gaming & video editing friendly budget build

mechtech · March 1, 2015

My nephew is going off to college next year, and is looking to upgrade from a build I did for him circa 2011. I double checked the parts and found;

CPU: AMD 990FX AMD Phenom II X4 955

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+

MEM: 4G 2x2 G.Skill 1600
GFX: HD6870

Without considering storage or PSU needs, I'm wondering if there's any CPU that I can upgrade along with replacing the memory and graphics card for something higher end, gtx 770 or 780.

I'm not very familiar with AMD architecture and/or if there's any 6 or 8 core CPUs capable of performing respectably for basic to intermediate video editing tasks. He enjoys recording gameplay and making youtube videos, so I figure a video capture card is also going to be needed and he has a tight budget for all of these goodies.

4k gaming is not a need, but Im biased towards the 780. 290X's in crossfire require better cooling, more electricity in the long run, and I love the idea of leaving the possibility of adding a 780 but often by the time you want it, stock is impossible to come by.

My next afterthought was to pawn or trade off my current build from 2012 - i7 3820 P9X79 ASUS basic board stocked with 32gb of gskill 2133, still needing to upgrade the display card.

Any thoughts?

ProdigyzMined · March 1, 2015

The AMD FX 83XX series CPU's are great for video editing, so I'd suggest going for one of those. For GPU, I'd try and get a Maxwell if you are biased towards Nvidia... perhaps a 970 or 980? Both can push games at 1080p+ with no issues.

mechtech · March 1, 2015

Nice, the 8320 seems to provide the best bang for my money, 8350 starts at $40+ more.

I guess that leaves the task of finding fitting memory that won't break bank, minimum 16gigs, and if there's enough money left, I would certainly opt for a 780. I feel if he ever really needs a boost into 4k stuff, adding a second 780 would add so much life and help with video editing and even remove the need for a video capture card (i hope). But what if it's one year down the line, is it safe to say it's a bad idea to envision SLI that far down the line?

mechtech · March 2, 2015

I guess there's not much of an opinion out the question of long-term SLI plans. After thinking it through, going for a 780 and ditching the SLI idea altogether. I'm the one who wants surround monitors anyways. He needs a few months to save up the extra money, so by than i'll select the suitable card.