Japanese hardware and BIOS

lifeblood

Senior member
Oct 17, 2001
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I'll be working in Japan for a couple of weeks and I'm told computer components are cheaper in Japan. If so I was going to buy a new motherboard and video card there. Has anyone dealt with PC hardware bought in Japan? For the motherboard, is the BIOS in English or Japanese? I assume its in Japanese but I can just reflash it with the US BIOS and it will be in English. Am I correct?

I've never messed with flashing a video card and doubt I ever will, but does anyone know of any potential issues?
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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Sep 28, 2005
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Cheaper in japan?

just look at amazon.co.jp

You can see the prices are actually a bit more expensive and that is exluding the exchange rate you will have to pay.

Also i believe RMA will be a hassle, so your probably just better off buying one here and taking it to Japan, especially since its just the MB + GPU.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
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I agree with the above.

I have seen many posts over the years where people from places like India have a friend buy parts in the U.S. and bring them over there to save money. A lot of times the warranty is only good in the regional market it is sold in. I believe Sony does this with their electronics bought in Asia and sold to U.S. customers (common with headphones). To receive warranty service, it has to go back to Japan.

Then they have a problem with the product, and discover the warranty is void outside of the U.S. and Canada. Obviously they are upset when it happens, but it's just how it is. For example, back in the late 90's I took my car overseas (military). Even though it had warranty still intact, when I experienced an issue and tried to get it repaired under that warranty, Chrysler simply said "Nope. Warranty only valid in North America, now go away". :mad:

I haven't bought another vehicle from them since.
 
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corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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There may be other considerations - when I lived in Japan, the TV and FM frequencies were very different from ours, and some of that could be built in to local gear. Go with Algomoria!
 

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Although you may initially need someone that can read Japanese to help you, the bios should be multi-lingual enough so that English would be a built-in bios option. No re-flash would be needed, unless I'm mistaken. I don't think you'd end up actually saving any money doing it that way, however.
 

lifeblood

Senior member
Oct 17, 2001
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Thanks for the responses.

Hmm, hadn’t thought about looking at Amazon.co.jp, I was just going on a verbal from someone who had just come back. Damn, I ignored some decent Black Friday deals cause I thought Japan would be cheaper. If it is as you think then I kinda screwed myself.

I also hadn’t thought about the warranty issue. Yea, that’s a deal breaker. :( I’d rather pay a little more to have a warranty. Again, thanks for you input.
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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If you want to buy Japanese brand electronics, it might be cheaper in Japan.

Computer components? No. Most computer components are made in Taiwan or China and must be imported.

English is the first citizen language in computer world, there is no way BIOS use Japanese only.
 

lifeblood

Senior member
Oct 17, 2001
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So if anybody was wondering, I went to a japanese computer store (a placed called PC Depot) and everything was 10% - 20% more expensive than US prices. They also appeared to have a even mix of AMD vs Nvidia products, or AMD vs Intel stuff. They also had some used stuff like a couple GTX 760 cards for $100. One had 4GB ram the other 2GB. Apparently Japan is much bigger on consoles so PC stuff is not as popular. The prices on Amazon.jp also tend to be more expensive.

The brands and models seemed to be the exact same brands and models as in the US, so no surprises there. I'm sure they had a few unique items but none that leaped out to me.

Pity, I really wanted a new video card. Luckily a friend replaced replaced his two GTX 770's in SLI with a GTX 1080 recently and will sell me one of of the 770's. I wanted new but with the prices so inflated (thanks miners) I'll take what I can get.