Best way to bring the price down on my gaming PC?

[chiefscml]

I am on a $1000 budget. I can go $150 over if I must. Currently I have (on PC parts)

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor - $209.99

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard - $127.85

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory - $66.99

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive - $59.99

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card - $419.99 (should I go down to the GTX 670?)

Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case - $47.06

Power Supply: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply - $69.54

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer - $17.98

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) - $129.97

Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard - $49.99

Mouse: Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse - $47.60

I already have a 22-inch Samsung monitor that I won in a raffle.

The total price comes out to $1246.95

What is the best way to knock the price down. Any and all advice will be welcomed, even if it has nothing to do with the question and has to do with advice on better components or something, and if there's a better forum section to put this in (as long as it doesn't have like 0 traffic lol) then feel free to redirect me. Thank in advance!

 

[drewhoo]

CPU: Don't get an unlocked processor. OCing provides very little benefit to a gaming pc. I tried a 1.2 ghz overclock (from 3.4 to 4.6) on Skyrim, which is supposedly very sensitive to CPU performance. I couldn't see a difference (though I did not measure it quantitatively, so there may be a small fps bump). Instead, get the cheapest i5 you can find, because it's the 4 cores that matter in this respect, not clock speed. -$30

MoBo: You can get an $80 ASRock Mobo with the H77 chipset (H77 = Z77 minus the ability to OC the CPU) -$40

Video Card: The 770 is so awesome. Don't downgrade there. I will say that the 770 is built upon the same architecture as the 670, so performance differences should not be huge (as there was a huge difference between 570 and 670 since there was a change in architecture)

Case: I wouldn't go cheaper

PSU: Definitely don't go cheaper. Maybe even upgrade (I recommend and hear good things about Seasonic) to give that 770 some OC headroom (H77 will allow for GPU OC, just not CPU OC)

OS: Why Professional version? I have the home version or whatever's cheapest. I am not aware of a performance difference between the versions. -$40

Keyboard/Mouse: Don't downgrade these for sure. Primary input devices are extremely important and are always money well spent.

I think you could definitely shave $110 off. There are also some Hyperthreaded i3's out there that may perform well enough to push out the i5, so potentially you could knock off another $40 on the CPU there.

edit: Here's memory for $17 cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543
P.S. For a $1000 build, I would consider squeezing a 128GB SSD in there, replacing the HDD if you don't have big space requirements. SSDs speed systems up a LOT, though they offer no direct FPS benefit (Think about how much time you will spend over the life of this build waiting to play games). A relevant analysis can be found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-rift-ssd,3062-14.html

 

[X79]

1 - Do you really want to OC?

2 - You sure you need the Pro edition of Windows?

3 - You're gaming I take it. Which games?


Here's one suggestion so far:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.06 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) ($130.55 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Logitech G500 Wired Laser Mouse ($47.61 @ Amazon)
Total: $1082.14
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-13 17:29 EDT-0400)

No OC'ing though and the GPU is "worse" than a GTX 770 in a sense. But it's still a top tier GPU.

 

[drewhoo]

X79, why a Z75 chipset instead of an H77? I'm unfamiliar with the Z75, but google tells me that it allows OCing, which seems unnecessary for that build (not that unnecessary is a reason not to choose it; the price seems right).

Otherwise that build looks good to me. I want to say that the 7970 even beats the 770 in a few benchmarks.

 

[X79]

I was going for H77 (or just something not as meant for OC'ing) actually, but at the time couldn't find one I liked.

The 7970 is quite good; at least you get free games too haha.