Question Best graphics card upgrade from RTX 2060 given my system

[kirbyk89]

This is probably an "unfair" question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

I want to upgrade my current graphics card without having to replace either my power supply or my motherboard. Currently I am "stuck" at medium resolution (2560x1440) running about 30-40 fps.

Current:

• OS = Windows 11 Pro
• Graphics card = NVidia GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6 memory)
• Power supply = Corsair RM850x (4 PCIe connectors, ATX12V v2.4 and EPS 2.92 compliant, 850 watts continuous)
• Motherboard = MEG Z490 UNIfy (MS-7C71) (PCI Express x16 Gen 3)
• Cooling system = Corsair dual-fan liquid cooling
• Monitor = ViewSonic VX2728-QHD (which supposedly will run at 165fps)
• Full ATX case

My objective is to play games like Skyrim at highest resolution and at a consistent 60fps or more.

 

[Lutfij]

I want to upgrade my current graphics card without having to replace either my power supply or my motherboard.
How much have you allocated towards your GPU purchase? Where are you located? What is your preferred site for purchase? How old is your PSU? What processor and ram have you paired with your motherboard?

 

[kirbyk89]

I want to upgrade my current graphics card without having to replace either my power supply or my motherboard.
How much have you allocated towards your GPU purchase? Where are you located? What is your preferred site for purchase? How old is your PSU? What processor and ram have you paired with your motherboard?

Thanks for the reply...

• I can go as high as $400 for the graphics card.
• Located in the US
• I don't have a preferred purchase site.
• PSU is about 3 years old
• CPU is Intel i5-10600K @ 4.1 Ghz
• 32 GB GB RAM

 

[dark_globe]

your budget for a new gpu is rather tight .
best you can find is probably a used radeon 6750xt or 6800 .
you can try to search for newer radeon 7700 xt but i doubt you will have any luck
(i have searched for quite a while and i could not find anything at this price range
but than again i´m not from the US so maybe i´m missing something)
gpu prices at the moment are pretty high in general .


radeon 6750xt
this card is about 40% to 50% faster compared to your current GPU
and it also has twice as much VRAM
which will help you immensely especially in newer titles at 1440p .
(it performs on par with rtx 2080Ti or rtx 3070 in pure raster)
i would not recommend to search for cards like rtx 3070 or 3070Ti
simply because of their 8gb of VRAM limitations .
another option would be rtx 4060Ti (16gb version) but i doubt you will find one below $400
(it is much more power efficient and performs about the same as 6750xt
plus it has all the modern nvidia features such as DLSS etc.)

your power supply is good even if it is couple years old already .
your processor will not bottleneck cards of this caliber
so you will see a significant boost in performance even if the budget for upgrade is not that high .

 

[Baeloro1481]

You are currently gaming on a xx60 tier card from the first generation of RTX. The closest equivalent to your card in the 3xxx series is a 3050 and it's just a little less powerful than your 2060.

For you, there isn't a new card that will suddenly make a huge difference, simply because you won't find a new card for less than $400 that isn't a 3050. If you are trying to get a Nvidia card over others (that's okey, we all do it sometimes) it's really hard to find something with enough Vram these days. Most options up to the $400 price point (factoring taxes/shipping) are going to max out at 8gb of Vram unless you are willing to settle on the Oddly Persistent RTX 3060 with 12GB vram.

This card will be a noticeable jump over your 2060. But you are playing 1440p, which will be a performance hit right out of the gate, on any card you put in your system. What you really want to do is decide between performance/visuals... do you want better performance? 1080p is your best friend. Live there, love there.

'High resolution' isn't really the same as 'high settings' and most people want high settings and resolution is just whatever their display is putting out a picture at. 1440p is not huge step up in fidelity, but it is a big step up in pixel count.

We are at a strange place in pricing, everywhere that sells GPUs suddenly adjusted upward on USED cards from the 3xxx generation as the 5xxx is released and the 4xxx is nearing EOL. Right now, a new 3060 is between $300 and $400. A new 4060 is above that in the $400-500 price range, and it's not a huge improvement over a 2060. You are looking at approx 35% difference in performance, which shrinks when you consider 1440p. The 128bit memory bus on the 4060 is going to struggle giving you consistent frames at higher settings, on a 4060.

The 192 bit membus on the 2060 is why you see such low FPS in a game like Skyrim. It's not so much Vram/GPU as it's the resolution of the game being at a place where you need more membus to maintain throughput.

What you really need to do is step it up to a card with a higher than 192 bit membus. A Used 3070 would be a much bigger step up in performance at 1440p than a 4060.

And... you can get one for less than $300 used. That's what I would do, in your shoes (actually, I just went from 3060 12gb to a 3070).