Sheffield Wednesday are set to pay £10m for on-loan striker Jordan Rhodes.
"I don't need anywhere near that sort of money. Half that figure will do me," said Warnock.
Warnock has outlined his proposals to owner Vincent Tan and hopes the Malaysian businessman backs them.
After losing 1-0 at home to Norwich, Warnock praised his men for their performance against what he described as an expensively assembled Norwich City side.
He revealed the Bluebirds' plans for the summer were already well advanced and that a rapid response would be key when the window opens.
"We are already working to a figure that is acceptable to me and I think is acceptable to the board and owners," Warnock told BBC Wales Sport.
"We've got two or three players we'd like to bring in, which we will try to do.
"We need to do business straight away I think, not wait until the season starts.
"We've got a good idea who we want.
"Things change when someone comes in and buys one of the players you want, but in general we've got a good idea who we need."

British Transport Police said the man, 22, from Birmingham, was arrested on Wednesday and had now been bailed after being questioned by detectives.
The latest arrest is in connection with the rape of the teenager in a vehicle in the Witton area at around 02:00 BST on 26 July, police said.
The girl had previously been raped at the railway station hours earlier.
See more stories from across Birmingham and the Black Country here
A man has been charged and another man arrested in connection with the first attack, which is being treated as a separate incident, the force said.
Meanwhile, detectives continue to appeal for a Good Samaritan who picked up the victim after she was raped for the second time.
Police said the driver of the second vehicle, described as a people carrier-type car, is believed to have given the victim a lift home after she was raped a second time.

Sports Minister Carál Nί Chuilίn said they stood down just before she was due to meet board representatives.
They were there to discuss a report by the Head of Internal Audit at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Department of Education.
Ms Nί Chuilίn said she advised the remaining members at the meeting "of my deep concerns at the issues raised by their staff" with the internal auditor.
On Friday, the minister called for the meeting to consider the findings of the report into "serious allegations" about the "leadership, management and the overall culture" of the organisation.
After Monday's meeting, she said she had accepted the board members' resignations, and thanked them "for their efforts in promoting and fostering sport during their time in office".
In a statement, she said: "Given the ongoing challenges in Sport NI, I am taking steps to intervene directly to support both staff and the remaining board members.
"I also wish to advise staff that their concerns are being taken seriously and that they will be fully addressed."
Chair of the culture committee Nelson McCausland said the situation was "shocking and unprecedented".
"That is why we need to get Carál Nί Chuilίn in front of the committee as soon as possible," he said.
"It tells  us something about the department and the way that the minister has been running the department," Mr McCausland told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster.
"We also want to talk to the people who resigned, they have a story as well.
"It is a whole quagmire, we need to get to the bottom of it. The minister owes that to the public, to Sport NI and to the  committee."
Ms Nί Chuilίn said she would meet the remaining board members later this week.
No-one from Sport NI was available for comment.
Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has outlined his cut-price transfer plan, saying he does not think it would take big money to launch a promotion bid in 2017-18.
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A man has been arrested on suspicion of rape in connection with an attack on a 14-year-old girl in Birmingham.
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Nine members of the Sport NI board have resigned with immediate effect.