A walk through Dhaka's computer markets this week found a quiet shelf with one loud exception. Intel's 14th-generation Core i5, the default chip for a mid-range build, is now Tk 32,000 — down from Tk 38,000 in February. The 13th-gen i5 has slipped to Tk 22,500 from Tk 24,800.
When the heart of a build gets cheaper, builds happen. Traders say processors are outselling everything else on the shelf, and the rest of this report explains why that one cut was enough.
What moved since February
Eight prices changed. Everything else held, which is itself the story of the quarter.
- Core i5 14th gen — Tk 38,000 → 32,000 (−6,000)
- Core i5 13th gen — Tk 24,800 → 22,500 (−2,300)
- Ryzen 7 7700X — Tk 30,500 → 33,000 (+2,500)
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB 3200 MHz — Tk 4,390 → 3,900 (−490)
- MSI RTX 3060 Ventus OC 12 GB — Tk 38,500 → 42,000 (+3,500)
- HP M24f 24-inch monitor — Tk 17,800 → 18,500 (+700)
- Epson EcoTank L3210 — Tk 18,000 → 17,000 (−1,000); L3250 — Tk 21,500 → 19,000 (−2,500)
- HP S700 250 GB SSD — Tk 3,050 → 3,300 (+250)
What the pattern says
Read the direction of travel rather than the individual figures. Intel fell and AMD rose. The two i5s dropped between 9% and 16%; the Ryzen 7 7700X went the other way.
That is what a stock position looks like from the outside. A Tk 6,000 cut on the single most-sold chip in the market is not a response to component costs — it is a seller with inventory moving into the main buying season, and competitors following. The RTX 3060 rising Tk 3,500 in the same window points the other way: a card at the end of its life, with supply tightening rather than demand growing.
The Corsair RAM cut is the one worth noticing for buyers. Memory had been the component most likely to surprise you at the counter, and a 16 GB kit under Tk 4,000 removes the usual reason people drop to 8 GB and regret it.
New on the shelf this round
Items that were not in the February list: the MSI Pro MP251 24.5-inch monitor at Tk 19,500; Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB at Tk 7,800; Transcend StoreJet 25H3P 4 TB portable at Tk 16,000; MSI B450M-A Pro Max board at Tk 8,000; G.Skill Trident Z 8 GB at Tk 3,300 and TwinMOS 8 GB DDR4 2400 at Tk 2,300; Canon LBP6030 laser printer at Tk 17,300; HP DeskJet 2875 Wi-Fi at Tk 11,000; and MaxGreen UPS at Tk 3,300 (650 VA) and Tk 6,750 (1200 VA).
The mid-range build, revised
At February prices a 14th-gen Core i5 system was a stretch over the Ryzen 5 5600G. At Tk 32,000 for the chip it becomes the sensible choice for anyone who wants an upgrade path.
Chip, a B760M board, 16 GB DDR4, a 500 GB NVMe drive, a 24-inch monitor, case and 650 W supply now comes to about Tk 78,000 without a graphics card — roughly Tk 6,000 less than the same list three months ago, for the sake of one price cut.
The practical advice that follows: if you were waiting, the waiting is over for the processor and not for the graphics card. A build without a GPU, using the i5's integrated graphics, is the better value this month than the same money stretched to include a 3060 that has just gone up.
Prices from a survey of Dhaka's computer markets, reported by Prothom Alo. Items not listed here held their February prices; the full catalogue is in that round.
