I don't get it, dude. I buy 8-speed cassettes for $20-25, 8-sp chains for $12-15.
Wish I woulda bought more XT 8-sp cassettes when pricepoint blew them out for $25 around the turn of the century but I still get by fine with sram 830.
I usually get KMC chain these days but just got sram bulk chain cuz they were out of kmc bulk.