New Gaming Build - Issue with Pricing

[rjmiller]

Hello,

I'm trying to build a new system and I'm having difficulty determining how to lower the cost of rig.

My goal cost would be somewhere closer to $900 (currently I am slightly above $1100). As I have been looking through the forums I have noticed that a lot of people have similar or better components built into their systems and have a cheaper cost.

I need all components except for a monitor (I have an older one that will suffice until the holiday season). Most of which you will notice in the list below.

I am currently planning on buying all of my components through Newegg as I have done in the past and enjoy their site immensely.

For the most part it's going to be a gaming rig, hopefully both new and old (Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Fallout 3, etc) and some slightly older games like Oblivion.

I do hobby in photo editing and would like Photoshop CS4 to run decently well. The current list of parts are below...

If everything looks good and no one really sees a way to make this any cheaper than I suppose this is what I will go with.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM $21
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $60
Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 2TB 5900 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $75
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready $90
Logitech 920-000914 Black USB Wired Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard $65
Logitech MX 518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Gaming Mouse $45
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM $12
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $100
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $160
Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop $190
COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP 120mm Case Fan $15
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $200
Windows 7 64bit OEM $140

Total ~1150

I appreciate all the help in advance.

- Ross

 

[striker410]

Hey Ross, welcome to the forums.

Check this out. I'm gonna knock off about oh, $100.

Swap the mobo for this one, you don't need the P67 for the i5-2400. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157234&cm_re=asrock_h67-_-13-157-234-_-Product

Get this ram, just as good, $20 cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426

This GPU is exactly the same, just downclocked and $40 cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130570

Get this PSU, all you need for your build. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027&cm_re=cx_500-_-17-139-027-_-Product

You don't really need the extra case fan for the Antec 300. By the way, I would swap the case to a HAF 912, I personally like them better. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=haf%20912

I also would get a different HDD, as that one is pretty slow. This one is half the space, but MUCH faster. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=spinponit%20f3 (you could get another one of these with all those savings )

Also, that's super expensive win7 OEM. Check this out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986&cm_re=win7_oem-_-32-116-986-_-Product

You also don't need the thermal paste for a stock heatsink. It comes already on the heatsink.

And there you go! Just as capable a system, but MUCH cheaper. You can thank me later (or now)

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Also, consider instead of Sandy Bridge, maybe an AM3+ motherboard with an AMD chip to save money. Then later you'd have the option for a bulldozer chip which is supposed to be quick, and coming out pretty quickly.

 

[rjmiller]

Best answer selected by rjmiller.

 

[rjmiller]

Thanks for your help Striker410 - just the answers I was looking for.