I'd love to buy a Asus P8P67, but need to spend way less.. what to do?

[LarryJones1]

I've been thinking all along that I would get a i5 2500K cpu, so I need an LGA 1155 Socket motherboard. I've heard repeatedly, that the Asus P8P67 motherboards are the ones to be considering to match with a i5 2500K. The problem is, they cost $150 or more depending on which one you get. My problem is that I really want a PC tower that includes an i5 2500K, along with a GTX 560 Ti, but my budget is only about $800 to $850, and it seems that I'm going to need to cut a lot of corners to get everything in my price range. Spending $150 (or more), on a motherboard, makes it pretty much impossible for me to do what I need to do.

Basically, I need to get the price of my motherboard WAY down, from that $150 price, but at the same time, I don't want to get a piece of crap that I'll end up regretting. I still want SB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s. I don't know what all I'd have to sacrifice to get the price down. I'd love to get a motherboard in the $90 ish range if that was at all possible, because that would trim $60 off the $250 ish dollars I need to trim off everything.

 

[EnderWiggin]

Why don't you sell some stuff or get a job and earn the extra cash?

 

[LarryJones1]

Why don't you sell some stuff or get a job and earn the extra cash?

I am. I'm selling some extra video game stuff that I have to try to raise as much cash as I can, to go toward this build. The only other option I have, is just to completely shelve my plan of building a gaming PC right now, and wait for some of these parts to get cheap enough to fit into my budget. The maximum I'm willing to spend right now, is $850. I just don't want to spend any more than that. I've done some calculations on how much everything would cost, with the stuff I was hoping to get, and it comes out to about $1050, which means I either need to shave $250 off the cost of all my components somehow, or just wait for the cost of those components to get down to the $850 price that I need them to be.

 

[silky salamandr]

Well Larry my best advise to you would be if you have a computer to get you by till you can afford what you want then go that route. What I mean is that when Im building a pc or just doing upgrades to mine, I always practice patience. With you shaving back the fat on your build, your going to have to settle with components that you didnt want. When I have a upgrade in mind, I never settle (of course within reason)

An area I dont cost cut is the psu. So make sure that if you have to do this, dont compromise on a quality psu.

Post your build so we can take a look but honestly If I were you, I would wait till you get enough scratch for the items that you want.

 

[DXRick]

Start over. Go here, and read the first stickied post. Good luck!

 

[LarryJones1]

Well Larry my best advise to you would be if you have a computer to get you by till you can afford what you want then go that route. What I mean is that when Im building a pc or just doing upgrades to mine, I always practice patience. With you shaving back the fat on your build, your going to have to settle with components that you didnt want. When I have a upgrade in mind, I never settle (of course within reason)

I see what you're saying, but the thing is, I think sometimes you need to set a hard limit, and stick to that limit. I haven't played PC games since 2000/2001. I've been a console gamer since the Sega Dreamcast launch. Got a PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. Got a 360, PS3 and Wii. I've mostly been a Xbox and Xbox 360 guy the last 10 years. Anything I get will be an improvement. Also, the tower that I'm building is a one shot deal. There will be no upgrading. This will be my one and only PC purchase for many years, reason being, I'll most likely switch back to consoles as soon as Xbox 3 or PS4 comes out.

An area I dont cost cut is the psu. So make sure that if you have to do this, dont compromise on a quality psu.

Unfortunately, lol, that is an area that I'm going to have to cut a wee bit. I hate to do it, but again, I won't be upgrading this tower. This is a one and done tower, so the power supply that I'm getting, is all about just getting exactly what I need for THIS build, and totally ignore any future builds.

Post your build so we can take a look but honestly If I were you, I would wait till you get enough scratch for the items that you want.

In order of most expensive:

1. GTX 560 Ti --------------------------------------------------- $240
2. i5 2500K ------------------------------------------------ $187 (Microcenter)
3. Asus P8P67 (basic, non sli/crossfire version)-----------$150
4. Windows 7 64-bit version for OEM ------------------------ $100
5. 8 Gigs of the Gskill Ripjaw that everybody is getting for these motherboards for about $85 on sale
6. PSU best power supply I could get for about $85
7. Case --------------------------------------------------- $65
8. HDD ----------------------------------------------------- $65
9. Cooler Master Hyper 212 ---------------------------- $30

Total = $922

I'd love to trim $122 off this bill. Only way I can do it is by downgrading a bunch of items. Much cheaper motherboard, cheaper power supply, slightly cheaper case and hard drive. If I could somehow find a motherboard in the $100 range, that would save me $50, and if I could get a power supply around $55, that would save me $30, and trim $10 each off the Case and Hard Drive, that would be another $20. Maybe somehow save $5 on the Cooler Master Hyper 212. That would all add up to $105 off the $922, taking it to $817 which is something I can definitely live with.

 

[crewton]

PSU = Since you aren't buying a SLI/CF mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016 would save you 10-20dollars

4gigs RAM = 40-50 depending on 1333 cas8 or 1600 cas9

Graphics Card = Radeon HD 6870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015 $205 (184.99 after 20MIR)

That would get fairly close to your goal.

 

[DXRick]

Well, you want to build a PC equivalent to THG's latest $1,000 ($1,100 with Win7) SBM build for $800 ($300 less). You can't.

That is why I suggested you start over, by going here. You can tell us your budget and get recommendations on a build for that budget. The 2500K is beyond an $800 budget that includes a good gaming GPU.