Prothom Alo’s Tasnim Mahfuz walked Dhaka’s computer markets this week and found the shelves priced as they were last month. The sellers do not expect that to last: the taka has lost a fifth of its value against the dollar in eighteen months, and every part on the list is imported. Here is what things cost now, and what a sensible machine assembles to.
The parts
- Processors. Intel’s new 14th generation is in: Core i9 (6.0 GHz) Tk67,000, i7 Tk49,000, i5 Tk36,000. The 13th-gen i5 at Tk24,500 and i3 at Tk13,500 are the value. AMD: Ryzen 9 Tk65,000, Ryzen 7 Tk52,500, Ryzen 5 Tk14,500.
- Motherboards. Budget boards from Tk8,000 (MSI B450M) and Tk10,900 (Asus H610M); a B760M for the new Intel chips Tk15,900; TUF Gaming B550M Tk19,500.
- Memory. 8 GB DDR4 from Tk2,100 (Adata) to Tk3,900 (G.Skill Trident); 16 GB DDR4 3200 Tk4,050 (Antec); 16 GB DDR5 5200 Tk14,000 (Gigabyte Aorus).
- Storage. 1 TB hard disk Tk4,500–4,900; 2 TB Tk6,900–8,400. SSDs: HP S700 250 GB Tk2,250, Samsung 870 EVO 250 GB Tk3,900, 970 EVO Plus 500 GB NVMe Tk5,500.
- Monitors. 18.5-inch from Tk8,800; 22-inch Tk10,000–14,500; 24-inch 144 Hz gaming (LG 24GN60R) Tk25,800; Dell 24-inch Tk37,500.
- Graphics cards. GT 1030 Tk9,500; GTX 1650 Tk20,500; RTX 3050 Tk46,800; RTX 4060 Tk45,900 (MSI) to Tk67,160; RTX 3060 12 GB Tk44,000; RTX 4070 Tk86,900.
- The rest. Cases Tk1,000–4,500 (gaming to Tk38,800); 650 VA UPS Tk3,200–3,400; Logitech K120 keyboard Tk725; Epson EcoTank L3210 printer Tk19,200; antivirus Tk450–2,250 a year.
Three builds from the list
Office and study, about Tk40,000: Core i3 13th gen (13,500), Asus H610M (10,900), 8 GB DDR4 (2,100), 250 GB SSD (2,250), case and 450 W supply (3,500), 18.5-inch HP (8,800). Fast enough for Office, Zoom, a browser with forty tabs and Photoshop at a push.
Value gaming and editing, about Tk1.1 lakh: Core i5 13th gen (24,500), B760M (15,900), 16 GB DDR4 (4,050), 500 GB NVMe (5,500), RTX 4060 (45,900), case and 650 W supply (6,000), 22-inch monitor (10,300). Plays everything current at 1080p and edits 4K video.
Serious workstation, about Tk2.2 lakh: Core i7 14th gen (49,000), B760 DDR5 board (19,500), 32 GB DDR5 (28,000), 1 TB NVMe (9,000), RTX 4070 (86,900), 850 W supply and case (12,000), 24-inch monitor (25,800).
Where to spend and where not
The SSD is not optional; a Tk2,250 drive makes a Tk13,500 processor feel faster than a Tk36,000 one on a hard disk. The graphics card is where the money goes and where the dollar bites hardest, since Nvidia’s prices are set in it; if a card is in the plan, buy it first. And the UPS is the part every Dhaka build needs and every Dhaka build skips. Service charges for assembly are extra, and prices vary between shops — the numbers above are the range, not the rule.
