[SOLVED] Am i too old for 3000 series GPU's..??

[Migdecsag]

Firstly a big Hello to all and thanks in advance for any help...
Secondly my specs...

MSI Z170A Gaming M7
Intel i7-6700K 4.0Ghz
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB SSD NVMe M.2
Samsung 850 Evo SSD Series 250GB x2
Seagate Desktop 7200.14 2TB SATA3 64MB
MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X 6GB GDDR5
G.Skill Ripjaws V Red DDR4 3000 PC4-24000 16GB 4x8GB CL15
EVGA GQ 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular
Thermaltake Riing Silent 12 CPU Cooler
NZXT Noctua 450
1x1080 monitor
1x4K monitor

So,i built my PC 4 years ago next month,it was my first build and i made a few rookie mistakes.
ie...i never got into overclocking so i could have saved money on a few things and got a better GPU.
Also i only had the 1080 monitor at the time and that influenced the build.Everythimg was fine untill about
a year and a half ago when i got the 4K and realised my GTX 1060 wasnt too happy about it.
Fortunately i can game at 1440 at high/medium settings in most AAA games and get to play between 30/45 FPS.
So i was saving for a 2080 when my car died on me and so spent my savings on another one.Which brings me to my
dilema.So im saving for a new GPU again and now we have the 3000 series.
My question is,simply put,can my PC handle the new GPU's...will i have any sort of problem,ie bottlenecking,voltage,
will they fit in my case...anything..??? Or should i just stick with the 2000 series...hopefully they'll be cheaper as of soon...

Anyway.again thanks in advance to all advice received....

 

[Lutfij]

I'd say to drop the money on an RTX3060Ti when it launches. If the PSU is as old as the entire platform, that would be something I'd keep an eye on since the RTX3000 series are power hungry.

 

[Migdecsag]

I'd say to drop the money on an RTX3060Ti when it launches. If the PSU is as old as the entire platform, that would be something I'd keep an eye on since the RTX3000 series are power hungry.

Thanks for the quick reply...
Ive justed checked out the RTX3060Ti specks on techpowerup :

TDP200 W
Suggested PSU 350 W
Power Connectors 1x 12-pin

Question...would my psu handle this card..???
Also...what would i have to do about the 12-pin..??
As always..thank you in advance...

 

[jasonf2]

To answer the starter question. On a technical level the only thing you need to run any graphics card is enough power and a compatible bus to plug it into. For the most part PCI is backwards compatible. So while the 3000 cards are PCI 4 and most computers more than a year old are PCI 3 you can still use the 3000 series cards on the PCI 3 bus with a minor performance ding. Power wise a good 750 watt power supply is being suggested as the default for the 3080 but calculate your power budget and see what you get. So on your machine you have a 650 watt power supply, which if inadequate would need upgraded and on a 6700k if memory serves would be PCI gen 3 (someone please correct me if I am wrong). So with a new GPU and possible power supply your computer can run a 3080 on a technical level.

On a performance level you need to understand that your hardware being older will not get as much out of lets say a 3080 as a brand new flagship build. Games use the CPU and GPU and depending on how they are built some are much more CPU dependent than others. How much different is anyone's guess though because you have to benchmark test it to get numbers, but you want the numbers before you build it. The bottleneck while it exists should not discourage you from the upgrade though because it will typically be by a few percent on an overall whole. Your computer will see a big performance boost in most games by adding a 3000 series card. Especially if you go 70 series or above.

Make sure to set realistic expectations with your upgrade. Being in these forums I cannot tell you how many times I see someone in here that buys a 1600 series card complaining about some performance aspect. They looked as some marketing chart when they bought it and aren't hitting those numbers and are unhappy. When you look it over though they are trying to push ultra settings at some ridiculous framerate requirement in games that are known to bring the card to it's knees. Most game developers build their games to be able to run on mainstream hardware but also utilize bleeding edge tech. In layman's terms that Ultra setting in your video game is built towards the current flagship 80 series card and a strong CPU not the 50 or 60 series card. With every hardware generation released the developers get access to more resources so they push the envelope as far as they can. The point I am trying to make here is never expect consistent high framerate, high res, "ultra" settings on entry level class hardware. If you get that performance out of a game with that hardware it is only because the current generation of entry level performance has eclipsed the performance level of the high end hardware at time of game development (or the game is rudimentary basic (Minecraft)).. If you want to constantly play on the high end with new, emerging AAA titles you have to pay for the high end cards and upgrade everything pretty regularly. The bar moves with every hardware generation and makes nothing future proof.

 

[geofelt]

Mechanically, you could install a 3080 card(if you can find one)
Gaming at 4k is what that card was designed for.

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.

Try this simple test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

If you are cpu limited, you have a free 20% performance boost potentially available via overclocking.
As of 12/04/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.4v Vcore.

I7-6700K
4.9 5%
4.8 21%
4.7 64%
4.6 96%