budget GPU for small-form factor computer?

James_AJ · April 14, 2013

I'm gonna be using it mainly as editing machine as I'm reallly f**ing tired and sick of Macbook Air 1.6ghz 2gb ram... (so yay, another guy into PC world)

And I've seen Linus' video about FT03 mini and I am just BLOWN AWAY by that, so I really want to go ahead and build one.

I've got pretty much everything ready except the GPU.

I'm not TOO tight on budget.. I can get about extra $100 for each month I wait.

So I'm considering these two: http://www.amazon.com/XFX-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-FX775AZNP4-FX-775A-ZNP4/dp/B007Z3T5JC/ and http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11201-17-20G/dp/B00A0HZOEA/

It's 7770 and 7750 I know, but I do not care much about performance as long as it's suitable for video editing and really, anything is better than Intel HD 3000.

The main problem is I do not know if any of those cards exhaust to the outside (where you secure the PCIe card... I think it's called a bracket) as Linus specifically mentioned that is very important.

Also I really really really love the xfx 7750's thin/slim and sleek design <3

So... which way should I go? Please provide with details. Thanks to everyone

April 14, 2013

Well I'd say go with the 7770, but you may need more than 1GB of VRAM with video editing. If you can, try the EVGA 02G-P4-3653-KR, also know as the EVGA 650 Ti which has 2GB of VRAM if you are willing to pay out a little bit more.

Conelton · April 14, 2013

The XFX card does look sweet but it doesn't have any exhaust out of the back, if that's what you're worried about. Additionally, if the editing software you're using is CUDA capable then you're going to want an Nvidia GPU.