Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Meow?]

I bought a PC about 4 years ago. It has served me well up to now since I'm not really a hard-core user. But then, by impulse, bought off another from someone leaving the country. With the first one, I tried to research for specs that could suit me. But not knowing all those technical jargons, I ended up just giving 1mil won to a Yongsan booth and asked the attendant to make me a PC and that's it. Nevertheless, I was quite satisfied with it. It's the second one that I have some issues with. It's not upgradeable. So I figured, I might as well open (disassemble) and let my curiosity do whatever with it.

Like I said, I'm not really a hard-core user. I just browse the internet, emails, youtube, and just the basic stuff really. Somehow, I ended up having some PC games like Dragon Age and some others. I got a little hooked and do want to indulge into light PC gaming. So I thought, I might as well get myself a more gaming built PC.

Knowing nothing much about the PC stuff, I think I'm going to do the same as I did with my first one... have someone build it for me (any alternatives?). But now, I do want to tell the guy in Yongsan some specifics. But what specifics? What should I really require for a mid-range gaming PC?

Should I be specific with which motherboard?
Should I be specific with which VGA (currently have 8600 GT and so far, no complains)?
Do I really need to have more than 4 GB RAM (Uhhh. DAO is a little bit laggy for now at minimum settings)?

Please help.

[vDroop]

If you could tell us your budget, we can offer some advice. You are right it's better to go in with a list of stuff you want. If you don't, they will throw junk in the machine and charge you double what it's worth. It may run fine, but you will be scammed, trust me.

To answer a couple of your questions:

No, you definitely do not need more than 4 GB of ram for what you are doing. It has very little to do with your frame rates in games.

Yes, I think you should be specific with mobo and definitely with the GPU.

So give us a price range of what you are willing to pay and we can make you a part list to go in there with.

[Meow?]

Yes, thank you. I thought about mentioning my price range but somehow slipped my mind as I was writing.

I think I could spare about another 600k won just for the CPU if that's enough. I could be flexible from that point, up to maybe 1mil won, but ofcourse, would rather go lower if it is not much of a deal.

[Meow?]

-double post- sorry

[pintosaur]

you can get a pretty decent gaming machine for not too much these days.

if you're looking for bang for the buck, i think the following is pretty good.
core i3 - 120,000
decent motherboard (maybe this: GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2V) -100,000
gtx 460 - 240,000
4gb ram - 150,000??
decent power supply - 50,000
case - 20,000?
monitor + other peripherals - your choice

this should run just about everything out there pretty well.

[OneWayTraffic]

Easy option: A lot of them have some set spec lists on the side of their stores. Just go there point and say Jusayo. Then sub out the graphics for at least a ATI Radeon 5750

[eamo]

There's a couple of bigger units in the Sung-in Plaza building of Yongsan who build PC's from budget to fairly powerful.

I usually don't recommend going to Yongsan but these guys actually put a price on the complete systems.

Choose from the 500,000 PC up to about 900,000. The parts won't be from famous brands but it will work fine and will be a competitive price.


But, with the help of Youtube, there's no reason why you shouldn't have a go at building a PC yourself. It's a lot easier than you'd think. Especially with internet videos guiding you through every step.

[Meow?]

Thank you for the input guys.

Perhaps, if there's a specific booth you'd recommend? I mean, who knows if one of you had a deal to get a bargain price, provided you advertise their booth or store. I got ripped off at I Park a few months before. But I like the way they welcome and over-sell themselves just to get a customer... actually sometimes they scare me that way too. I read the stickie above and I think I'll go outside I Park this time.

Any more tips? More specs to consider? A "pass word" I can tell them so they'll give me the real thing?

But again, thank you.

[pintosaur]

www.icoda.co.kr is pretty good. they have a guy that speaks english. its on the 2nd floor of sunin plaza in yongsan.

normally though, you can just look up prices on danawa and go to a random booth and ask for parts and they should be pretty similar in price. if they ask for a lot more, just move on to another booth. if you can, bring someone that speaks korean as well, they'll probably treat you better.

[ttompatz]

[Meow?]

Thank you very very much for the suggestions. Now I'm up to searching the web on "How to haggle in South Korea effectively" because I really don't have such a skill.