Korean Job Discussion Forums

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Hey guys,

I'm starting to get a little tired of my laptop. Not a bad little machine, but it's not capable of handling newer games, and even some old games I have to turn the settings down.

I noticed the couple build your own PC threads, but I don't know enough about computers to build a PC from scratch.

Can anyone recommend a store or 2 that sell good gaming PC's for a reasonable price? I'm looking to spend around 2 million or so for both the PC and a monitor. (Maybe a little less if I can still come away with a powerful machine)

Also, I've been looking at a few websites to buy PC's from. Does anyone know anything about importing a PC to Korea? Will I have to pay taxes? Will it be held up for a long time at customs?

If it's a big hassle I could use a Korean website, but I want an English version of Windows. Is it relatively easy to get English windows from the bigger Korean PC websites?

I figure I'll probably spend 4-500k on the monitor, which leaves about 1.5-1.6 mil for the PC. What can I reasonably expect to get for this much? It's been a long time since I was up to date with PC hardware, so looking at the crazy array of options on some of the websites is kind of dizzying.

Sorry, I know there are a lot of questions there, I appreciate answers or advice for any of them!

MM

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

I would recommend you go to a PC builder in the Sunin-Plaza building at Yongsan.

Bring a list of the parts you want from the research you've done. We can help you build up that list. Each thing on your list should probably have an alternative as those guys often have a quite limited stock.

They'll order in the parts for you while you wait and then build the PC in front of you while you drink instant coffee......

http://pc.danawa.com/

http://www.enuri.com/

Try browsing these two websites to get an idea of the prices.....especially CPU and GPU (graphics card) as you're building a gaming PC.

As for English Windows......I've heard the Microsoft store in Yongsan can sell you English Windows........I'm not sure as I always get mine pirate-style!........but if you want to pay for it then you can go there before you go to the PC builder and then ask the PC builder to install your Windows.

Even if you do pay for Windows, a good gaming PC should not be more than 1.3-1.4 mill.........then 400,000 for a very nice 27'' monitor. You can easily come in under 2mill.

vDroop · Joined: 25 Aug 2010

Don't buy a pre-built, do what eamo said.

Any small (non-brand name) computer shop. Bring a list of parts. Bring them a coffee. They're gonna use a website to order parts just like any builder would. You will pay for the labor / assembly. You will save huge amounts of money this way. And you will have a place to go to if anything goes wrong.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Yeah. Any competent PC builder would do.

I was disappointed by a couple of those little local computer store guys though. They seemed well behind the curve technology-wise. And they don't seem to get a lot of customers now that everybody buys online.....so they might be tempted to slap hefty labor costs on when they do get a big-spending customer.

But of course they vary greatly. Some are solid experts, some are living in 2004, some just spend all day re-formatting virus-ridden XP/IE PC's for local people.

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Ok, first question as far as components. ATI or NVIDIA? Are there big differences in the two brands?

Also, should I stick with good old Windows XP, or is it worth it to step up to Windows 7?

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

vDroop · Joined: 25 Aug 2010

The ATI / Nvidea debate is endless. Right now Nvidea has slightly better performance at a wider range of price points, but this changes like every month. I go with Nvidea just because their drivers are solid, and it seems to take AMD/ATI longer to work out the bugs with newer games.

Definitely Windows 7 by a mile. XP doesn't even support DX10 or 11.

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Appreciate all the help eamo! Will post here again when I've done a little research into cpu's and gpu's.

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Alright, looking at processors, it seems like Intel i7's are the highest performance right now? (at least within the somewhat reasonable price range)

I see some oddities with pricings however.

The i7 950 is a quad core clocked at 3.06ghz, going for about 323k won.

Yet the i7 875k is clocked at 2.93ghz, and is priced higher at 386k won.

The only thing I can see that the 875k has that the 950 doesn't is something called hyperthreading, or hypersledding? (I'm reading the hangeul so I don't know exactly what the english is) Is the 875 really a better processor, even though the clock speed is lower? (I know clock speed isn't everything these days, but I don't really know what else to look at)

Also, how good are AMD processors right now? The Phenom II-X6 1100T is a 6 core processor (thats correct right?) clocked at 3.3ghz, going for only 287k won. What makes the Intel processors better than this, since on paper the Phenom looks like the clear winner?

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

The Phenom six-core's are amazing value for multi-function computers .....but the new Intel's have them beat for gaming.

I actually use the Phenom x6 1055T in my main computer. I overclock it to 3.5ghz on all six cores so I'm getting amazing performance for just 180,000....that's an option to consider.

But the CPU everybody wants right now for gaming is the Intel i5 2500k or 2600k. The 2500k is fast, cool, highly overclockable and 270,000. It will happily handle any game around. This CPU requires an LGA-1155 motherboard. This combination will put you right at cutting-edge and future-proof for at least three years.

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Looking at the 2500's, it looks like it has onboard graphics. Will that be disabled by adding my own graphics card? Or will they work in tandem?

Also, the 2600's are i7 right?

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Also, for the 2600's, there are two options with a difference of about 50,000 won. The more expensive option looks to have better onboard graphics. Since I'll have my own graphics card in there, would the more expensive option have no effect on performance?

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

The Sandy Bridge CPU's which have the suffix 'k' are the ones with the unlocked multiplier.....which means they are much more suitable for overclocking.

I think that's the only difference. So, if you don't intend to overclock, which would be a shame because these chips are crying out to be OC'ed, then you might just want to get the plain i5-2500 or i7-2600. Save some money. The i7-2600 is not very good value though. You only need an i5-2500 for any current game.

I'm not sure if the on-die GPU will work in tandem with a graphics card....but it being such a weak GPU I don't think it would have any real benefit if it did.

lalartu · Joined: 29 Apr 2008

My suggestion would be to get a recent gaming laptop

I got one last year during the labour day and it was a year old model too. It can handle ALL recent games just fine and I'm yet to find a game I couldn't play on it.

The main advantage of having it over a desktop (I have one, but stopped using it long time ago) is that you can
a- take it to school and play in your free time hehe
b- go anywhere and do the same when you're bored. basically you're a mobile pc bang
c- take it back home and use it instead of losing money selling your desktop/trying to ship it home

there are a few models that are amazing right now and they all have top notch video cards and really good specs. if you google "2010 gaming laptop" you will get tons of good suggestions and a lot of them are available in Korea
you can even ask guys as Sunin market to custom build you a laptop, although custom built laptop would be more pricey than a pre made one.

MoneyMike · Joined: 03 Dec 2008

Naw, I definately want to go desktop. For the same price I can just get so much more, and I already have a laptop that can handle most current games, so I'm covered there. Video card drivers are just such a pain in the ass to update for laptops (at least for mine, as all of the english samsung sites dont have the drivers for my model of laptop, so I'm stuck trying to muddle through the Korean site)

eamos, the i5 2500k looks like that processor to go with from everything you've said, and after looking around online that seems to be a pretty common thought.

Now when you say I need a LGA-1155 motherboard, what is the LGA? Will any socket 1155 motherboard handle this ok, or is does LGA refer to a specific brand/type of motherboard? (when I search LGA-1155 on either of those sites you suggested to me, there are no results, though 1155 gets lots of results)

Also, for motherboards, what exactly should I look for other than the 1155 socket? Even when I kept up to date with hardware, I knew nothing about motherboards, so for this one I really have no idea what's important for gaming.