Question Best GPUs under $200 for Dell Precision T3620?

[hbenthow]

I have a Dell Precision T3620 with 32GB of RAM (I might eventually upgrade to 64GB), and an Intel i7-7700K CPU. My current GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030.

I'm looking for a GPU for 1080p (and maybe occasionally 4K) video editing and color grading (as a hobby, not professionally) with DaVinci Resolve 18, as well as for playing video, including 4K HDR10. I would like hardware encoding capability if possible. I prefer NVIDIA over AMD.

I currently have a stock 290W Dell power supply unit, so I'm aware that I'll almost certainly need to upgrade my power supply and get a 24-pin to 8-pin adapter to make it compatible with my computer.

My preferred source is Amazon, but I'm open to Newegg, eBay, Best Buy, etc. I need the price to be under $200, ideally even lower if possible. I'm open to buying used or refurbished.

Here's a picture of my case to give you an idea of how much space I have (the new GPU would replace the one I currently have installed, of course).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Based on this thread, your 3620 small form factor workstation probably isn't going to simply "fit" a standard ATX power supply without some kind of modifications. Which is pretty typical. I can probably count on one hand the number of Dell, and on one hand the number of HP or other OEM prebuilt systems that will actually accept a standard ATX power supply. Most of them are either micro ATX, Flex ATX or another small form factor, or entirely proprietary designs, and won't work with standard ATX power supplies due to the dimensions. The power adapter you are already aware of.

This is probably the best card you're going to find new, for under 200 dollars, and I'd be very hesitant about trying to buy one used unless it's from somebody you personally know well and trust. Also, since we have no dimensions to compare against card length, no idea if it will fit your case without removing or relocating those drive bays, but this one is 200mm long which is fairly short for a gaming card.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $199.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-05 23:44 EST-0500

 

[hbenthow]

Based on this thread, your 3620 small form factor workstation probably isn't going to simply "fit" a standard ATX power supply without some kind of modifications. Which is pretty typical. I can probably count on one hand the number of Dell, and on one hand the number of HP or other OEM prebuilt systems that will actually accept a standard ATX power supply. Most of them are either micro ATX, Flex ATX or another small form factor, or entirely proprietary designs, and won't work with standard ATX power supplies due to the dimensions. The power adapter you are already aware of.

From what I've read, PSUs with a 140mm depth can usually fit.

https://www.dell.com/community/en/c...a8dea303bc?commentId=647fa426f4ccf8a8dea4416f

This is probably the best card you're going to find new, for under 200 dollars, and I'd be very hesitant about trying to buy one used unless it's from somebody you personally know well and trust. Also, since we have no dimensions to compare against card length, no idea if it will fit your case without removing or relocating those drive bays, but this one is 200mm long which is fairly short for a gaming card.

Are any of the slightly older NVIDIA GPUs (like the GeForce GTX 1650 and 1660, GTX 1060, and GTX 1650) comparable? Some of them seem available under $200.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Based on what I've read on these, it's generally not the depth that is the problem, but the width. I could be wrong however most of the issues I've read about don't involve them not actually fitting into the location, but interfering with the handle mechanism. I'd just be sure to measure that clearance or make certain of it before ordering. Trying to use aftermarket parts on OEM machines tends to usually involve a variety of hair pulling and screaming endeavors, which is what usually makes them poor candidates if you intend to do upgrades later and is the main reason we usually recommend doing a custom build. Prebuilt OEM machines are really more of "throw away" type designs, by design, because they want you to buy a new one, not upgrade. But if it will work, more power to you. Just make sure about those dimensions including the sliding mechanism that latches the side panel in place and is released by the handle.

Yes, many of those are likely compatible, but have FAR less performance than that RX 6600. The best Nvidia gaming card under 200 bucks is probably the EVGA RTX 2060 SC Gaming, which I'd say is also definitely short enough to fit your case. If it's too long at 190mm then I think you're going to have a hard time finding anything tiered higher than what you have now that is going to fit without removing drive cages.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: EVGA SC GAMING GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $199.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-06 00:20 EST-0500

 

[hbenthow]

Yes, many of those are likely compatible, but have FAR less performance than that RX 6600. The best Nvidia gaming card under 200 bucks is probably the EVGA RTX 2060 SC Gaming, which I'd say is also definitely short enough to fit your case. If it's too long at 190mm then I think you're going to have a hard time finding anything tiered higher than what you have now that is going to fit without removing drive cages.

That looks pretty good. I like the compact size.

Are gaming cards generally good for video editing compared to non-gaming cards?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, they are perfectly fine for video editing and other graphics intensive applications.

 

[kira-faye]

If you're willing to buy used you can get a 3060 12GB for $200ish (like $225 after shipping) off eBay. I'd muchrather that than a 20xx card at this point. 12GB VRAM should make the card relevant a good bit longer, and you get geometry shader support which the 2060 lacks.

 

[hbenthow]

If you're willing to buy used you can get a 3060 12GB for $200ish (like $225 after shipping) off eBay. I'd muchrather that than a 20xx card at this point. 12GB VRAM should make the card relevant a good bit longer, and you get geometry shader support which the 2060 lacks.

It's apparently 10.9 inches long, though. I'm not sure that would fit in my case.

 

[kira-faye]

It's apparently 10.9 inches long, though. I'm not sure that would fit in my case.

Is that a standard size motherboard? Looks like mATX, at a glance, though I didn't look it up and it's rare of Dell and their ilk to use standard components like that. If it is, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble messing with the replacement PSU if you just put it in a normal case with better clearance and cooling for everything. You're looking at $50 or less there, after all. $20-30 is doable.

 

[hbenthow]

Is that a standard size motherboard? Looks like mATX, at a glance, though I didn't look it up and it's rare of Dell and their ilk to use standard components like that. If it is, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble messing with the replacement PSU if you just put it in a normal case with better clearance and cooling for everything. You're looking at $50 or less there, after all. $20-30 is doable.

Dell uses proprietary parts (including motherboards) that are extremely difficult to move to a different case.

 

[kira-faye]

Dell uses proprietary parts (including motherboards) that are extremely difficult to move to a different case.

You're honestly better off just selling it and getting things that aren't proprietary, at this point. There are tons of combos on eBay and likely your local Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace that will do better for very little.

 

[Order 66]

Based on this thread, your 3620 small form factor workstation probably isn't going to simply "fit" a standard ATX power supply without some kind of modifications. Which is pretty typical. I can probably count on one hand the number of Dell, and on one hand the number of HP or other OEM prebuilt systems that will actually accept a standard ATX power supply. Most of them are either micro ATX, Flex ATX or another small form factor, or entirely proprietary designs, and won't work with standard ATX power supplies due to the dimensions. The power adapter you are already aware of.

This is probably the best card you're going to find new, for under 200 dollars, and I'd be very hesitant about trying to buy one used unless it's from somebody you personally know well and trust. Also, since we have no dimensions to compare against card length, no idea if it will fit your case without removing or relocating those drive bays, but this one is 200mm long which is fairly short for a gaming card.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $199.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-05 23:44 EST-0500

The OEM prebuilts with standard PSUs are few, and the ones that do tend to be older meaning a whole system upgrade may be necessary. You could always go for a small card, but the problem with that is your options are limited to either small but weaker cards, or powerful but terrible value cards.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Is that a standard size motherboard? Looks like mATX, at a glance, though I didn't look it up and it's rare of Dell and their ilk to use standard components like that. If it is, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble messing with the replacement PSU if you just put it in a normal case with better clearance and cooling for everything. You're looking at $50 or less there, after all. $20-30 is doable.

It has nothing to do with the motherboard. It is because of the case configuration. This is a SFF (Small form factor) OEM case with drive bays at the bottom of the case right in front of where a long graphics card would have to sit. You can't just "put it in a normal case" either, because it's a proprietary form factor. It could be done, but it would take a MAJOR modification to the case to accomodate it as the motherboard tray and back I/O configuration would all have to be modified to accommodate that board.

Coming from a GT 1030, ANY of these options, from a GTX 1650 all the way up to an RTX 2060 would be GIGANTIC jumps in performance. I think you guys are looking for answers to concerns that the OP isn't really concerned with and so long as the PSU will clear the handle mechanism it should be fine along with one of the cards I recommended, or something similar.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The OEM prebuilts with standard PSUs are few, and the ones that do tend to be older meaning a whole system upgrade may be necessary. You could always go for a small card, but the problem with that is your options are limited to either small but weaker cards, or powerful but terrible value cards.

Yes, I've worked on dozens and dozens of them, and helped resolve issues with them on probably three or four dozen similar situations with OEM proprietary configurations on this forum alone. So, I am VERY well aware of ALL the considerations.

 

[Avro Arrow]

For what you're doing, the PSU that you have, the budget that you have and the preferred source that you have, I think that this would be pretty much ideal for you:
PNY Quadro K4200 4GB - $145.26USD from Amazon

Quadros weren't made for gaming, they were made for professional graphics workstations to do things like video editing, primary rendering and colour grading. According to TechPowerUp, the recommended PSU wattage for a system with this card is only 300W which means that you possibly won't need to change your PSU (although I would recommend it).

Hope this helps!

 

[hbenthow]

Coming from a GT 1030, ANY of these options, from a GTX 1650 all the way up to an RTX 2060 would be GIGANTIC jumps in performance. I think you guys are looking for answers to concerns that the OP isn't really concerned with and so long as the PSU will clear the handle mechanism it should be fine along with one of the cards I recommended, or something similar.

Yes. I'm not looking to completely overhaul my PC or get the best equipment in existence. I'm just trying to do the best I can with my current limitations (budget, PC case, etc).

For what you're doing, the PSU that you have, the budget that you have and the preferred source that you have, I think that this would be pretty much ideal for you:
PNY Quadro K4200 4GB - $145.26USD from Amazon

That one isn't compatible with the latest versions of DaVinci Resolve, which is the main program I need it for.

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=166399

 

[Darkbreeze]

For what you're doing, the PSU that you have, the budget that you have and the preferred source that you have, I think that this would be pretty much ideal for you:
PNY Quadro K4200 4GB - $145.26USD from Amazon

Quadros weren't made for gaming, they were made for professional graphics workstations to do things like video editing, primary rendering and colour grading. According to TechPowerUp, the recommended PSU wattage for a system with this card is only 300W which means that you possibly won't need to change your PSU (although I would recommend it).

Hope this helps!

So you're recommending they use a MUCH less powerful card, simply because it's a "workstation" card, than a card that is MUCH more powerful, simply because it's primary intent is for "gaming" even though it vastly outworks the card you recommended? Why would you do that?

It's literally not even remotely close in ANY category, whether 2d or 3d. In fact, it's not even in the same universe honestly.

Quadro K4200 vs GeForce RTX 2060 [videocardbenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

Just because a card was primarily "made" for a certain thing, does absolutely not mean that it's the "better" option. These days, the idea of workstation cards, except possibly at the very highest levels, is not really applicable to today's reality for most people. The majority of gaming cards are able to do the same things that workstation cards can do, and are generally less expensive.

 

[hbenthow]

I just discovered an issue with the RTX 2060: It takes up too many case slots. I need one that will take up no more than two slots, since one that takes up three slots makes it so that I would have no room for my Wi-Fi card.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You are right. That IS a problem, and there is actually not a good option for that if you want to go with an Nvidia card. However, it might still be a good option IF you are willing to ditch the WiFi card and go with a USB Wireless adapter, which honestly, these days, work just as damn well as PCIe versions. Maybe better in some cases as many of them support antenna, directional, MU-MIMO and other options that probably aren't present on the wireless card you have now. Not that you even NEED those features, but they are even relatively cheap.

This one, just as a very simple first search, is probably superior to your current network card at a guess. Maybe not, but certainly within a reasonable range there are others which are, which would avoid that problem with it being a 2.75 slot card. And it IS a 2.75 slot card, but might as well be 3 slot if you have something in the slot next to it.

Amazon.com

 

[hbenthow]

You are right. That IS a problem, and there is actually not a good option for that if you want to go with an Nvidia card. However, it might still be a good option IF you are willing to ditch the WiFi card and go with a USB Wireless adapter, which honestly, these days, work just as damn well as PCIe versions. Maybe better in some cases as many of them support antenna, directional, MU-MIMO and other options that probably aren't present on the wireless card you have now. Not that you even NEED those features, but they are even relatively cheap.

My experience with a USB Wi-Fi adapter was not good, which is why I switched to the PCIe version.

From what I can find on the PC Builds website, it looks like the RTX 2060 might be too powerful for my system anyway. Apparently, it would get bottlenecked quite badly by my CPU.

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-calculator/result/0Km137/1/general-tasks/1920x1080/

PC Builds recommends this list of GPUs to pair with my CPU:

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-ca...ks/solutions/downgrade-graphic-card/1920x1080

Do you think that any of those options would be potentially good ones?

EDIT: Earlier, you mentioned a GTX 1650. Would this particular one (which takes two slots) possibly be small enough to leave room for my Wi-Fi card? You can see my Wi-Fi card in the photo in my original post (it's maroon-colored).

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Graphics-Compact-GV-N1656OC-4GD/dp/B08BNRR5SJ/

 

[Darkbreeze]

"Bottlenecked" by YOUR CPU? LOL.

That's really funny actually. And exactly why you need to either avoid those kinds of sites entirely, which I'd recommend, or at best, take them with very large grains of salt. I was recently, just two years ago, running an RTX 2060 with my 6700k (And am STILL running that RTX 2060, at 1440p, with my 12700k), and I can assure you that there were no bottlenecks whether at 1080p or 1440p. It is a really well balanced configuration actually.

Let me be frank with you.

"Bottleneck calcuators" are a running joke with anybody who knows what they are doing when it comes to PC hardware knowledge. So do "PSU calculators". It's all just BS incoherent cobbled together marketing BS. Honestly. Don't believe me, ask any of the dozens of long term members here who like myself have been building, configuring, using, gaming, running applications and testing configurations for like, well, many decades. Before a lot of the people running many of those sites were even born. Now, that doesn't automatically mean anything, except that in this case, it does, because we've beaten that horse to death repeatedly. LOL.

An RTX 2060 it 300% fine with your 7700k and at 1080p, and ESPECIALLY if you are looking to do ANY content at 4k, much less gaming which then would GREATLY reduce the CPU's role, there is no problem with that configuration. Now, if you want to do VERY high refresh rate gaming, it might actually be LESS than what you need, but it will be a GPU problem then, not a CPU problem. If you had a much higher performance GPU then, maybe, it might be a CPU bound problem depending on the GPU, the game, the settings and the CPU.

 

[hbenthow]

An RTX 2060 it 300% fine with your 7700k and at 1080p, and ESPECIALLY if you are looking to do ANY content at 4k, much less gaming which then would GREATLY reduce the CPU's role, there is no problem with that configuration. Now, if you want to do VERY high refresh rate gaming, it might actually be LESS than what you need, but it will be a GPU problem then, not a CPU problem. If you had a much higher performance GPU then, maybe, it might be a CPU bound problem depending on the GPU, the game, the settings and the CPU.

Interesting.

In your opinion how well does your first recommendation (the PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600) compare to the RTX 2060? And do you think it could possibly fit in my case with the Wi-Fi card still installed (it appears to take two slots)?

Is it true that AMD GPUs are inferior to NVIDIA when it comes to hardware encoding?

 

[stonecarver]

An RTX 2060 it 300% fine with your 7700k and at 1080p, and ESPECIALLY if you are looking to do ANY content at 4k,

What he said. 100%

And I agree USB wifi has came a long way.

One last thing if needed on whatever card you choose you can remove the hard drive cage if push comes to shove to fit a long card in there. Might need to drill out the rivets and or if it has screws.

Not hard just have to be careful.

 

[hbenthow]

What he said. 100%

And I agree USB wifi has came a long way.

One last thing if needed on whatever card you choose you can remove the hard drive cage if push comes to shove to fit a long card in there. Might need to drill out the rivets and or if it has screws.

Not hard just have to be careful.

I'm not willing to remove the hard drive cage. Maybe the Wi-Fi card if absolutely necessary, but having plenty of room for internal hard drives is absolutely essential for me.

 

[Darkbreeze]

From what I can find it seems the 3620 will support cards up to 220mm in length. Obviously I don't have one to take a measurement on to verify that and I can find only one technical reference that indicates it, but I've found a number of forum and YT links indicating successful use of cards that are at least 195mm, and looks like there is additional room it could have accommodated, in addition to the one technical reference indicating support for cards up to 220mm long.

So yes, that or any other card that is less than 220mm long SHOULD work but it would better if you could take a measurement from the edge of the rear I/O shield where the card would attach to the back panel to the leading edge of the drive cages so we have an idea of what ACTUALLY will fit based on your own measurements, rather than simply trusting what somebody else has done, even though, it is probably accurate anyhow.