Video card and RAM questions

[Eel O'Brian]

I'm building a PC for a friend, who mainly wants it to rip and edit Blu Rays into "clips" where he adds his own music and title cards and such, along with some very light gaming. He's working on a pretty firm $750 budget. We already ordered a processor and motherboard (i5-3570 processor, figured that was the best bang/buck for a weekend hobbyist), which came with 8GB of free RAM with the combo. That pairing came to $321, so he has around $430 left for the rest of the system. He doesn't need an OS or mouse/keyboard/monitor, but still needs a Blu Ray burner, case and power supply, hard drive, and a video card.

Now, I haven't really kept up with video cards since I built my rig in 2010. So I'm wondering whether he should get a 660GTX or a 650GTX ti for the video card. The most current games he wants are the L4D games, and I can pretty much guarantee he's the type who will never own more than a dozen PC games over the lifespan of this system. There's around a $50-75 difference between the two models. So I'm asking if the bump in performance will be worth the extra $75 considering what he'll mainly be using it for, and that he's only got $430 left to work with?

Also, I told him to wait and see how everything runs on 8GB before he adds more RAM as he can just throw a couple sticks in there later on, but I may advise him to go ahead and get the extra 8GB if you all think it'll make that much of a difference.

[BlackMage]

Hell no get a radeon 7850/7870. Best bang for your buck for this gen.

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, i was considering that, as well, but i don't know anything about amd cards and wondered if the glitchy amd driver issues i keep reading about would have me over there fixing his shit every other day

[BlackMage]

yeah, i was considering that, as well, but i don't know anything about amd cards and wondered if the glitchy amd driver issues i keep reading about would have me over there fixing his shit every other day

what glitchy driver issues? I've had none.. I mean i used to with their older cards, but not at all with the 7800 series

[Eel O'Brian]

i've never owned an amd card, i'm just going by complaints i have read in various pc game threads over the past few years, weird texture and framerate issues on certain games, etc

i guess all of that could be overblown, all i know is in addition to trying to keep this a well-balanced build for the budget i am also trying to spare myself a bunch of "you built it you fix it" phone calls

[archnemesis]

AMD cards have worse drivers since they have fewer devs and a smaller market share. He would probably not notice if he's only a light gamer. A few games like The Last Remnant and Heroes of Might & Magic VI had some serious issues with my Radeon HD4890. Now I'm back to using Nvidia cards again.

[Van Cruncheon]

get amd. shaders will be written for amd targets in the next gen.

[archnemesis]

That's a good point. I guess it will be a bit different now that the popular consoles will have x86 architecture and AMD GPUs.

[ManaByte]

I'd go with Nvidia. They're also a bit better with power management. I just got a GTX 660ti and love it.

[Fifstar]

Anecdotal evidence and all that, but I haven't had a single issue with my Radeon 6870 since buying it last summer. Probably tested around 30 games with it.

If he's mainly interested in older games he can get easily away easily with the 650 (definetely for L4D games). A 7870 or 660 definetely have reserves for some of the more demanding games but you probably can still play most games with the 650 ti if you turn down effects and res. It's probably gonna be all over for the middle of the road cards after the next gen consoles hit so he might as well pick a cheap card now, especially if gaming ain't his focus.

[Human Snorenado]

I haven't had a single issue with my Radeon 5770 in the 2+ years I've been using it.  Played all sorts of games on it.

[Verdigris Murder]

Lol invidia and Amd fanboy wars.

[Eel O'Brian]

are any of these cards leaps and bounds above the others when it comes to video processing like the blu ray ripping/editing, or are they all kind of a wash?

[archnemesis]

Sorry, I can't answer the question above. If your friend can afford a card with multiple fans then that's usually well worth the extra money. I got this and it's very quiet and cool regardless of what I use it for.

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, i'm trying to keep it around or under the $200 range, i still have to price out a BR burner, HDD, case and power supply from the $430 he has left to work with

[Verdigris Murder]

You're basically a computer slave.

[pilonv1]

Sorry, I can't answer the question above. If your friend can afford a card with multiple fans then that's usually well worth the extra money. I got this and it's very quiet and cool regardless of what I use it for.

(Image removed from quote.)

I have this card too and it's a beast, and you're right the noise/temperature is crazy low.

I did have a 5850 for 3 years before that and never had any issues with it. If you're strapped for cash there's no reason not to get the 7850

[Eel O'Brian]

You're basically a computer slave.

nah, i've known the guy since we were 16, so i don't mind, but he's kind of a special fellow and has very specific wants

[Verdigris Murder]

The motherboard is the most important thing.
:gerstmann :gerstmann

[Polari]

If he isn't a big gamer get the 650Ti (you can get one for $115 after rebate on Newegg) and spend the left over $80 on an SSD to use as a boot drive. It's the best upgrade you can make in terms of general performance. Recommendations here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-2.html

[Eel O'Brian]

cool, that's something i hadn't considered, thanks

[Joe Molotov]

Just get Triple-SLI Titans. He'll thank you later.