[SOLVED] Which Video Card the Best to Use?

[rcampbell578]

Hey guys, I'm not sure what to do here. My dad is having me build him a new computer soon. He told me he bought his current one 8 years ago refurbished. He doesn't really do a whole lot with his computer except some video editing using the Nero software. So nothing too heavy.

The new computer specs are as follows:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Gigabyte Aorus Elite B450 Motherboard
16GB 3200Mhz Ballistix RAM
1TB M.2 Drive
600W EVGA Power Supply

I asked him if his old computer had any stand alone video cards in it, and he said he was pretty sure everything was just onboard video. So I ended up picking him up a cheap video card thinking he probably didn't need too much since he was coming from 10 year old "onboard" video technology. I ended up going with an ASUS GeForce GT 710 with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. I figured that would probably do him fine since he mainly just surfs the net and uses Nero, no gaming involved.

Today he calls me and tells me that he took his old computer apart and found 2 Radeon Sapphire cards in a Crossfire configuration. The cards are the Sapphire HD 6790 cards. So now I'm torn on what to do. Do I try to reuse the cards that were already in his old computer in the Crossfire configuration, or should I just stick with my original plan and install the GeForce GT 710?

I don't want to downgrade his performance, but I don't want to install a bunch of hardware that would be overkill for his usage needs.

What would you guys do in this situation and what do you think the best choice would be? When it comes to video cards, I'm not as knowledgeable as with other components, so I need some advice.

Thanks!

 

[tecmo34]

He will benefit from his older cards, as compared to the GT 710, as they are overall better cards even though older. You could use the money and go with 32 GB of RAM, which with video editing, The only concern may be if 600W is enough to handle two cards, as the 6790 has a recommended PSU of 500 watts.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-710-vs-AMD-HD-6790/m77649vsm8056

 

[rcampbell578]

The only concern may be if 600W is enough to handle two cards, as the 6790 has a recommended PSU of 500 watts.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-710-vs-AMD-HD-6790/m77649vsm8056

Yeah I had the same concern, but he checked his current power supply and it's only a 500 watt. He's been running it for 8 years like that, so I'm assuming the 500 watts was enough, unless for some reason only one of the video cards was being powered. He says they were both plugged in, but I never got to personally check out his system.

I listed all the components on PC Part Picker, and it's estimating a total of 459 watts needed to power his new configuration, so I'm thinking the 600 watts should be fine. However, if we were only able to install and power one of the Radeon cards, do you think that would still be a better option over the GT 710?

 

[tecmo34]

Yes, I do think one 6790 will be better than the GT 710.