What should I cut out of this build? $1950 including monitor, base, PSU and keyboard atm - Hardware & Software

[url]http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/DGhBFT[/url] [img]http://i.imgur.com/QnJNyaI.png[/img] My intention was for a AUS$1500 build. However, my last gaming computer (a laptop) died about 2 years back and since then I've been using a cheapo $350 Eee PC laptop, borrowing relatives' PCs to play games. So I also need a keyboard, case, monitor, OS and PSU because I can't scavenge them from my old computer. What should I change to bring the price down? I was thinking I might be able to get a refurbished screen for starters.

As always, not an expert. 16GB of RAM is way excessive to what you need - you could save $100 just getting 8GB. If you're a student you can get Windows for a much cheaper price. The keyboard also seems unnessesarily expensive.

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;46001649]As always, not an expert. 16GB of RAM is way excessive to what you need - you could save $100 just getting 8GB. If you're a student you can get Windows for a much cheaper price. The keyboard also seems unnessesarily expensive.[/QUOTE] If you can find me a slim keyboard for cheaper I'm all ears.

You can save about $20 by going with the Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM instead of the one you have now, about $10 if you went with Windows 8.1 (Which is actually quite good IMO) plus the monitor could go for a bit cheaper unless you really want that monitor (I'm not a monitor expert) [url]http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex[/url]

I'd rather spend $20 for a more reliable HDD, my dad has Windows 8.1 and I think it's awful and I'm getting a cheaper monitor now. The Asus VE248H 24.0" gets good reviews and it's only $182 so I'll get that instead. [editline]17th September 2014[/editline] [img]http://i.imgur.com/IAyZ0fu.png[/img] I'm going to pick-up Windows 7 on ebay, I can get it cheaper there. Alternatively I might use the licence I have for my laptop and install Linux or something on my laptop. [editline]17th September 2014[/editline] Woops, I cut off the total: AUS$1426

The processor you've picked in the last list is non-overclockable, but you've put a heatsink and an overclocking-supporting motherboard in the list. You should get an i5-4690[B]K[/B] (the K means it has overclocking support), or ditch the cooler and get a cheaper H97-series motherboard instead if you don't want to overclock. You could save about 10$ by switching to 1600MHz RAM, it won't make a difference for anything except integrated graphics You can save about $50 by going for an [URL="http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280xtdfd"]AMD 280X from XFX.[/URL] It doesn't really differ that much from the 770 - it has a smidgen better performance, but lacks shadowplay possibility. There are programs out there to do similar things as shadowplay without a direct streaming possibility, so it shouldn't be an issue if you don't need Nvidia for another reason You should really get an SSD to put your OS on, it's miles better than any HDD and makes system and program responsiveness significantly nicer. The [URL="http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120bw"]840 EVO[/URL] is generally the best choice for this price-range when another SSD doesn't undercut it by a lot Windows 8.1 is pretty much a faster and smarter win7 if you install a startmenu replacement like Start8 or classicshell. You don't need to use the terrible DPI scaling or modern interface, so the responsiveness and cheaper price is everything you've left with (and loss of transparent window bars, really the only loss from switching to 8.1)

Crap, I meant to pick an SLI capable motherboard, not Crossfire. Regardless, I've chosen the cheapest 2x SLI capable motherboard that has 4x RAM slots and gets at least a 4 star rating - the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI for AUS$175. As for AMD, I've had issues with AMD in the past and I won't touch their products. I'm aware it's the non-overclockable version and I'm happy to spend $30 to not have to use the cheapo heatsink that comes with the CPU. $10 for a few percent performance increase sounds fine to me. Again, not touching AMD. A 120gb SSD seems to small for my liking and I can't justify $180 for a 256GB version at the moment. Or I could use the key I have or buy a key on ebay for $60 for Windows 7 and not have to fuck around with modifying Windows 8.1, getting what I want out of the box.

[QUOTE=download;46002168]I'd rather spend $20 for a more reliable HDD[/QUOTE] as far as i'm aware blacks are almost identical to blues except with a longer warranty i mean yeah it is nice being able to get your drive replaced for longer but that doesn't actually make your data any safer does it? also are you getting all this stuff delivered? [editline]18th September 2014[/editline] also i have that exact wifi card, don't get it.

1.2m hours MTBF compared to 700k hours MTBF - it's more reliable. On top of the 5 year to 2 year warranty. Yes, delivered. I already check shipping costs and it will be about $70 all up. What's wrong with that card? It gets good reviews.

I have that exact card as well and have had zero problems whatsoever with it.

[QUOTE=download;46010188] What's wrong with that card? It gets good reviews.[/QUOTE] with my one you gotta disconnect and reconnect manually every times someone uses the microwave [editline]19th September 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=download;46010188] Yes, delivered. I already check shipping costs and it will be about $70 all up.[/QUOTE] do you have an msy near you or something? it's kinda dodgy sometimes but it's cheaper.

While I like MSY prices I hate their .pdf parts list. I'll give them a look at once I've finalised what I want.

get a gtx 970 instead, it's cheaper than a 770.

Yea, no thanks.

Sorry, mistook it for USD.

[QUOTE=download;46021856]Yea, no thanks.[/QUOTE] [B][I]Why? [/I][/B]It is cheaper, newer, and faster.

[QUOTE=thrawn2787;46025260][B][I]Why? [/I][/B]It is cheaper, newer, and faster.[/QUOTE] it's not cheaper here yet we have different money okay it looks like this [img]http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/url5.jpeg[/img] you can't find a gtx 970 for less that 400 of those i wish you could