modern game takes up 3 to 4 GB alone. Movies, music, digital camera photos...

Multitasking is not a "feature" of Intel or AMD and both CPUs do it well. Bang for buck is almost always AMD, and this goes even for the non-"64" varieties.

Anyways, 700,000 for an entire system isn't really mid-range. I would say that the minimum for a mid-range box would be around 1,000,000 including a monitor.

Say 200,000 for CPU, 200,000 for VGA, 250,000 for RAM, 150,000 for HDD, 60,000 for DVD-RW, 140,000 for mainboard...this is already 1,000,000 without a monitor. This is all ballpark pricing of very mid-range components.

It's true that I am an enthusiast, and I have lofty ideals for my computing self. Even with a huge compromise in overall performance, I just wouldn't tell anyone to spend 700,000 on a complete system and expect anything but less than mediocre performance. So, I say the same to you.

Not that it's a bad thing. Different strokes. However, you want to keep this system for a few years, so I would realy suggest raising the budget bar by about 300,000 at least.

Just my 2 cents.

[Pangit]

I'm so cheap I just might take those two cents and pocket it.

30,000 or 40,000 more for 3 or 4 parts is a lot of money by my reckoning. Momma raised a frugal boy.

I guess I'll just have to stick with the low end junk - I had convinced myself that I was getting good parts, I suppose. It just hurts to deal with the reality of it. Ow. My pride. I guess choosing PCIe made me think that it was high end. I must have been confused by this fallacy.

Do the GeForce 6200s on PCIe really compare that badly with the two year old AGP Radeons? I would have thought that their being PCIe made them better performance-wise.

I also thought that 40GB would be a lot. I certainly don't expect to keep a lot of data sitting around on the machine.

Furthermore, I must have been confused about Intel's Hyperthreading functionality in regards to multitasking. What's the deal with Hyperthreading, anyway? I thought it was all about multitasking while HyperTransport was all about bus speed.

Thanks for all the help.

[Demophobe]

Sorry man...it's not junk. Not at all.

A 6600 runs about the same as a 9800Pro. So, a 6200 would compare to that as well, but a touch lower.

PCI-E is about a lot of things, and most of it, performance-wise, is about potential. Right now, there is no need for PCI-E and no current titles will take advantage of the bus speed bump. Heck, AGP 8x hasn't reached it's ceiling yet.

PCI-E can feed more power than the AGP port as well.

It will rock when software starts catching up. This is the same for hyperthreading.

There is very little software that is written for a dual-core or 2 CPU setup...that is, in the normal run of things. In order to take advantage of your "2 CPUs" (actually, just 2 simultaneous threads or streams of code), the software must be specifically written for that.

Intel didn't publicize that....no wonder why. HT was of little or no benefit to most people.

Multi-tasking is CPU intensive, RAM intensive and depending on what you are doing, can be HDD intensive.

40GB is small. Trust me....after you get the new machine and start realizing just how much more you can do with it than your current clunker, you will take advantage of the space. You can always buy another drive too.

Be sure the HDD is SATA, not EIDE.

I didn't mean to challenge your values at all. You are right.....money is money, more is more.

I do encourage you, if you can afford (in conscience and money) a bit more, to be a bit more generous with yourself on this.

You seem like the kind of guy who really will keep this machine for a few years, so get something that will make you smile for that time. I'm sure you derive a whole lot of pleasure from your aging machine....look, I'm not trying to imply anything here. Just do what you like friend.

Anyways....the system you will build, no matter what I think, will still rock. Please keep us posted.

[muggie2dammit]

[quote="Pangit"]The computer will be a mid-range performance, mid-range cost, multitasking machine. I'll be playing some video games, as well as watching movies (fed to a TV through the graphics card's video-output), doing wordprocessing, blogging, writing DVDs (with a little bit of video editing), uploading pictures from the digital camera and editing them. It'll be a workhorse.
I'm not so interested in AMD because I'll probably be multitasking. I'm not really willing to go over 700,000 won and would prefer to go as cheap as possible and yet maintain a decent system, actually.[/quote]

Okay. Just my 2c worth - take it if it is useful for you.
And bear in mind that I'm an AMD fanboy.

An Athlon64 will do a pretty good job, even a little one such as the 3000+. To save some cash you could choose a Sempron 2600+ (754 pin). They'll do a reasonable job. Pair that with a cheapish nForce3 motherboard and you'll do okay. Throw in a single 512MB stick of GEiL PC3200 RAM.
Now, for videocards, you'd want something a little better than the 6200 if you can. At least a 6600 - they're not bad. Demophobe probably would give some different advice, but then again, given your budget, he may agree.
Go for at least 80GB of hard drive, minimum. The price difference between 40GB (~55,000 won) and 80GB (~60,000 won) is about the cost of a combo meal. The DVD-writer can be picked up relatively cheapish - about the same price as the hard drive. Throw in a couple of good speakers if needed.
Get a case that looks good, put in a nice power supply (I'd opt for 350W or better as a minimum these days) and hook 'em all up. Output through the TV (as you planned), and you're away laughing.
All up, you could build this system for a little over 700,000 won.
I'd advise upgrading the specs on the graphics card if you're doing vid editing. 256MB graphics RAM versus 128MB doesn't help a lot with games, but for storing textures and data it's quite useful.

Anyway, if this is useful - feel free to use it!

Muggie2