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Building First PC - Need Advice To Reduce Price

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Hello everyone! I have put together a new PC, but when aiming for maximum performance per dollar (or value), I overshot my budget. I attempted to reduce my price, but could not figure out how to do so without significantly impacting performance.

The total price came to $1157, but I wanted to keep the price below $900, with a maximum of $1000.

Entire Computer Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cllk

Here are the individual part listings from Newegg (They're in tinyurl.com links, as newegg.com links were far too long):

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215)
http://tinyurl.com/cbrvkaz

CPU Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31)
http://tinyurl.com/cvramtu

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($116)
http://tinyurl.com/cea5quw

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53)
http://tinyurl.com/c79r5en

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($105)
http://tinyurl.com/d8kxqux

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1.5GB Video Card ($200)
http://tinyurl.com/7cw2kef

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($50)
http://tinyurl.com/82te7bj

Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70)
http://tinyurl.com/d8n7jbg

Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($62)
http://tinyurl.com/cxkpepy

Monitor: Asus VE248H 24.0" Monitor ($165)
http://tinyurl.com/c8wdogo

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($90)
http://tinyurl.com/7z5sjwk

Other: I do not need a mouse, keyboard, or speakers. (Already owned)

Total Price: $1157



Approximate Purchase Date: Within 1 month.

Budget Range: $900 - $1000. (Using rebates is fine)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Media > Surfing (I do not do serious photo editing or video rendering).

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Parts to Upgrade: Everything

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com, Amazon.com, NCIX.com

Location: Vancouver, Washington, United States

Parts Preferences: Intel > AMD, Nvidia > AMD

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x1080 (24")

Games I play: Battle Field 3, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, soon to be Guild Wars 2

Why Are You Upgrading: I can't play any of the latest games on my current laptop (I do not own a desktop).

Additional Comments: I've been using a 3 year old gaming laptop for quite some time, and I can no longer run current games, even on minimum settings. I need a desktop that can run the latest games on high settings.

Is anyone able to offer advice on how to reduce my price without greatly hurting performance?

Thanks

More about : building advice reduce price

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Downgrade cpu to 2500k
Ditch the cpu cooler and just don't overclock for now (this cpu will run all your games fine at stock)
Downgrade mobo to Z68 of your choice
Downgrade hdd to 1TB
Downgrade the optical drive to a $19 one or ditch it, unless you require it that one
Downgrade, upgrade, or swap the 480 for a less power hungry gpu
Downgrade psu to 500W

Downgrade CPU to either 2500k, any Core I3 ????K, or AMD Phenom II with board change.
Downgrade or change MOBO to AM3+ compatible board or Z68 (dependent on CPU swap)
Downgrade HDD to 1tb.
Definitely downgrade the 480. NVIDIA cards are power hungry, costly, and don't perform much better then AMD/ATI cards. Get an AMD Radeon 7770 GHz Edition.
Downgrade PSU to 400w.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cVys

CPU: i5 3570k
CPU Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($20)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
RAM: Mushkin Blackline 8 GB ($47)
HD: Western Digital Blue 1 TB ($83) You can buy a portable HD in the future if necessary
GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 480
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
PSU: Corsair 650 V2
Optical: Sony DVD Drive ($17) To cut down costs, I removed the Blu-Ray drive
Monitor: Asus 23 in ($150)
OS: Win 7

$1057.06 After MIR

You can save a bit more by buying an Acer monitor and changing to a 500 Gb HD. You can really save another $50 if you get a non-OC i5 3570 and a H77 mobo. The Blu-Ray drive can be bought later.

Some of you have recommended changing to the i5 2500k, which is priced at $200 ($20 cheaper). Is there a reason to choose one or the other, given the price difference? Bottom line, will it impact frame rate in games? What if I dropped to a far cheaper CPU?

Is there a reason to not buy the GTX 480? I understand that it is a 3 year old card, but it ranks very highly among other cards. At the $200 price level it is unmatched for performance. Or am I missing something?

Jessic_001 said:
Some of you have recommended changing to the i5 2500k, which is priced at $200 ($20 cheaper). Is there a reason to choose one or the other, given the price difference? Bottom line, will it impact frame rate in games? What if I dropped to a far cheaper CPU?

Is there a reason to not buy the GTX 480? I understand that it is a 3 year old card, but it ranks very highly among other cards. At the $200 price level it is unmatched for performance. Or am I missing something?


Gaming wise, a i5 2500k will not make a noticeable difference. Dropping to a much cheaper CPU won't have a huge effect either, but that depends on the game. You'll notice a difference on more CPU intensive games. As most games are GPU intensive, most don't tend to worry about it.

The 480 is very power hungry. It will give you great performance (Ultra settings on 1080p for BF3), but you also have to spend more money on a PSU to supply it. It is also a very hot card. Personally, I would recommend buying a 7850 and a 500W PSU.
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